Crystal Palace Local

Like City boys opting for crisp white shirts over flashy Paul Smith numbers, The Exhibition Rooms’ menu represents a sobering return to the classics – at first glance, that is. We were unfazed by the daytime menu of BLTs, mushrooms on toast and chargrilled steaks; our eyebrows might have involuntarily twitched at the somewhat incongruous Moroccan lamb tagine, but it was the dinner options that piqued our interest. Executive chef David Massey offers tantalising treats that err ever so slightly from the realm of ‘playing it safe’.

An immaculately presented starter of Cornish crab with green papaya, mango and coriander salad with Thai nam jim dressing was a refreshing mélange of punchy flavours. In the same vein, nashi pear salad was paired with ‘twice-cooked pork belly’, with a delicate soy and ginger reduction drizzled about. We expected tender meat braised in soy sauce and spices in the Chinese style; what we got was a witty play on Japanese katsu: two juicy slabs of pork belly coated in crunchy, golden-brown breadcrumbs. Naughty, but very, very nice.

More traditional were pan-fried chicken livers (creamy, though grainy in parts) atop brioche with a sherry vinegar glaze, and roasted salt marsh lamb with shimmering Puy lentils. Unctuous and silky orange panna cotta with diced pineapple and tiny pink peppercorns combined to give an explosive dessert.

The room, inspired by the colonial opulence of Raffles Hotel in Singapore, is smart without being cold. It’s a fitting tribute to the great Crystal Palace, the people’s palace, for this is a place we’d gladly call our local.