Jugged Hare

British game season has begun and even if you’re planning a city-only visit to London, you can get in on all the delicious action … if you know where to dine. Here’s the low down on a few London restaurants with special game season menus are available now or soon to be offered.

Antico
214 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3TQ
Adding a twist to both Brit and Italian traditions, owner Nick Crispini, and head chef Nicholas Schizas of Italian restaurant, Antico, are serving Italian-style game specials such as roasted pheasant ravioli and wild boar and juniper ragù pappardelle – with one or two specials chalked up on the blackboard at any one time. After dinner, those ordering game are presented with a “Killshot” shooter of Ramazzotti Amaro and Prosecco presented in a glass styled on an empty gun cartridge.

Cinnamon Club
Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BU
From October 17th until the 27th, Vivek Singh, Executive Chef of this modern Indian restaurant set within the terribly English Old Westminster Library near Parliament, will offer his annual and well anticipated Game Tasting Menu. For £60 (roughly $100), guests will enjoy five fabulous courses that include warm salad of slow braised venison cheeks, tandoori breast of grouse and Rajasthani-spiced partridge and corn pie.

The same Game Tasting Menu is available at Singh’s other London restaurants, Cinnamon Kitchen near Liverpool Street Station and Cinnamon Soho off Carnaby Street.

Cinnamon Kitchen, 9 Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL
Cinnamon Soho, 5 Kingly street, W1B 5PF

On now until November, Cinnamon Kitchen is serving tandoori grouse with Rajasthani spices for £28 and Hyderabadi roast oisin red deer with potato fenugreek stir-fry for £32 ($50); while Cinnamon Soho is serving a mixed game pie for a very reasonable £12 ($20).

Clos Maggiore
33 King Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8JD
Considered by many to be one of London’s most romantic spots for a date, French restaurant Clos Maggiore has created an array of game specials to mark the season. With game sourced directly from The Royal Estate in Windsor Great Park, the dishes – cooked up by head chef Marcellin Marc – include the likes of breast of pheasant boudin blanc with warm wild mushrooms, mache salad and game sauce, and pan-roasted fillet of venison served with gratin of swede and chestnut and a sweet and sour cherry sauce. Excellent with a bottle (or two!) of perfectly-paired, full-bodied wine. Clos Maggiore’s game season menu will be available from the 15th to the 28th of October.

Jugged Hare
49 Chiswell Street, EC1Y
A rather new pub with an authentic, old time feel, this is the Jugged Hare’s first game season. Expect grouse, mallard, wild boar, hare, snipe, woodcock and teal, as well as a trio of “Game and Bordeaux Dinners” as well as a series of game masterclasses here and at other pubs in the ETM Group. Game season offers an especially perfect time to try this pub’s eponymous dish. Dating back to the 18th century, the traditional dish involves the delicate art of “jugging” – a cooking process that involves cutting a whole hare into pieces, marinating and cooking together with red wine and juniper berries into a stew then thickened with the hare’s own blood before serving to the table in a tall jug. Wow.

Book your flight to London now for a tasty good time!

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photo: Chris Osburn