Top Jaw's Jesse Burgess reviews Cinder in Belsize Village

Open-fire cooking is an extractor-challenging trend gradually engulfing London. A once novel USP is now becoming a buzz term, sometimes greeted with a roll of the eyes. However, when done properly, it’s truly fantastic.

Us Brits aren’t blessed with the ability to plan a barbecue any further in advance than say 48 hours, so to find smoky charred flavours in more restaurants is something I can really get behind. Hackney’s Acme Fire Cult, Poland Street’s Firebird and the Jerusalem-inspired Coal Office are all delectable examples of open-fire cooking done right. (Yes, I recommend all of them passionately).

For the past few years in north west London at a restaurant named Cinder, Jake Finn has been quietly serving a remarkably solid menu that very few ever seem to speak about – and it’s hard to know why. Perhaps it’s down to Jake’s choice of location, as the cynic in me feels that perhaps he’s being playing this part a bit safe.

However, if you’re going to take on the increasingly terrifying task of opening a restaurant, it’s understandable that steps may be taken to mitigate risk. I mean, you need balls the size of space hoppers to follow Fallow’s playbook of restaurant openings, for example. The well-known sustainable restaurant started with a 90-cover site on the rather cursed Haymarket followed by a 500-cover space in Canary Wharf. They’re seriously bold moves.

Presumably Jake has much smaller gonads. He decided to take a lease in the relatively unknown but locally loved area of Belsize Village with a whop- ping 14 covers – though he’s capable of doubling this number outside when the weather allows. It’s cosy, unsurprisingly quite often full, and also dangerously close to where I live.

More recently Jake had the sense to open another Cinder, choosing the well-to-do neighbourhood of St John’s Wood. He hoped to replicate the Belsize Park success where a steady stream of local residents, quite happy to part with cash early in the week, can prop up the business. The only small moan is I wish that they’d turn down the lights a bit in this new outpost. Cycle past at night and you’d think they’re performing autopsies in there.

Trigger warning, though: this is a small plates restaurant. For some reason it’s a dining arrangement that’s upsetting many people who quite frankly need to get laid, because at Cinder you really do want to experience as much as possible from its offering.

Cinder’s menu is not exhaustive. Grilled bread with confit garlic tahini and burnt tomato salsa will get some moreish charred flavours in you quick-fast and the triple cooked new potatoes with black lime salt are a crispy and welcome addition to any dish.

“This salmon is surely one of the top 10 dishes in London...”

More importantly, I believe that Cinder is home to one of the top 10 dishes in London: the Cedar plank salmon, which is a marvellous feat of engineering. A generously sized salmon fillet is marinated in soy, citrus and maple syrup for a good time, then placed upon a slab of – bear with me – extremely damp cedar wood. This timber stage, hosting the sweetly marinated salmon, is then shoved within their Josper grill allowing the smoke to do the rest of the work. The retained water evaporates from the sopping cedar as the heat rises, steaming the salmon while it roasts. The result is perhaps the most succulent salmon fillet you will ever eat. It’s topped with pickles that are so good, I’ve known other chefs try to copy them. The sticky marinade caramelises as it bleeds out of the fish, absorbing rich smoke as it crystallises. The fish flakes away packed full of cedar-scented moisture. I don’t know where Jake learned this technique or got this idea from, but to me, this dish alone is worth visiting Cinder for.

Jake Finn’s pedigree is strong, and he’s a man who’s no stranger to ferociously hard work, either, building his career at La Petite Maison, Coya and the Michelin-starred Ritz. None of these are known for cooking on open flame, but perhaps, as a child, Jake was partial to playing with matches. Another dish that draws me back time after time is the sea bass ceviche with cucumber, jalapeño, and coriander – a sharp, tangy, fresh dish which is a welcome break from the juicy, saltier meaty plates.

Visiting Cinder without ordering the chicken thighs is like pressing the open door button on the tube. Some may do it, but it’s moronic. These organic chicken thighs are smoked and roasted above a flame with confit lemon, chilli, and garlic. You may well raise a wallet-conscious eyebrow at the price of £22 for two chicken thighs, but that brow will soon soften and furrow when mouth meets thigh. It’s really the work, skill and equipment that you’re pay- ing for here. At times I’ve reloaded on the chicken dish while I’ve been midway through the first. You may want to do the same.

I have no doubt that Jake’s salmon account manager would be getting a girthy Christmas bonus if Cinder was to open a restaurant in the culinary hot-bed of Soho, but a slice of its charm is baked deeply into its neighbourhood positioning. You get the feeling that none of your fellow diners have travelled particularly far, warmed by a certain pride of having such a special restaurant on the doorstep. But the point is that Cinder is very much worth travelling for – and I’d like it to stay just the way it is.

Read Jesse's review of Kinkally in Fitzrovia...

This feature was taken from the Winter 2024 issue of Gentleman's Journal. Read more about it here...

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