This Carnaby Crab Restaurant Is Worth Shelling Out For

Claw Carnaby ★★★★☆

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 73 months ago
This Carnaby Crab Restaurant Is Worth Shelling Out For Claw Carnaby 4

Our visit to Claw is bookended with a brace of disappointments, namely a watery 'Seaside Negroni' from the tap (when will this fad end?*) and a tart, stringy rhubarb crumble**.

Happily, everything else on the menu is cracking. And cracking is the name of the game, in the sort of place where you require a set of tools to break into garlic butter crab claws, to gouge out the unctuous meat. (More food should reward you for dexterity and patience.)

Grilled Colchester oysters and a squid stuffed with kaffir lime pork mince follow on the hearty-tapas-style dinner nicely. The winning double act, though, comes as a complete surprise. We thought we'd seen our last brussels sprout for another 11 months, but this concoction — shredded up with chilli, chestnuts and garlic — is as welcome as the end of January.

Combined with the gooey, crab-flecked mac 'n' cheese, and our feast at Claw has transported us to some other dimension, in which it's always a lip-smacking, Christmassy summer.

*Our fault for ordering it, maybe
**We know rhubarb is tart and stringy. But there are things you can do.

Claw, 21 Kingly Street, W1B 5QA

Last Updated 02 February 2018