london
Jolene
• Modern European• Newington Green
About the restaurant
Jolene is the third venture from Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim and chef David Gingell, and follows Primeur and Westerns Laundry in Canonbury and Highbury.
The restaurant’s chic dining room is right on the Newington Green roundabout, with views out of its large windows onto the green space. While it’s a restaurant in its own right, it’s always popular with the brunch crowd, who come to sample its house-made croissants and bread made with flour milled from heritage grains.
Small plates are the order of the day here, from plates of eggs in the morning to modern British dishes at dinner. There’s a perceptible French and Italian influence to some dishes on the menu, which changes so often you’ll need to follow the restaurant’s Instagram rather than looking on the website for an up-to-date list of dishes. As you’d expect, the desserts tend to be very good.
Reviews from the Web
Critic reviews
The Infatuation
Jolene is what happens when a sourdough starter is fed with natural wine and stored in an old Aesop bottle. Because from several little slightly overpriced things, does one big slightly overpriced thing grow. And you know what? We like it.
The Guardian
In actual fact, Jolene is a great date restaurant. Service is immaculate and, being in the spacious converted bottom floor of a three-storey block of flats, the tables aren’t cramped.
Standard
Here, cabbage and bacon is cooked into a salty, honking mass. Plump, purchasable loaves of pain de Naroques lurk on the counter. Fruit-enriched meat sauces fill out a colour chart of deep, glossy browns.
The Telegraph
A changing list of dishes is written up on a blackboard, the wines are natural. The pastries are as good as any I’ve had in London, especially a pain au chocolat of pure butter and flakiness and chocolate.
Time Out
Jolene is a supremely beautiful restaurant in a quiet spot opposite the park in Newington Green. Everything about it evokes romance.
The Nudge
Come the afternoon/evening, there are more complex (and less carby) dishes on offer using British-farmed ingredients. They rotate daily, but you can expect starters like pappardelle with beef cheek ragu, or spelt with courgette & basil. Going larger, there’s grilled cod on the bone with olives & artichokes; a whopping 1kg T-bone with parmesan and rocket; and 1/2 a roast chicken with aioli & breadcrumbs.
- 21 Newington Green, Mayville Estate
- N16 9PU
- London
- +44 20 3887 2309
- Visit website
