sketch Lecture Room & Library – Gastronomic Theatre Fit for a King

sketch
9 Conduit Street
London W1S 2XG
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Online Reservations

- À la carte: Starters from £21-44, Mains from £28-55, Desserts from £10-27 (all but one under £14)
- Tasting: 8-course menu at £95; 7-course vegetarian menu at £70
- Lunch: Gourmet rapide menus from £30-£48 (depending on 2 or 3 courses and whether or not you want wine and water included)

Be transported into a surreal and magical world that is sealed off from the mundane trappings of the everyday world. You have ascended to the upper echelons of sketch, and you are here to be looked after. Let the food dazzle and delight; permit the grand surroundings mesmerize; allow your whims be catered for; and, most of all, enjoy every minute...because it don’t come cheap!

No ordinary townhouse

Let me preface this review by saying that I have been to sketch once before, so it wasn’t a complete shock to me when I walked in this time. One of our friends had somehow managed to secure one of the bars for her birthday drinks and Mrs. LF and I were introduced to the decadent, avant-garde madness that lies beyond this Georgian townhouse’s rather ordinary looking white facade. If you’ve never been and are planning to go, whichever part of sketch you decide to visit, do insist on visiting the bathrooms on the ground floor that lie through The Gallery dining room as they are certainly worth seeing.

Looks normal enough from outside

Yes, sketch. A London institution that has somehow managed to retain its en vogue status since opening its doors six years ago, which is no mean feat given the constantly sprouting up competition. But we were not there to celebrity spot; we were there to eat some good food. And that meant stepping into the upper echelons of this mysterious and quirky little world. We were there for The Lecture Room and Library, the 1-starred Michelin dining room that is run under the close control of Pierre Gagnaire (who is apparently present every 4-6 weeks for a number of days), the acclaimed French chef whose iconoclastic modern fusion style of cooking seems rather well suited toward the raison d’être of sketch.

No ordinary greeting

When we ‘checked in’ at the little reception desk, David, the tall and charmingly flamboyant Irish man who seemed to be in charge, became very animated when he learned we would be dining upstairs. He offered us a tour of the premises, to be carried out by his rather fetching assistant, but we opted to postpone this until the end of the evening. We also declined the offer of a cocktail in one of the downstairs bars as we had already had that pleasure at our friend’s birthday celebration. I should say that the cocktails at sketch are imaginative, fun and excellent – but they are also probably the most expensive drinks I’ve ever bought in a London bar. Mrs. LF told our host that we’d rather just go upstairs. He then informed us that, as we were the first guests to arrive, we could have the upstairs parlour to ourselves. Now that sounded like a plan.

While attempting to ascertain our knowledge of chef Gagnaire, he opened the roped-off stairs for us and with a grand gesture and bid us to follow him up the stairs. As we ascended, he informed us about all of the chef’s restaurants around the globe and gave us a potted biography of Mr. Gagnaire in his very pleasant but thoroughly OTT fashion. We noticed some of the intriguing artwork on the way up to our destination (see below), and were indeed being made to feel like we were quite special guests at this most hoity-toity of establishments. But of course that felt very good .

Note: you can click on any of the pictures below for higher-resolution versions of the images.

At the foot of the stairs

Ascending the stairs

When you reach the top of the stairs, there is a large doorway which remains sealed. Then, in his special way, our leader opened the vault, revealing what is probably the most striking dining room I’ve ever had the pleasure of stepping foot into. Our photos, most other photos I’ve seen, and even the professional video cameras from the recent episode of Masterchef: The Professionals simply don’t do the place justice. It is something to be seen in person, that’s for sure. You really feel like you’ve entered an extremely exclusive and luxurious place that is sealed off from the rest of the world.

The Lecture Room (main dining room)

While Mrs. LF made her way back downstairs to powder her nose, I had the good fortune to meet the chef, Jean-Denis Le Bras, who recently took over the upstairs kitchen. He was very pleasant and clearly enthusiastic about his food. Upon her return, Mrs. LF and I walked through the main dining room (which I presumed to be the ‘Lecture Room’), and the smaller ante-chamber (which I assumed to be the ‘Library’), which led into a very beautiful little parlour area, replete with rich reds, fireplace and Moroccan style window hangings and light fixtures.

The ‘royal’ parlour...all to ourselves

The Library (smaller dining room) as viewed from the parlour

After downing my favorite sketch cocktail, whose name now escapes me but I think has something to do with Barry White, we were offered an array of canapés, which we decided to have in the parlour as it was so cosy and we were having such a nice time there.

Our tray of canapés

Element 1: Petite Tarts with Goat’s Cheese

Elements 2 & 3: Parmesan Sablé and Tapenade & Caramelized Hazelnut (top); Tarragon Balls with Corn Purée & Curry (in pot)

Element 4: Tuna Cream with Cumin Bread

Element 5: Yogurt with Tandoori Biscuit

Without going into laborious detail, it is suffice to say that this was a magnificent opening to our meal. Each element on the tray tasted every bit as good as it looked – which is saying something –with the goat’s cheese tarts and yogurt with tandoori biscuits being our favourites. We already felt spoiled receiving an entire tray of canapés, and not just the usual little dainty plate with one or two morsels that you normally find in such high-end restaurants. 9/10.

After asking a lot of questions about the dishes on the main menu, and receiving very detailed answers from our waiter, we finally arrived at our decisions and it was time to finally make our way to the Lecture Room.

No ordinary meal

Our table in the main room was against one of the side walls and afforded us a great view of all the action. The first thing we noted was just how comfortable the well-cushioned chairs were. Once seated, they were quick in offering to place Mrs. LF’s bag on a little stool near our table so that it didn’t stoop to retire on the god-knows-how-much-this-costs-per-square-foot carpet.

Vaulted Pantheonic ceiling & North African inspired lighting in the main dining room (check out the decanters and the plush seats, too)

Les pains: mini-baguettes, white rolls, brown chestnut rolls & brioche sticks

Les beurres: salted, unsalted, seaweed (all unpasteurized)

Of the breads, we tasted the mini-baguettes, the white rolls and the brown chestnut rolls, all of which were very good, with the mini-baguettes standing out as the best with their crispy crusts and lovely chewiness. The butters were beautifully presented (see above), and we both loved the one with seaweed in particular given its slightly salty and rich umami flavor. 8/10.

Amuse bouche: Raw White Tuna, Cauliflower and Dried Bonito Cream & Salmon roe

The amuse bouche of tuna tartare was a very clever, refreshing and flavorsome dish, with all of the ingredients working together in concert. The clean taste of the raw fish was accentuated by salty salmon roe which was then toned down and rounded out by the bonito flakes which again possessed a lush umami flavor. The little chewy and crunchy pieces of cauliflower provided some much needed solid texture to offset the smoothness of the other ingredients. I really enjoyed this first ‘proper’ course. 8/10.

A bit of theatre: Presenting the 'Cocotte of Vegetables' in Mrs. LF's starter course about 10 minutes before it was served

Starter 1: Perfume of the Earth / Inspired by one of Pierre Gagnaire’s Favourite Perfumes 'Terre d’Hermès' (£39)

- Cocotte of Vegetables, Smoked Myrtle and Bay Laurel / Foie Gras Soup with Sarawak Pepper
- Chicory Fondue with Sake / Girolles Poached in Pig Jus / Culatello and Iberian Ham
- Almond Tart / White Beetroot Purée with Redcurrant / Red Beetroot Syrup / Purslane Salad
- Flambé Reblochon with Génépi / Toast “Terre de Sienne” / Caramelised Black Olives (Mrs. LF substituted the Reblochon for Brillat-Savarin)

Mrs. LF said her cocotte of vegetables was light and delicious, apart from one vegetable, which could have been a turnip (but she’s not sure), that didn’t have the sweetness of the other vegetables. 7/10.

Of the chicory fondue, she described it as a meaty and flavorsome dish with all the ingredients interacting beautifully together. 7/10.

The almond tart was “Interesting in the way it looked and the way it tasted also. It tasted more like a dessert because of the white marzipan-tasting layer that enveloped the dish (not my favourite, but very different and unique for sure).” 6/10.

The flambé of Brillat-Savarin with génépi was amazingly tasty as all of the ingredients used here came through somehow…even the Génépi in a very subtle way. We were also so surprised and pleased to see génépi on the menu as we love drinking in the alps at night after a hard day of skiing and had never seen it outside of the little region we normally go skiing in. 9/10.

Starter 2: Langoustines, Addressed in Five Ways (£44)

- Roasted in Chickpea Flour / Carrot Syrup and Chorizo
- Tartare / Hitcho Vodka Jelly / Sardinian Lemon Paste
- Spicy Jelly / Cockle Marinière / Macco Artichoke Ice Cream
- Mousseline with Noilly Prat / Basmati Rice / Matcha Green Tea and Almond Paste Butter
- A la Plancha with Epine-Vinette and Lardo di Colonnata / Toast of Agria Potato

The most ‘normal’ of the langoustine quintuplets was arguably the best. It had been roasted beautifully and was still moist and succulent. It was resting on top of a deeply flavoured sauce, of which the strongest element was the chorizo (there were also chunks of the meat scattered around). The sausage made a surprisingly good companion to the langoustine and did not overpower the delicate, sweet flavor as I thought it might have. It was well seasoned, and I liked the addition of the thinly sliced chives on top. 9/10.

The tartare was probably my second-favorite dish and simply showed off the freshness of the crustacea. I don’t remember the vodka jelly, but I do remember the divine lemon paste, which was a perfect foil for the raw langoustine, and the crunchy slivers of cucumber also worked well. 8/10.

Although I did like all five of these mini-creations, my least favorite was probably the third one, which included a cockle marinière, although I did rather enjoy the artichoke ice cream. 6/10.

We were back on track with the little moussiline, which definitely had a subtle hint of vermouth, and went exceedingly well with the Japanese green tea soup, with the rice providing the necessary grip and bite. A mellow and subtle dish which I appreciated. 8/10.

Last up was a little sandwich of langoustine with some clever toast of extremely thin fried potato. The inherent sweetness of the langoustine was here matched with the quite sharp flavor of European barberries and the unctuousness of the little dabs of lard. 8/10.

What I loved about this starter was the sheer variety of ingredients – both in terms of geography (from Italy to Japan) and typicity (alcohols to rarely used berries) – and how they unearthed a variety of pleasing flavor duos (and trios) with the simple luxury of sweet langoustine. It was highly inventive, technically well cooked and thoroughly enjoyable.

Main Course 1: Pig (£32)

- Spanish Pork Fillet Marinated with Juniper
- Black Pudding and Rhubarb Ravioli
- Blackcurrant Sauce Diable / Thinly Sliced Turnips in Dark Beer

Of her trio of pork dishes, Mrs. LF reflected that the Spanish pork fillet had been perfectly cooked, and tasted exquisite. She felt that “It didn’t taste obviously porky, perhaps as it was accompanied with a reddish sauce and also marinated in juniper. Usually I have pork more with a white wine or white sauce. Anyway, the marinade gave an unusual twist to the pork, which I really liked.” 8/10.

She said that the black pudding dish was “Quite rich for my own personal taste, and I therefore appreciated the small portion as I couldn’t have stomached more than that. Having said that, if you are a black pudding lover, it is a perfect dish. The black pudding tasted great and suited its well-textured ravioli wrapping perfectly.” 8/10.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of time that has elapsed since our visit and this review (and our lack of sufficient notes), neither of us can sufficiently recall the last dish (blackcurrant sauce diable and turnips) and therefore can provide no description/rating (shame on us!).

Main Course 2: Scallops & John Dory (£49)

- John Dory Fillet Poached in Citrus Butter / Paimpol Coco Bean Velouté
- John Dory Gravlax / Scallop Tartare with Gingerbread
- Oyster Hummus / Liebig Cucumber

I had opted for seafood again in my main course, which this time came on a trio of plates. The principal dish was my favorite. The fish had been skilfully poached and the butter flavor came through nicely. There was diced vegetal crunchiness and the unusual flavor of the white bean velouté  was yet again another example of a rare ingredient (at least for me) providing a new flavor combination that worked well with the core element of the dish, the delicate  and mildly flavored John Dory. 9/10.

I thought the prettiest plate by far was that of the raw fish. It didn’t pack that much of a flavor punch, although there was again evidence of Gagnaire’s hand in the use of three thin slices of crisp gingerbread underneath the fish and scallops, which I thought was a little stroke of genius. 7/10.

I must say that I am not an oyster person, having only had one or two in my life, and was sort of nervous about the last little dish. I went along with the waiter’s suggestion of swallowing it all in one go, and was actually pleasantly surprised. I think this was because the most dominant flavor by far was that of hummus. It was the familiar rich chickpea and a hint of cucumber that I could taste, and it was the slimy texture of the chewy oyster I could feel, so I managed to get through without too much pain. I would certainly like to learn to appreciate oysters, but as of now I am a total novice and just don’t get the fascination. 6/10.

Dessert: Nonette

- Saffron nonette with citrus and limoncello marmalade
- Traditional crème caramel
- Confit grapefruit melon and watermelon

We were quite torn between a few of the dessert on the menu, but as we were feeling quite full by this point, we opted to split one of the lighter-sounding sweets. The nonette cake itself was the main component of the dessert. Although we were informed it was a traditional dessert from the Alsace region in France, it certainly did have its Middle Eastern influences with the main flavor elements being orange and saffron. The pain d’épice based cake was dense, sticky and packed with that sharp and sweet flavor of orange marmalade (here, more sweet than sharp), along with a subtle hint of saffron which was well infused throughout. It was okay, but didn’t knock our socks off. My favorite part of the dessert was actually the crème caramel, which was excellent. It had the perfect consistency and very good depth of flavor. The citrus hit of the last pot was very refreshing and nice way to finish our last course. Overall, this was probably the weakest part of the meal, although we did shy away from some of the more ambitious sounding desserts and, given the renown of Gagnaire’s – and his kitchen’s – pastry skills (i.e. they make the good pastries at Fortnum & Mason), I am sure his Grand Dessert (at £27!) or his Gâteau au Chocolat (£10) would have been mind-blowing. But our bellies were already blown and we just couldn’t stomach it. 6/10 for our little trio.

Petit Fours

- Dark chocolate with lemon syrup
- Blackcurrant and marzipan
- Turkish Delight with ginger

Saying that, there’s always room for (some more) dessert . The little petit fours were all very nice and were given to us even though we didn’t order tea or coffee. The little chocolate discs and the dark chocolate with lemon syrup filling stand out as the best of the bunch in my memory.

No ordinary blue loo

Black and blue loo for you

I finally had my chance to nip off to the bathrooms, and was eager to see what I might find inside (okay, that didn’t sound quite right). But given the insaneness of the sketch’s other toilets, I didn’t know what to expect. These were much more ‘normal’, except for the fact that they were black and neon blue, and that pretty much all surfaces were reflective. It was sufficiently cool, though, and I didn’t feel let down. The only slightly odd thing was that there was a very nice Japanese woman whose only job seemed to be keeping watch on the loos and escorting customers up and down the stairs from the restaurant to the WCs and back again. She also had to wear a slightly odd, and probably fairly demeaning, costume which was essentially a glorified maid’s outfit. But hey, I guess that is just sketch.

No ordinary sommelier

I didn’t discuss the wines earlier as I thought they deserved a special mention. Helping us throughout the evening with our wine selections was the extremely helpful, professional and generous Baptiste, who we later learned was actually Assistant Manager and not the sommelier after all. He hails from the Loire region in France and was thoroughly knowledgeable (and slightly partial ) to the wines of this region, and proved to be the perfect sommelier throughout the evening. The wine list was very interesting but, as I was the only one drinking, I was limited to glasses or half bottles.

He started me off with a 2007 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie (Guy Brossard) to accompany the first course, which worked sufficiently well due to the mix of sweet melon and bracing stringency.

He could tell I was really passionate about wine and when I saw that they had a half bottle of Raveneau Chablis on hand, my arm didn’t need too much twisting. It was the 2006 Chablis 1er Cru, Vaillons (Raveneau) and I can say without hesitation that it was one of the best wines I’ve had. It was a classic Chablis through and through. Its nose was slightly citrusy and floral; it was intense in flavor, with lots of green fruit and extremely subtle use of oak; and finished with a powerful, extremely long and dry finish. It was such a treat with my main course of scallops and John Dory.

To finish, Baptiste suggested I go for a 2004 Saumur, Brèze, Le Clos (Guiberteau) – a wine he knows well – and I wasn’t disappointed here either, as it abounded with fresh green apples, citrus and pears, complementing the dessert well.

But besides the amazing Ravenuau and the other well chosen wines, Baptiste was extremely observant and very eager to make sure I was happy and that my curiosity was being satisfied. At one point, he saw me staring at another table’s wine, which happened to be a 2005 Meursault, Les Luchets (Guy Roulot). He asked me why I was looking so intently at it as he had poured it, and I confessed that I was really into white Burgundy at the moment. I couldn’t believe it when he went and fetched some more of the very same wine and poured me a little tasting portion of it. It was a truly spectacular wine and I was overjoyed to try it.

But it didn’t end there. He also brought over small tasting portions of two other wines he thought I would be interested to try, without me asking and without hesitation. The other two, a 2005 Montlouis Sec, Rémus, Domaine de La Taille aux Loups (Jacky Blot) and a 2005 Coteaux du Layon, Beaulieu (Pierre Bise), were also both excellent and he knew one of the producers personally, so was able to add a lot of color to his descriptions of the wines and their makers.

This personal touch and obvious desire for the customer to walk away happy and feeling well looked after is one of the things I still remember about the meal over a month later, and one of the reasons I would want to return. This general spirit was present across all of the front of house staff, who I must say were mostly French, and made the evening a thoroughly pleasurable affair, along with the beautifully presented, appetizing, inventive and delicious food.

No ordinary damage

Le Bill

Once our evening had drawn to its close, Le Bill was presented to us within the casing of an old book which had been hollowed out inside – I suppose a little reference to the ‘Library’. It was definitely one of the more expensive dinners I’ve had, although given the fact that Mrs. LF and I felt we had been treated like minor royalty, I didn’t mind one bit paying up for this privilege.

Extraordinary enough to visit?

As you can no doubt tell, we had a delightful evening at sketch from start to finish. It is a unique venue which really pushes the boundaries in terms of design (see below for the parting shot to this review if you don’t believe me). The service and attention paid to us at every stage, from greeting to goodbyes, was exemplary and we were truly made to feel special throughout our time there, even though we were just another table of two. Chef Gagnaire’s food was inventive, creative, fun, explorative and, most important, it all worked. The kitchen was also technically proficient and all of the dishes were well seasoned (not over or under), and this on a night when the head honcho was not present. The wine list is formidable, and I have never been so well looked after by a sommelier that wasn’t even the ‘proper’ sommelier, with my desires being anticipated and more than met. Lastly, I really liked the fact that when you order à la carte, you essentially get a tasting menu of sorts anyway as there are canapés, amuse bouches and petit fours thrown in, plus the fact that each dish – whether a starter or a main course – is made up of three to five elements. This eliminates the niggling feeling that you might be ‘missing out’ on something if you don’t order the tasting menu.

As we made our way back to the ordinary world that lay outside, sketch gave us its parting shot...and I give you mine

This is a place for special occasions, when you really feel like celebrating and being treated like a king (or queen). While it will certainly put a dent in most peoples’ bank accounts, on this occasion I was quite happy to pay for it. And I would certainly return…although next time I may opt for the Gourmet Rapide Lunch as it seems to represent good value by comparison to the dinner prices.

Rating

Ambience: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Food: 8/10

Wine List: 9/10

Wine Selected: 9/10

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have only dined once at sketch Lecture Room & Library for dinner.*

A Bit More Wining: Saturday at Vinopolis with Oz Clarke + Some Chefs, Critics & Tapas

We spent a long and enjoyable Saturday at Vinopolis, first enjoying a wine tasting with noted wine expert Oz Clarke, then a self-guided tour of Vinopolis, then popping out for some satisfying tapas at Tapas Brindisa in nearby Borough Market, and finally a front-row seat at a Chef vs. Critics quiz show which included some of the UK’s best known food personalities

The Wine Wizard, Oz

For better or for worse, twitter seems to be my best friend as of late in terms providing access to some great food and wine experiences, and often for free!

As readers of the blog will already be aware, it was through an early leak of the booking line number from fellow tweeter @richardvines that I was able to secure a table at Pierre Koffmann’s pop-up restaurant on top of Selfridges.

More recently, I also scored two free tickets to a wine tasting with well-known wine personality Oz Clarke held at Vinopolis through a competition organized by none other than @vinopolislondon. I was very excited to meet Oz after seeing the first two series of his program with James May, where they first visited France and then California in order to educate the lager-loving petrol head about the merits of fermented grape juice. Oz’s down-to-earth attitude and no-nonsense (and, for that matter, no-pretence) approach to wine is refreshing and, in my view, well suited to today’s average wine consumer, who can easily be put off and alienated by wine experts preaching from upon high.

So Mrs. LF and I headed down to Borough Market for our 3pm date with Oz and five of his top wines for 2010. The event took place within the cavernous vaults at Vinopolis, which are used for their own events and I presume would also make an excellent venue for corporate events and other private shindigs as well. The vaults originally stretched from Vinopolis’ location (just a few steps Northwest of Borough Market) Eastward down the river all the way to the end of Tooley Street and were the center of the British wine trade in Victorian times up through the beginning of the second world war.

As you can see below, it is quite a cool space, and so it was that…

...the stage was set...

...then was filled.

The audience was ready...

...and Oz’s eye was on the prize.

I wasn’t exactly sure of the format of the session, but it ended up being a lot of Oz doing what he does best: storytelling. In fact, he is a master storyteller, which makes sense given his earlier career in theatre with such troops as the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre and The Old Vic, amongst others.

While we did taste each of the five wines he had selected – usually with him nonchalantly asking the audience “Shall we have a swig of this one?” or something similar – and while he did offer some brief and insightful thoughts on how he thought the wine tasted, what I remember most are the accompanying stories he used to bring the countries and wineries that these wines came from to life. It was brilliant entertainment that was educational at the same time, and everyone seemed to be having a good time, Oz included. Although I did wonder if it would be a bit boring for him doing two further sessions of a similar nature that same afternoon, complete with book signings at each. But, alas, I guess these are the trappings of success, eh?

Oz’s storytelling reaches its peak as he recounts the gales he experienced while at a vineyard in Northern Chile

You can find my brief notes about the wines we sampled below, some of which were pretty outstanding for their respective price brackets.

• Roederer Estate Quartet, Brut Sparkling Wine NV (Anderson Valley, California)
  • Notes: Very fruity (notably pear) with beautiful miniscule bubbles, a tad of toastiness and serious depth. Interesting to note that, according to Oz, there are about 7 million bubbles in each glass of champagne (to be fair, though, he didn’t know which poor sod had been sad enough to do that research). Fair value at £19.99 in my view, as it is comparable to decent entry-level champagnes, if not a fair bit nicer than some of them.
• 2008 Villa Maria Cellar Selection, Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand)
  • Notes: I have tried the 2007 ‘normal’ version and thought it was a great, classic Kiwi Sauvignon. This wine had a light and bright appearance, a nose of apple, lime and fresh grass, and on the palate it was dominated by greens as well (green apples, grass, nettles, even green pepper). The bottle has a screwcap, which Oz rather likes as he believes it is better for fresh, young white wines and obviously far more consistent than cork. A fine Sauvignon for £10.19.
• 2005 Kooyong Estate, Chardonnay (Mornington Peninsula, Australia)
  • Notes: For me, this was the clear winner out of the five. It was a marvellous chardonnay, with a golden, rich straw color in the glass, a slightly citrusy and floral nose (plus some butter), and a little streak of refreshing acidity along with some fruitiness to balance what I thought was mostly a creamy, buttery, smoky and nutty depth. It had excellent length. Not inexpensive at £18.95, but it was one of the better chardonnays I’ve tasted recently, and certainly compares strongly with white Burgundies in the same price range. I wasn’t all that shocked to see that it was Oz’s #1 wine for 2010 in his new book when I opened it up after getting home.
• 2006 Vina Falernia, Syrah Reserva (Elqui Valley, Chile)
  • Notes: A lovely deep, dark red in the glass, with a lot of smoke on the nose. On the palate it was again smoky, with notes of cigar tobacco and also some blackberry fruit. It was a very intense wine, and I agree with Oz in that it does have a very Northern Rhône feel about it. Cracking value at £10.95 in my opinion.
• 2006 Yalumba ‘The Scribbler’, Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah (Barossa Valley, Australia)
  • Notes: To be honest, I forgot to write anything down about this wine as I was a bit caught up on one of Oz’s stories. Oz says it “has a fascinating initial flavor of blackcurrant and mint, scented with a few drops of eucalyptus oil and a scrape of lemon zest. There’s some decent rasping tannin too and the whole experience is hugged by plump, chocolaty Shiraz.” Literally couldn’t have said it better myself! £14.99 a pop.

Oz and Laissez’s Big Wine Photo

After the session, we purchased a copy of his pocket-sized 2010 wine guide and I had a brief conversation with the big man himself while he signed our book. I have used his 2009 guide quite a bit this year, and found his recommended wines to be very good for the price in general, with the exception of one or two which didn’t suit my taste. So I am much looking forward to taking advantage of his 2010 guide, which seems to be composed of much different wines than last year’s collection of 250 recommendations, although some of the same producers do feature heavily in both (i.e. Tim Adams, Primo Estate and Villa Maria).

Wine guide authors & publishers: how can you can make your readers’ lives easier?

One thing I would suggest, both for Oz, and for other authors (and publishers) of such annual guides, is to make their recommendations more usable for readers. For example, while they do list which suppliers carry each wine at the end of the description, there is no way for you to easily find which bottles out of the hundreds in the book are available at, say, Waitrose or Tesco when you walk in.

At the beginning of the year, I actually created my own spreadsheet, which is broken down by supermarket/wine shop (the ones I tend to visit the most), and what wines are available at each place that I have found interesting from all of the different wine magazines, guides and books I have read as of late. It is a fairly simple thing to do, but it is extremely time consuming and labor intensive for the consumer (and only geeks like me will take the time to do so).

So, my suggestion to publishers and authors is simple: include an index in the back of your book that is organized by store. It should just be a simple list with the largest national supermarkets and wine merchant chains in bold and all of the wines in your book that are sold at each store underneath (organized by white, rosé, red, sweet), along with the page number that the detailed review can be found on. There is no need to include all of the smaller/independent wine shops in this index if there are tons of them mentioned in your book/guide, but it would be great if the next time we walk into a supermarket or major wine merchant, we can be armed with a list of wines we might be interested in buying without having to commit the information to memory or create Excel workbooks .

…In any case, the tasting session and chat with Oz were great, and Mrs. LF and I both enjoyed our time very much. But it turned out that our day at Vinopolis wasn’t over just yet. The kind people there had given us complimentary tickets for a tour around Vinopolis itself (which I had done before and enjoyed doing again), and also some more free tickets to attend the ‘Starter for Ten’ quiz show, which was one of the London Restaurant Festival events, that happened to be held at Vinopolis in another of their many private function rooms. With the prospect of seeing such chefs as Richard Corrigan and Rowley Leigh fight it out with critics including Giles Coren and Matthew Norman, we would have been stupid to pass the opportunity up.

So, after winding our way through the Vinopolis tour, we headed to Borough Market to get a spot of early dinner before the quiz began.

Briskly to Brindisa

Unfortunately, the market had pretty much wound down by the time we headed out, but fortunately Tapas Brindisa was open, and somehow they had a table for two. Perfect! I had always wanted to eat here given how popular it seems to be amongst foodies, but this was the first time I’d actually tried, so I was excited.

After perusing the menu for a while, we decided on a few dishes and they came out very quickly, with the exception of my sardines, which I checked on twice, and after assuring me they had been ordered (twice) finally appeared about 10 minutes after all of the other dishes had been polished off (?!).

Spanish Potato Omelette (£4.50); Grilled Lamb Cutlets with Allioli & Fresh Mint Sauce (£8.75); Onion & Rocket Salad with Pear, Quince & Kokos Vinaigrette (£3.20)

First to arrive were the omelette, lamb chops and salad.

The potato omelette was surprisingly good for being such a plain dish. I thought it was seasoned well and it had a very good texture of half egg, half soft potato. Mrs. LF agreed, and enjoyed it mucha. 7/10.

The lamb chops were also well seasoned and nice and moist, though they had spent maybe a minute too long on the heat for my liking and were just barely pink in the middle. While there was a fairly spicy allioli to accompany them, I didn’t particularly like it and ate them solo for the most part. They were fine, but didn’t have that extra flavor hit to make them stand out and be memorable. 6/10.

The salad was the disappointment of the bunch. It was really a salad of red onions, with not much rocket and the pears being almost nonexistent. But the thing we both noticed (and still remember) was that it had a very strange taste permeating throughout. At first, we thought it must have come from the quince, but then again quince is a fruit, and that didn’t make any sense. I thought it tasted like corn nuts, but slightly sour ones. Maybe it was the ‘Kokos’, but I don’t know what it/they are. In any case, neither of us liked this distinct flavor. 3/10.

Pan Fried Padrón Peppers (£5.00)

Despite at first glance all looking alike, there were a couple different types of peppers on the plate, some of which had a wicked little kick (Mrs. LF’s nose began to run), and some of which were very mild. They all had a rich, sweet taste and a nice sour acidity to boot. We only ordered them because the huge and rambunctious table next to us had a plate of them and they looked too good to pass up. Plus Mrs. LF fancied eating them with her omelette, which did turn out to be a good combination. We really enjoyed these green little guys. 7/10.

Pan Fried Sardines with Red Onion Salad & Chilli (£6.50)

The sardines finally arrived and they were alright too (they certainly were very nicely presented). The fish was soft and meaty and had a nice flavor to it, and I enjoyed the hints of chilli. The skin was pretty soggy though, and seemed to be intentionally so (don’t know if it’s supposed to be for fried sardines?), which didn’t make it all that pleasurable to eat. All in all, another solid but uninspiring dish. 6/10.

I have to say that I did rather like the place overall. I enjoyed the buzzy atmosphere, the quick turnover of tables, and it seemed like everyone there was genuinely having a good time. It is certainly a good place to come with friends and spend a leisurely weekend afternoon. They also have some decent Spanish and Portuguese wines available, both by the glass and bottle. We didn’t order that much, but what we did have was generally cooked well, although from the dishes we chose, I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about. When in the area again, I would definitely go back to try sample more of the food.

Chefs vs. Critics & One Confused Host

After the tapas, we headed back to Vinopolis to watch the quiz show that pitted four famous critics against four well-known chefs. In true University Challenge style, the event was hosted by none other than Bamber Gascoigne, the original host of University Challenge before Paxman began residing over proceedings in 1994.

Another empty stage at another of Vinopolis’ private rooms

Rowley Leigh (Le Café Anglais) and Thomasina Meirs (Masterchef Winner and of Wahaca fame) arriving to take their places

The questions had been designed by Fay Maschler, one of the two key organizers of the London Restaurant Festival, and were actually quite difficult, with a number of them baffling the chefs, the critics and audience alike. There were some obscure music-related questions (one where the contestants had to name the composer of songs that ostensibly had something to do with food) and also a few image-based questions (one where they had to name what restaurant was being pictured).

Confound this newfangled technology, thinks Bamber

The most amusing part of the whole evening was the fact that the very posh and measured Gascoigne could not for the life of him figure out how to change the contestants’ scores correctly. He kept giving points to the wrong side and detracting them from the right one. The audience kept heckling him, but he just didn’t seem to understand how the heck to work the controls. The tech guy from the back of the room had to interject a number of times, coming up to the stage and changing the scores for him. Gascoigne did seem to keep correct scores by writing them down on a piece of paper (old school indeed ), and one of the organizers in the back of the room was paying attention to every detail and seemed to have the same score as Bamber. I’m not so sure they had it right, but it made for a lot of laughter and fun for the audience.

Giles Coren was licking his lips at something...however there was no food to be seen & can't we have a smile Toby?

The chefs got off to a bad start, but it was neck-to-neck at the finish – at least they had a good time (can't remember what Thomasina was laughing about)

Rowley Leigh seemed be by far the most knowledgeable of the chefs, while Richard Corrigan (of Corrigan's Mayfair and Bentley's) only seemed to know the answers to questions he wasn’t allowed to answer, continuously ringing his buzzer during the other side’s bonus questions, which was also quite comical

In the end, the hour-long quiz was extended by about another half-hour or so and was quite enjoyable for all, especially the audience. We were glad to have been able to see these two often hostile factions let down their hair and have a good time in the spirit of friendly competition.

After a very long day out, mostly spent within various parts of Vinopolis, and with probably a bit too much wine involved (we had complementary cocktails before the quiz show too ), we headed back towards London Bridge station to get some z’s.

Recent Winings: The B Festival at Bibendum

Bibendum's "B Festival"

Bibendum Wine is just one of those cool companies. The kind of place that you wished you work for, but you don’t – at least in my case.

Luckily, I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to their offices a few times now over the past few months in order to sample their wines. Besides learning more about my favorite beverage, it has been a great way of meeting other food and wine people in the flesh, cementing relationships formed virtually through our increasingly ever ‘connected’ worlds.

Most recently, I attended their cleverly titled and well organized annual event called the ‘B Festival’. Rhyming with the well-known ‘V Festival’ music event, the wine tasting adopted a very musical theme as well. Spread over two days, and taking up most of the non-desk space in their offices, there was a ‘Main Stage’ of wines which included some of Bibendum’s most popular labels, including Bodega Catena Zapata, Petaluma and Castello Banfi (which I recently had the pleasure of visiting in person, and of which more soon in an upcoming post on Italy). In addition, there were two other ‘stages’ each day. When I was there, there was a ‘Rock Stage’, which was all about the world’s most exciting terroirs, and the ‘Alternative Stage’, which offered wines a little off the beaten track that could make good and fresh alternatives to classic wine styles/regions such as Sancerre, white Burgundy or Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

I managed to taste most of the wines in the two specialist rooms, which were small and cozy, and was delighted by how far the music theme had been taken. For instance, in the ‘Rock Stage’ they had a Nirvana Unplugged music video playing on a flat screen TV…you get the picture (literally below).

The Rock Room, Complete with Cobain

Being somewhat of a novice, this was by far the most wines I had tasted in one go. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop as a number of wines that I’ve been reading about as of late (and dying to taste) were there for the drinking. I don’t know if it was my rookie taste buds, which may have been unaccustomed to so many different wines, but I think that after about the 20th wine I tasted, it became much more difficult to differentiate between wines that were even mildly similar. In any case, you can read a bit about some of the wines that stood out for me, and I have to say there were only one or two wines I didn’t like at all, which is quite a feat given the number I tasted.

Rock Stage

Top draw for me amongst the 12 wines on offer in this room were as follows, in ascending order of price:

• 2007 Savennieres Clos de la Coulaine, Chateau Pierre-Bise (Loire, France), 100% Chenin Blanc
  • Notes: A beautiful nose of stone fruits, apricot and nectarine. This is classic Chenin. Refreshing, fruity and dry, with a good dose of minerals and a dense richness. £13.26/bottle.
• 2005 Aglianico del Vulture, Gudarra Bisceglia (Basilicata, Italy), 100% Aglianico
  • Notes: Very nice rich and ripe red fruit and extremely well balanced. Good smooth texture in the mouth with some spiciness and pleasant, unobtrusive oak. £14.50/bottle.
• 2006 Calera Mills Vineyard Pinot Noir (Mount Harlan, California), 100% Pinot Noir
  • Notes: Absolutely stunning. Smooth, rich, luscious, slightly tannic. Pure pinot fruit (red fruit, black cherry, orange peel) and some subtle spice. Good length and just the right amount of sweetness. Quite a long and soft finish. Could drink quite a few glasses of this! Unfortunately not that cheap at £29.65/bottle.

Rock Star: 2006 Calera Mills Vineyard Pinot Noir (£29.65/bottle)

Alternative Stage

The ‘Alternative Stage’, Stacked with Stars

There were a lot of wines I really liked in this room, but again three or four stood out:

• 2007 Sangiovese di Romagna, Superiore Terragens (Emilia-Romagna, Italy), 100% Sangiovese – Alternative to Chianti Classico
  • Notes: Exceedingly good value. Slightly sharp at first but then lovely roundness with strong red fruit (cherry) and jam. Some vanilla in there too, and a very full wine all in all. £6.00/bottle.
• 2006 A to Z Pinot Noir (Oregon, USA), 100% Pinot Noir – Alternative to Red Burgundy
  • Notes: Wow, very nice, coats the mouth, round and smooth. A good dry finish which fades away slowly. Another glass please? My favorite so far. £15.26/bottle.
• 2007 Glenguin Estate, Protos Chardonnay (Hunter Valley, Australia), 100% Chardonnay – Alternative to White Burgundy
  • Notes: Nice…extremely fruity with a bit of oak. Very fresh and very light in color. This wine is nutty, creamy and has a lot of depth. The best chardonnay from Australia I’ve tasted recently (along with Katnook Estate’s 2005 Chardonnay). This really is a lovely alternative to white Burgundy, but maybe not that much cheaper than some at £15.50/bottle.
• 2005 Bodegas Catena Zapata, Nicolas Catena Zapata (Mendoza, Argentina), 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Malbec – Alternative to Icon Napa Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Notes: Beautiful nose with lots of raspberry. A deep red, ruby color. Sweet, rich red fruit flavor (again, raspberry and some cherry) plus dark chocolate squares, with lots and lots of length. This is a bold and classy wine which is probably pretty age-worthy. A winner, but not cheap at £44.98/bottle!

A Tremendous Trio

Main Stage

There were a lot of wines I enjoyed from this wide assortment of 100 bottles. However, I’ve selected a few below which really floated my boat:

The Main Acts Take the Stage

• 2006 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots, Domaine Laroche (Burgundy, France), 100% Chardonnay
  • Notes: Excellent, very strong and crisp chardonnay with well integrated soft oak in the background. Notes of mucky leaves and truffles as well. I love this wine. It is important to note that with Laroche the wines from the business’s own land say ‘Domaine Laroche’ (like this one), but that the labels on the wines from grapes brought from other growers simply say ‘Laroche’. £33.50/bottle.
• 2006 Puligny-Montrachet  1er Cru La Garenne, Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot (Burgundy, France), 100% Chardonnay
  • Notes: Absolutely beautiful, so fruity, so oaky, they run into each other. But this sweetness and ripeness is kept in check with a streak of zesty minerality. Not sure of the price as it was substituted for another similar wine from the same domaine which was retailing at £29.18/bottle.
• 2003 Meursault, Domaine Matrot (Burgundy, France), 100% Chardonnay
  • Notes: One of my favorites for sure. Fruity, fat, oaky, crispy. Extremely good value at £18.63/bottle for this quality of wine.
• 2006 Cote Rotie, Domaine Jamet (Rhone, France), 100% Syrah
  • Notes: Wonderful classic Cote Rotie, with deep blackberry married with the hallmark burnt/roasty taste. Could probably age well, but that said, it is very drinkable now. £46.75/bottle.
• 2004 Brunello di Montalcino, Castello Banfi (Tuscany, Italy), 100% Sangiovese
  • Notes: Very deep red color. Red and black fruits on the nose (blackberry, cherry, raspberry). Full body, with a hint of spice, something mushroomy and a lot of chew and length. I actually tried this wine at Castello Banfi’s Taverna restaurant a few weeks ago and liked it even better. 2004 was a particularly good year for this wine in my view. £24.92/bottle.
• 2004 Brunello di Montalcino, Poggio Alle Mura, Catello Banfi (Tuscany, Italy), 100% Sangiovese
  • Notes: This was even better and more complex than the ‘normal’ Brunello from Banfi. A bit dryer in the mouth, extremely tannic. Lots of rich red fruit and note of cigar or tobacco and some spice. This is a food wine, but still interesting on its own. A bit more dear at £34.50/bottle.
• 2006 Catena Zapata, Malbec Argentino (Mendoza, Argentina), 100% Malbec
  • Notes: Out of all of the Catenas on hand, this was my favorite. Other nice ones were the 2007 Catena Malbec (much cheaper at £10.84/bottle and good value) and the 2004 Catena Alta Cabernet Sauvignon (£23.68/bottle). This wine was very complex and concentrated and had a nice balance and lingering freshness to it. You will have to fork out £36.50/bottle for the privilege though.

Great Values

I was lucky enough to get a peep into the ‘Media Tent’ to taste some of the more affordable wines that will be more readily available to the public in supermarkets and national wine store chains. At this point, my palate was a bit the worse for wear, but there were a couple of really good values which stood out for me:

• 2008 Bouchard Chablis (available at Sainsbury’s) at £9.99/bottle
  • Notes: A very pleasant and quaffable Chablis but not a knock-out. Fresh, citrusy, flinty. Very good value for the price point.
• 2006 Petaluma Chardonnay (available at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Majestic) at £14.99
  • Notes: Wow, this was a pleasant surprise. Nice strong fruit with some apples and peach, and then a good oaky finish. Very round and luscious wine and I think it’s not bad value for the price.
• 2008 Gewurztraminer Martin Zahn (available at First Quench) at £9.99
  • Notes: Extremely floral nose, sweet and with good acidity. Lots of interesting fruits in the mouth (pear, tropicals) and a very long dry apricot finish. A very good value indeed.

2008 Gewurztraminer Martin Zahn at £9.99

Last up was a very nice Vinsanto, which I thought represented really good value for the money. Very tangy and lots of sweet (candied?) almonds. You can see a picture of it below.

A Sticky Ending: 2003 Vinsanto del Chianti Rufina, Fattoria Di Basciano, good value at £11.99 per 375ml bottle

Well, not much else to say except a big thank you to Bibendum and happy drinking to you all out there.

Pierre Koffmann – Restaurant on the Roof: A Pretty Place, A Pretty Penny

Pierre Koffmann – Restaurant on the Roof
Selfridges & Co
400 Oxford Street
London W1A 1AB
Website
Map
Reservations: 020 7318 7778 or restaurantontheroof@selfridges.co.uk (there were a few lunch tables still left as of Sunday afternoon)

3-course menu at £75/person

Set in one of the coolest dining spaces I’ve seen this year, Pierre Koffmann’s Restaurant on the Roof is an experience well worth the not insignificant cost, if you can still get a table. For me, the food was hit & miss and, if I’m honest, a bit of a let-down. But I was grateful to be able to sample some of the flavors from this culinary legend’s repertoire and one has to admire the significant and constructive influence he’s had on the UK restaurant industry.

I heard it through the @vines

When I first learned about what is hopefully the inaugural London Restaurant Festival a few months ago, one of the events that I was most interested in was the pop-up restaurant that chef Pierre Koffmann would be opening on the roof of Selfridges.  I have ‘only’ lived in London for ten years and never had the chance to eat at his now legendary restaurant Tante Claire, which held 3 Michelin stars and used to be pretty much the place to eat in the capital back in the day. Coincidentally, the same space is now home to Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous restaurant, which is one of only three restaurants in the UK to maintain the coveted astral trifecta from the chubby dude who dresses in white tires. Besides Tante Claire, Koffmann is famous for having tutored so many of the people who have today emerged as celebrated and/or celebrity chefs in the UK (including Gordon).

So I was going to try my damndest to get a taste of his food. But given that the restaurant was originally only going to be open for a matter of days (now, given such strong demand, it seems it will stay open as long as he wants it to), I figured all the tables would be taken up by a mix of restaurant critics, his friends, various a-to-z-dash celebrities and London’s great and good. Not moi.

But there was a saving grace. My relatively new ‘friend’ on twitter, one @richardvines (chief food critic for Bloomberg), tweeted the reservation line and email address before it was announced to the general public, and I somehow snagged a table for what I then thought would be the only Sunday lunch slot in existence, which was when I believed another chef alumni whose food I’ve been wanting to taste would be joining the big man.

For once, Laissez got lucky.

The name is Bond

I tried to avoid and ignore the various reports emanating from the social media world after the opening, but was too weak in the end. Most were full of praise, so my excitement was further piqued.

Mrs. LF and I made our way to Selfridges on a gray Sunday afternoon and I kind of guessed we’d have to get up there via the elevator. And this was partly true.

What I didn’t realize was that there would be a separate elevator reserved exclusively for the few and the privileged who had managed to secure a table at this exclusive roof-top restaurant, and that this lift would be manned by a six-foot-something attractive blonde woman. She checked out my credentials, confirmed everything was in place, and we were on our way up in the world.

Going up in the world – the coolest elevator in London this month?

I didn’t know if there would be any sharks with lasers up there, but at this point I definitely felt like James Bond and not much was going to surprise me.

Quite a place you’ve got up here

The elevator intrigue was only the beginning. When we got out of the lift, we walked into a contemporary white doily of a room, which led to a rather long white corridor, which led to little lobby of sorts (replete with cloakroom and funky modern art), which led to a makeshift bar, which led to what is probably the coolest dining space I’ve seen in a long time, where our table was ready and waiting for us. A brief pictorial tour can be found below. (Feel free to click on any images below for full resolution images).

Sharks with lasers? This way, Mr. LF...

Just head down that rooftop corridor...

Huh? Another tall & attractive woman

Okay, maybe 'Ghost Girl' (by sculptor Kevin Francis Gray) ain’t that attractive after all

Shall we go in, then?

Yes, but first, let’s check out the cool bar

And the immensely cool room

And the fixtures

Yes, I would say this was the coolest looking restaurant I’d been to in a long while, although my recent visit to Sketch’s Lecture Room & Library (stay posted for more on that) was also jostling for that position. Whoever designed this space had a little stroke of genius as it was very playful and avant-garde yet sufficiently reined in to avoid being over the top. I loved the cool gray-blues, the clean whites and the straw colored floor covering. Even the black chairs with tall backs were different and tied in nicely with the top hat motif. It was all very Magritte. Bravo.

From mystique to rustique

Having declined the offer of a cocktail or a glass of champagne – too much wine tasting as of late – we were presented with the menu. This is when the next little shock came. 3 courses for £75. No à l carte pricing. Now don’t get me wrong, I was prepared to pay for this experience, but it was a bit more than I had bargained for, and I sort of hoped details like this would have been more forthcoming ahead of time.

After hearing about the specials of the day on offer courtesy guest chef Eric Chavot (of Capital fame) – a raw scallop ceviche starter and a main course of braised beef cheeks – we got gave the very polite yet not so confident waitress our orders…and waited.

Some very satisfying bread

In the meantime, we were offered bread. The white country baguette was superb, and was definitely some of the best bread I’ve had in a restaurant as of late (also excellent was the sourdough at Launceton Place – more to come on that too). It had one of those crusts that has been cooked through so well, it could do serious damage to your gums. The crust had a very satisfying almost burnt flavor and the middle was full of huge air pockets and possessed exactly the right amount of chew. Very satisfying, though the butter didn’t seem that special. 9/10.

Amuse Bouche: Duck Rillette on Brown Toast

Shortly thereafter, an amuse bouche of duck rillette arrived. Traditionally made from pork, I had never tasted a rillette of duck, and wasn’t disappointed. It has a lovely soft texture, an indication that it had been cooked in lots of fat, and was well salted. A nice little rich mouthful or two that was quite rustic in appearance. 6/10.

Starter 1: Pressed Leeks and Langoustines with a Truffle Vinaigrette

Mrs. LF wasn’t feeling particularly well and didn’t want anything too heavy, so opted for the pressed leeks. As you can see, it was a beautifully presented and simple dish, with only about four elements to it. This of course meant that the ingredients themselves had to do the talking, and according to Mrs. LF most of them had plenty to say. The leek terrine itself didn’t have that unpleasant taste that leeks can often have and was exquisitely prepared, with a very pleasant texture. The vinaigrette was also excellent and , although the truffles weren’t that pungent and didn’t come through very strongly, it had the right amount of acidity and she liked it so much that she mopped it all up with a piece of that glorious bread. The langoustines were perfectly cooked and very sweet, nicely complementing the sharpness of the vinaigrette and the freshness of the leeks. 7/10.

Starter 2: Cocktail of Scottish Lobster and Avocado with a Lemon Jelly

My cocktail starter was a throwback to the classic (some would say old fashioned) presentation of prawn cocktails. It looked the part though, with the reds and pinks of the langoustine against the green of the avocado giving it a very fresh appearance. It had a very refreshing taste too, with the sweetness of the lobster being well offset by the sharpness the diced cubes of apple, the vinaigrette and the little translucent gelatine squares (which were so mild, you could barely taste them when isolated from the rest of the components). The little smear of smooth avocado versus the crispness of the apples and the thin slices of iceberg-looking lettuce also provided a good array of textures. I would like to emphasise that the high quality of the lobster itself. All in all, it was a good dish, but there was no ‘wow’ factor for me. 7/10.

I had ordered a glass of the 2007 Moreau Chablis 1er Cru (£11.50 per 175ml glass), to go with my starter, but as it was brought out very early on in the meal, there was only a bit of it left by the time the starter arrived – greedy old me. As with many Chablis, its nose was fairly discreet, but there was a hint of something floral and a certain undercurrent of sulphur. In the mouth it was actually fruitier than I had expected and was quite a full and round wine. It was very intense and had a small pang of saltiness. The little bit of it that I had left perfectly complemented the sweet langoustine and sharp citrus flavors in the dish. 7/10.

Main Course 1: Eric Chavot’s Special of Braised Beef Cheeks

This was another rich and rustic dish which reminded Mrs. LF of dishes her grandmother used to make in the countryside of Normandy.  It didn’t quite live up to that memory, though. I only had a bit of it, but agreed with her general sentiment. While the meat itself was very soft on the inside, there were thin tendrils of drier meat on the outside which had an odd, unpleasant and intense flavor which was almost gamey. I don’t know if something technically went wrong with the dish or not, but I am guessing that taste should not have been present. The side of mash was excellent, and you can read more about the potatoes below as they also made an appearance in my main course. 6/10.

Main Course 2: Pig’s Trotter Stuffed with Sweetbreads and Morel Mushrooms

Even though many of the other dishes on the menu sounded more appetizing to me at the time, I don’t think I could have forgiven myself if I didn’t try what was probably the most famous of Koffmann’s signature dishes, so I went for it. As I’d never seen an image of the dish, it certainly looked unique to me; not necessarily that appetizing, but certainly unique. The skin directly above the pig’s toes neatly wrapped around the filling to make a perfect cylindrical casing which definitely appeared like it would pack a flavor punch.

However, with all the build-up and hype surrounding this dish, I was pretty disappointed. Maybe I am just a gastronomic neophyte, but it just didn’t do much for me. The skin itself was quite soft and rubbery and had distant echoes of a distinct and not so agreeable piggy flavor which thankfully stayed in the background and didn’t perform an all-out assault my taste buds. If you want to get really picky, I noticed that some of the hairs still remained on one part of the skin, indicating that it had probably not been singed perfectly.

As for the innards, they looked like a soft white mash of something like strangely textured potatoes. Of course, it was really a bunch of sweetbreads shoved inside the bottom of this poor piglet’s foot. It tasted very rich, but for me it lacked a distinct flavor. It was sort of like eating a huge amount of perfectly soft and fluffy scrambled eggs that were too succulent for their own good. I kept eating it mostly because I felt obliged to finish this chef’s heralded masterpiece, and I really should have stopped before finishing, because although I didn’t realize it then, my stomach would still be trying to digest it at 2am that same night.

I also didn’t think the textures of the dish were particularly well balanced: there was the sort of stretchy skin, the scrambled egginess of the sweetbreads and occasionally the slight chew of a morel (which were very nice by the way). As Mrs. LF succinctly explained how I felt to me (even though she hadn’t tasted it), “It just wasn’t the kind of dish that you took one bite of and loved so much that you dove back in as soon as you could.”

Strangely enough, the high point of the whole plate for me was the mashed potatoes, which were faultless. They were near on as good as those served by Mr. Robuchon, having that soft, creamy texture which you know only comes through huge amounts of butter and cream. And besides having a perfect texture, they were also exceedingly well seasoned. I kept combining each bite of organs and skin with a good dollop of potato to make it more palatable for me. I should also say that the underlying sauce that was scattered about the plate was also extremely good.

So, while I loved the idea of it, it just wasn’t for me in the end. I am very reticent to rate this dish, as for me the taste was simply not agreeable and if I was going on taste alone it would get a very low score. However, given the subjective nature of the exercise and the trust and respect I have for the chef, I think a 6/10 is probably about right.

My wine accompaniment for this course was a glass of the 2002 Phileo Shiraz (South Africa) at £9 per 175ml glass, which was excellent. It was bursting with red fruit flavor – very fruit-forward for a Shiraz, even from South Africa – and was luscious. I remember soft tannins, some sweet oak, a little bit of coffee (or leather…well, something sour) and a little burst of acidity. It was rich enough to handle the trotter, and that’s saying something! 8/10.

Dessert 1: Pain Perdue with Sweet Pineapple and Coconut Ice Cream

Her highness wasn’t all that pleased with her dessert. She had been expecting a traditional Pain Perdue with the ‘sweetness’ of pineapple that was advertised in the menu’s description. While the texture of the bread was very appealing – soft yet firm and with a tiny bit of crunch left in the crust – everything just seemed drowned out by the alcohol that was ever-present in the syrupy sauce. Had it been a movie, the pineapple flavor would barely have got a mention in the credits (maybe something like ‘Key Grip’). On the other hand, the coconut ice cream was fabulous. So, another mixed bag. 5/10.

Dessert 2: Gascon Apple Pie

I am happy to say my apple pie was really good. The apples were very sweet and had the wonderful texture of being just cooked on the outside and still soft on the inside. The caramelized goo was good too. It had a strong burnt toffee flavor to it, which may have been too overpowering for many, but I loved when it was combined with a little bit of crème fraîche (provided in a little bowl on the side). The three thin constructs of what I believe were filo pastry were light and crispy and complemented the more gooey elements very well. It was one of the better apple pies I’ve had in a long time, although Mrs. LF didn’t rate it as much as I did (but hey, she’s French). 9/10.

After a bit of consultation with the sommelier (who was pleasant and seemed knowledgeable), I arrived back at my initial and quite unimaginative thought of pairing the apple pie with a Sauternes. But I was glad I did in the end, because the 2005 Carmes de Rieussec (at £12 per 125ml glass) was really good. It is the second wine of Château Rieussec and has been owned by Lafite for a long time. It had the classic characteristics of a good Sauternes: lots of sweet orange blossom on the nose, along with notes of honey. It had a very syrupy texture and tasted of the honey and orange it smelled like, plus some tropical fruit thrown in for good measure. It had just enough sharpness, quite a spicy and peppery finish, and a lot of length too. It was a real treat with that delectable apple pie. 8/10.

Petit Fours

I ordered a double espresso as a long walk alone was not going to keep me alert for the rest of the afternoon. It was served by itself, and we were disappointed that for the prices being charged there were no petit fours. But a minute later, one of the waiters came back to our table with a nice little assortment of sweet nibbles. I didn’t care much for the mini financier (back left); the thin, crisp biscuit of seeds was good but not memorable; the miniscule lemon tart was perfect; the chocolate had a nice burnt caramel center; the nougat had a very pleasant and strong pistachio flavor; and the truffles (which in England are not just for Christmas, unlike in France) were bloody excellent. The coffee itself was Musetti and was perfectly fine.

The times they have a’changed

I think my overall feelings have been clearly communicated through the descriptions of the design of the space (amazing) and the food (somewhat old fashioned and rustic yet with a certain noble elegance – but hit and miss for me). As for the staff, we had a nice chat with one of them at the close of the meal who said that most people there were from Selfridge’s events team, or other parts of the store. Overall, I didn’t mind that the service wasn’t perfect, as there was a fairly laid back attitude up there and it just all felt very luxurious and novel.

Another thing that Mrs. LF and I discussed was that, at the time that Koffmann and his signature dishes came on the London dining scene, they must have been unique, exciting and had a certain flair not often seen at his contemporaries’ establishments. But food, and fine dining in particular, has moved on a lot in the last 15-20 years in many ways. With so much competition at the higher end of the restaurant world, so many new technological innovations, and so many young chefs trying to make their mark and be ‘unique’, I guess his food just seems a bit dated. I wouldn’t have minded had the food been like what Mrs. LF described – where, after one bite, I would be right back in there scoffing up the rest of it because it was so delicious – but for me it mostly wasn’t. Granted, it was one meal, but in a restaurant that by its definition is ephemeral in nature, this was the only chance it (and I) had.

I was initially surprised by the price of the meal, but I guess it was fair given the novelty of the whole affair. I mean, it is a unique experience (and possibly the last opportunity) to be able to taste Koffmann’s food, and given the expenses that went into creating the restaurant – for example, the kitchen was lifted by a crane from the sidewalk onto the roof, and I’m sure the designers didn’t come cheap – I suppose it’s justified. I was glad to have been part of it, and overall we had a very pleasant afternoon up there in the sky.

Rating

Ambience: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Food: 6/10

Wine List: 7/10

Wine Selected: 8/10

For more about my rating scale, click here.

PS – As a side note, Selfridge’s should do some serious thinking about what they do with this great space next. Apparently, in the thirties the wealthy used to play croquet and god knows what else up there, and given the amazing transformation they’ve given the rooftop for this event, I am sure they can dream up some more tempting and tantalizing venues.

The Square: Generous, Rich, Golden

The Square
6-10 Bruton Street
London W1J 6PU
Website
Map
Online Reservations

Dinner tasting menu at £95/person (£150/person with wine pairing) and 3-course dinner menu at £75/person

The Square is a solid 2 Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair serving generous portions of fine and rich French fare. The food, the business-like ambience and the efficient service seem better suited for a proper old school (and probably male) business meal than that of a romantic evening or celebratory occasion, however I doubt you’d be disappointed by the food whatever your reason for going may be.

Meeting the older sister

Having had a pleasant (though not perfect) time at The Sqaure’s little sister in Westbourne Grove a few months ago – for full review of that dinner see here –  we were very excited to try out what is one of the most established stalwarts on the London fine dining scene. From what I know about The Square, it is undoubtedly one of the most consistently well regarded high-end restaurants in London, both by mainstream media food critics and food bloggers alike.

Chef Philip Howard has certainly garnered a lot of respect and praise from his fellow chefs and food commentators of all sorts. This would appear to be partly because he is to some extent self-taught (though according to their website he did have a stint in the Dordogne, a year with Roux Restaurants Ltd. and a year at the now (in)famous Harveys where he had the opportunity to work with Marco Pierre White and no doubt learned that “mother nature is the true artist” – that chef’s favorite modern day refrain – in-between having frying pans thrown at him), and partly because he is one of the few head chefs performing at this level to actually be present and cooking in his own kitchen pretty much day in and day out. As a short aside, I recently saw quite an interesting video interview with him on Caterersearch, but generally speaking he eschews the media and tries to keep to himself to the extent possible.

So, an interesting character in the driving seat and certainly a serious contender for a very promising meal.  My taste buds were certainly on high alert.

Though as we arrived, I had a very unfortunate discovery.  I had made the stupid mistake of leaving my camera’s battery charging at home, rendering the camera in my bag completely useless for what I hoped would be a grand dinner. So apologies in advance (especially to the restaurant and the chef) for my quite colorless blackberry photos – they really do not do justice to the way the food looked, which was in general simple, elegant and beautifully presented.

Arriving at The Square and realizing I only had my phone camera – oh well, we were there to eat, not take photos!

Business or pleasure?

Occupying the ground floor of a Mayfair office block, the entrance to The Square is rather nondescript, with a subtle sign somewhat camouflaged in the slightly curved burnt orange wall to the left of the front door.  The line of windows facing the street is frosted to just above eye level, so you have to jump up to see into the restaurant, unless you’re really tall. Once inside, this is an effective shield to the outside world, as when you are seated you can mainly see from the first floor upward of the buildings across the street, and not the street and pedestrian traffic.

We were efficiently welcomed and shown to our table, which was at the back left corner of the… well…square room, right next to where all of the food was being brought out from the kitchen. Not usually the best spot as it can be quite busy, but it turned out to be fine and afforded us a commanding view of the room and also enabled us to overhear the chit-chat of the staff.

Compared to The Ledbury, whose interior Mrs. LF and I both found really appealing, The Square’s ambience was a bit of a letdown. The tables are very well spread out, which provides you with good privacy and it isn’t too noisy. But it is quite a plain room that for me lacks an engaging identity or design theme. It seems much more a business lunch on the company’s expense place than somewhere you’d want to come for a romantic evening or a celebratory gathering.

At first impression, the waiting staff were also all business. There seemed to be a small army of them coming and going from our little corner. They all conveyed a very professional air but, at the same time, they all felt quite distant and reserved in their interactions with us. It wasn’t really a warm, inviting beginning. Not that this is a disaster, but quite the opposite of what we had experienced at The Ledbury.

These factors were compounded by the fact that, as we were perusing the menu and trying to make our choices, our first amuse bouche was brought out. Then, shortly thereafter, a second round of amuses (of which there were three elements) followed. The Square’s menu is quite a large affair, and it was rather awkward to find a place for them amongst all the little nibbles and bread which looked so appetizing. I got a bit flustered by the whole episode, and would have much rather preferred having them take our orders first and then properly beginning the meal. It just meant that we felt rushed and weren’t able to concentrate on the food as much as we would have wanted to. While this is a small thing, and I probably wouldn’t comment on it if the restaurant did not hold two heavy Michelin stars, it wasn’t an impressive start. Since there was no time limitation on the table that I was aware of, I just didn’t get why they were in such a hurry.

Are you gonna finish that?

But enough of my quibbles and onto the food. And boy was there a lot of it.

Even though we had opted for the standard à la carte 3-course menu, we quickly found out that it was to be more of a 7-course evening when taking into account all of the little extras that The Square very generously includes in all of its dinners. It also turned out that the portions at The Square are much larger than you get at any other restaurant of a similar ilk (at least the ones I’ve been to) and that the food was in general extremely rich. In this way, it was truly an old school approach that was full-on right through the end. This was again something neither of us was quite prepared for, and was barely able to stomach in the end. However, with 20/20 hindsight, I would know that when coming to The Square for dinner, or lunch for that matter, to show up with an empty stomach and to be in the mood for some rich and decadent food. With these conditions, I am certain I would enjoy the hell out of a meal at here.

You can find a blow-by-blow account of the meal below.

Amuse Bouche: Gelée of Girolles & Roast Chicken Consommé with Corn Smoke Foam and Cheese Frazzle (Sorry - No Photo)

I guess in all of the hoopla surrounding the ordering and eating at the same time, I forgot to snap a photo of this dish. From memory, it came in a little glass cup which clearly displayed the distinct layers of colors and textures, with the cheese frazzle stuck into the glass vertically like a flagpole sans flag. It was very rich and the deep mushroom flavor came through clearly, curbed nicely by the layer of sweetcorn foam (which took up nearly half the glass), with notes of roasted fowl hovering in the background. It was pretty heavenly dipping the cheese stick all the way into the concoction and eating it all together. 8/10.

I almost forgot to mention the bread, which was good. It is all baked on-site and the best of the bunch was the white mini-baguette (crispy at the tips, crunchy crust and soft inside), followed closely by the walnut and raisin roll (lots of deep, almost sour nutty flavor balanced by the sweetness of sultanas). The brown rolls were okay. 7/10.

Further Amusement for our Bouches

First up in the second course of amuses was a cornet of foie gras mousse, which was stuck into the center of a little brown wooden square. It was really rich and scrumptious and had a lovely smooth and silky texture. The anchovy ice cream cone offered some saltiness, and the combination definitely provided my palate with some serious amusement. (8/10). The black ink puff pastry, which had a salty core, was interesting and left a sharp, intriguing and pleasant taste in my mouth. Points for inventiveness, but I’m not sure it was a completely finished pastry conceptually. (6/10). The prawn crackers were nothing that special in and of themselves, but were crispy and flaky. They were enlivened a bit by the mild curry dipping sauce, which again had a great creamy consistency and a little hint of spice. (7/10).

Starter 1: Potted Grouse with Terrine of Foie Gras, Pink Gooseberry Chutney and Sour Dough Toast" (Sorry - No Photo)

Given that we were in the full swing of grouse season at the time of our meal, I really wanted to try some as we hadn’t yet had any this year. I didn’t have to work too hard in persuading Mrs. LF to order the grouse starter special for the evening, which did sound very appetizing.

It is a shame that this dish managed to pretty much kill both of our appetites for the rest of the evening. The potted grouse came in a large old fashioned self-sealing glass jar with a metal hinge (the kind you find homemade country jam in), and was full up to the brim of grouse paste. I unfortunately forgot to snap a photo (possibly due to shock), but it was a huge-bordering-on-ginormous portion for a main course, let alone a starter! It had a pretty singular flavor and didn’t really do that much for me personally. Even though it wasn’t my dish, Mrs. LF couldn’t even eat half of it, so I was brought in to dust it off, which I couldn’t do given the richness of my own starter (see below). The foie gras terrine itself was very good and I loved the gooseberry chutney with it. 6/10.

Starter 2: Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and Champagne Foam

This dish was very beautifully presented, and was not exactly what I had expected when I thought of ‘lasagne’, which I typically associate with square or rectangular alternately stacked layers of pasta and sauce. The dainty little circular tower of crab lasagne was bathing in a luxurious bath of cream that was topped off with champagne bubbles. You could just tell this was going to be a satisfying plate of food. The lasagne itself was excellent, and the sweetness of the crab really shone through. The plentiful sauce was extremely rich and unctuous (lots of butter, lots of cream) and married well with crab, with the ‘lasagne’ layers providing some good chewy texture in order to ground the dish. The layer of shellfish cream on top lent different and slightly more sharp notes from the sea and again proved a worthy and subtle partner. It is a testament to the quality of the execution that I finished this starter, which was again huge and insanely rich, but I did wonder how well I would digest that sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 1: Slow Cooked Turbot with a Warm Potato Salad, Leek Hearts, Vichyssoise and Smoked Eel

Mrs. LF ordered the turbot for her main course. She said that it was a refined and light dish which she thoroughly enjoyed. The turbot itself had a great texture and the vichyssoise was clever because although it looked like a heavy, cream-based sauce, in reality it was mainly made up of puréed leeks, potatoes, onions and stock (with what seemed to be just a little bit of cream) and therefore had more of a vegetable essence. It worked beautifully with the delicateness of the turbot. The pretty black hive of caviar nestled on top of the fish gave it that little punch of salt needed to elevate the dish to something just more than a well prepared fish and sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 2: Roast Calves Sweetbreads with Beurre Noisette, Sweetcorn, Girolles and Almonds

I had heard that The Square’s sweetbreads ranked right up there with the best of them, so in my mind I had ordered this main as my ‘rich course’, thinking that the earlier starter of crab lasagne would be a rather ‘small and light’ start to the meal – well, we all know what happens when we assume.

There was a massive amount of sweetbreads on this plate, certainly more than I’ve ever seen before, even for a main course. They had all been huddled together in the middle, and in the back of my mind I thought they sort of formed the shape of a little brain…fancy that. They were served on a base of perfectly made beurre noisette and were surrounded by a plate of crisps, which I thought was novel, and they actually worked very well as instruments to dip into that lovely butter sauce. The sliced almonds on top worked a treat with the sweetbreads, as did the sweet accent of corn and the earthy and woody flavors of the girolles. The various bits of meat themselves were exactly the right texture for me, having been well seared and firm (they held their shape well) yet with just enough softness and bounce. It was a very good dish, but I felt that again there was just an enormous amount of everything. 8/10.

Pre-Dessert: Peach & Vanilla Yogurt Topped with a Beignet

This little pre-dessert was a welcome respite to the carnage that had preceded it. The peach was refreshing and was of course a perfect foil for the vanilla yogurt. The beignet was crisp but I didn’t think it sat naturally on top of what was essentially a posh pot of yogurt. Maybe this is just an oddity of mine, or of this pair of restaurants, as I recall a similar thing happened at The Ledbury with churros and a strawberry gariguette and I had a similar reaction. 6/10.

Dessert 1: Peach Melba Soufflé

Mrs. LF had the soufflé for her dessert. It was, in our experience, as good a soufflé as we’ve had, and was certainly a notch higher than the pistachio soufflé we had at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons earlier this year.  The textures were spot on, with the exterior of the crown being nicely hardened and the insides being soft, light and fluffy. The peach flavor came through very strongly – so much so that Mrs. LF felt that it may have been a bit too strong, to the extent it almost smacked of artificial flavouring (though it was certainly genuine peach flavor). A scoop of ice cream was plopped into the center, where it sunk to its gooey death, and a bit of raspberry coulis was then poured into the crevasse it had created, which gave some good freshness and bite to the dessert. While we agreed it was the best we’ve had, I think we also came to the realization that sweet soufflés just really aren’t our favorite desserts; for some reason they just never seem to wholly satisfy either of us. 8/10.

Dessert 2: Mousseline of Raspberry with Lemon Verbena Jelly, Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream and Nectarines

I loved, loved, loved this dessert. There’s not all that much more to say about it. The three little parcels of raspberry mousse had been neatly wrapped with a ‘skin’ of raspberry which was slightly more sharp than the sweet creaminess of the mousse (although it did also have a nice pang of tartness). The nectarines were ripe and if memory serves me right they were a little syrupy too, and I really enjoyed the little kick up the butt that the lemon verbena jelly gave to any forkful you happened to include it with. In some sense, the raspberry ripple ice cream almost stole the show; it was just perfect in every way. It was such a nice ending to the meal, but of course, it wasn’t really the ending was it….9/10.

Petit Fours

The petit fours were arranged in what I assume to be The Square’s classic presentation of ‘lollipops’ sticking out of a semi-circular shaped brown wooden block. It looked very pretty, and most of them were good. Memory fails me now, so I can’t tell you which ones I loved and which ones I could have done without.

Just to make sure that they had filled and coated every inch of our greatly expanded stomachs, there was also a bowl of around eight or nine truffles for the two of us! I absolutely adored them, but could only eat a couple at this point.

Because we liked them so much, we asked if we could have a little box to place the remaining truffles in to take them home with us. In a baffling and logic-defying move, one of the waiters decided that they should instead give us a full box of ‘new’ truffles from the kitchen and insisted that we leave the ‘old’ ones on the table, which defeated the whole point of not wanting to waste such good sweets. Maybe it is just not the done thing in such fine dining establishments? I really don’t know, but was sort of mystified by it all. Whatever the case, we did take home the box of truffles and scoffed them down pretty quickly the next evening .

Yquemical bonding

I have thus far neglected to mention the wines for the evening. As I was the only one drinking, I ordered a half-bottle of the Condrieu that they had available from their very extensive and interesting wine list. It was a 2005 Christophe Pichon (Rhône Valley, France) that came in at £33/half bottle, and unfortunately it was a real let down after my sublime experience with another (and my first ever) Condrieu, which we shared a full bottle of at Claridge’s a few months back (see here for details, and for those who are interested in such things it was a 2005 Domaine Mathilde et Yve Gangloff, which still stands out as one of my favorite wines ever). This tasted almost completely different from my memory of the Gangloff wine, and was just sort of flat – not bad, just not what I was expecting, and an indication that I have a lot to learn about the various styles and qualities of Condrieu that are out there.

But for me, the highlight of the entire evening was to come from the wine I ordered with, or should I say for, my dessert. You see, since I first beginning getting really into wine a few years ago, I have been reading about how some of my favorite food writers and chef heroes more than love one wine in particular. I will give you a clue, in case you missed the title of this section of the review: it is the only Sauterne to have been given the title of Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 official classification of Bordeaux wine, it is golden and color, and for my money it is the nectar of the gods, if deities exist, and if they like wine (I hope to God they do). I have been contemplated buying a bottle for the last year or so, and have almost done so, except my existing means of storage would sort of be an insult to such a noble bottle of wine. Anyway, with writers like Joseph Wechsberg and chefs like Fernand Point extolling the virtuous of this chateau’s exclusive elixir, I have been salivating at the opportunity to finally taste some of the stuff.

My moment finally arrived on this evening, as I was pleasantly shocked to see that The Square had Château d’Yquem available by the glass on their wine list. There must be a god after all, I thought. Of course, at £55/glass, it was not such an easy decision to make, as it would by far be the most expensive wine I’d ever purchased on a per millilitre basis, but compared to the cost of a bottle (or even half bottle) of a decent vintage, it seemed like the drop of a penny in the ocean, so I went for it. I was somewhat nervous, though, because for my hard earned £55 I was ‘only’ going to get a 1999, which some have written was not a great vintage and hence why it is probably one of, if not the, cheapest of all recent vintages.

1999 Château d’Yquem, 1er Grand Cru Classé Superieur (Sauternes, Bordeaux, France)

I should have listened to my gastronomic heroes and not worried a bit. It was a magical experience and certainly worth every penny. Being an Yquem virgin and thereby not in a position to appreciate the nuances of various vintages, it was the most perfect wine I’ve ever drunk. Everything was in exact balance. It was sweet with a distinct dry nectarine flavor, but not too sweet. It had amazing acidity, but it was not too harsh, it just perfectly held in check the sweetness of the fruit and subtle and complex secondary notes of honey, toffee and almonds. It had an ethereal character to it, and in fact, it just defies exact definition for me at this point, but it will remain ingrained in my memory for a very long time, if not forever. I cannot wait to try my next glass or bottle of this mythical and mystical liquid gold.

Mixed feelings, but mostly good

As you’ve read above, the food at The Square was very accomplished. It was also all, with the exception of the turbot, very rich and the portions were gargantuan compared to other restaurants I’ve experienced at this level. And when it comes to food, the whole ethos of the place seems to be one of generosity, as we were given multiple amuses, lots of very good homemade bread, a pre-dessert and plentiful petit fours with our ‘3-course’ meal that ended up being 7-courses in total. This is all good, except of course you have to know what to expect going into the meal, otherwise you can be a little overwhelmed, as we definitely were.

But it must be the perfect place for businessmen (and other men, or women!) who really love their food, want lots of it, and feel disappointed and/or let down by the often miniscule portions and more feminine character of some of the fine dining world’s other establishments. The Square therefore offers something more hearty and, in a sense, more masculine, neatly filling a possible gap in the market whilst certainly filling the bellies of its customers.

As far as the non-food aspects of the meal went, I left with a neutral to slightly negative impression. As I mentioned before, I don’t think the dining space is particularly warm or inviting and I wouldn’t naturally think of going back there for a non-professional meal if the food hadn’t been so good.

I also found the service to be inconsistent and slightly odd throughout, notwithstanding the kafuffle at the beginning of the meal. The rather measured and distant attitude adopted by the fleet of staff for the first part of the meal seemed to almost immediately disappear once they saw me trying to take a photo of the food from my blackberry, when the flash accidentally went off. I don’t know if they thought ‘food blogger’, which then spurred them on to become more warm and engaging, or whether they were just very busy at the beginning of the service and then once they got to know us a bit better, they loosened up a bit. I hope it was the latter, but I have my doubts.

Whatever the case, they certainly did go out of their way towards the end of the meal, giving us those extra truffles and even producing one of the (very large) menus for us to take away. When we opened it up, we saw that it had been personally signed by Philip, who turned out to be in the kitchen that night, and both gestures were much appreciated.

In the end, I think The Square is someplace I’d probably return to for a good and hearty business lunch, whereas The Ledbury is someplace I’d like to return to with Mrs. LF and/or some friends on a Friday night or at weekends. Overall, I think the food at The Square was more consistently at a higher level than that of The Ledbury, although it certainly leans more toward the traditional than chef Brett Graham’s more innovative, modern and pretty fare. Both are solid operations and probably merit their current status – I just wish The Square was a bit more inviting in its approach and décor.

Rating

Ambience: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Food: 8/10

Wine List: 9/10

Wine Selected: 5/10 for the half bottle of Condrieu and easily 10/10 for the glass of Yquem (even if it was ‘only’ a 1999!)

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have dined at The Square once for dinner.*

*PS: For Yquem lovers, gen.u.ine.ness recently provided me with a great tip. At The Greenhouse, they have 1997 by the glass for a measly £39/glass .

The Fat Duck: A Blumen’ Great Day in Bray

The Fat Duck
High Street
Bray
Berkshire
SL6 2AQ
Website
Map
Reservations: +44 (0)1628 580 333

Tasting menu at £130/person, wine pairing at £90/person

The Fat Duck is a unique dining experience in Britain, and probably in the world. It is creative, innovative, at times challenging, truly delicious & its clever and playful whimsy will bring a smile to your face. The theatrical nature of the meal is fantastic & is entwined with the whole dining experience. The staff are extremely professional and while a formal air is projected, the experience is relaxed and interactive. If you can somehow stomach the prices, it is well worth going for a special occasion.

The Big Fat Phone Bill

Just like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, I felt flustered & confused in trying to book my table...and as much as I like Lewis Carroll’s story, I did find it annoying to listen to on hold after about 20 minutes...

Good day and welcome to my Big Fat Duck Post!

I have been in two minds whether to even mention this, but in the interest of readers who have not yet been to The Fat Duck and are seriously considering going, I will spend a few paragraphs on the matter of securing a reservation at this temple of new British gastronomy.

If you work during the day, good luck to you.

Normally when you call the restaurant, you get an engaged tone. If you set your phone to automatic redial, you may just get through one lucky time within an hour, but usually you won’t. But that is only step one. If you are fortunate enough to get through the engaged tones, you will then hear one of two things.

The first option is a pre-recorded message telling you that the restaurant is now booked for the next two calendar months, and they don’t take reservations past that time frame. If you get this message, you can hold on and wait to speak to someone to be put on the waiting list in case of any cancellations. This will normally mean enduring anywhere from 20+ minutes of Alice in Wonderland being read to you (that is the restaurant’s hold ‘music’) – a rather nice idea and clearly the chef has a strong attachment to this great story (see ‘Mad Hatter Tea’ course further below), but it does get a bit old and irksome after many, many minutes of waiting. I got through once a number of months ago and spoke to a South African lady who told me that there was pretty much no point putting my name on the waiting list for a Friday or Saturday (of course, the only two nights I could really go), but I did so anyway and never heard back.

The second option is that you just go straight through to Alice, which means you may be in with a chance if you can just take off the rest of the morning or afternoon to wait. Oh, and one more thing, the reservations line is closed during lunch hours, so you will need to make sure it is a slow day at work and that you clear the morning or afternoon in your diary. I did this, and on my XXXth attempt, I finally got through to a living person after about 20 minutes. And low and behold, they had ‘the last’ table for two available at lunchtime on the Saturday about two months from when I was calling. I don’t think I let her finish before blurting out, “I’ll take it!”

It’s funny, I was extremely worked up about the whole off-putting experience of booking a table, but all of this built-up tension suddenly melted away when I found out I had reached what is possibly the second holiest grail of restaurant reservations in Europe (after El Bulli in Spain, of course).

The Famous Not-So-Fat Chef

Heston Blumenthal: a man on a mission

I will not beleaguer you with the full biography and ethos of Heston Blumenthal, the chef behind this 3 Michelin star restaurant, which was again the only restaurant in Britain to achieve a full 10/10 in the Good Food Guide this year.

As many of you will be aware, he is one of the chief protagonists in what the media likes to term the ‘molecular gastronomy’ movement. This means that he is intimately interested in the physical and chemical transformations that different foods undergo in the cooking process and that he uses many modern-day – some would say scientific – techniques to create his whimsical dishes. For example, liquid nitrogen was employed in three of the courses during our meal. He is also by most accounts more or less self-taught, having run the restaurant for many years prior to gaining his fabled reputation both amongst his peers and the dining public.

About a year ago, he signed a contract with Channel 4, one of the main television channels in the UK, and has since then become a more familiar name and face amongst the British public through his two television series to-date: Big Chef Takes on Little Chef and Heston’s Feasts. I watched and enjoyed both series, and my key takeaways about Heston were as follows. He seems like a nice, ordinary, down-to-earth guy who is insanely passionate about food. He is intrinsically interested in challenging convention and creating holistic dining experiences where diners can truly enjoy and appreciate the whole act of the meal – not just the food, but the thoughts behind it, the atmosphere and space in which it is eaten, how it is served, and how the six senses experience the entirety of the event. Besides this, he is truly fascinated by the history of food, and loves to research the eating habits of our ancestors to understand how he can bring back some of the key elements of gastronomy from the past and reinvent them for the modern day, creating something both historic and completely new. Nothing embodies this more than the four feasts (Victorian, Tudor, Medieval & Roman) he cooked in the mini-series Heston’s Feasts, a program which I truly took pleasure in and from which I drew much inspiration.

But enough about Herr Heston, I will let you google away for further information on this genuinely intriguing character.

The Serendipitous Blue Road Sign

All signs point to Heston

After months of redialing and Alice in Wonderland hold reading, we were finally on our way to Bray. Our table was booked for 12.30pm and we set out in search of our first 3-star meal in England. Unfortunately, I quickly realized we didn’t have nearly enough gas (petrol) for the return journey, so we would need to stop off on the motorway to fill up. We could only chuckle giddily when we saw that our selected service station was none other than the Heston Services located about halfway between central London and the idyllic waterside village of Bray, where The Fat Duck awaited. Serendipitous to say the least.

Finally there – the anticipation builds

We arrived in Bray about half an hour early. Being the true geek I am, I had looked online to see what the building looked like, and even though I had the image of the restaurant’s facade ingrained within my head, we drove straight past it, then turned around once we had blinked and passed through Bray, and nearly passed it again. It seemed there was no parking at the restaurant, and that the parking lot near the village filed was full, but we eventually found the free village car park, which had a few spots left. Phew. No Big Fat Parking Meter, thank god.

The Hinds Head, Heston's Pub (left) & Beautiful Bray (right)

I wonder if they can get reservations with less trouble at the house across the street (left) & the dividing line between the red bricks of Bray and the gray bricks of The Fat Duck (right)

As we didn’t want to be excessively early for our meal, we walked around the little village for about fifteen minutes before heading in. Bray is an amazingly beautiful, quaint and picturesque English village, with some magnificently preserved historic buildings and lovingly restored homes. We were very impressed and eventually meandered toward the one building we could no longer avoid.

Only subtle signs that you have truly arrived

The restaurant is housed within a small two-story building which looks like it could have either been a private residence or a small inn during olden times. The painted gray monochrome brick exterior is cool and understated, and the only real signs of what lurks beyond the doorway are the subtle metal weather pane-ish sign displaying The Fat Duck’s logo, with its clever integration of duck features (webbed feet and feathers) into three pieces of cutlery, a little gold Traditions & Qualité plaque near on the right side of the door, and a similar Relais & Château plaque on the left. We finally entered.

The Long Fat Meal

Inside, we found the shell of the old building splendidly restored (for instance, there were dark wooden beams along the ceiling) and at once noticed how low the ceiling was. In fact, once seated Mrs. LF pointed out that one of the taller waiters had to duck each time he passed the lowest of the beams, which was situated on the way from the pass to the main part of the dining room. While the room itself is quite small and square shaped (we estimated 50-60 covers), it is sort of broken up, with about one third of the dining space running along, and near, the long wall you see upon entering, and the other two thirds of the space set on the other side of an odd little fireplace which juts from the doorway into the room a little bit.

The decor is minimal and quite white with the exception of the brightly colored, wide rectangular abstract paintings of blues and yellows which accentuate the walls. The tables are fairly well spaced out given the size of the room and those set for two are arranged so that both people sit with their back to the wall looking outward into the room at 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions. Mrs. LF also noticed another rather nice feature when she looked out through the window. From outside, you cannot see into the restaurant, but once seated inside, you can see through the beige-brown fabric window shades, which is a good thing given how many people must walk by just to get a peek of what these strange people who spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds on lunch or dinner are being served.

All of the staff were dressed immaculately. However, the rather formal dress code belied the underlying character of the place and its people, which we found to be quite friendly and interactive, and in my mind that is nearly always a good thing.

Rather nice green olives...but even nicer butter

After being seated, we were presented with some very nice green olives, and then left to ponder the menu.

A few months ago, The Fat Duck got rid of its à la carte menu, so now the only option is the tasting menu. It is about 13 courses all-in-all, so there’s not much to do besides look through, ponder what is in store and figure out whether you want a bottle (or bottles) of wine or one of the two pre-set wine pairings on offer. One of the wine pairings is £90/person and the other is nearly double that, and includes some older vintages. Strangely enough, the wines in the less expensive pairing option were slightly more interesting to me, so I decided to go for that, especially since three of the wines were the same on both menus anyway.

Before moving on, it must be said that both of the butters, one of which was unpasteurized, were of extremely high quality, as was the bread which is baked offsite according to specific recipes tailored for the restaurant.

(Note: you can click on any of photos below to get a full resolution image, with the exception of the last three paired images).

Course 1: LIME GROVE / Nitro Poached Green Tea & Lime Mousse

So, the first course was on, and the opening act of this theatrical meal was about to begin. Enter our specialist nitro-trained waitress, who was to prepare what I would describe as a ‘true’ amuse bouche. Out of the hazy white frozen smoke emerged a little white puff of green limey goodness, on top of which she quickly shook a powdered green tea concoction. From what looked like a little bottle of perfume (Fat Duck branded, of course, just like everything else that was to be served to us), she sprayed some essence of lime in the air and told us we must eat it immediately (I am guessing it may have started to dissolve and lose shape if left alone to oxidize for too long). It was probably the best opening to the meal we could have had. The sharp, refreshing citrus hit of lime immediately started to make us salivate, opened our appetite and got us very ready for the ensuing feast in which we were about to partake. 10/10.

Course 2: RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO / Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream

The next course was simple and beautiful. The gazpacho was sharp, crisp and totally refreshing, with the little vegetable micro cubes providing a bit of texture and flavor variation. But my favorite part of the dish by a long way was the mustard ice cream, which was ice cold against the only slightly chilled soup, sweet and slightly spicy, with a creamy texture that was punctuated by the occasional grain of what I presumed to be mustard. In fact, that ice cream is one of my fondest recollections from the whole meal. Another winner: simple, to the point and, for me, the perfect second course. 10/10.

The mysterious oak moss course…

Course 3: JELLY OF QUAIL, CREAM OF CRAWFISH / Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss & Truffle Toast (Homage to Alain Chapel)

After the spartan simplicity (by Blumenthal standards) of red cabbage gazpacho and mustard ice cream, intermission was over and the show was about to begin again. As we took our seats, our nitro-specialist returned. She explained that we were meant to take out the little dissolvable strip within the Fat Duck branded plastic containers (see first in series of pictures above), which contained wafer thin, semi-translucent strips similar to those breath fresheners that became popular about 5 years ago. We placed the strips on our tongues and a focused flavor of tree bark and moss (sour, woody, rich, round) enveloped our mouths. Truffles of course grow under oak trees, and as there was an intricate and beautifully presented truffle toast as one half of the course, I guess there is where the connection between the truffle and the oak moss comes (?).

Anyway, next, the waitress poured from her black metal teapot a good dose of what I presumed to be oak moss scented liquid nitro smoke. I personally didn’t get the whiff of oak moss, but it certainly made the experience more visually interesting.

Lest we forget the food, it was both different (parfait) and divine (truffle toast). The parfait had four distinct layers of liquid, moving from chicken liver to a jelly of quail (which really had the texture of Jell-O), to oak moss (which didn’t come through as much), to crayfish cream. It was rich, complex, challenging and very delicious. It was very well complemented by the thin, crisp toast topped with moist and chopped black truffles with stunningly presented semi-circular radishes and their green leaves. 9/10.

Course 4: ROAST FOIE GRAS / Gooseberry, Braised Konbu & Crab Biscuit

The next course brought a return to something more familiar, at least within a fine dining context. The foie gras was the perfect texture for me, being quite firm yet with a bit of give and its depth of flavor was wonderfully augmented by the thin slice of Konbu that I made sure to include with each bite. Konbu is a type of edible kelp typically found in Eastern Asia and is well known for containing copious amounts of umami. This pairing may have been too rich for some on its own, but it was greatly enhanced by the pink sauce of gooseberries which added a welcome note of acidity and tart fruitiness to the dish. The two crispy crab biscuits which were inserted between the slices of foie gras and stood vertically as goal posts were also excellent, having a deep sweet and sour flavor that again integrated well with the other components on the plate. The topping of what I believe were sesame seeds and chives was mild and seemed to mingle naturally with the other flavors. So maybe not as simple as it looked after all – pure Heston, pure deliciousness! 10/10.

The Mad Hatter Tea begins its crazy alchemy

Course 5: MOCK TURTLE SOUP (c.1850) / “Mad Hatter Tea”

Luckily, madness was to literally prevail again in the next course, which was the last of the entrées.  This dish, or shall I say event, was actually a bit more familiar to me as I had seen Heston ‘invent’ this dish on the Victorian episode of his Feasts television series. The whole idea, and execution of it, was absolutely brilliant.

You are presented with a tea cup that has a golden watch for a teabag. Hot water is added and the edible gold leaf begins to disintegrate (but not completely), revealing a dark brown stock which has probably been frozen at various temperatures many times in order to attain the right texture for the purposes of this dish. Eventually, as you keep stirring the ‘tea’, you end up with a golden colored consommé. This is then poured over what has to be one of the most striking little arrangements I have ever seen (I mean, just look at the mock turtle egg with the little mushrooms sprouting up), in a shallow soup bowl. Once poured, it produced a truly exceptional looking soup and if Michel Roux Jr. had been there in all of his Masterchef: The Professionals glory (more to come on his uncle later on), I am sure he would have uttered his trademark phrase – it really was “as pretty as a picture”.

Luckily, the taste more than stood up to the looks. The broth was rich in flavor, yet it was a very light and succulent soup. The thing that stood out the most for us was the little cube of head cheese. It was composed of immaculate, thin slices of different colors and textures and tasted out of this world. We would have loved it if there had been another cube in the soup (more on that later too)! What a spectacular dish. 10/10.

Madeira, Verdelho, H&H (Portugal)

The wines so far had been very good. The 2006 Trimbach Gewurztraminer had a nice pairing with the foie gras, being sweet and with a good kick of Alsacian acidity, although I had actually preferred the 2007 Riesling Kabinett, Joh. Jos. Prüm (Mosel, Germany), which had been served with the preceding oak moss course. Our English sommelier was very professional and gave a concise and interesting description of each wine served throughout the meal, answering a few barrages of questions here and there without breaking a sweat.

For the Mock Turtle Soup, the accompanying wine was a Madeira, which was a beautiful deep and golden color (see photo above) and an excellent though not altogether obvious partner. Its lush density and syrupy sweetness, which was tempered by a refreshing streak of acidity and hint of spice, somehow worked really well with the richness of the head cheese and the meats within the broth.

Taking a break before heading the rest of the way down the rabbit hole

Before heading onto the main courses, we were afforded a little break, and above you can see a little taster of what the room looks like – from the fireplace you see to your left upon entering, to some of the views from our wall into the main dining area.

Okay, the moment has arrived, the seashell iPods are out

Course 6: “SOUND OF THE SEA”

Next up was one of the most famous and classic dishes of The Fat Duck. We knew to expect the iPods inside the shells, but we certainly didn’t know how this unique concoction would taste. Although the iPod gimmick is a bit silly in the sense that the 20 seconds of looping wave sounds didn’t add that much (if anything) to the seaside experience of the dish, it was very successful in one way as all of the outside noise was drowned out and, instead of looking around or talking to each other, we were both firmly focused on the food in front of us, which got our 100% attention. So in this way, it worked.

And I am really glad that the plate had my full attention, because it was probably my favorite of the savory courses. The overall taste of the dish sort of eludes concise descriptions, so I will hesitate digging my own grave in trying to do so. I will only say that the three sashimi elements in the dish – halibut, yellow tail and mackerel – were exquisite, as were the two pink, ovular pieces of seaweed and the sand itself, which was a crunchy construction of smoked eel and something else which escapes our memory. Everything on the plate was edible. I very happily consumed it all, and was left wanting more. The overall sense I was left with was that of an extremely fresh, unctuous, slightly sweet and satisfyingly complex melange of flavors. 10/10.

The wine served with this course was in fact a sake – Ginjo Sake Dewazakura, Yamagata (Japan) to be specific – a drink of which I know nearly nothing. It was a generous helping, and I thought it complemented the flavors of the sea very well. It had a very floral nose and was actually quite a mild drink given the level of alcohol. Another inventive and successful combination.

Course 7: SALMON POACHED IN LIQUORICE / Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonaise, Golden Trout Roe & Manni Olive Oil

The next course sounded and tasted a bit more sane. The salmon had been slow cooked and was just slightly more than rare. The little cube of fish was encased within a thin skin of black liquorice. The fish had a wonderful texture and delicate taste, but the real star of this dish for me was the vanilla mayonnaise. It was sweet and luscious and although it could have been accused of dominating the dish, I just loved it. The vanilla was brought into check by the salty trout roe, the lovingly cooked artichokes (check out the placement of the little peppercorns on top of them), and the tang of the little pink grapefruit pearls that were sandwiched between the rows of vanilla mayonnaise dollops. After reading about how painstaking a job it had been to prepare these little pink grapefruit pearls, I think I appreciated them even more than I would have had I not known. For me, the liquorice flavor, which on the menu is listed in capital letters as the second most important flavor to the salmon just wasn’t present enough – I also strangely don’t remember tasting the olive oil – but besides this, I thought the dish worked well together, despite its unusual flavor combinations, which I found myself enjoying immensely. 9/10.

Course 8: POWEDERED ANJOU PIGEON (c.1720) / Blood Pudding & Confit of Umbles

This was another more traditional dish that had been well executed. The pigeon itself, from Anjou in the lower part of France’s Loire region, was perfectly cooked, tender and slightly gamey (as you’d expect).The little pieces of confit’d umbles (which is an Old English term for offal) was an equally rich accompaniment which I thought worked well. The deep purple black pudding had a thick consistency and a very strong flavor, which for me was nearly too much given the richness of the other ingredients. Luckily the wafer of crackling and the onions served to just about break up this maniacal ménage a trois. I was glad we were moving onto sweets next as I don’t think I could have handled another savory course. 9/10.

Course 9: TAFFETY TART (c.1660) / Carmelized Apple, Fennel, Rose & Candied Lemon

This was without exception one of the best and most enjoyable desserts I have had in recent memory. It also has to be one of the, if not the, most beautiful dessert I’ve been served in a very, very long time. The thin layers of caramelized apples were magical against the little balls of cream, the crunchy, wafer-thin pastry and posh granola topping. It was fresh, sweet, dense and somehow light at the same time. The other half of the dessert, of which the rose sorbet took centre stage, was a lovely companion to the tart. The candied fruits were as delectable as they were gorgeous, and I would have happily dusted off another plate of the same dessert if I had been given the chance. 10/10.

Course 10a: THE NOT-SO-FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST / Parsnip Cereal

“Good morning ladies and gentleman, time to wake up, breakfast is now being served,” rifled off the head waiter. He explained that first before moving to our breakfast’s main course we would first be having a bit of cereal. He told us that the milk was very special as the cows in The Fat Duck’s back garden only feed on parsnips, so the milk may taste slightly different than what we were used to. He gave us each a little pitcher of this special milk and we hastily unwrapped our Fat Duck cereal boxes and found some parsnip flakes within. It may not look like much from the photos, but the cereal was heavenly. It was sweet and parsnippy and Mrs. LF commented that she wished she could have this for breakfast every morning. I whole-heartedly seconded the motion. 10/10.

Cooking without gas

Course 10b: THE NOT-SO-FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST / Nitro-Scrambled Egg & Bacon Ice Cream

Let’s see now…how many courses had we eaten without any pomp, circumstance or nitro? It must have been too many, because the Royal Blumenthal Company was back at our table, with some major stage props to boot.

Our new, male nitro specialist had wheeled out a wooden cart on top of which resided a shiny copper tabletop cooking set. However, we were informed that, in fact, our breakfast would be cooked without any heat whatsoever. The waiter then produced a pair of ‘eggs’ from the Fat Duck egg carton, each with their own little red Fat Duck seals branded onto the shells. He proceeded to crack the ‘eggs’ and let the mysterious pale yellow liquid inside drain into the copper pan. To this he added some nitro gas from a silver thermos and began to stir the ‘eggs’ with his wooden spoon. Another waiter was standing next to him with our French toast and streaky bacon already plated. The nitro specialist carefully extracted the scrambled ‘eggs’ from the pan and placed them on top of the toast, and voila, breakfast was served.

This course of the breakfast/dessert was triumphant. I could not believe how some of my favorite flavor combinations – French toast, maple syrup and bacon – worked so well as a dessert. It was harmonious and sweet in a dessert way (not in an American breakfast way), with the caramelized brioche and sweet-saltiness of the faux bacon melding perfectly with the cold creaminess of the ‘eggs’. Once again, pure genius and totally delicious. 10/10.

A very ordinary looking tea...but we know all too well it won't be

Course 10c: THE NOT-SO-FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST / Hot & Iced Tea

We also had a little glass of tea to go with our breakfast/dessert/I don’t know what course it is anymore. In classic Heston style, half of the liquid was warm, while the other half was nearly ice cold. It was actually a very nice tea and its tannic sharpness was provided a good counterpoint to the sweetness of the French toast and ‘eggs’.

Heston loves his history...and I love his food

The pretty pair

Course 11: CHOCOLATE WINE “SLUSH” (c.1660) / Millionaire Shortbread

I wasn’t expecting much from the chocolate wine slush, and sort of expected to be let down after the previous three desserts. I should have known better. If you care to read the above card, which we were given prior to the slush being served, you will see that this “slush” was originally drunk in England in the 1660’s, and it was a bit of a revelation for me. The strong red wine, sugar and chocolate blended together to make a cool, sweet and refreshing drink (sort of like a granite in texture) which was much more palatable than you’d expect. The port-like flavor was perfectly in tune with the chocolate notes and I loved it. But I must mention the other star of this dish, the shortbread. This could have been the best biscuit I’ve ever eaten. There was a thin layer of dark chocolate on the top and bottom, and then an equally thick layer of biscuit and caramel inside. Crispy, caramely and chocolaty, it was the perfect match for the slush. 10/10.

So clever, so good

My first prisoner

Course 12: WINE GUMS/ Historic Trade Routes of Britain

As we were winding down the meal, some innovative touches still lurked in the last few courses. All I know about wine gums are the colourful ones I’ve seen sold in supermarket and sweet shops across the UK. I guess I kind of figured we’d be having some flash version of these bright candies at The Fat Duck. But I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with what we did get.

We were both presented with a dark-brown framed picture of some of the historical trade routes of Britain. And stuck to the glass-covered map were five different wine gums in the shape of bottles, each with a slightly different hue and containing a gummy candy made up of alcoholic beverages from the country to which they were stuck. You literally peeled them off of the picture frame and the entire sweet was edible. They all tasted distinctly of the alcohol they were meant to represent, and as well as being pleasantly sweet they had a little alcoholic kick which made them a very grown-up candies. My favorite was the Mead one, which is an alcohol made from honey. Very innovative and very good. 10/10.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

We were offered tea or coffee before our last course, which I presumed to be some type of petit fours, was to be served. Mrs. LF went for a rose petal tea, while I opted for a mild oolong. Both were presented on Japanese style wooden trays with slits carved out on the top layer, so that any spillage could drain to the bottom. The waitress poured hot water over our glasses in the fashion of a proper Japanese tea ceremony and then poured the fully infused tea into the second empty glass pots. It was a nice touch, and both teas were very pleasant.

As a side note, there is a huge range of teas on the tea list, most of which are quite pricey. I didn’t opt for coffee both because I didn’t feel like it and because I understand that The Fat Duck now uses Nespresso, which while fine (I personally don’t love it), is not exactly what you expect from a 3-star restaurant that is so selective in sourcing its other ingredients, right?

Childhood nostalgia, evoking memories of candy canes & a big bags of sweets

The Full Contents (left) & COCONUT BACCY / Coconut Infused with an Aroma of Black Cavendish Tobacco (right)

AERATED CHOCOLATE / Mandarin Jelly (left) & APPLE PIE CARAMEL / with an Edible Wrapper (right)

QUEEN OF HEARTS / White Chocolate with Fruit Compote

Course 13: “LIKE A KID IN A SWEET SHOP”

For the last part of our meal, we were each given a paper bag of sweets (Fat Duck branded, of course) with the traditional pink and white vertical stripes evoking candy canes and childhood memories of bags full of sweets. I think you are meant to take them away with you, but I literally was as excited as a kid in a sweet shop and ate mine all on the spot.

I started with the Coconut Baccy, which truly looked like loose tobacco. The macerated coconut was quite sweet and had the tiniest hint of tobacco underneath the strong coconut flavor. You just had to smile when you opened the packet because it really looked and felt like a pouch of loose tobacco. Not my favorite in terms of taste, but definitely fun and playful.

I then dealt with the two smaller, bite-sized morsels. The aerated chocolate, ostensibly a play on Nestlé’s Aero bars (?), was okay, but definitely the weakest of the bunch. I don’t even remember the mandarin jelly. The Apple Pie Caramel was a different matter, though. The entire sweet was edible, including what looked like a transparent plastic wrapper. It was all toffee, caramel and apple, and was fantastic.

Last up was the best of the bunch. Once you opened the little white envelope, which was fastened with a proper, circular red wax seal, a miniature playing card was revealed. It was the Queen of Hearts, etched in painstaking detail, and on the back of the card was a typical and intricate red geometrical pattern. I looked at the playing card very carefully and was duly astounded at the attention to detail. The outside casing of the card was white chocolate, and they had somehow inserted an insanely thin layer of berry compote into the middle of the card, which ran nearly the full length of the rectangle. It was scrumptious and was the perfect finale to the meal – and proof that while Heston didn’t have an ace up his sleeve, he had done one better. 10/10 based on the sheer creativity brought to the sweets and the smiles they continued to bring to our faces.

The Lingering Fat Memory

We sat down at our table at 12.30pm or a few minutes earlier. We left The Fat Duck at close to 5.30pm. Not once did we feel bored, did our stomachs feel heavy, or did we feel like getting up (except to go to the loos, which by the way are individual and very nice – Fat Duck branded hand soap and lotion there too). It was one of the most pleasurable meals I can remember having at a restaurant.

The service was professional yet laid back, friendly and interactive. The setting was at the same time modern and historic, just like Heston’s food, which was packed full of amazing ingredients, well constructed and sometimes challenging flavor combinations, culinary alchemy and healthy doses of merriment and whimsy.

The wines on offer were quite extraordinary, and I didn’t mention before, but the wine list is in reality a beautiful gigantic book with a brown leather cover. The wines in my pairing were nearly all delicious, and where they were not so on their own, you could see the logic behind why they were chosen to match their particular dish.

Near the beginning of the meal, one of the waiters had presented us with two rather large envelopes, which were sealed with a circular black wax logo. The beautiful paper had an unusual and sticky texture and felt very special. We assumed that they contained our menu for the afternoon, and were told they also contained our chosen wine pairing. This was a very nice and thoughtful touch.

After leaving the restaurant, we definitely needed a long stroll through the village and surrounding areas. We wandered toward the water and eventually ended up at the other 3 Michelin star restaurant in this tiny village (strange how two of the three 3-starred restaurants are in this place, with the other being Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea). The Waterside Inn was very quiet, and we looked out along the river and back into the formal and old fashioned looking dining room. As we were heading back to the car, we spotted a rather dapper looking elderly gentleman heading toward the hotel. He was wearing bright spring colors and looked like he could have just stepped off the streets of Paris. It was none other than Michel Roux Sr. himself, probably going to check on the kitchen before dinner service. He said “Good evening” and Mrs. LF replied with a pleasant “Bonsoir” to subtly acknowledge we knew who he was. We thought there couldn’t have been a better ending to our afternoon Bray.

After getting back home, we thought back again on our meal, and tried to identify any faults (I know, what are we like?!). At first, we wished that the portion sizes of some of the dishes we liked best had been a bit bigger – for instance, why couldn’t there have been two cubes of head cheese in the Mock Turtle Soup, or why couldn’t the Sound of the Sea have been just a tiny bit bigger? But in the end we realized that had any individual course been more substantial than it was, we probably would have become full and felt heavy too early on in the meal. The portion sizes had really been perfect.

The only other thing (besides the booking process!) that I could find fault with was that after you had been sitting there for a while, you began to hear the waiters giving the same explanations and anecdotes (which they did professionally and without fault, with a good measure of humor thrown in) about the courses you had just had, or were about to consume. This got a tad repetitive, but in all honesty I don’t know what else they could have done as the set tasting menu is the same for everyone, so this is bound to happen.

The fact that there is only one menu in itself could be another potential criticism, and over time the menu hasn’t evolved tremendously according to many journalists and food bloggers. I guess for me, it just means that I wouldn’t go back to The Fat Duck very soon, either at such a time that I really fancy some of those dishes again or at such a time as the menu changes significantly…which would mean I must return.

But with these very minor shortcomings aside, I would be very surprised if this was not one of the very few, if not the, best dining experiences to be had in Britain this decade.

Rating

Ambience: 9/10

Service: 9/10

Food: 10/10

Wine List: 9/10 (amazing breadth and depth, though the mark-up seemed quite high)

Wine Selected: 9/10

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have dined at The Fat Duck once for lunch, although by the time we left it was nearly dinner time.*

Thames Festival: Feast on the Bridge [Photos]

Last Saturday, Mrs. LF and I had a wonderful brunch at The Table Cafe in Southwark en route to Borough Market, where we were picking up some long awaited pork. As we were strolling over to the market, we kept noticing people walking past us with lots of appetizing treats in their hands. At first, I thought they must all be coming from Borough Market, but then as we looked down the street leading from Southwark Street to Southwark Bridge, there appeared to be something much larger going on. We moved in closer to investigate.

It turned out the entire bridge had been closed, and in place of the cars, there were hordes of people basking in the sun, enjoying a range of food and drink from an interesting mix of suppliers and huge long tables stretching nearly the entire length of the bridge. Yes, it was ‘Feast on the Bridge‘, part of the Mayor’s Thames Festival. I had seen it advertised somewhere a few weeks earlier but had totally forgotten about it. And now we were smack bang in the middle of it. The only bad thing was that we had just gorged ourselves at brunch, so didn’t have much room left in our stomachs. Next year, I will make sure to plan ahead and come running on empty.

But it was a feast for the eyes just as much as for the belly, and below are a few photos we took as we walked up and down the bridge. There are also a few photos of Borough Market and the surrounding areas towards the end. If you want to see the full resolution images, just click on any of the pictures.

Let the feast begin - a list of half the purveyors at the big event on Southwark Bridge

This was the longest table I've ever seen! Amazing atmosphere on a sunny Saturday in London

Another view of the extremely long table - looking back from the other end of the bridge...so cool! The very cool & interesting tablecloths, which represented food stories collected from Londoners, were designed by Sophie Herxheimer (http://www.sophieherxheimer.com)

We had a spectacular view of St. Paul's from the bridge...

What was really nice is that nothing looked cheap; even the chairs had an interesting design, and the whole thing was a much more polished affair than I've seen at other UK street fairs/markets. Well done to the organizers

I just loved the way these crates full of red organic apples looked

Before: a lovely looking roast pig on a spit

After: it looked so appetizing, it was all gone pretty quickly

This beautiful shiny metal ice cream van was turning out some good looking treats (fyi it was from http://www.westonbirticecream.co.uk)

Ginormous Pan 1: a whole lotta curry goin' on

Ginormous Pan 2: can anyone say meatballs?

Ginormous Pan 3: some good 'ol British bangers

Detail of the sausages on offer

There were also some beautiful vegetables on display

And fruits too...

...with some British strawberries basking in the sun

There was also some very colorful & tasty looking vegetarian organic food from some folks at a place called Rainforest Creations (http://www.rainforestcreations.co.uk)

And for dessert, there were some very attractively presented Middle Eastern delights

But a much more interesting option for dessert was presented by Konditor & Cook's stand (http://www.konditorandcook.com). Here, children - or adults - could decorate their own cupcakes and stick them into gooey chocolate icing skin of a long, slithery beast. Quite inventive and brilliant for the children

There were some other, even more slightly cooky stalls as well. One, which was giving people edible potted gardens to wear on their heads, accompanied by little signs saying 'eat me', was particularly amusing - especially the people who were running the stand...just look at their outfits

Another enthusiastic bestower of edible garden hats

And another...

She was particularly energetic

A heretofore innocent bystander gives in and walks down the bridge with some food on his head

A professional artist apparently created this swinging plant boat for the festival...it was certainly colorful & interesting

There was a wine tasting stand, and I tried a Chapel Down English white wine, which was a bit too tart and crisp for me - but is was well chilled & hot outside, so not the end of the world

I just had to take a picture of this dog - I mean, c'mon, look at him

After the festival, we headed to Borough Market...this was along one of the narrow alleys on the way there

We bought some very good comte from a cheese stall in the market, which had been very recently driven back from Switzerland - yum!

The angry looking bull atop the Black & Blue steakhouse at Borough Market was telling us that it was time to head home, and that it was time to end this post! Hope you enjoyed the snaps

The Table Cafe: A Sensational Brunch in Southwark

The Table Cafe
83 Southwark Street
London SE1 0HX
Website
Map
Phone: +44 (0)20 7401 2760 (no online reservations)

Weekend brunch dishes from £4-8, weekday lunch dishes from £2.85-7.70

We had an excellent Saturday brunch at The Table Cafe. The food is well sourced, honestly cooked and very satisfying; the ambience is Scandinavian cool; and we will definitely be back again

Thank u v much twitter 4 ur gr8 recm’dation!

A few months ago, when I first began my journey into the world of twitter, I saw that one of my twitter foodie ‘friends’ was following a place called The Table Cafe (TTC) near Southwark Bridge on the South side of the Thames. I read some of their tweets and was impressed with their daily changing menu. I vaguely remember looking at their website too and noting their seemingly meticulous selection of suppliers, which ticked a lot of boxes (local, organic, etc.). Plus, they listed Monmouth as their coffee supplier, which is a good thing in my book. I kept telling myself the next time I was in that neighborhood (which is very rare), I must drop by and see what it was all about.

Mrs. LF and I were headed to Borough Market last Saturday to buy some pork from Peter Gott’s Sillfield Farm. This is so far the best pork in London I’ve had in the UK, which I first had at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen a few months back – see here, and especially comments from Peter at bottom of the post. Given that we would be in the general vicinity of TTC, I thought we could stop by there for brunch en route – and we did.

Welcome to Sweden, can I take your order

Walking into TTC, I felt as if I was entering someplace very familiar, but not exactly British. As far as I understand, TTC functions as the canteen for the firm of architects whose ground floor it inhabits (as well as the nearby office buildings). The exterior of the building is mostly glass, accented with angular flashes of bright yellow. Once inside, the clean modern lines and the use of simple and warm wood tables and benches immediately made both of us think of Scandinavia, and Sweden in particular for me. In fact, quite disturbingly, it reminds me of a particular haunt of mine in Stockholm.

The fairly modest square room is replete with red rectangular sheets of metal on the ceiling, a long and narrow kitchen, a stock room that is half on display, a stainless steel espresso machine, and a wooden table on top of which some assorted juices, cereals, milks and fruits lay ready and waiting. As you can see from the photos below, cutlery and napkins are provided on the tables and the place settings are the paper menus. You order at the counter.

Our table

View from our table to the counter

The breakfast counter

The corner of the kitchen

The credit crunch brunch

I would hazard to guess that TTC’s main business is the weekday lunch crowd, and for that they have a daily changing menu which sounds pretty good and is amazing value with dishes from £2.85 (for a Spanish Tortilla made with free range eggs, heritage potatoes and sautéed white onion) upward. I say ‘amazing’ value because even the most expensive dishes (just under £8) are made from very high quality ingredients and seem very hearty.

One of the staff members said they’ve only started opening on the weekends in the last few months and are still not set on exactly what times they should open for and what menu they should use (i.e. should it just be brunch all day, or brunch then lunch, etc.?). On our visit, the weekend brunch menu was available. It sounded very appetizing and, if any good, would be much better value than most places offering similar brunch menus in the West End.

The paper placemat is the menu

We made our decisions and sat back and waited for the food to arrive over a cup of tea. It was a Twinning’s tea bag of Earl Grey by the way, which was surprising as all of their other suppliers seem to be so carefully chosen. But I like their Earl Grey the best of the major brands, so no complaints.

Oh my god, were we excited!

After a good ten minutes, one of the chefs brought out the still hot plates to our table. We were a bit giddy as it looked like American sized portions, and visually both plates held a lot of promise.

The Table’s breakfast stack: homemade baked beans, red pepper pesto, chorizo sausage, two poached eggs with hollandaise, served on a fresh toasted organic bagel

Mrs LF said the following about her breakfast stack: “The toasted bagel was an original alternative to muffins, which are usually associated with poached eggs with hollandaise sauce. In this dish, the eggs were perfectly poached with a beautiful orangey yellow yolk as it was split open. The homemade baked beans were yummy, perfectly done and very special; how many places bother making their own baked beans these days? When it comes to baked beans, I tend to like Heinz, actually! But these were as much more delicious and satisfying. The hollandaise sauce was excellent in terms of taste (creamy and with the right amount of tang) and consistency. The chorizo sausage, however, didn’t stand out (maybe they forgot to put it in?) as I don’t actually remember eating it. Overall, it was very different compared to the breakfast we usually have at our favorite brunch places, which all tend to have the same items on the menu: English Breakfast, Eggs Benedict and so on.” 8/10.

Buttermilk pancakes with streaky bacon, organic maple syrup and caramelized banana

My pancake looked and smelled beautiful. And I certainly wasn’t let down by the taste either. The large and very thin pancake had been cooked through exactly right: the edges were slightly crispy and the middle was soft and fluffy but not at all doughy. The sweetness of the maple syrup and caramelized bananas contrasted well with the saltiness of the extremely crisp and thin streaky bacon. I know this is a very American flavor combination, and I personally love it, although I can understand how some people are not the greatest fans of the extreme sweet and salty combination for breakfast food. For me it all worked together perfectly, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. 8/10.

Well worth the detour

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at TTC. It had a nice, laid back vibe and the food was well sourced, honest, wholesome and satisfying – with nice little twists to many of the dishes on the menu. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who lives in the area or anyone who might be passing by the neighborhood on the weekend and fancies a good brunch. In fact, we are thinking of taking our nephew there when he next visits from France. If I worked in the area, I would certainly be down there most days if the weekday food is anywhere near as good as the brunch and seems to represent great value for money.

By the way, in case you are curious, we slow-cooked the pork we got from Borough Market for about 5 hours and it was to die for. So full of flavor, perfectly crispy crackling, and served with cooked and slightly sweetened red cabbage and cooked apples.

Rating

Ambience: 8/10

Service: n/a (self-service, order at the counter)

Food: 8/10

Wine: n/a

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have only dined at The Table Cafe once for weekend brunch. Hey, that sort of rhymed!*

Le Manoir Aux Cat-Cat Saisons: A Purrfect Underground Dinner with Friends

Le Manoir Aux Cat-Cat Saisons
Big Flat
Something Mews
Highgate
London

We were entering the domain of the Cat called Cat...Jedi mind tricks and good food were sure to follow

Come Dine with Us

A few months back, we met up with our good friends and got to talking about the wonderful cult hit TV program, Come Dine with Me. My friend, let’s call her ‘Madame M’, is as completely obsessed with the show as we are, and had even considered following up on a leaflet she got through her letterbox asking for applicants in her area. She decided she liked the idea, but just without the TV. So we came up with the brilliant notion of doing a ‘Come Dine with Me’ with a few groups of friends, just without cameras and all of that hoopla. We haven’t quite gotten around to it yet, but I did get a slightly intriguing invitation to “come ‘round to ours for a really casual bite to eat”, at which a few of our other friends might attend. So a few weekends ago, we turned up, and were a bit surprised at what we found.

Before going into the meal that was to ensue, I must make you aware of the most important fact about my friends, ‘Dr. J’ (no, not the basketball player) and ‘Madame M’. They have a beautiful, gourmet, well fed (i.e. often plump) orange striped cat. He is quite an unusual fellow, and they are completely obsessed with him – it is as if he is the child they have not yet had. He rules their home, and their next door office, and what he wants goes. His name is ‘Cat-Cat’ or ‘Cat Called Cat’ (yes, seriously), and there is no doubt that he rules the roost.

No doubt who’s King here, then...

A bit more than expected

Upon arrival, Madame M took our coats and bags and showed us straight out the back door to the Middle East – literally. They had somehow constructed a tented area with cushions, candles and such in true Bedouin fashion. It was a sunny late afternoon, and it actually felt like we had been transported somewhere very far away from a Highgate mews.

A large pitcher of a wonderful chilled Pimms concoction wasn’t far away and our glasses were filled and refilled seamlessly. There were certainly a lot more people than I had expected, but you never know who might turn up to these guys’ abode. The kitchen was also in a quasi ‘lock-down’ mode, but I was officially granted a ‘press pass’ as I had promised to immortalize Cat-Cat and the meal through my blog. I was even allowed to take photos. And thus it was that a little casual dinner for a few people turned into a well thought-out seven course feast for 12 friends. In typical fashion, they were planning to pull this feat off with only about 3 hours of planning. Some people are just laid back, man.

The pure glory of a 21-day hung filet of locally farmed British beef

The Food Doctor gets to work...

Once I was finally allowed into their large open kitchen, I realized that this meal was truly no joke. Dr. J had bought an amazing locally farmed English beef filet which had been hung for 21 days and some mean looking Welsh lamb chops that had been French trimmed. I documented quickly but didn’t dawdle as there was some serious work going on and I didn’t want to be in the way. Back to the tent I went.

Place settings had been set at their formal dining room table and also along their beautiful wood and glass coffee table with a U-shaped couch arrangement. I was also magically appointed sommelier for the evening simply because I am so obsessed by wine these days, and not because I actually had a clue what I was doing (well, maybe some sort of inkling ).

Course 1: Watercress Soup

The first course was actually served outside in the tent as it was so pleasant out there. This was a beautifully simple start to the meal. The soup had a perfect consistency, nice and thick (thanks to a bit of potato that was blended into the vegetable stock) but not too much so, and had a very good depth of flavor, with a little dollop of crème fraîche giving it that little bit of luxury. Besides watercress, there were undertones of leeks and garlic. It was a well executed starter that was in tune with the season. 7/10.

The good doctor prepares the carpaccio

Course 2: Filet of Beef Carpaccio with Mustard & Side Salad

Next up was Dr. J’s perfectly executed beef carpaccio. He had seared the edges of the filet perfectly evenly and there was a crispy crust of herbs encircling each thin slice on the outer rim. The expertly executed simplicity of this dish allowed the true star of the show – the well-hung piece of English beef (pun definitely intended, as it was such a big hunk of meat) – to bask in its own undisputed glory. It was lovely with the bit of mustard and the accompanying salad was also elegantly sparse, with high quality, thinly shaved parmesan and fresh rocket with a tangy honey, white wine vinegar, olive oil and mustard dressing. 9/10.

Course 3: Seared Scallops with Coriander Masala & Lemon

The next instalment was very pleasant and a good portion size in context of the entire meal. While one of my Indonesian scallops had been perfectly seared and was juicy, fleshy and sweet, the two others had been just slightly overcooked, which made for a more rubbery texture that somewhat masked the underlying flavors. This was probably inevitable, though, given that there were by my count about 36 of them served all at once. The scallops themselves were very fresh and the accompanying sauce (well, more like a paste in terms of consistency) of coriander, mint, cumin, garlic and extra virgin olive oil was a very innovative pairing of flavors which worked exceedingly well. 6/10.

I had brought along a bottle of 2006 Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay (Argentina), which I thought would go especially well with the scallops, and we weren’t let down. A good match if I do say so myself, with the richness of the chardonnay marrying well with the sweetness of the scallops and the slight tang and depth of flavor in the coriander paste.

Course 4: Pancetta, Pea & Broadbean Risotto

Next up was a little serving of risotto which was served in beautiful cocktail glasses. Top marks for presentation, however at the chef’s own admission (Madame M in this instance), the risotto had been prepared earlier and was being reheated before serving. This led to the very common problem that we’ve probably all experienced in an Italian restaurant: it was too dry and lacked that luxurious unctuousness that a good risotto oozes, which contrasts so well with some perfectly al dente rice. This was a real shame because the classic combination of pancetta, peas and broadbeans was delicious and the flavor really worked, plus it was well seasoned. 4/10.

Course 5: Lamb Chops in ‘Top Secret Marinade’, Mashed Potatoes & Broccoli

The main, main course was excellent. The lamb chops had been marinated for a long time in a ‘secret’ concoction, and not even my press pass was going to get me the ingredients to that sweet elixir. Whatever the case, it was damn good – succulent, juicy and full of flavor. I could have easily dusted off two more. The mashed potatoes could have been more silky and creamy and the broccoli had a good consistency although it wasn’t really seasoned that much. 8/10.

The smiling chef prepares the strudel

Course 6: Apple Strudel with Vanilla Ice Cream

The dessert was a simple Apple Strudel with nicely cooked sweet apples and dark raisins resting on a bed of filo pastry. The thin pastry was crispy and it was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which is never going to be a bad combination (unless you’re my father, who insists on chocolate ice cream with everything – even apple pie!). 6/10.

Course 7: Petit Fours

After the dessert we moved back to the tented outdoor area where we were served some petit fours of flapjacks and chocolate brownies. There was nothing remarkably memorable about them in comparison to some of the previous courses (they were store-bought after all), but they were still much appreciated and tasty with a glass of fresh mint tea. 5/10.

The evening stretched on in a very leisurely fashion, with some of the guests partaking in a much fussed over shisha ritual, some lighting up classy cigars, some sipping on Bailey’s or single malt whiskey (or both), and some making sure that all of the leftovers were not going to waste (see  middle picture below).

The best Sunday evening in ages

All in all, it was a tremendous evening and a great time was had by all (and I do hope this included the joint chefs, as they really put a lot of work into the meal). Madame M and Dr. J were the consummate hosts, plying their guests with drinks which were magically refilled at the right moments. And while they were constantly busy, they appeared to be completely laid back and shiny, happy people throughout the evening. Their living room had been set beautifully, with candlelight and nice wine to get people into the mood. And the Bedouin tent was truly inspired.

The overall quality of the food was of a very high standard for such a quickly planned event for a lot of people, and while there were a few shortfalls here and there, that is not what anyone will remember. Rather, it is the generosity of the hosts, the pleasure of spending a lingering evening with new friends and old, and the laid back yet passionate culinary impulse behind the whole evening that will stay ingrained in our memories for a long time to come.

Long live the Master of the House, Cat called Cat, and his loyal subjects.

Bravo!

Rating

Ambience: 10/10

Service: 8/10

Food: 7/10

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have dined at Le Manoir Aux Cat-Cat Saisons many a time, but never so formally and never so nicely. Hats off to Madame M and Dr. J.*

Jamie’s Italian: The Essex Cowboy Rolls ‘Em On Out

Jamie’s Italian
Unit 17
2 Churchill Place
Canary Wharf
London E14 5RB
Website
Map
Reservations: the restaurant operates a no reservations policy

Antipasti from £2.50-6.50, pasta from £5.95-11.25, mains from £9.95-16.95, sides approximately £3, desserts £3.95-4.95

The Essex Cowboy tackles the US of A head-on in his current TV series

You certainly can’t fault Jamie's Italian's sourcing of ingredients, the fun décor, the vibrant atmosphere & the prices, but the food didn’t live up to our expectations. For this price bracket, though, I don’t know how much better an Italian chain restaurant in the UK can be.

Jamie, take two

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember that I was pretty much blown away by the meal we had in the Dining Room of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen in East London a few months back. The painstaking sourcing of ingredients and the way they were showcased on the menu was simply fantastic. Since that meal, we have wanted to return to Fifteen to eat at the less formal ground floor trattoria, or alternatively at one of the cheeky chappy’s Italian joints, which have begun sprouting up around the Southeast in the last year or so. So, when the first London branch finally opened up a few weeks ago in Canary Wharf, we thought we’d head down there and check it out.

Steel, Glass, Oliver

Two Sundays ago, we needed to walk. We had the pleasure of a five-hour lunch at a certain plump bird in Bray the previous day (I will eventually post about it, but still want to digest the experience for a bit longer), and just needed to get out and do something. A decision was made to drive to the East end and explore. It was a much overdue trek as there are so many interesting things going on in this part of London, and I don’t have a clue about most of them, besides the virtual insight and tips I receive from the twitterati.

After walking around the City for a few hours, eventually the inevitable happened (drum roll please): we got hungry. We wanted something simple and satisfying. After the experiencing the wonders of intricate little plates of perfection the previous day, and being somewhat frustrated that there wasn’t more of each course (but in a good way), we just wanted a big hunk of British pork, or something along those lines. We just missed our window at St John for this type of fare, we skipped Albion as it seemed a little to snacky, and decided to head to the little island along the Thames, where you need a security check to get in.

I hadn’t been to Canary Wharf for a good few years, and it was much as I remembered it. On a weekend, it is pretty eerie: glass, steel and silence. It is also a bit confusing driving there if you’ve never done it. As you follow the signs with the blue box and the white ‘P’ inside, you seem to go around in circles and never actually find the parking garages. But eventually we did, and then discovered the hidden underground mall which is impressive, with a huge Waitrose and a number of the usual shops. We saw a big pink sign on one of the columns which we thought would lead us to the restaurant, which we had seen from our car, but annoyingly it had no directions on it. It just stated the address again, which is useless if you’re not a resident of Canary Wharf.

Hot on the trail...

Eventually, we found our way back up to street level, and walked over to the restaurant. As you can see, it looks rather imposing from afar, but in reality, it only occupies a small portion of the space within the black steel and glass shell.

A rather imposing facade

Inside, you quickly realize that the theme is wood, not steel and glass. Just check out those bar tables that are made out of mongo tree trunks. We were quickly and warmly greeted by the hostess and seated at a table near the entrance of the restaurant. This was because, despite it being just before 5pm on a Sunday in Canary Wharf, the place was heaving. Lots of couples, lots of groups and lots of families. At least we didn’t have to queue!

A very wooden theme – the kitchen cloth napkins with “Jamie’s Italian” inscribed on them are a nice touch

The place is huge, vibrant, colourful & fun

Big menu, but can we have some more mains please?

The menu is the same at all branches of Jamie’s Italian, and it is huge. I am certain nearly everyone can find something that sounds appetizing to them, and there are in particular a lot of antipasti, pastas (all of which come in small or large portions) and side dishes. The only thing that struck me as sort of odd was that there are not really that many main course options in comparison, and a few of them don’t seem that Italian (i.e. there are two types of steak and one hamburger out of the seven non-salad main courses). In any case, there was a lot of deciding to be done, and we eventually got there after asking our waitress a few questions.

“Truffle tagliatelle: finely shaved wild black truffles folded with butter, parmesan & nutmeg, a real luxury” (small portion, £5.95)

I started with a simple dish of pasta, which was cooked al dente and had a decent flavor to it. The mild summer truffles came through a little, not a lot. I think there was truffle oil within the butter sauce as well as in the tiny little bits of shaved truffle that I could see in the dish. The portion size was perfect for a small pasta course, and while it didn’t blow my socks off, it was a satisfying opening to the meal – and I suppose at £5.95 you can’t complain too much about a decent butter and truffle pasta. 6/10.

“Sausage pappardelle: slow cooked Italian sausage, tomatoes, red wine & parmesan with crunchy herby breadcrumbs” (small portion, £6.45)

Mrs. LF described her sausage pasta dish as “satisfying comfort food.” She said that while it didn’t make her say “ooh, ahh, or wow”, it was a decent dish of pasta. The sauce didn’t have enough of that sweet, rich tomato flavor you expect in a good ragù and was a little too bland. It certainly didn’t hold a candle to the flavor of a similar dish we had at Bocca di Lupo a few weeks ago (the caveat there being that BDL’s pasta was bathing in a pool of oil, while this one wasn’t), but it wasn’t a bad effort overall. 5/10.

“ ‘Spiedini’ Sicilian pork skewer: free-range British pork fillet stuffed with Italian cured meats, breadcrumbs & parmesan – served with lemon, garlic & oregano dressing” (£11.95)

Somehow I think I missed the word “skewer” on the menu when I ordered this for my main course. I had been imagining a big hunk of pork stuffed with various Italian treats. But that’s my fault, not the restaurant’s or menu’s. The dish was presented nicely on a wooden tray, and it tasted good too. The outside layer had been deep fried in bread crumbs and parmesan and contained a variety of cured meats inside. My two main thoughts were that (a) it was a little too salty overall as some of the cured meats stuffed inside the balls were quite salty themselves, and (b) it wasn’t a particularly satisfying main course as there were only 6 little spheres, and you could eat them in one bite each if you so chose. The side dish, which I guess you were meant to use as a dipping sauce, was a mixed vegetable paste which had a smoky ratatouille taste to it, but unfortunately that’s not really my bag. 5/10.

“Lamb chop lollipops: grilled Welsh mountain lamb chops, cooked ‘al matone’ under a brick with a special minted sauce, chopped roasted nuts and soft herbs, ‘delicious!’ ” (£13.85)

Mrs. LF found the wooden slab to be very impractical for her lamb dish. It was too narrow and the lamb kept falling off the sides. The lamb itself was overcooked, with no pink at all left inside, and also had too much of the black, brittle char from the barbeque on the surface of the meat. The meat didn’t have a particularly striking flavor, and when Mrs. LF tried to chew on a bit of the fat (unseemly for a lady, I know), she said it tasted kind of weird so spit it back out. It came with three sauces on the side, and none of them really complemented the lamb all that well, which they really needed to do in order to lift this dish to be worthy of its £13.85 price tag (there were only three chops, so not a big portion). Unfortunately, they all failed. The weirdest one was the “special minted sauce” which in fact barely tasted at all of mint. When we asked our waitress if it was supposed to be a “mint sauce”, she went to the kitchen and relayed the message that it was actually “an herb sauce with a little bit of mint.” The problem was that you didn’t get that nice refreshing taste of mint that the menu alludes too, and that the sauce itself was too oily and too bland. We were disappointed with the dish as Mrs. LF can make lamb chops at home that taste better than these did by a mile. 4/10.

“Gennaro’s salad: fresh broad beans, rocket, mint, salted ricotta & pecorino” (£3.25)

The salad, presumably an inspiration from Jamie’s original mentor in Italian food, Gennaro Contaldo, came in a deep bowl and was huge and fresh. The little broad beans were the best part for me, and I wish there had been a few more sprinkled throughout.

“Our special tiramisu: classic Italian coffee flavoured trifle with mascarpone & chocolate” (£4.75)

I didn’t hold out much hope when the tiramisu was placed in front of me. I guess, to me, it just didn’t look like tiramisu: a bit too cakey with a chance of being overly dry. But I was pleasantly surprised. It actually tasted quite good, with the coffee flavor coming through clearly and a strong chocolate taste. It wasn’t too dry and there was a dollop of mascarpone on top and also a layer of it within the Italian “trifle.” There was also a nice surprising hint of bittersweet orange throughout the dessert, which I thought complemented it well. Imagine a shot of espresso in Italy with a little sliced peel of orange in it, and I kind of see where they got their inspiration. 6/10.

"Gennaro’s Amalfi orange tart: crisp pastry filled with ricotta, orange & candied fruit, served with mascarpone" (£4.95)

We were also both surprised at how the orange tart looked. We had literally been expecting a “crisp pastry” (i.e. thin and flaky) and that it would be “filled with orange & candied fruit” (i.e. stuffed full of ricotta), but as you can see, it appeared to be a rather dry cake instead, with only a tiny bit of filling. Despite our initial misgivings about the appearance, it tasted good, and was a fairly generous portion. It had the same bit of mascarpone on top and bittersweet orange running through it. The pastry itself wasn’t anything special, though, and in the middle of the tart Mrs. LF discovered a huge solid bubble of pastry that came from either the top or the bottom, which meant that there wasn’t enough of the filling inside. When she thought about it, Mrs. LF realized that she has had this dessert a number of times before in Italy – apparently, it is eaten a lot around Easter time – and said that this version wasn’t particularly good. 4.5/10.

The dining area and the kitchen are big – so’s the graffiti on the stairwell walls

The toilets are pretty cool, I loved that the bogs themselves are actually “crapper’s” and that the rim said “The Venerable” on it

Il Verdetto

We had high hopes for Jamie’s Italian adventure, and really wanted it to be good given that we loved Fifteen and are generally fans of what Jamie Oliver is trying to do (i.e. get the country to eat better). But maybe our hopes were too high. After all, this is a casual chain of Italian restaurants that he wants to roll out across the UK. And generally (but not in all cases, i.e. the lamb main course) it tastes just fine for a mid-priced chain of Italian restaurants.

I think it’s also important to mention that these restaurants seem to be a great place for families; they were very child friendly from what we could tell from our vantage point. And maybe that’s the point. He is consciously opening these restaurants in mid-sized cities where the family element will be much more important than in places like central London, which will attract tourists and couples more than family bookings. I suppose the Canary Wharf location is clever in that it caters for the still massive amount of workers there, for whom it makes a wonderful pit stop for lunch or a quick meal after work.

But put simply, Jamie’s Italian ain’t Fifteen, and I don’t think I’d hurry back as the options in London are simply too great and Canary Wharf is a big trek from both my home and work.

One final note: if you drive to the restaurant, you will have to pay for parking in the nearby garage – I believe it was £3.50 for <2 hours and £5.00 for <3 hours.

Rating

Ambience: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Food: 5/10

Wine list: 6/10 (some good, reasonably priced wines, almost all of which you can have by the glass or a 500ml carafe)

For more about my rating scale, click here.

*Note: I have only dined at Jamie’s Italian (Canary Wharf) once.*