13-18 Sidworth Street, London E8 3SD
Chef Benoit Berenger
October 2016

Wringer & Mangle is a beautiful restaurant set in a converted industrial laundry in London Fields, serving up modern British cuisine. On top of a seasonal menu and daily specials they offer “bottomless” brunch on the weekends and roasts on Sunday.

The menu has a good range of solid ideas. Unfortunately, on execution, those ideas flounder with an apparent complete lack of quality control from the kitchen.

Food: 3 / 10

Brussels sprouts, ham hock and mustard dressing
A classic combination that usually comes with lashings of butter to soften the dark greens rather than a mustard dressing. In this variant the sprouts and ham hock had spent an overly long time dry cooking, resulting in a papery and chewy mess that the dressing did little to alleviate.

Sweet potato hash, corn, spinach and egg
A balance between sweet and earthy notes with flourishes of egg and chilli. Unfortunately, poor execution of the flourishes marred an otherwise good dish. The egg was hard poached and the chilli was overused to the point of intruding into the primary flavours.

Rare duck breast, puy lentils, nectarine
On paper a good idea; imagine maillard caramel notes enhanced with the natural sweetness of the nectarine, against a backdrop of light lentils to carry the flavours. In reality, the lentils were muddy, clashing with the nectarine, and the duck, though flavourful in its own right, had none of the right notes to be able to pull this dish together.

21 Day aged sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, cabbage, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower cheese and red wine jus
If one is only going to offer roast mains on a Sunday, one better do them properly. There were some good points; flavourful and succulent beef, a thick and cheesy béchamel and a nice jus. However, the rest was disappointing; the roast potatoes and parsnips were dry, the beef had not been trimmed and was sporting plenty of sinew and the carrots and cauliflower were cooked to bland mush. Overall a very poor showing.

Service: 6 / 10

The service was mixed, with two of the four servers being brilliant, and the other two being incompetent.

Price: Expensive

At around £20 per head (with a drink) the price is right for what one would expect for this sort of restaurant, but far too expensive for what one receives from the kitchen.

In conclusion: Wringer & Mangle is a restaurant to avoid unless they sort out the quality control in the kitchen.