King's Cross has been totally transformed in the past couple of years: it's gone from being one of the worst stations in London to the best, with plenty of stores, restaurants, cafés and bars housed in a 19th century listed building brought to life with 21st century modern architecture. The nearby Lewis Cubitt Square is the new home of Central St Martin's and has a pop-up market space, hosting concerts, cinema screenings (and streaming Wimbledon during the summer) and colourful fountains. One of the new restaurants in the area is Drake & Morgan situated between King's Cross and St Pancras and the giant neon birdcage designed by French artist Jacques Rival.
Drake & Morgan is one of those cool day-to-night places which is filled with breakfast, coffee and lunch meetings in the day, people having a quick cocktail before catching their trains in the evenings and crowds from the nearby offices having post-work drinks and casual dinners. It has a buzzy atmosphere and serves grilled British dishes from land and sea alongside bar nibbles, salads and small sharing plates from the simple a la carte menu. To start we shared the delicious whipped ricotta served with parmesan, capers and toasted herb flatbread and warm ham croquettes. For mains, I had the tuna with cippolini, leek and a little too much soy, ginger and garlic with buttered wilted spinach as a side whilst my boyfriend had the sirloin steak with truffle fries topped with rosemary and parmesan. The portion size are decent so we were pretty full, but the table next to us ordered the warm cinnamon doughnuts served with toasted hazelnuts, caramel and clotted cream and our charming waiter twisted our arms. They were outrageously good. We drank a bottle of Source Gabriel rosé from Cotes de Provence and stayed until last orders to finish a lovely, chilled Thursday night. Next time you're in the area allow a little extra time to stop by, and order the doughnuts...
Drake & Morgan at King's Cross, 6 Pancras Square, 6 King's Blvd N1C 4AG
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