Restaurant Review: Hello JoJo
What's through the Arched Window?
Hello JoJo seems to be one of many buzzy restaurants popping up in Camberwell. Having parked outside the recently rebooted Kerfield Arms we walked past Theo’s on Grove Lane, an enticing, crowded pizza place I hadn’t previously seen, before crossing Church Street and arriving at Hello JoJo, which, given the nursery colours outside you can hardly miss. After Lai Rai in Rye Lane and now this, eateries around here seem to be taking their design inspiration from Play School. Maybe a bit Hello Kitty too in this case.
There is nothing childlike about the food here though. Once inside the arched door it has a feel of part works canteen, part art gallery, functional chairs and bold, massive paintings. The menu is undeniably adult and sophisticated. Mediterranean but not always easy to pin down which part of the Med. Not that this was a problem, as everything pretty much went down swimmingly.
For starters we opted for Flame Grilled Cuttlefish and Garum Caramel (£10), House Pickles (£4) and some Ripple Bread (£5). We were offered, in a friendly but slightly conspiratorial manner, a plate of off menu mussels (£5). Nudge, nudge. How could we refuse?
The cuttlefish looked like an early favourite to be the winning dish of the night. Chunky and chewy, almost like little squares of fillet steak. Grilled to perfection and drizzled with garum caramel this was lick-the-plate tasty. It also helped that it was warm as the other starters were cold. The mussels, almost as chewy as the cuttlefish, came in a spicy tomato sauce which I couldn’t stop myself from slurping up.
The pickled vegetables were a major talking point, mainly consisting of large crunchy fennel, carrots and, well, something we struggled to identify. Was it apple? Was it unripe pear? It certainly had green skin still on it. It was sugary and yet tart at the same time. We gave up and asked. It was barratierre, a type of melon from Puglia which is harvested when immature and green, hence the hardness of the skin. It felt like a distant relative of a kosher sweet and sour cucumber but much tougher to bite into. A real prizewinner.
Oh, I forgot to say more about the bread. How could I? Hello JoJo is also a bakery and this was an entire Hovis-shaped loaf, still warm from the oven. We weren’t given any knives, the ideas is that you tear it open to get an instant hit of the heat inside and then plonk some butter on it pronto so that it melts into the dough. My first thought was let’s take half home. My second thought, which followed immediately was, no way, we are going to finish every succulent crumb before we leave. Guess which thought won the argument....
For mains we skipped the grilled pork collar, even though it sounded sublime and went for the healthier options of Skate Wing, Sea Fennel, Soubise and Langoustine Sauce (£25) and Smoked Bone Marrow, Celeriac Agnolotti, Wild Mushroom Fricasee (£12).
I’d like to comment on the skate, but my partner wolfed hers down so quickly I missed my window of fishy opportunity. But it certainly looked nice, a piece the size and shape of a large chocolate brownie swimming in a creamy sea of orange and yellow. I should add that all the dishes looked as good as they tasted.
I was excited by my dish and didn’t want to share it either. We both wondered what the Agnolotti would be. It sounded like a type of Fiat or an Italian football manager but the smart money was on it being pasta. And sure enough my plate arrived with two rows of neatly crimped hedgehog-shaped pasta on top of a cosy bed of mushrooms. Each little pillow was a taste explosion when bitten into. Having crowned the cuttlefish as the dish of the night, it was now a dead heat.
Two glasses or Portuguese Arinto Blanco 2023 were £6 each and a worth it bargain. The bottled water was a £2 charity donation so nobody is going to complain about that.
In fact there was nothing to complain about at Hello JoJo. Oh, I’ve just realised what the name reminds me of - the old Soho club Madame JoJo’s. Nothing infantile there though and, despite the decor, there’s nothing infantile about the cooking at Hello JoJo either. It’s a very grown up restaurant and a welcome addition to Camberwell’s seemingly neverending food stories.
Hello JoJo, 31 Camberwell Church Street, SE5