CIRCA
Intriguing plates of food in intimate surroundings. Harriet Noble visits this tucked away gem of a restaurant
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here is more than a whiff of Paris about Circa. In the dream we all have of the perfect weekend getaway in France’s capital, this is the impossibly romantic bistro that you stumble across with your other half and stay in until closing time. The simplicity of the décor – dark walls, wooden floors, flickering candles and minimalist artwork – and welcoming intimacy of the surroundings makes your shoulders drop a good few inches such are the calm and cosy vibes. If you’ve not been before, Circa opened back in May 2015 and is owned by Rob Weeks and James Waddington. Rob has been head chef since August 2017. It started out as more of a steak house but Rob’s been redefining what the restaurant does since cheffing there, moving towards developing a menu focussed on provenance, culminating in the launch of their tasting
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menu after lockdown. A lot of what you eat here is made in-house, from the bread to the vinegar, and Rob is known for experimenting with different techniques, which means the menu is always an intriguing read. During the last year they’ve converted the upstairs area, which was a live music venue, to a shop where they now sell their homemade food plus produce from local makers. Apparently, Rob had no cheffing experience before he was cooking at Circa which is astonishing because the food here is exceptional. It’s also, and this goes for everything about this restaurant, very well-thoughtout. From the careful crafting of the menu to the wine pairings, to the general hum of the place, you can feel that someone has really thought about the customer experience from beginning to end. That may sound like an obvious thing to say but it’s not the case in a lot of restaurants. The number of times I’ve sat in a restaurant
