This classy bar and restaurant serves both cocktails and pan-Asian cuisine and has a varied and interesting menu to tempt the fashionable media types of Clerkenwell in through its doors.

The Venue
A short walk from either Farringdon or Barbican tube stations, Cicada can be found on St John Street in the middle of bustling Clerkenwell. As you enter the glass doors you’re confronted by a small bar, where people are standing or sitting chattering away with their cocktail of choice in hand. Turn left and you will enter the restaurant, which is slightly larger than the bar. The tables and soft brown leather banquettes are all fairly large and a decent distance away from each other so there’s a nice sense of openness alongside privacy. The lighting is dim and the decor is fairly clean and neutral, with the front wall looking out onto the street and a large mirrored strip running along the back wall above the covered lights.

The Atmosphere
The two things that grab you about Cicada when you sit down in the restaurant are the very low lighting and the noise. If you’re lucky enough to be seated at one of the banquettes then you will need to move right up to the covered lights to be able to see your food properly. Despite its small size and large tables the chatter of the diners more than blots out any music that might be playing. The clientele are generally well-behaved media types from the area and the typical trendy Clerkenwell set, although the atmosphere is welcoming and definitely not intimidating. The staff are very professional and courteous and you are never left unattended for long.

The Food
The menu is small yet nicely varied – there is enough for everyone’s taste whilst not being overwhelmingly baffling. There is also a glossary at the back! Spiciness is the order of the day for nearly all the dishes, even though it does not say so in the foods’ descriptions. Dim sum starters cost about £6.00, and the chicken and shiitake dumplings are pleasantly neutral-tasting with a hint of chilli, with the most prominent flavour being the slightly citrus tang of the soy sauce that they’re drizzled in. The baby pork spare ribs (also about £6.00), which initially explode in your mouth with a very rich warm, almost plummy, flavour, then as they reach the back of your tongue kick back with a mild spiciness.

Mains range from about £9.00 to just under £17.00. The classic aromatic crispy duck with pancakes and plum sauce is a half duck that comes part shredded and part sliced, which raises its appearance above that of most Chinese restaurants. The skin is wonderfully crispy and tasty and the meat is not greasy at all. The plum sauce is not what you’d expect however – it veers away from the usual dark hoi sin and is more like a sweet chilli jam. A smaller dish for those who are not as hungry is the beef fillet with asparagus, which will immediately cast your memory back to barbeques gone by with its lovely coal-fired taste. The sauce that it comes in is again slightly spicy, but it doesn’t overpower the flavour of the meat.

The portions are small enough to comfortably fit in desserts, about £6.00. Sample the warm chocolate pudding, which has a thick liquid centre and actually tastes more like cocoa than chocolate, with barely a hint of sweetness. It comes with a tiny pot of mint ice cream that again lacks that sweetness that you expect when such a dish is set out before you – towards the bottom of the pot it almost began to taste like toothpaste. Alternatively you could try the sticky toffee pudding with vanilla bean ice-cream, two large squares of toffee sponge with thick toffee sauce accompanied by a small scoop of ice cream, in which the vanilla beans are barely discernable. The sponge is actually quite dry and lacks the flavoursome richness that you expect from sticky toffee pudding.

The food is nice and presented attractively on curved rectangular platters with eye-catching garnishes, but some of the dishes don't quite live up to expectations or the price.

The Drink
There are more than 20 cocktails, each at around £6.00, including classics with a twist such as the Champagne Mojito. The wine list is longer and starts at around £14.00 per bottle. If you like your white wine slightly dry but retaining a certain sweetness, try the Gavi di Gavi (about £34.00), which is pleasantly fruity and citric whilst not being overwhelmingly sweet.

The Last Word
Cicada is a pleasant, classy restaurant with a great atmosphere and it’s worth a visit, but a few of the dishes somehow fall a little short of expectations.

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