Elephants, famously, never forget, and there’s an excellent chance that if you find yourself inside this top-end Italian spot on the Lower Clapton Road, it will linger similarly long in the memory, too. This is for three main reasons. The first is that its gutsy, well-priced Italian cuisine straddles the sweet spot between neighbourhood restaurant staples of pizza and pasta and something slightly more refined (although not remotely affected).
The second is the quirky, bohemian-ised décor, set inside a former pub, where every print and poster on the wall has an elephant theme, which sounds silly but in practice works superbly, even as you gaze up at a vast skylight salvaged from a former cinema. And the third is the manager and wine supremo Elleisha Riley, who ensures that everyone, but everyone, who comes here will have a good time.
Elleisha is an interestingly down-to-earth and unaffected character. A former social worker who was also an aficionado of food and drink, she set up this restaurant in order to cater to people like her; in other words, the sort of diners who know a bit about wine and like eating out, but want to be educated.
We very much put ourselves in her capable hands, and are swiftly glad we did when a couple of top-notch cocktails arrive in the form of a spicy margarita and a pineapple-infused number; it’s a fine kick-off to a meal that doesn’t seek to reinvent dining out, but does what it’s supposed to do exceptionally well.
We put ourselves in Elleisha’s hands, and are swiftly glad that we have done so. A recommendation of ox cheek croquettes and squid skewer for starters both work exceptionally well; the croquettes have a rich, unctuous quality, while the skewer, which comes complete with friggitelli peppers and salsa verde, has a surprising lightness that means that we could eat several more.
No fear, however; we’re instructed – literally, instructed – to order a perfect pasta dish of paccheri with stracciatella, tomatoes and basil, that comes tasting like it’s just come from Naples that very day. We’re tempted by a pizza, but instead it’s time to have a sharing plate of the rib-eye steak, which comes served rare and festooned with a green salad for health purposes. But this fine cut of meat isn’t the kind of thing one shies away from. This is serious cooking, done with flair.
What of the wine, I hear you ask? It’s very simple. Elleisha recommends a bottle of white, the I Borboni ‘Vulpis’ Falanghina. It’s very good indeed, the perfect match for meat, fish and pasta alike. We enjoy the bottle. We order another glass, and then another. In consequence, by the time that a sharing tiramisu arrives, we’re in happily relaxed mode, ready to partake of a pudding that’s every bit as good as everything else we eat.
This Elephant isn’t a white or pink one – although if you consume enough cocktails, you may see the latter flying around your eyes – but a top-notch local spot that might persuade more than a few curious diners to head to Hackney and see what’s what. Chances are they won’t be disappointed.
Elephant, 43 Lower Clapton Road, Hackney E5 0NS. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.elephanthackney.com.
