Itchy plays with their food at Cruse 9

If you ever get left in the cold for over an hour, you better hope that you're in Islington and the person you're waiting for is taking you to Cruse 9; possibly the only place we can think of that would lift your mood and relieve your frozen everything.

On an assuming side street (Halliford Street) off Essex Road, it's easy to overlook Cruse 9 and succumb to the lazy voice inside your head that would happily settle for any old chain restaurant within stepping distance of Angle station. This however, would be a massive gluttonous mistake.

They say that last minute nights out are always the best, as you have no expectations of how good your night will be. This could be said of Cruse 9. Not that we visited on a last minute whim, but we certainly had no idea what to expect, and were much more than incredibly surprised – and satisfied.

The adventurous twists are what really make Cruse 9 stand out. When a plate of bread was brought to our table we could have easily inhaled the whole basket without it barely touching our taste buds... yes, we were that hungry. But when we were told that this was no ordinary bread (que the voice of the Marks and Spenser's woman) but white chocolate and chili bread accompanied by herb pesto, we took a moment to ignore the pangs of hunger and savour what was placed before us – something we found ourselves doing all night.

From the monk fish with sweet fruit and nut jam to the pork tenderloin with apricot stuffing and coconut risotto; we were taken back by just about everything – especially the dessert. It was almost impossible to choose. Even if you're not a massive fan of ice cream you can't help but wonder if the stilton ice cream would taste anything like its cheesy original...

If you want to know what eating spoonfuls of cheese would taste like, then order the stilton ice cream. Thinking this couldn't really be topped, we glanced at the 5-scoop selection, and were told that this was a mystery dessert to share...

Five scoops of mystery flavoured ice cream. And if you guess right, it's taken off the bill... Never one to back down from a challenge, Itchy ordered, and took a guess at:

ginger
mushroom
banana and vanilla
nutmeg and cardamon
celery

We're not saying if we were right or not. You'll have to go and taste it for yourself.

For more information visit: www.cruse9.com

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