Mountain and what it means to reach the top
Since Tomos Parry first came onto my radar with the arrival of Brat back in 2018, I’ve followed his team’s journey with a fierce pride to which only Welsh people can relate. When we come across our own, we support our own. A keen frequenter of Brat and Climpson’s Arch, I’d even gone so far as to order one of Brat’s burnt cheesecakes in celebration of St David’s Day. Here was a chef putting Wales on the map; from the Welsh ingredients and techniques in Brat’s kitchen to the Welsh language on its menu. So, on hearing Parry and the Super 8 team were set to open a new restaurant in Soho, I booked a table as soon as I could.
Named Mountain as an ode to the mar y montaña cuisine across the Balearics, the Basque Country and, of course, Wales that serves as its inspiration, the restaurant itself is a thing of beauty. With just one quick scan of the ground floor dining room, it’s telling how much care and craftsmanship has gone into the making of the space. Light-filled and adorned with wine bottles and posters, wooden tables and chairs, candles and orb lighting, there’s an immediate warmth and homeliness to it. Towards the back of the room, the vast open kitchen draws your eye to its movement, a mighty, magnificent grill taking centre stage and a Gozney by its side. Heading downstairs, a dimmer, moodier setting kicks in, where the dining room’s intimate booths cradle around a bar decked with turntables and records where guests can perch for a pre or post dinner drink. Another Gozney sits in the corner of the room.
Observing members of the team at work, they move around with a precision in their tasks and a quiet confidence in their skill. A briefing takes place just behind me in which everyone huddles together with an intense concentration, the passion for what they’re all doing here pervades. Each interaction I had with the team embodied that same sentiment.
Onto Mountain’s menu, it’s broken down simply into small plates to start, grilled fish and meat, sides and dessert, all designed to be shared. Tucking into thick chunks of bread, baked in the restaurant’s wood oven, still warm and slathered with a blend of two butters from Cardigan, I was already the cat that got the cream. Mallorcan sobrassada grilled with honey and served on small squares of bread was a delight. Smoked, smooth and sweet – this first dish was devoured in an instant. Fresh stracciatella, also made on site oozed beneath raw prawns from Anglesey. A superb combination. Each bite of the spider crab omelette was a silkier, more buttery moment of bliss than the last.
We’d been engrossed in the preparation of our Jersey beef rib at the grill before it arrived at the table. An enormous amount of meat to share between two, I was somewhat daunted but more so delighted. Packed with so much flavour from the combination of marbling, seasoning and cooking, it was a sublime display of the kitchen’s expertise. A plate of smoked potatoes served as the perfect accompaniment. Never normally one to pass on dessert, I was ashamed to do so on this occasion. Desperate to try the ensaimada but defeated by all that had come before, I vowed to revisit as soon as possible for a seat at the counter and a taste of that dessert alone.
My first lunch at Mountain was one I’ll remember for a long, long time, with a fondness for the meal itself and an admiration for what the Super 8 team has achieved yet again. While looking at Parry’s Instagram posts to dig into more details about the restaurant, I spot a Welsh phrase he’d used in relation to the opening of Mountain: ‘i fyny y mynydd awn i’. Translating to ‘up the mountain we’ll go’, I’d say the team is already well on its way to the top.
