Perilla

Walk across Newington Green on a Friday night and you’ll notice a glowing restaurant on the corner. It has dancing flames on every table, tastefully stripped-back walls, and Daunt Books tote bags hanging from chairs. It’s a candle-powered lighthouse for recent pét-nat enthusiasts disguised as a humming neighbourhood restaurant—and Perilla can’t help but woo anyone who walks past, even if what’s on the plate matters less than the person opposite you.

Perilla’s aesthetics are impeccable, although the European-ish and experimental menu doesn’t always hit the mark. There’s an a la carte or a five-course tasting menu for anyone seeking something that tastes sort of fine dining-y, usually consisting of things you know, done differently. Panisse reimagined as little carriages, a cauliflower mushroom tart that looks fit to be awarded in the Chelsea Flower Show. Occasionally these flavours hit home, like with that blooming tart, and other times you’ll be left wanting more.

This is the kind of restaurant that rom-com screenwriters conjure out of their imagination and so, when you’re here celebrating an anniversary, or treating your parents on their bi-annual visit to ‘the big smoke’, it can be easy to feel let down by a so-so soup or a slightly odd seafood scone. If you’re happy to take that punt, then wander on into the bewitching restaurant with the twinkling windows.

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli

photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli