As much as I miss having world-renowned chef Maoz Alonim in Cambridge (I wrote about his previous restaurant here), I know that London – specifically Chapel Market in Islington – is where he’s meant to be. The aptly named Chapel Market Kitchen reflects Alonim’s market-led style – a focus on produce sourced as fresh and local as possible. Add a wonderfully diverse wine list (cleverly described as “unruly”) and this small, vibrant restaurant offers the full food and drink experience.

It’s a sleek, contemporary space with large windows, beautiful artwork and cosy seating areas. The bar is the central hub where guests can watch the chef at work and admire the fresh loaves, oysters on ice and wine bottles on display. The basement kitchen boasts an impressive custom-made grill.

We ordered a procession of dishes from the bar, kitchen and grill. The seafood, vegetable and meat dishes paired well with our bottle of Nanclares y Prieto Dandelion Albariño from Rias Baixas, Spain. Our friendly servers were knowledgeable about the menu and kept our glasses topped up with the bottle stored in the wine bucket next to our table.

From the Things on Toast section, we chose the Sobrasada – a soft-textured, slightly spicy, cured sausage spread on a slice of Fabrique bakery bread and served with guindilla peppers and goat’s cheese from Spain.

Also served with that amazing bread was the Mashed Greens – a mixture of asparagus, broad beans and other green veg zhuzhed up with a big squeeze of lemon.

Fish and seafood dishes included melt-in-the-mouth Cured Kingfish, delightfully salty Tarama (fish roe), Sanlúcar Prawns with blood oranges in a velvety manzanilla sauce, and Red Prawns with a tender texture and sweet, delicate taste.

The Beef Skewer from the kitchen’s bespoke grill was a thing of beauty. It was served with crushed potatoes and two sauces – one buttery and one herby.

We paired a selection of cheeses with two different Niepoort ports and a Zuleta Pedro Ximénez sherry.

Our dinner culminated with Blood Orange Mimosa Jelly in a coupe and an excellent espresso, served in a glass.

Chapel Market Kitchen are still offering £1 oysters on Mondays. I know when I’ll be going next!

Maoz, Tal and the team would love to welcome you! A visit to Chapel Market Kitchen from Cambridge is completely doable. By train, it’s a 20-minute walk from King’s Cross station. We turned our visit into a little getaway so we drove to London and stayed overnight in Stratford, which is only a few tube stops away (nearest station to the restaurant is Angel).

Dinner at Chapel Market Kitchen is based on my experience at my own cost and I did not receive compensation for my review.

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