ROUGH ONLINE 'MODERN BRUNCH AT CARTE  BLANCHE' 175 Mare St, E8 3RH

Upon entering Carte Blanche, we're struck by the zeitgeist of current London – uber hipster, trendy but most of all, understated. The name may insinuate fine swanky dining however this new Mare Street eatery is anything but. Founded by Le Bun's Andy Taylor, Carte Blanche, which opened in July of this year, continues with the theme of Taylor's passion and theme of French-American cuisine with a US Southwestern twist on Parisian classics.

The entrance follows a narrow bar area which opens up into a larger restaurant with 50 covers in total and an open kitchen for diners to witness the chefs in action. It's Brunch O'clock on a Saturday afternoon with clusters of twenty-somethings discussing the increase of price for avocados due to Brexit and that one time they had to get public transport instead of an Uber, over the backdrop of hardcore 90's rap...welcome to Hackney!

The weekend brunch menu illustrates its Southern American influence. There's Nashville Fried Oysters, Wild Mushroom Sloppy Joe burger and Fried Chicken Caviar Benedict. There's also a daily Dinner menu offering staple American comfort foods such as messy hearty burgers, fried chicken, tacos merged with French inspired foods such as Pomme Puree, Steak Tartare and Foie Gras.

For the larger plates we opted for the chef special, a South Carolina and French fusion style pig's head croquettes with onion hash, fennel and the Fried Chicken and caviar. The pig's head croquettes dish was nothing short of a winner – crispy croquettes with a hot fleshy middle, drenched in a combination of rich beetroot and hollandaise sauce. The fried chicken and caviar was a modern reworked 'eggs benedict'- A chunky battered fried chicken breast with eggs and red onion topped with the most buttery hollandaise sauce which oozed out of the soft brioche bun with each bite. Each of our dishes incorporated Taylor's favourite ingredient...butter, yum!

We also had the pleasure of chatting to Andy Taylor himself, where he kindly offered us some whiskey shots. These guys had their own signature technique where they infused burnt butter into the whisky, placed it in a fridge and with the whiskey resulting in a caramelised butter with zero fat! Impressive!

The artisanal approach and meticulousness of each dish far exceeded my expectations for this place and it's somewhere my guest and I are sure to be regulars.

We also had the pleasure of chatting to Andy Taylor himself, where he kindly offered us some whiskey shots. These guys had their own signature technique where they infused burnt butter into the whisky, placed it in a fridge and with the whiskey resulting in a caramelised butter with zero fat! Impressive!

The artisanal approach and meticulousness of each dish far exceeded my expectations for this place and it's somewhere my guest and I are sure to be regulars.