Acclaimed chef Jackson Boxer has struck once again and, this time, the culinary hurricane has hit Exmouth Market, just a short walk from Farringdon station. After Brunswick House, Orasay and TAQ, Jackson has ripped up the rulebook. Vesper is whatever he wanted it to be – a flirty bistro-style diner that’ll cross your favourite restaurant off your mind with a red pen and write itself there instead.

Just a few weeks old and already a Clerkenwell fixture, Vesper offers a selection of made-to-share dishes – some of which are already highly popular – accompanied by a restrained list of cocktails (the Vesper Martini naturally features) and a sprawling wine list.

We visited the restaurant recently – here’s everything you need to know before booking your visit.

What’s the vibe like?

Located in the former Grind (the well-known London café and bar where you’ve probably ordered at least one espresso martini), Vesper is a too-cool-for-school restaurant that doesn’t care what you think about it at all – quietly confident in the mind-blowing, palate-awakening food it serves.

The space itself is very industrial-looking, with a central metal bar and candlelit tables dotted around. It’s packed and tucked in – exactly how a high-quality, highly sought-after London restaurant should be – but the closeness of the tables only adds to the atmosphere. Add in a team that’s as chill as they are friendly and welcoming, and you’ve got yourself a very hipster space that’ll make you mentally measure yourself on the cool-metre scale before you even reach your table.

It feels like a private party with an exclusive guest list and a strict no-plus-ones policy – and who doesn’t want in? We admittedly relish the comfort and predictability of a menu fully directed by a specific cuisine. Whether it’s British, French or Italian, you usually know what you’re getting. But at Vesper, the rules are out the door, and you don’t need to peruse the menu for long to realise every course is ingenious and inventive.

We ordered (greed took over):

Spring onion pancake with raw tuna and Cantabrian anchovy (£7) – an expensive bite, but worth the ten seconds it takes to savour it. Impressively balanced, with the meaty tuna slice, briny olive and salty anchovy all playing their part.

Fried potato pizzette with stracciatella, mortadella and pineapple mostarda (£15) – the dish on everyone’s table. A sweet fried dough with a lovely crunch on the outside but soft and almost gooey in the middle. Weirdly sweet, almost doughnut-like, but brought back down to earth by the freshness of the cheese. We didn’t order the mortadella as we don’t eat meat, but we can see exactly why it’s there – adding that much-needed salty element. Ingenious.

Galia melon, cucumber, cashew cream and cascabel chilli (£14) – again, a showstopper when it comes to balancing flavours and textures. Soft pieces of melon mixed with crisp cucumber, spiked with a generous hit of chilli and softened by the cream. What a moment this was.

Grilled Atlantic prawns, fenugreek and black lime butter (£19) – the butter was the real star here, completely drenching the glorious prawns: soft, flavour-packed and awakened by the sharpness of the lime. Again, you won’t be surprised to hear – a masterpiece. Our only regret was not ordering sourdough bread to mop up every last drop, although we did our best to wipe the plate clean (questionable whether this is socially acceptable, but we may have resorted to eating some of the butter by the spoonful – don’t tell the table manners police).

And what’s for mains?

Then we moved onto the “mains”, despite being pretty satisfied already. We were initially thinking of ordering two, but decided to leave room for dessert and went for the Ronde de Nice courgette with piattone beans, Vadouvan cream and hazelnut romesco (£24), alongside some fries.

It wasn’t as substantial as we expected, but that actually worked in its favour. It was refreshing to have a more herby, vibrant, veggie-packed main: a thick slice of courgette sitting on a bed of beans and romesco, piled high with a tower of herbs. The courgette and green beans still had a lovely bite, as did the hazelnut crumble, which made the whole thing even better.

There are plenty of other dishes we would have loved to try but sadly didn’t manage to make space for – including the grilled cod and rigatoni with pistachio and burnt lemon. Meat eaters will be pleased to find a selection of meat-based sharers too, from coal-fired chicken to lamb chop and beef rib.

What about dessert?

You might not get much from the descriptions alone, but trust us when we say the actual dishes are far better than what their “Hinge profile” gives away. It may not be fatal attraction, but it will be eternal love and lust at first bite.

We followed our server’s recommendation and ordered the toasted canelé with rum and goat’s milk (£10) – similar in texture to a rum baba, but with the most moreish toasted crust. It was perfectly soaked, just sweet enough, and the goat’s milk was the cherry on top. This biblical piece of cake will live in our minds rent-free for many years.

Next came the poached apricot with stem ginger and amaretto, which sounds like a fairly simple and humble summer dessert designed to cleanse the palate. But the fireworks that followed after tasting every component together were something else entirely – New Year’s Eve in Dubai, times 100. A magnificent surprise, with punchy ginger ice cream, a snappy and sticky sugar shard, beautifully poached apricots and an incredibly soft cream. A foursome made in heaven.

And lastly, how are the drinks?

When it comes to drinks, the Vesper Martini is mandatory, although the negroni did catch our eye too. The wines list is vast and widespread, so we recommended letting the server take the lead. We tried a cold red wine because in a restaurant this trendy, you have to at least pretend you’re on board with the latest fashions (it was absolutely divine and just what the doctor ordered).

Verdict

Jackson clearly knows how to put together a winning flavour team and get every distinct ingredient working together in perfect unison. It’s unexpected, inventive and inspired – and you’d be foolish not to go and experience it at least once. We’d happily return in a heartbeat to work our way through the rest of the menu, and it’s reassuring to see so many others are already on the same boat, with the restaurant causing a stir just weeks after opening. Knowledgeable, confident and refreshingly brilliant.

Key details

Address: 8-10 Exmouth Market London EC1R 4QA

Website: vesper.restaurant

Socials: @vesper.restaurant

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