This wasn't my choice of restaurant. We were dining with long standing friends, and it was their turn to pick the venue. If being very honest, I would have to say I had reservations about eating here. The menu I looked at online did not appeal to me, and it seemed very expensive. I went in hope the information I'd looked at online was out of date (unlikely and a faint hope, I know, but still ...).On arrival we were whisked through to a lovely table for four in the window. The dining room is very beautiful. Lots of dark wood and period features suggests a stuffy atmosphere, but it wasn't. It was beautifully lit, and created a lovely atmosphere. We started not with the champagne suggested, but with martinis. They took rather a long time to arrive, but were worth the wait. As ever in such establishments, the question was still or sparkling water. Thankfully we have long got over any intimidation into such waste, and duly requested our tapwater.
And then the menus arrived ...
The Menu:
... and it was the same as the online one. Bugger!
It didn't appeal to me, I guess because it included a lot of flavours I'm not keen on. It was also very fish oriented. If you didn't want to eat fish or seafood, you were left with two starters and three mains to choose from. A lot of the dishes were for two people, and a lot attracted a supplement on top of the fairly stiff £75 for three courses (coffee not included).
We fairly quickly moved on from considering the tasting menu, as a lot of the dishes didn't appeal. For starter I ordered Jerusalem artichoke cooked in a velouté perfumed with Iberico ham, fine ravioli of Basque black pudding, chestnut crumbs, lardons and croutons, traditional Balsamic vinegar from Modéna – 12 year old. Mr PP chose Blue lobster cooked in a large ravioli perfumed with tandoori spices, carrot and confit citrus mousseline, wild sorrel, spring onions reduction with fresh coriander and beurre noisette. Our companions both opted for XXL scallop with black truffle from Périgord, steamed around a Swiss chard leave, roasted Swiss chard, ham jus (£8 supplement).
Onto the mains, and I plumped for Irish salmon pink cooked pavé, green cabbage with bacon, Brussels sprouts, smoked herring emulsion with salmon’s roe. Mr PP and one of our friends both picked Black Basque pork, roasted with black truffle from Périgord, mashed potatoes, braised lettuce with carrot, roasting jus (£15 supplement). Our other friend chose Racan farmed pigeon, spit-roasted and “flambé au capucin”, grilled foie gras from les Landes, quinoa with Medjul dates and Sicilian pistachio, intense jus spiced up with Mexican mollé. Under most circumstances I would have had the pigeon, but I'm not a fan of quinoa.
Rather annoyingly, we had to order dessert at the start. I've never had to do that before, and didn't really like it. I didn't know whether I wanted cheese, or dessert, or how full I'd be, or any of the other things that you take into account at the end of the meal. Still, if them's the rules you've got to play by them.
I went for champagne rhubarb compote and meringue, Sarawak pepper ice cream, almond crumble. Mr PP and one of our friends picked hazelnut roasted and cooked in a praliné mousse, chocolate cream, lemon and thyme foam. And our other friend chose Manjari chocolate dark ganache, passion fruit wafer, passion fruit and orange sorbet.
Given the fish emphasis to the meal, we opted for white wine and settled back in anticipation ...
Our Meal:
As expected, the service was impeccable. Efficient, but personable, with no hint of stuffiness. Glasses were never anywhere close to empty, and any items we finished with removed promptly.
Our first amuse bouche arrived with the menus, consisting of courgette velouté with a parmesan foam, some breadstick type things and some ham on a slate. The velouté and breadsticks were the least of it, but the ham was delicious.
After ordering we were offered bread from a fairly impressive selection, and the second amuse bouche arrived. Foie gras with an apple sorbet and a peanut foam. I couldn't taste the apple at all, and the peanut rather overwhelmed the foie gras, but it was tasty.
On to the starters. There was a lot I liked about mine, but also a lot that I didn't. The Jerusalem artichoke velouté was beautiful. It had a lovely taste, and rich, smooth texture. But it was served slightly tepid - not cold, but not warm either. The ravioli were not terribly tasty and the pasta was a little bit crunchy at the seams. The lardons, chestnut and croutons were lovely, and did lift the dish. Our friends were not terribly impressed by the scallop, both feeling it didn't taste of much. The most flavoursome starter belonged to Mr PP. I tried some, but hadn't fancied curried lobster and I think I was right. Overall, an underwhelming start.
Before the mains arrived, we had a palate cleanser of avocado mousse with pepper and nuts. I don't like avocado, particularly the texture. I thought that might be improved by the mousse texture, but it wasn't and Mr PP had his palate cleansed twice.
I thought they rather missed a trick with the mains. The pork chop, ordered by two of us, was carved at the table. The table behind us. We didn't realise it was ours, so we weren't really watching. A little bit of theatre missed, which was a shame. The star of the mains was the pigeon (and I really regretted my decision not to have it). It was supposed to be served blue, but our friend had it pink. It was, for me, still very pink but perfectly cooked. The pork chop was also delicious and flavoursome. Also served pink, it was moist, tender and surprisingly flavoursome. The mash served with it was smooth and very rich. All this was nicely balanced with the braised lettuce.
In comparison, I was disappointed by my main. It was fine, but it didn't blow me away. I was a bit taken aback that the advertised brussel sprouts were actually five (I counted) leaves peeled from a brussel sprout (that'll keep your costs down - they could serve the whole restaurant using two sprouts). The salmon was cooked perfectly, the skin was gorgeously crispy, and the sauce was full of flavour. The consensus was that the mains were much better than the starters.
If I could have chosen at this point, I'd have had cheese. The rhubarb that I did have was fine but again, I wasn't blown away. The ice-cream tasted very bland, and I don't remember finding the almonds. The hazelnut went down well, but the star of the show was the chocolate, for the passion fruit wafers. They were really rather spectacular looking (apparently they require very particular skills) and tasted delicious.
Overall, for me, I think I found most of the dishes did not have the complexity of flavours that I expect from Michelin starred establishments. And as a fairly expensive menu, I had hoped for better.
We then retired with armagnacs, from the very impressive Darozze collection (I'd missed a table with at least 40 bottles on it on the way in!) and petit fours, to a comfortable lounge, with a fire and the Duchess of York at the table next to us. The armagnacs were delicious and actually rather heady. After that, instead of going on, we were ready to head home on a high.
The bill, including two bottles of wine with dinner and service at 12.5%, was £568.69 for the four of us. To me, far too much really. All those supplements really add up!
What we liked:
The company, the armagnacs, the dining room, the service.
What we didn't like:
The lack of complexity of flavours, and of course, the bill.
Will we go back?:
I can't speak for our friends but I'm afraid to say I wouldn't. Not even if somebody else was paying. I just think there are better places out there.
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