Foley’s started as a six week pop-up in Sheperd’s Bush and is now a modern and contemporary restaurant in the heart of Fitzrovia, London. With head chef, Mitz Vora, bringing his experiences as a Sous Chief in The Palomar, the food is a mix of Middle Eastern and Asian flavours. With a menu of creative dishes, rooted with bold flavours and texture, Foley’s is a great restaurant offering top class food.
Bits & Bobs
The food menu is divided into four distinct sections: Bits & Bobs, Veg, Meat and From the Sea. Each with a selection of interesting and creative dishes, it was hard to pick out what to try. The dishes in the Bits & Bobs section shows the range of flavours, with Indonesian peanut crackers to Charcoal grilled chicken ‘burnt ends’ (Korean BBQ). Our pick went to the Cerviche endive tacos, which came in a small endive leaf, filled with bits of tuna, octopus, endive, cucumber and coconut miso leche. This was topped with some peanuts that added a layer of crunch along with the mixture of the seafood. I would go back just to try this again.
Pair this dish with some grilled sourdough and don’t be shy with the fennel butter. The herb like flavour goes particularly well with the grilled bread.
Aubergine and Cauliflower
Half an aubergine sat beautifully on a plate surrounded with chilli lime yogurt. Topped with pomegrante, dates, puffed quiona and feta, a mouthful of the soft aubergine had just the perfect amount of crunch, sweetness and chilli. This was very different to the usual roasted aubergines with tahini. The extra texture really adds to this dish.
We are still not quite sure how the cauliflower was cooked. It looked like it was roasted but the texture of it was more on the boiled side. However, this meant the flavours seeped through with tzatziki and tomatoes really involved. The crunch elements was added through the smoked peanuts. There just seems to be that added dimension in every dish, all very welcomed!
Meat
You cannot go wrong with a lamb rump dish that has confit belly, spiced peppers, cornbread, feta and dukkah. The meat was well cooked and the tastes were pleasant. But the extra added ingredient in this dish was herb hummous. Herb Hummus! It was a paste made out of pesto like ingredients. The combination of lamb and herby mint flavours never fail and this just seemed to combine the dish together. Another cracking dish here.
Sweet Endings
As November 2016 was the Cook for Syria month, Foley’s got involved with a Baked Labneh. Spiced meringue, hazelnut crumble, hazelnut coriander crisp and beetroot cardamon puree. All great flavours when combined. There was a £2 donation made to Unicef’s Syria relief fund with each order. A great way to help out and enjoy a tasty dessert.
Having tasted the famous cheesecake at Honey & Co and Smoke, we were initially reserved about Foley’s Baklava cheesecake. The dish was made up of cardamon cheese, puff pastry, walnut pistachio and rose petals. The flavours went well together and tasted just like a baklava cheesecake should be!
The food here at Foley’s were a delicious combination of Asian and Middle Eastern
flavours. There was always a surprise in each dish, which seemed to have sent each dish to another level. A modern and fantastic restaurant with delicious flavours.
The Details
Location: 23 Foley Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1W 6DU
Also published on Medium.