Last Updated on March 27, 2025
A refined addition to Stratford Cross
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Templar is the sister restaurant of Dark Horse, established nearby in Stratford’s Chobham Manor segment of the former London 2012 Olympic Park. South of here, towards the stadium, Templar, serving a modern European menu, joins the growing cultural quarter of restaurants, exhibition spaces and performance venues.
In contrast to the hyper-stimulating giant LED screens of Westfield Stratford, there was a noticeably calmer atmosphere after crossing Westfield Avenue. Templar sits under a tall modern glass block yet manages to (almost) cultivate the atmosphere of a high street bistro. The space is far smaller than the nearby cavernous Hera, I doubt more than 50 could be seated here, and if they did, a proportion would be perched on the bar stools. Our welcome was warm and friendly; the space was maybe half full on an early Saturday night.
We began sharing half a dozen Carlingford Oysters and speculated on how many oysters a small venue like this might order per day. Whilst discussing how the oysters had been shipped from Ireland rather than nearby Essex or Kent, we were delighted by their quality and that they’d been loosened from their shells making them slip down all the more easily. We would not normally choose oysters unless holidaying near the oyster beds but these tasted perfectly of the sea and were as good as ones we would enjoy on a French harbourside.
For opening drinks, I had a deep fruity Cherry Manhattan cocktail whilst the husband had a glass of Vila Nova Vinho Verde Rosé. Wine by the glass at Templar starts at a very reasonable £5.50. There are over a dozen choices each of white and red by the bottle housed in a glass box “cellar” space looking over the mezzanine onto the restaurant. On the red side of the wine list, you might splash out as much as £110 on a 2018 Barolo or a much more modest £28 for some Spanish Campo De Borja 2022.
Next, we had a dish of crispy polenta fries scattered with 24-month aged Parmesan (£9). I’m not entirely sure of the current cornmeal vs potato prices; however, pricing these nearly double that of standard fries felt like plucking a figure from the air. They were a bit too skinny, meaning you lost the polenta texture you get in the fat ones from Pizza Express. We might as well have had the fries for £5.
Seabass Crudo (£14) was a pretty fresh-tasting dish with a generous amount of cured white fish. My husband couldn’t cope with the miniature balls of cucumber rolling around, but I enjoyed the presentation and texture.
Although Templar refers to small plates on their website, we liked that the menu was sensibly divided into things you might share or choose as a starter or eat yourself as a main. That said, their grass-fed Sirloin steak is 500g and at £60, advised as being for two.
Without me helping him devour one of those, my husband ordered the still generously sized, at 350g, Charred Black Pig Chop (£25) in a cider and pepper sauce. It’s an in-joke that I deprive him of meat in quantities he might otherwise eat, and his eyes lit up on the arrival of the pork. He liked the crisp crackling around the edge and how it had been cooked in one piece but sliced into a fan of meaty tendrils. The sauce was theatrically poured by the server at the table, working its way into every crevice.
To go with our main course choices, we each had a small glass of organic Montresor Corvina Italian red (£6.50). This isn’t one of the options listed by the glass on Templar’s website wine list, so they may mix and match by-the-glass wines a little. It was a light, easy-to-drink red, matching both the pork and my truffle pasta pleasingly.
The truffle ravioli was formed in triangles with buttery sauce. The pasta had a bite that reassured me these were recently hand-made, whether that’s in-house, I don’t know. In a three-course menu or by itself for lunch, this dish was the right size. Alongside we’d ordered a Cornish leaves salad (£5) and Broccoli with Confit Garlic and Chilli (£7). The salad leaves were good quality, not fobbed off with stuff from a plastic bag, although mostly the tickly spindly variety. Rather, I’d prefer thick wavy leaves of lettuce coated with blobs of vinaigrette, but the broccoli certainly salvaged the side dish stakes. Bright green, soft but not overcooked florets with melt-in-the-mouth slices of delicious confit garlic. I made sure none of these escaped uneaten!
This was not the kind of meal where you roll home, and we certainly had space for dessert at Templar. At this point, I was surprised that my Salted Caramel Espresso Martini (£12.50) arrived well before my dessert when I’d intended for it to come after, but perhaps I didn’t make that clear. This cocktail wasn’t excessively sweet, rather, it was a well-presented espresso martini with subtle caramel flavour notes instead of sickly Bailey’s territory. More peculiar, though, was my husband’s dessert arriving maybe ten minutes before mine. Oh well, at least I had my martini to enjoy whilst I waited. And the wait, happily, was worth it.
My dessert of Mandarin Semi Freddo with Blood Orange and Gin Jelly (£10) was essentially a glass tumbler of jelly and ice cream but tasted zingy even without the Love Hearts sweeties that had been delivered with the espresso martini. One might imagine a French brasserie having a fridge full of these already assembled for the night. So why the long wait? Maybe it was assembled to order but even that doesn’t explain the time taken. It was delicious with the moussey texture of the semi-freddo coating the glossy pebbles of boozy jelly and deep red citrus segments. Not to be confused with kids’ trifle, this was a memorable dessert to dream about afterwards.
The husband had already hoovered up his melting chocolate pudding and ice cream whilst I waited for my dessert. The bright scattering of green pistachio dust was greener than Shrek.
Whilst the bill was, for us at least, in the bracket of “anniversary dinner prices”, we enjoyed everything we tried and had a lovely evening. The atmosphere at Templar feels refined without being stuffy; it would work as a date venue or pre-theatre/cinema dinner and is a respectable addition to the various upscale non-chain restaurants proliferating around the edge of Westfield’s pedestrian offering.
Templar
5 Redman Place
Stratford Cross
London E20 1JQ
Templar has been open since late February. Other new restaurants we are excited about include:
Agrodolce
The celebrated Roman restaurant close to the Trevi Fountain has recently opened a London outpost in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia. Mirroring its Roman counterpart, the restaurant will showcase the art of handmade pasta and food “fatta con amore” – which translates to “made with love”. Expect Agrodolce’s menu highlights to include bruschetta, homemade tonnarelli with saffron cream and prawn tartare and strawberry pannacotta.
Agrodolce
67 Charlotte Street
London W1T 4PH
Bluebird City
Opening in late March, Bluebird City will be a partner restaurant to the Kings Road stalwart. As well as classic Chelsea favourites such as duck salad, Bluebird City will bring an all-day dining experience making use of seasonal British ingredients. An outdoor terrace will include large blue umbrellas, planters and private cabana spaces.
Bluebird City
3 South Place
London EC2M 2AF
Ara
Further into spring, we anticipate a late April/early May launch for Ara in East London. This third venue by chef patron, Murat Kilic will bring a melting pot of global flavours without borders to the vibrant Aldgate East area. Hero dishes are set to include blackened leeks with muhammara and XO sauce, slow-cooked short rib with date demi-glaze and mussels skewers with roasted chicken wings in butter sauce.
Ara Restaurant
1 New Drum Street
London E1 7AY
The Three Gorges
Also recently opened during March, The Three Gorges dining room interior is inspired by 1920s Shanghai Art Deco. The Three Gorges is the latest of several regional Chinese restaurants founded by Miss Li Zhang. Chef Qian has 10 years experience with the Hakkasan Group and the modern Cantonese menu is pitched at the luxe end of the market. Read Adrian’s recent Three Gorges review here.
The Three Gorges
36 Goodge Street
London W1T 2QN
