Bones

House hunting is hungry work. Whilst we're almost over the final hurdle (you wouldn't believe how stressful - and expensive - this past week has been), last Thursday saw the end of solo viewing as A was back from holidays. Off we traipsed to Clapton to view a place that inevitably wasn't quite right so we declared ourselves done for the day and headed off to meet a friend for uni and to commiserate.

We ended up at Bones - a newish opening on Kingsland Road. Its name suggests a whole manner of predictable Americana with ribs aplenty but the menu pleasingly describes itself as 'Modern European' instead. I'm all for a dirty burger (many forays into MeatMission and BRGR.Co have been well documented) but I'm a little over the underwhelming shouting of meat everything.

So we rocked up and were seated at one of the crazily tight booths above that even the most familiar of friends like us found a bit of a squeeze. Nevertheless, we pored over the menu and ordered the sourdough bread to sate our hunger whilst I was on her way. We also decided what we were all going to have during this wait - you snooze, you lose after all.

Rather than opting for a main each (of which there are six such as a whole roast chicken for two, or seabass for one) we went for the small plates to dig in and share starting with the breaded crab claws with chipotle mayo. As a recent convert to crab, I was a little nervous but the meat was juicy and tasty and slipped off the bone.

Plates came out as and when, as is the oh-so-easy on the kitchen trend at the moment, so picking was definitely the order of the day. The burrata with garlic pesto on sourdough was always going to be a must-order and was nice enough, the baby gnocchi with courgette spaghetti and chorizo was tasty but could have done with a bit of an extra kick of heat from both chilli and the oven, and the aubergine with feta and pomegranate would have been divine if the aubergine wasn't cold and soggy - instead a quick flash under the grill would have kept a nice bit of bite. I'm going through a mac and cheese moment so naturally had to order their version with leeks (nice and cheesy but not as tasty as The Advisory's version with blue cheese folded in), accompanied by fries and crispy kale.

Everything was great on paper and I really wanted to love everything but the finesse wasn't quite there on the dishes. Don't get me wrong, we polished everything off and left pleasantly full but it wasn't as fulfilling as Licky Chops, say. We did, however, stay until they were almost throwing us out because you just can't leave when I's telling you a story about how she hiked up Mount Bator in leather shorts with a clutch bag, can you?

Three and a half out of five for Bones.