Orasay restuarant review: Scottish inspired restaurant that lacks Scottisness

With all the good intentions in place, from farm-sourced ingredients and fresh daily seafood from the Hebrides, unfortunate and unreliable British weather puts a spanner in the works

The muted and natural tones of the well-designed interior make it a warming space

When you think of Scotland, you think of haggis, neeps, tatties, black pudding, rain, seafood, whisky, rain, and Irn-Bru.

Scotland has the world’s best seafood. Go to Spain and the langoustines you eat in your paella would have almost certainly come from Scotland.

Almost all of it is exported to other countries, rather than eaten in Scotland or anywhere else in the UK. It’s like we don’t appreciate Scotland and its riches, or something.

But someone who does appreciate what Scotland has to offer is Jackson Boxer.

And partnered with chef Andrew Clarke (the duo behind St Leonards in east London’s Shoreditch) Orasay is their third restaurant within 10 years, which opened last month in Notting Hill.

It’s Scottish inspired (food only, no kilts or Gaelic) and takes its name from the island in the Outer Hebrides, Orosay.

When I ask Boxer where the Scottish part comes from, he tells me he went there for his holidays as a child and loved it. I avoid looking in the direction of my Scottish partner at this point. I imagine he winced, ever so slightly.

Cockles from the Isle of Barra, topped with smoked ham and a little burnt chilli, strong flavours, but my, they are good

It is unfortunate when we visit that there’s actually a fair amount of Cornish seafood on the menu, which is most certainly a good enough stand in. And that’s all down to storm Gareth.

Sorry, Gareth, but the drastic weather conditions you caused means there’s a lack of actual Scottish seafood on the menu at Orasay (but probably not in Spain…)

Although the oysters are from the River Teign in Devon on the starter-type part of the menu (which is designed to pick a couple of dishes from the two top sections to share and then each pick a main) the menu redeems itself as the cockles are from the Isle of Barra and the scallops descend from the Isle of Mull.

The Tamworth pork chop is an enormous dish considering we've already shared a handful of dishes prior to this

It all begins pretty Scottish-like. The cockles are topped with smoked ham and a little burnt chilli. It does disguise the natural flavour of the cockle, but my it’s a good way to do it, while the oysters are left to do their thing with just a shallot and elderflower champagne dressing.

And then, it goes decidedly Italian. I’m ok with that. I love Italian food. Who doesn’t?

The best dish of the evening is new on tonight (that’s your fault again, I expect, Gaz). A last minute shake up, I expect. It’s buffalo curd, grilled Tropea onions (obviously named after the Tropea region in Italy), and… nduja. One of Italy’s greatest ever inventions, I think. It’s a creamy dish with a warming salami spice and chewy onions topped with slightly toasted hazelnuts. I’d go again just for this.

And I hope the unfortunate weather that brought us this wonder dish means it isn’t just a fleeting stand-in. It’s well worthy of a permanent place on the menu.

The shallot tart with comte cheese and black truffle is a rich and hard to finish main

We also share the Cornish crab (more of the glorious south west there) and pork agnolotti: little packed, rather al dente, parcels of pork in a shallow bath of light, sweet and salty soy sauce with dollops of white crab meat and beans.

Mains lack the same pizazz as the snacks and starters. My Tamworth pork chop is absolutely enormous and feels a little overbearing. The sheer size of it is not relative to the rest of the dishes, and doesn't warrant me having a handful of plates to share prior to this.

It comes with a rich and creamy white bean stew that, after just a few mouthfuls, is too rich.

The shallot tart is much of the same: extremely sweet, rich and, well, tart. The comte and truffle only add to this and make it rather hard to finish and we long for more of the cockles or oysters.

The food overall is of a pretty high standard, although the beginning of the meal is undeniably more worthy, and it’s unfortunate timing thanks to the weather, but it feels like the Scottishness I was expecting has become a little lost on it’s way.

Eight dishes and three drinks without service come to around £120.

Food: ★★★☆☆
Service: ★★★★☆
Value: ★★★☆☆

Orasay, 31 Kensington Park Rd, London W11 2EU: 020 7043 1400; open Tues-Sun; orasay.london