John Torode first found fame in restaurant circles for his turns on TV before making his mark on the capital’s restaurant scene with soaraway success, Smiths of Smithfield (or SOS to its steak-loving friends). Now, with The LUXE, he’s taken his culinary expertise and injected it with a large shot of music, art and dancing to ensure that it appeals to both Shoreditch’s style-conscious and nearby City slickers in equal measure.

The Venue
The refurbishment of the striking listed building brings a sense of completeness to Spitalfields Market which has enjoyed a spate of openings from quality independent eateries in recent months. And, despite its long overdue (and frequently changed) launch date, it was well worth every drop of sweat, blood and tears that were doubtless shed along the way. The entrance to The LUXE faces out onto Commercial Street and lies directly opposite St. John Bread and Wine, the haunt of nose to tail dining’s denizen Fergus Henderson, whose other restaurant St. John is just a stone’s throw from Smiths of Smithfield.

As is the case for Smiths, the styling of The LUXE was inspired by its location and Spitalfields Market’s former use as a poultry market. A bird theme runs throughout with two enormous bird cages flanking the outdoor covered terrace at the back – one acting as a florist and the other called The KIOSK serving takeaway tea and coffee – and the attention to detail even extends to the coat hooks perched on the walls beside the tables which are fashioned after birds’ feet. During the day, natural light floods into the large rectangular space on the ground floor from the windows running along three sides whilst at night the lights are dimmed and the muted colour palette of dark wooden tables and soft brown leather and burgundy patterned, high-backed banquette seating creates a haven that’s so comfortable it’s hard to tear yourself away. However, the focal point of the ground floor space is the bar which sits solidly in the centre of the room, imbuing some much needed informality to the space which could otherwise seem too vast. More formal dining is catered for on the first floor and an impressive glass lift beside the bar transports diners upstairs whilst lending a sense of occasion.

The Atmosphere
The appeal of Smiths of Smithfield’s approach to socialising certainly isn’t lost on Shoreditch and The City and in fact they’ve ramped it up a notch for The LUXE with a late night bar dedicated to dancing in the basement. On the ground floor however, it’s all attractively low key. You could comfortably roll out of bed, pull on a pair of battered jeans and head over to start working your way through a full fry-up and a detox juice but that said, you could just as easily rock up in a power suit for a slab of a sandwich at lunchtime before returning after work for cocktails with colleagues and feel equally at home. They’ve paid attention to the music too and it’s loud and on-trend enough to ensure that Shoreditch stalwarts such as Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk won’t break out in middle-of-the-road induced hives if they pop in for a bite to eat but never so ear bleedingly so that suits won’t be able to thrash out the finer points of a contract over a working lunch.

The Food
The food menu on the ground floor is refreshingly concise and prevents you having to waste needless time agonising over the options so that you can get on with the real business in hand of enjoying the food. Once you have decided whether you want an all-day breakfast, a sandwich, a salad or a more traditional dish there are a few choices of each. The LUXE All Day Big Breakfast is exceptionally good value at £8 for egg (poached, scrambled or fried), toast, beans, black pudding, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and grilled tomato. At the other end of the spectrum, the porridge with honey, nuts and sultanas is a quick and well priced option at £2.50. The mix and match salads offer a nice approach to lighter dishes – you can pick from Nicoise, Lyonnaise, Cobb or Caesar for £5 and then add grilled chicken or fish for a further £5. The chicken Caesar salad is large and is accompanied by a generously sized warm chicken breast that’s perfectly seared and golden on the outside so that the succulent meat retains all of its flavour. There are plenty of large anchovies and freshly crisped crutons too and the dish is a superb example of how tasty salads can be when they’re prepared well. In fact, the only criticism that can be levelled at the dish is that it’s served with just half a hard boiled egg on the top which begs the question as to why the chef can’t just put on the other half too. Opening a restaurant in a recession isn’t an enviable task but surely it hasn’t come down to rationing boiled eggs?

The pulled pork and coleslaw baguette (£7.50) is so large that even the most ravenous expense account stomach may have to cave in and ask for a doggie bag. The pulled pork is exceptionally tender and cooked traditionally in Coca-Cola so that the soft meat is deliciously sweet too. The homemade coleslaw is rough hewn and creamy and offsets the sweetness of the pork admirably. However, rather disappointingly, the billed baguette is noticeably absent. The pulled pork is instead served between thick slices of white bread with no alternative choice of bread offered which is a shame as even granary bread would provide a slightly rougher texture. The white bread is just too soft to provide the contrast in texture with the filling that’s needed for the sandwich to be truly phenomenal and at a restaurant of this calibre you would expect to see attention paid to even the smallest of details such as this.

The Drink
The range of drinks at The LUXE adds to the ground floor restaurant’s appeal as a stop-off point for refuelling whatever the time of day or night. Milkshakes (chocolate, strawberry, banana, vanilla or nuts) are a really reasonable £2.50 and freshly made smoothies £4.50. The Blackberry Smoothie is served in a large glass and is a refreshing slurp of mint, sweet blackberries and cool yoghurt. The freshly squeezed SOS juice is pricey at £5.50 given that it’s served in a glass that’s the same size as the smoothie but the mix of beetroot, carrot, celery, apple, lemon and ginger is really well balanced and avoids the over-earthiness that some beetroot juice blends suffer from.

The range of alcohol on offer is appealingly diverse too. Alcoholic milkshakes (£7.50) range from the Chocolate Roses Hardshake made with Four Roses Bourbon to the Bramble Cream mixed with Bombay Sapphire gin. The wine is really reasonably priced with white wine starting at £3.25 for a 175ml glass of 2008 El Muro Macabeo hailing from Spain and reds starting at £3.70 for the same sized glass of 2008 Tempranillo, Senorio de Ayanz.

When it comes to the cocktails however, they range from exceptional to decidedly disappointing and in a blind taste test you would be forgiven for venturing that the disappointing offerings had originated from a different venue entirely such is the disparity in quality. The Jasmine (£7.50) is a beautifully well balanced cocktail that’s served simply in a Martini glass with a small twist of lemon rind floating on the surface of the peach hued drink. Bombay Sapphire Gin, Campari and Cointreau are shaken with lemon juice and blended in precise quantities to create a cocktail that’s just the right side of sharp. The Berry Blast Sour (£7) is equally as well made and the ripe raspberries add depth and an attractive deep pink colour to the cocktail that also contains blackberries and Krupnik Honey Vodka shaken with lemon juice and sugar.

The LUXE 75 (£9) is less successful. The combination of Heidsieck Monopole Champagne, Bombay Sapphire Gin and lemon juice is a harsh blend that isn’t offset with enough Chambord to make it palatable. It’s worth avoiding the Many Berry Margarita (£8) too as the name is deceptive to say the least. It would have been more accurate to call it the Much Ice Margarita as the long drink is essentially just a cone of ice that tastes as though it has been lightly drizzled with Tequila 8 Anejo, lime juice and a hint of Chambord. The flavour of the fresh berries it is supposed to contain are indiscernible and lost amid the tower of ice.

The Last Word
The LUXE is a welcome addition to Spitalfields Market and it has the potential to become as much of a destination in Shoreditch as its sister restaurant Smiths of Smithfield is in Farringdon. Whether you’re after a memorable evening meal or are simply feeding a hangover, its soothing surroundings make it an excellent choice in the heart of Spitalfields.

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