Michael Nadra Primrose Hill

This restaurant thinks it’s so fancy it doesn’t need to bother with customer service.
I’ve lived in the area for 6 months and had no idea of its existence; my dad found it online looking for somewhere to eat near me. My initial impressions were favourable — it seemed sophisticated and understated. Looking at the menu, I was a bit lukewarm, but that’s probably more to do with my fussiness than the items on offer. Still, as someone mentions below, on the prix fixe menu about half the dishes seem to come with an additional cost — seriously, what’s the point?
My starter wasn’t bad, though they had run out of one of the ingredients so had to replace it. My main, however, was severely underseasoned. I actually tend to underdo salt, but even I noticed it lacking — and of course, being suuuuuch a gourmet place, they don’t provide things like salt on the table because of course the chef got it right.
I don’t think I would have particularly minded if it hadn’t taken such a ridiculously long time to arrive. My dad booked the table for 8.30, and was pressured on the phone to order as soon as we sat down as the last orders were at 9 (on a Sunday). We therefore were prepared to do so, being well-​behaved patrons — but it was 15 minutes before we even got menus. We ordered as soon as the waiter would allow us, being rather hungry as well as aware of the kitchen’s orders, and then waited about 45 minutes for the starters to come out. Following that, it was almost another hour for the mains. I’m pretty sure we would have stayed for dessert or coffee had it not been close to 11 by the time we put our knives and forks together — but as it was we were tired and pretty much done with the place.
Adding insult to injury, there were only about 5 other tables with people at them — the restaurant was far from at capacity and even if they only had limited staff on a Sunday evening, it was completely baffling that they were unable to cope at this level.

It’s great if you like the «minimalist» gourmet type of kitchen. I had «Tuna tartare & salmon ceviche with chilli pickled cucumber, shiso leaves & salmon crackling» as a starter, it came nicely decorated, the flavours combined well but it was really tiny. For a main I’ve ordered «Saffron tagliolini with grilled manouri chesse, french asparagus, kale & morel mushroom sauce», again quite small a portion for a hungry person. The dish was nicely garnished, the kale was very well prepared, the asparagus was bright green and crispy, but the tagliolini looked and tasted a bit like noodles. To cut the story short, if you are hungry you will need the 3 coarse menu plus lots of bread and butter (both gorgeous) plus 55£ per person (including the drinks and the service). The service was good. I liked the ambience, especially the music, as well. Not appropriate for kids. And there is no GSM connection in the basement so if you cannot do without your phone make sure you book a place on the ground floor.

«Meh» is about the best word I can come up with to describe this place.
I was quite excited to have dinner here, having read all about Michael Nadra’s provenance on the restaurant’s website and previewed the menu online.
Some of the dishes on the menu sounded really rather good (despite no obvious common theme to the food) and I ended up having to make some tough choices for both my starter and main course — not at all a bad thing! There is either a ²⁄₃ course pre-​fixe menu (£30/​36 per head) or a 6 course tasting menu (£55 per head). We opted for the ²⁄₃ course which seemed to be of reasonable value, but did include a fair number of dishes for which a supplemental charge of up to £5 was levied. This is always a point of irritation for me on a prix-​fixe but since I was on a rare visit home and with friends I didn’t let it bother me. We ordered our meals along with a carafe each of the house red and white wines (this was basically a half bottle and I thought that offering this size on many of the wines on their list was a nice touch).
Then the food came and I entered a world of extreme blandness. Imagine a beige world with beige trees and a beige sky in which everyone wears beige and has beige cars and paints their house beige. If I had not been able to see the food, guess what colour I would have guessed it to be…
For a starter, I had «Confit duck ravioli with grilled duck hearts, swiss chard, sage & parmesan velouté». This dish should have been packed full of flavour — rich and powerful and gamey. Instead, I got some (decently made) ravioli with a filling that, in this instance, actually was beige! Certainly not the colour of duck. Or the flavour (mainly due to a lack of much flavour at all). The small slices of grilled duck heart sprinkled around the dish did help to bring it back from the brink of tastelessness, but only once the soupy cream sauce (the parmesan velouté?) had been washed away from them in your mouth. Top marks for innovation, not so much for execution (though presentation was good).
For a main, I had «Grilled rump of lamb, sautéed sweetbreads & braised neck with ratatouille, flat beans & rosemary jus». Let’s dissect this bit by bit. The rump was cooked very nicely but was VERY fatty (~25% of the thickness was fat) and was surprisingly lacking in flavour (there’s that phrase again). Yes, lamb is a naturally fatty meat but a restaurant like this should be able to do a better job picking its cuts. And besides, lamb, when done right, is a truly wonderful thing. How they managed to make it bland I will never know. The sweetbreads were also very nicely cooked but had been rolled in so much garlic powder that they were actually mildly offensive. The neck had decent flavour but was greasy. The sides were all well cooked and tasty. Somehow, the dish just failed to come together as one. A little more care with seasoning and flavourings and a little more thought into how to bring all of the elements together could have transformed this from a nice looking plate of food with some good technical skill on display to a real gem of a dish.
Desert was much more impressive than either of its predecessors, being both well conceived and well executed. I could have had seconds!
Overall, I was somewhat underwhelmed with my meal and at £55/​head (including unremarkable wine and a service charge of 19%(!) that was optional but conveniently added for you), I’d say that there are far more exciting, better value options in the area. Unless, of course, you really like beige.

Great food — presentation, flavours and creativity but the place has no ambience, and the staff wasn’t particularly friendly or personal in the way they approached us. Below standards for this price range, even though i must stress the quality of the food.

Surprisingly empty for such a nice restaurant. possibly due to its location tucked in a corner and the entrance being in the basement. First, the setting was very classy, the outdoor dining looked good for warmer nights, and the basement (where we sat) was pretty romantic. The service was very good, and the prices were more than reasonable for the quality of food. Portions were generous, and the quality of the food was high. We had the veal, salmon ceviche, scallops, duck salad, and breaded haddock as appetizers, and the steak, sea bass, duck breast, chicken breast, and cod as main dishes. We were way too full after that for desserts, whose menu looked pretty good as well.