12:51 is a place I’ve been to a few times for both the tasting menu and the Sunday roast and I am a big big fan. The chef is James Cochran, who you may know from such shows as Great British Menu – a show I watched avidly for years and I was always a fan of James’ food. I remember the first time I went to 12:51 really excitedly texting my parents that I was going to a celebrity chef’s restaurant, and then again when I actually saw him in the kitchen (I’m such a loser). The restaurant is a long narrow space on Upper Street with super fun decor that really matches the menu. This trip was my second time having the tasting menu – the first time was just over a year ago and it was definitely easier to get a reservation back then! This shows you just how good the food is though, especially for what you’re paying – £40 for 5 courses, +£35 wine pairing if you want it!

So, the meal – how was it! We got a bottle of the prosecco to drink, I prefer my prosecco a little drier but my friend Lucy liked it. I got the 5 course taster and Lucy got the 5 course veggie taster. For the most part Lucy’s and my dishes were very similar but with meaty components swapped out for veggie versions. First off we got some soda bread with a yeast butter – this was delicious. The bread was warm and the butter was very savoury and delicious. Off to a great start!

On the meaty menu, they offer 3 options for snacks: buttermilk jerk chicken, spiced lamb kromeski, and feuille de brick with venison tare tare. I’ve had the chicken before and that was absolutely fantastic. Quick side note but James’ chicken is excellent, I remember over lockdown he opened a delivery chicken restaurant called Around the Cluck that I ordered from a lot. Up there with some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Side note over. I ordered the lamb to try something different. This was a square croquette filled with spiced slow cooked lamb and gravy with a dollop of herby mayonnaise. This was gorgeous – so richly flavoured, with a little kick. The crunchy outside and soft inside balanced perfectly.

The first course was a crispy beef croquette, oyster cream and nasturtium. This was also delicious – a very crisp croquette filled with rich, tender beef and pickles. Next up was roast celeriac, remoulade, Douglas fir bacon pieces, pork crackling and egg yolk. This dish balanced so well – the very salty bacon and crackling paired with the earthy celeriac.

Next we had a broth course – mine was smoked bone broth with mussels, artichoke and dulse. This course was very light, but rich on the flavour owing to the bone broth. Next we had the main which was the same for both of us – polenta, leek, kholrabi and roasted hazelnuts. This dish was sooo delicious and sooo rich. The polenta felt so buttery and luxurious, the leeks were buttery, the raw kholrabi really helped to cut through the richness and finally the hazelnuts really rounded the whole dish. I think this was my top dish of the meal – the rich, butteriness and the combinations of very soft and very crisp textures made this a fantastic dish.

Lastly we had our pudding which was caramel custard, rhubarb and shortbread. Flavour-wise this dish was great – sharp rhubarb, creamy almost bitter caramel custard and super buttery shortbread. But, for me, the textures let this dish down a little. The custard was very thin – I was hoping for something a little more luxurious, like a set custard. That would’ve given this dish more substance. I also felt the shortbread was a little hard and not short enough. That being said, it still tasted delicious!

All in all I was very impressed again with 12:51. The menu was really interesting and well thought out, with great flavour and texture combinations in all dishes. It’s even better when you remember all that only costs £40! That being said, Lucy and I did get a little hungry later on and grabbed a roasted camembert from Humble Grape after (but also remember we had dinner at 5:30 and had been drinking wine from 5:30 until 9:30 when we got our camembert – this might explain the hunger…). I really recommend 12:51 – you can get the fine dining experience, really interesting food and great service for a really reasonable price. Their Sunday roast is also absolutely fantastic too – I’ve not had one from 12:51 for well over a year but I remember it being pretty special.

Find them at 107 Upper St, N1 1QN.