Caravan King's Cross

Exmouth Market was a very popular market to be at for delicious food with the likes of Moro, Morito and the first Caravan which was always full and almost impossible to get a reservation. Finally they opened up a more spacious restaurant in Kings Cross at the Granary Square where the new Central St Martins is. The day I was meeting up some friends for dinner here was the day it decided to rain so heavily that even an umbrella was not of much use. Well, lucky it is so close to the station, it only took a short few minutes of walk through some building sites and across the little bridge across the river and into the square. There were 1,000 choreographed and individually lit water fountains that hop and pop, spray and gush with rhythm and hues of changing lights. It was a spectacularly beautiful scene especially in the dark.

As soon as I got in to the restaurant, I was shown to my table very quickly. The service was prompt and friendly. While drying out myself and waiting for the girls, I got myself the tea cocktail which was a really good drink to start off a Friday evening. As I waited and waited, I realised something was wrong after over half an hour of wait from when she texted me her arrival at the station. Oh great both of them were lost!! Well, separately lost. They headed towards the wrong way cause the iPhone map told them to! And there I was, sat inside away from the rain wondering how a five minutes walk took them forever!! So if you're looking for this place on your map, don't use the iPhone map! If you are using the Google map, type in Caravan Kings Cross, not just Caravan cause that will take you to Exmouth Market! You think it will be smarter to pin the closest Caravan when one is outside Kings Cross station!! Why would anyone get off at Kings Cross and want to walk to Exmouth Market when there is Caravan just 5 minutes away! So well, one of them finally found her way after over an hour with her jeans wet up till her thighs!! Poor thing. And the other was too hungry and tired that she decided to go home instead. Seemed like it wasn't a TGIF for her after all.

And because the restaurant had the next booking coming in soon that needed the spacious table we had initially, we were moved to a table next to the open kitchen which we didn't mind at all. Lucky I ordered some flat bread to keep my tummy from rumbling through the long wait.

Curried onion flat bread, yoghurt, coriander and nigella seeds was crispy and delicious.

Grilled asparagus with chilli corn salsa and tomato jam

Grilled prawns, csabai sausage, piquillo peppers was a rather small, small plate but had the sweetness of the well cooked prawns with the spicy paprika Hungarian sausage and peppers.

I thought the 'scallop carpaccio with grapefruit, ginger, jalapeno and spiced pop corn' was quite weak as a dish.

It was unsure of what it was supposed to be, with the soft almost tasteless popcorns plonked on the plate. I would prefer it to be simpler with just the scallops, grapefruit and coriander leaves so the beautiful scallops could shine through.

Poached peaches, meringue, raspberry sorbet

Roasted peached, meringue, raspberry sorbet

The roasted peach dessert was good and refreshing but it was no peanut butter parfait. We really wanted the apparently very sinfully indulgent dessert of peanut butter parfait with strawberry jelly to end our meal but they ran out!! It must have been so good that it was sold out so soon but they could have made more. The way it was described to us gave me the urge to return the next day just to satisfy the peanut butter parfait craving. Too bad I did not live close enough to be able to do that. On my next visit, I make sure they reserve that naughty dessert until I finish my meal.

Smile..

Prompt service, friendly staff, good food, good cocktails, nice location.

Frown..

Portions are pretty small even for a small plate. Some good and not so good dishes. Also, who runs out of their best dessert half way through the second dinner service?

Will I return?

Yes, and they serve brunch too.

Granary Building, 1 Granary Square
N1C 4AA London, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7101 7661

Closest station: King's Cross (northern, piccadilly)