The Bonnie & Wild is one of the new concept restaurants that are spreading through London, although they prefer to be known as a part-time restaurant rather than a pop-up. It is a fantastic idea, and this group of young, passionate food enthusiasts is doing a stalwart job that deserves our support. Based at 74 Chapel Market Islington, on Friday and Saturday nights they turn what is a renowned Pie and Mash shop ( M Manze) in to a showcase for their cooking and produce. The best part of Bonnie and Wild is the quality of the food they serve, amazing game brought down fresh from Scotland mixed with other locally sourced produce, simply, but effectively cooked.
The victorian building is listed and has that wonderful charm that is somewhere between a high-class public convenience and a cosy pub. (Fay Maschler might have been right about the cushions though, guys!) The tables are narrow and functional and the seating is booth-style, maximum of 6. The name Bonnie & Wilde comes from the two suppliers used Bonnie Gull Ltd and the Wild Game Co, who bring Scottish game down to a variety of markets, such as Leadenhall, However, here with the use of a BBQ they bring themselves, the kitchen is not the most sophisticated after all, it was just to cook pies, they cook their own produce. The chef is Iain Sim, who during the week cooks at the Mussel Inn in Edinburgh and he does a great job. The menu is simple and changes on a weekly basis, with a choice of 3 starters and 3 main courses, with a pud or cheese to follow for £29.00 per head. It’s a bring your own booze joint, at a charge of £3.50 per head.. This is always a mixed blessing and if your party is anything like ours was, we all totally over-compensated and ended up bringing twice as much as we would normally order and and of course, felt duty-bound to drink it. Judging from the raucous conversations coming from some of the other tables, this seems to be fairly normal here. Quiet and intimate it isn’t, lively and buzzing definitely.
On to the food, we started by ordering one of the starters, the fresh oysters, as a separate dish to have with our drinks and to accompany the rather delicious bread with balsamic vingaer and olive oil that was served. The oysters were traditionally served with lemon and a well prepared shallots in a red wine vinegar and were plump and delicious. 
The other two choices were a goats’ cheese and walnut salad, served on a crouton which was fine, the goats’ cheese was of a high quality and the simple salad and dressing went well. Nothing exceptional, but good solid food.
However, my choice of first course was exceptional and is one of the things that they do so well there. I had the pigeon breast on a simple salad and it was cookedto prfection. Rare enough to be succulent, but cooked on their BBQ enough to get a beautiful flavour, I would go back just to eat that again.
The choices for the next course were a vegetarian pasta, sea bass or venison fillet. Given Bonnie & Wild’s specialities, this is really not the place to go for vegetarian food, not because it isn’t good, although I ahve to confess I didn’t even try it, but because the meat is so fine, that it’s criminal to eat anythign else. Talking to Andy (pictured above with the lovely Errol Fuller – check him out on Youtube and see what you get – I guarantee you’ll love him), one of the co-owners the venison is apparently at the best of the season at the moment, and OMG (I’ve turned in to a texting teenage girl in my enthusiasm) it showed. 
This was without doubt the best and most delicous venison I have ever tasted. Don’t be put off by the presentation above, the truth is that we were all so greedy that we had already started eating before we realised we hadn’t taken a photograph. A fillet was shared between 2 people and was simply served on board, with chips and a little salad. There were 2 sauces served seperately – a redcurrant jus, which was pleasant and a hollandaise that had lovely flavours (you might want to re-think the consistency though guys) but the star of the dish was the venison itself. I do like mine super-rare, but those in our party who had it more cooked agreed it was still succulent and tender. Am I rambling? yes, possibly as I am positively watering at the mouth just thinking back to it!
The dessert/cheese menu was a little limited and the advertised pear and almond tart was substituted by an apricot version which was fine, but not amazing.
I went for the cheeseboard and would have liked a little more history about the cheeses that were served and where they came from, but again, perfectly adequate.
All in all, this is definitely worth a visit if you like simple high quality game and seafood, beautifully cooked then go and support this worthy venture. You can book direct on their website http://bonniewild.co.uk/ but hurry, because places go fast.
The Bombay Boys 