Rake at The Compton Arms

REWIND 80 years and the writer George Orwell mused on the perfect pub. In 1946, he wrote an article called The Moon Under Water, in which he listed its ideal attributes.

The pub would sell aspirins and stamps – but not dinner. Instead, it would offer snacks all day: mussels, liver sausage sandwiches, cheese, pickles and large biscuits with caraway seeds.

The Compton Arms in Islington was partly his inspiration: a historic and compact pub tucked away in Compton Avenue.

These days it does serve dinner – and of a very high quality. In fact, the kitchen here has forged a reputation for honing some of the best new talent in the capital during its short-term kitchen residencies. Past pop-ups include Tiella, Belly London and the team behind Four Legs, who went on to open The Plimsoll and Tollington’s, a Spanish fish restaurant inside an old fish and chip shop in Finsbury Park.

The current menu at The Compton Arms is from Rake, a duo of chefs serving what they describe as restorative British fare. Typical dishes might be beer-battered cockles, soused sardines and a beef sirloin with onion rings.

The pub itself is often packed with a good-looking local crowd. It has low ceilings and a warren of small spaces to spill out into: a dining room snug to the left and a back yard out to the right, where customers squeeze onto wooden tables and stools lining side return, decorated with designer tiles and trailing plants.

At the bar, Guinness costs £6.70 a pint and they mix a mean cocktail, from a Salty Dog to Hanky Panky.

We sat down for dinner, starting with their terrific bread and butter. The chefs bake three types: a house bloomer, soda bread and a dinner roll.

The beer-battered cockles and clams (£9) are served in a glass and decorated with fronds of fennel. You get toothpicks to skewer each deep-fried delight – crisp, succulent and highly addictive.

The zippy acidity of the soused sardines (£10) balanced them out nicely: large fresh fillets draped over a tangle of shaved fennel with orange.

We also tried the ray wing tenders (£12), chunks of the fish dunked in seasoned flour then deep fried and served on a crumpet with a dash of hot golden syrup. It was an interesting play of sweet and sour flavours – but a little too salty.

On Arsenal match days, the pub goes big on their trademark hotdogs (£8; gravy another £2).

We loved their chunky chips served with a mellow curry mayonnaise (£5). “Everything a chip should be,” said my friend.

Other main courses on the menu were salsify (an old-fashioned root vegetable) with a Scotch broth, an Arbroath smokey with poached egg and braised squid with ale and potato, all priced around £20.

Our friendly waitress told us to order the treacle tart with clotted cream (£8), which was simply sensational.

Orwell would no doubt have approved.

Rake
The Compton Arms,
4 Compton Avenue, N1 2XD
@rakelondon
@comptonarmsn1
Kitchen closes on Mondays and Tuesdays