The Clove Club
“Isaac McHale's two star kitchen in Shoreditch Town Hall, £185 midweek menus included. Book it to impress a client with taste.”
About The Clove Club
The Clove Club began as a supper club in a Dalston flat. By 2013 Isaac McHale and his partners had the blue tiled kitchen inside Shoreditch Town Hall, by 2014 a Michelin star, and with the 2022 Guide a second, held since. The menus run from £185 at lunch to £285 for the full evening tasting, and in April 2026 the restaurant cut its Tuesday and Wednesday price to £185, which quietly makes it one of the sharpest two star tickets in Britain.
McHale's cooking made British sourcing feel like a personal signature rather than a policy. The buttermilk fried chicken dusted with pine, served on a bed of pine needles, has opened the meal for a decade and still earns its place. Around it the tasting moves through raw Scottish seafood, flamed mackerel, and sauces with a precision that betrays his classical training, all plated from an open kitchen that turns the Grade II listed hall into theatre.
Reservations run on Tock, released on a rolling three month basis for one to six guests, and the structure rewards flexibility: the full tasting serves the dining room Monday to Saturday, while the £225 short menu runs Monday to Thursday in the front room and at the bar counter. The counter is the connoisseur's seat, close enough to the pass to smell the pine before the chicken lands.
The Room
A Grade II listed town hall with the kitchen as the centrepiece: blue tiles, white heat, chefs finishing plates in full view. The dining room runs formal but never stiff; the front room and bar counter are looser and take the short menu. Sound sits at a confident hum, dress is smart casual worn well, and the room still carries the energy of the supper club it once was.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
The reservation is the easy part to explain. The occasion is the part that decides the memory.
For the client who rates taste over postcode
Mayfair signals budget; Shoreditch Town Hall signals judgment. Two stars earned from a former supper club is a story your guest will retell, and the open kitchen gives the meal a narrative arc no hotel dining room can match. Take the full tasting in the dining room, ask for a table with a view of the pass, and let the sommelier run the pairing.
For a birthday that wants occasion without stiffness
The Clove Club celebrates loudly enough. The pine chicken arriving on needles is a better birthday opener than a sparkler, the pacing keeps the table talking, and the £185 Tuesday and Wednesday menu makes a two star birthday feel almost reasonable. Book the dining room for four to six on Tock and tell the team the occasion; they close with a flourish.
For a first date with something to talk about
Every course here is a conversation piece, which is exactly what a first date needs: the kitchen does the work when the talk pauses. Take the £225 short menu at the bar counter, Monday to Thursday, where sitting side by side beats interrogation seating and the whole evening runs shorter than the full tasting. The bill stays survivable if it goes nowhere.
What to order
The tasting is set, so your decisions are the menu length, the room and the seats. Choose deliberately.
- The full tasting for a first visit
£285 in the dining room is the complete argument: the pine chicken, the seafood run, the sauces. Shorter menus are for return visits, not introductions.
- The bar counter for the short menu
£225, Monday to Thursday, served where you can watch the pass. The best seats in the building for anyone dining as a pair.
- The Tuesday and Wednesday £185 menu
Introduced in April 2026 and the sharpest two star pricing in London. Book it the moment the Tock window opens; it is not a secret.
- The wine pairing over the list's safe end
The cellar's strength is its unfamiliar middle: growers and regions the sommeliers are excited about. The pairing shows the kitchen's range better than a trophy bottle.
Practical
- Address
- Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
- Reservations
- Tock · rolling three month release, 1 to 6 guests
- Menus
- £285 tasting · £225 short, Monday to Thursday · £185 lunch
- Midweek
- £185 tasting Tuesday and Wednesday, from April 2026
- Dress
- Smart casual
- Seats
- Dining room, front room and bar counter
- Dietary
- Vegetarian menu with notice at booking
- Tube
- Old Street, 5 minutes
Questions diners ask
Is The Clove Club worth it?
Yes. Two Michelin stars held since the 2022 Guide, a kitchen that defined modern British sourcing, and menu options from £185 to £285 give it both ambition and flexibility. The £185 Tuesday and Wednesday menu introduced in April 2026 is the best two star value in London right now.
How hard is it to book The Clove Club?
Predictable rather than brutal. Tables for one to six release on Tock on a rolling three month basis; weekend dinners go fastest, while the front room and bar counter hold longer. Set a reminder at the release, and check Tock midweek for returned tables.
What is the difference between the menus?
Length, room and price. The £285 full tasting runs in the dining room Monday to Saturday; the £225 short menu serves the front room and bar counter Monday to Thursday; lunch is £185. Since April 2026 the full experience also runs at £185 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
What should I not miss at The Clove Club?
The buttermilk fried chicken served on pine needles, the raw Scottish seafood early in the menu, and a seat with a view of the blue tiled open kitchen. First visits should take the full tasting; the short menu is the return visit's reward.