By Nestled discreetly on one of the four streets that surround Newington Green in Hackney, north-east London, you could easily miss Jolene if you weren't looking for it.
Even once you enter, it feels more like walking into a stylish stranger's house than a restaurant - such is the unusual charm of David Gingell and Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim's latest invention.
In 2014 the duo opened Primeur, a converted motor garage in Canonbury with communal tables and a blackboard of daily specials like confit pork belly with chard, lemon and capers. They followed that hit up last year with Westerns Laundry in Highbury, where the focus shifted slightly from meat to fish (a baked fideo pasta with squid was among the more memorable dishes).
Which brings us to Jolene, which opened last month. This time it's a bakery and restaurant combo, the first of their eateries to offer all-day dining and a spot where neighbourhood locals can drop in for a coffee and leave with a loaf of bread.
"We toyed with doing breakfast when we opened Primeur but I actually think to do it well you need to have a bakery," explains Gingell.
After years of searching for the right spot and waiting for the right moment, the idea has been realised. Jolene also has an on-site mill to make all their bread, pasta and pastries from scratch each day using grains sourced from a farm in Gascony.
A lot of attention is rightly being given to the provenance of our meat, fish and dairy, but there is less awareness of the health and environmental impact of the big agriculture involved in growing grains. Jolene is trying to find a more sustainable solution using produce from France where farmer Andy Cato has found a way of grow chemical-free crops sustainably instead of the soil being turned over so often it is stripped of all nutrients.
The proof is in the pudding (and the bread, and the pasta...), because as well as as being better for the planet and your health, what arrives on your plate isn't the gluten-rich, blandly fluffy fare we associate with bread or pasta, but nutritionally rich alternatives filled with a variety of flavours.
Whereas grains have often been a less exciting filler section of the menu, at Jolene they are the star of the show, with a plate of spelt, courgettes and basil offering combination of simple flavours and high quality ingredients that appear easy but you know you could never quite recreate at home.
"Our bread recipe itself is very simple. But if just bought bags of whichever French flour, it wouldn’t be the same," Gingell says. "All the work is in the growing of the grains."
While gluten-free dishes are increasingly prevalent, carbohydrates are back on the menu in a big way in London with fresh pasta restaurants like Pastaio and Padella boasting hour long queues. Whether it's puffy croissants at Pophams Bakery or sourdough trimmed with chewy crusts at The Dusty Knuckle, Instagram proves that carbs have a cult following.
"Some people see carbs as an evil but it's because they’ve sort of been abused," Gingell says, arguing that that if you prioritise quality over quantity there's nothing wrong about eating a bowl of pasta or slice of sourdough.
Come by Jolene for breakfast, and you can take a seat along the bar piled with palmiers and sausage rolls or sit at one of the communal tables and start the morning with jamon, fried egg and roast potato - incidentally, their most popular dish.
Though avocado on toast obsessives will be disappointed to find it missing from the menu, instead breakfast is genuinely adventurous. "You can't build your own," Gingell laughs. "This is still a restaurant, even though it's breakfast."
Lunch comes on at midday and, as you'll see from the handwritten menu uploaded daily to their Instagram page, includes dishes like pumpkin soup or a roast chicken, gem and anchovy salad. There's also a small courtyard, should you be sensible enough to turn up a little before dinner.
Don't leave without a slice of the chocolate cake - a dish that belies its bland title and a loving take on River Cafe's infamous chocolate nemesis, with the addition of salted French butter.
It's a refreshing to find a restaurant like this in London that you don't have to queue for an hour outside of or wait for in the pub across the road having left your name on a list. Though they do try an accommodate walk-ins, as with their other restaurants, you can book every meal on offer at Jolene. "A lot of people with kids need to know you’ll be able to get in somewhere rather than wait in the rain," Gingell says, wisely.
His formula for creating a great restaurant?
"Good food, nice lighting, good wine, relaxed service. If we get that right it should be a good thing," Gingell says. Consider it four out of four.
Jolene, 21 Newington Green, N16 9PU
