Review: Oranj Restaurant, East London
Since Oranj’s opening in November 2022 Oranj has established built a solid reputation in East London stemming from a series of successful rotations of world-class chef residencies and a carefully curated list of natural and low intervention wines.
In July this year, Oranj moved from their compact, industrial style space on Bacon Street and headed to the pedestrianised location of Dray Walk, within the Truman Brewery area. The transition marks its evolution into a fully-fledged restaurant. Founder and Culinary Director Jasper Delamothe hasappointed twice-former resident Yuto Fujimoto as Head Chef. Fujimoto, originally from Hokkaido, Japan, brings experience from prestigious kitchens including Tokyo's two-Michelin-starred, World's 50 Best – Maz, Copenhagen’s two-Michelin-starred, World's 50 Best Kadeau; and Paris's Aux Deux Amis.
Oranj Restaurant, Dray Walk. Image courtesy of Oranj
The new site is larger but retains the intimate feel of the original while expanding to include two private dining rooms and an outdoor terrace area. In the evenings the room turns into a cosy dimly lit room that would be an ideal date night spot. Additionally, for FLO London art lovers , a group show is now on display in the restaurant in collaboration with the London-based gallery Pilotopardo.
The menu is designed to feature seasonally changing small plates, large plates and desserts with European influences. Last week we headed over to try the new menu, but not without me accidentally heading to the old location first (Be warned! It still comes up on Google maps). After a quick 5-minute jog down Brick Lane I arrived in the new location where we were seated at the counter overlooking the open kitchen, where Yuto and his sous Chef worked with calm precision for the entirety of the evening.
Top left, homemade gnocchi is coated in a sage brown butter on a creamy pool of cep sauce. Image courtesy of Oranj
Each section of the menu “Snacks”, “Entrée” and “Plates” – features five dishes. It is one of those menus where at first glance I know it is going to be hard to choose and a return visit will be required. Of note were dishes like tuna sashimi with charred figs, citrus white balsamic and the couscous “risotto” with celeriac and yeast.
From the snacks, we ordered the bread served with burnt apple butter which had a very pleasing subtle apple flavour, and a plate of bell pepper, and goat’s cheese and bottarga(they kindly put the bottarga on the side as my dining partner is vegetarian) - a simple dish where the sweetness of the peppers and the creaminess and quality of the goat’s cheese can be appreciated.
Ribeye with a smoked bone marrow sauce. Image credit MTotoe.
For entrées we ordered the charred broccolini which came with a good quality burrata and the grilled scallop with boudin noir and charred grapes. Both are excellent dishes in their simplicity and flavour combinations. The broccolini was perfectly al dente with a subtle smokiness. The scallop was big and juicy, and sat beautifully fanned out on a large disc of the best boudin noir I have had in a while with a pair of charred grapes. These grapes are something I have been seeing on menus around the capital and is a versatile addition to a variety of dishes.
Moving on to the mains “Plates” section the homemade gnocchi is coated in a sage brown butter which rested on a creamy pool of cep sauce and topped with crispy fried sage leaves. A moreish dish of perfectly balanced flavours. I ordered the Ribeye with a smoked bone marrow sauce. The steak was the priciest dish on the menu at £59 but worth every penny - an extremely tasty piece of meat which had clearly been hung to mature for the perfect amount of time to maximise flavour. The side of radicchio salad with a calamansi dressing works beautifully in providing acidity to cut through the richness of both dishes.
Olive oil ice cream and the pear crumble served with a cardamom ice cream. Image credit MTotoe
When the steak arrived, I reached out to grab the smallest of a set of stunning knives displayed on the counter where we were seated thinking it was a steak knife. How wrong I was! As I reached over and made contact with the knife’s handle, the sous chef looked at me with mild alarm and with what I perceived as a “what do you think you’re doing?’ face. He kindly said “Do you need a sharper knife?” and passed me a regular knife. With hindsight, I now realise they were Chef Fujimoto’s own special (and probably very expensive) knives. Despite having eaten in many outstanding restaurants you would think I know better. I clearly can’t be trusted!
To finish, from a choice of three desserts we chose the olive oil ice cream and the pear crumble served with a cardamom ice cream. Both excellent and unpretentious. A perfect end to a lovely evening at Oranj. Who doesn’t love a crumble on the menu as we approach the colder months.
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Location: 15 Dray Walk, E1 6QR. Website: oranj.co.uk.Instagram: @oranjwine
Review by Natascha Milsom
