Nourished

British

1 Michelin Star

Alyn WIliams, Mayfair

Alyn has quickly become one of my favourite chefs, but sometimes there isn’t sufficient opportunity to record each dish in great depth – in this instance we had hot-footed our way from the Gaucho Polo Tournament at the O2, and arrived at the Westbury after 10pm, with guests in tow. Alyn had very kindly put together a number of dishes for us, and they were so delicious that I want to record them here, if only visually.  For the full Alyn Williams experience you need to head to the Westbury Hotel for yourself, for what I still think is one of the best-valued menus in town at just £55.

Langoustine, grapefruit curd, sea beets, served on hay…
Mackerel, with squid ink craquelure, piquillo red pepper and ricotta
Gull’s egg, with ransom leaf, nettle compote, braised snails, and veal tail cooked in buttermilk
Asparagus, wild hops, salmon and beer
Oxtail, beef, pureed beetroot, mustard foam, ransoms, croutons
Mash
Cheesecake, passion fruit granita, honeycomb
Lemon posset, caramel, caramel malteser and plum jelly
Blush cider sorbet, rhubarb jelly, sorbet, gold leaf
Rhubarb Muffins
Black olive, and pistachio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alyn Williams at the Westbury
37 Conduit Street
The Westbury Mayfair Hotel
London W1S 2YF

Alyn Williams at The Westbury on Urbanspoon

British

Alan Murchison at Terravina, New Forest

I’m fortunate to live part of the week in the New Forest, with its outstanding produce, gorgeous landscape and free roaming pigs, ponies and cattle.  There’s an increasingly significant food and wine scene developing here, with a notable number of fine hotels and food festivals.

One of the most interesting is the boutique wine hotel Hotel TerraVina established by Gerard and Nina Basset. Gerard co-founded the Hotel du Vin chain, has an enviable international reputation as a sommelier, and has represented the UK on several occasions, winning the Best Sommelier in the World award in 2010.  Gerard is also a Master Sommelier, a Master of Wine, and was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the hospitality industry.  His wife Nina is equally talented and became an AA hotel inspector at the tender age of just 21.  They worked and met at Chewton Glen, another New Forest stalwart, and the opening of Hotel TerraVina saw their welcome return to the Forest.

When I heard that Alan Murchison, the michelin starred executive chef of L’Ortolan and the 10in8 Group was doing a pop-up at TerraVina, I knew I had to be at that dinner! Alan, Gerard and Nina are old friends, and between them they devised a menu which would showcase the talents and skills of both establishments.

We began with a glass of champagne, always a civilised way to start and evening and then Game Consommé: a good parsley tortellini filled with rabbit (I think), celeriac cream, a game consommé, and to my chums delight, little spheres of near liquid sherry.

Textures of Duck, Cherry and Mango: even the simplest looking dishes at this level are actually several days worth of work.  First the duck breast is hot smoked with star anise and orange; the foie gras is marinated in port, cognac and maderia; and the duck confit is seperately marinated in thyme, cloves, bay leaves and garlic before they’re cooked. The resulting dishes are then layered in alternate strips brushed with melted foie gras, inside a parma ham lined mould.  The terrine is rested in the fridge for 24 hours before being served with cherry, mango and lambs lettuce… The terrine managed to retain each of the three textures and flavours of the duck, but melded together perfectly.  With a disk of brioche served in it’s own stand to keep it crisp, the cherry sauce and cherries were tart and offset the richness of the duck.  The mango was a fine sliver of mango jelly, adding symmetry to the dish.  Pinot Noir, from the Land’s Edge Vineyard was jammy and rich, and not overwhelmed by tannin.
Goats’ Cheese, Salted Crumble, Celery, Apple and Walnut: Alan’s goats cheese is made by the lovely Sarah Hampton at Brock Hall Farm in Shropshire. Made with the milk from her pure Saanen goats, the perfect cylinder of curd was gently sour, but slightly savoury, and very creamy.  It was coated in a salted crumb which intensified the savouriness of the cheese.  It was served with a tiny variation on a Wardolf salad, with crisp apple, slivers of celery and walnuts, with tiny cubes of grape jelly and coriander cress.  There was also a drizzle of the most intense truffle honey I’ve ever tasted, overpowering on its own, but good with the curd.  Gros Manseng, from Domaine des Cassagnoles was green, flinty with grapefruit notes.

 

Red Wine Poached Halibut, Tempura Oyster and Surf Clams: the halibut was perfectly cooked, the red wine poaching only covering the outer layer of the fish, it broke away into huge, fat, perfectly white flakes.  There was a rich and savoury shallot and onion puree, intensified with with madeira and brown gravy, with a roast onion rose, and umami-rich shards of braised oxtail.  The whole dish had very good savoury mouthfeel, but the umaminess didn’t overwhelm the halibut. I didn’t have the oyster I’m afraid, I do like oysters, but they really don’t like me.  It’s a shame as there was an oyster panna cotta made with mascapone and cream that I’d have love to have tried, and saw being prepared in the kitchen.  Pinot Gris, from Te Whare Ra was good, with some weight and just a hint of tannin, it stood up to the depth of the dish, and the lightness of the fish.



Smoked Sirloin, Bone Marrow, Kale, Garlic Cream: the smoked sirloin was prepared in a Big Green Egg which Alan had brought with him.  The flavour was complex, but delicate, and served with a rich jus, iron rich curly kale, a bone marrow croquette and a rich garlic cream. There were fine slices of barely raw cauliflower, and a rich cauliflower cheese too, and tiny jelly cubes of consommé, I think.  The garlic cream was incredibly flavoured, but very moreish and held its own against the other flavours on the dish.  All in all a very strong combination of powerful and rich flavours which managed to support rather than compete with each other – a delicate balance but one achieved here.  Château Lassegue, a Saint Emilion Grand Cru, was warm, rich, and complemented the rich savoury flavours of the dish.
Coconut and Mango: was a variation of the El Bulli reversed poached egg (which is cooked in a sodium alginate bath). I’ve had a couple of versions of this dish, but actually I prefer this one.  Instead of the entire egg being cooked in the bath, only the mango yolk was, and the coconut element was actually a coconut espuma.  It tasted of desiccated coconut (though I think made with coconut cream), and had an incredibly nostalgic flavour, it reminded me of the Spanish Gold sweet shredded tobacco we used to eat as children.  The yolk poured onto the espuma and my chum was highly amused, she thought it was great fun. Botrytis Riesling, from the Kayena Vineyard was sweet, light and clean, with notes of melon and lychee – it cut through the intense sweetness of the mango.

 

Chocolate truffle with peanut butter and ice-cream: A cube of chocolate mousse with a swathe of peanut butter cream, which more intensely of peanuts than I would have imagined.  It was served with a mascapone ice-cream, it was delicious, smooth, sour, creamy, it perfectly offset the richness of the peanut and the chocolate.

Chocolate, Lime Sorbet and African Amber Tea: the chocolate fondant was was served with a sorbet, shredded lime, a white chocolate sauce and tiny jelly cubes that I though tasted of Thai basil, but could just have easily have been the Amber tea.  It was refreshing, with a densely chocolate hit only achieved by a 70%+ cocoa chocolate.  Dolce Mataro, from Alella was rich, sweet, intense, and reminded me of some of the Sardinian dessert offerings.  My chum found it far too sweet and strong, but you needed something this big to stand up to the bite of the chocolate.

Overall the menu was carefully devised and built up the intensity of the flavours. There was a good combination of very traditional and modern techniques, and given the restrictions of working in an unknown kitchen, the team managed to deliver a very varied and delicious meal.  The wine pairings devised by the equally fabulous Hotel TerraVina team ratcheted up the enjoyment levels, and it was an excellent opportunity to have dinner devised by a michelin starred chef, and the worlds best sommelier.

 

Hotel TerraVina
174 Woodlands Road
Woodlands
Southampton
Hampshire SO40 7GL

L’Ortolan
Church Lane
Shinfield
Reading
Berkshire RG2 9BY

L'Ortolan on Urbanspoon

Champagne Moët & Chandon Rosé Impérial, Brut, France, NV 
Dinner Menu
Game Consommé
Textures of Duck, Cherry and Mango
Pinot Noir, Land’s Edge Vineyard, Hartford Court, Sonoma Coast, California, USA, 2007
Goats’ Cheese, Salted Crumble, Celery, Apple and Walnut
Gros Manseng, Domaine des Cassagnoles, Côtes de Gascogne, France, 2011 
Red Wine Poached Halibut, Tempura Oyster and Surf Clams
Pinot Gris, Te Whare Ra, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2010 
Smoked Sirloin, Bone Marrow, Kale, Garlic Cream
Château Lassegue, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France, 2004 
Coconut and Mango
Botrytis Riesling, Kayena Vineyard, Tamar Ridge, Tasmania, Australia, 2009 
Chocolate, Lime Sorbet and African Amber Tea
Dolce Mataro, Alella, Spain, 2009



British

Browns Hotel, Mayfair

Today the Breakfast venue is Browns. Arguably, the first hotel in London, established in 1837, the website says that this five star establishment welcomes guests that are ‘in the know’.   I have no idea what that means, so I must be completely clueless. Armed with that knowledge, I’m expecting to be greeted by a doorman extending a hand for some secret handshake, or worse expecting me to deliver a password, the failure to deliver either resulting in me being thrown out onto the street. Disappointingly, I’m asked for neither, and am shown to the Hix restaurant.

I’d describe the decor as corporate dining chic. Wood panneling, crisp white table cloths, with potraits and other art works adorning the walls, and olive green upholstery. It’s a long, light room and gives a feeling of space and openness.

I’m asked promptly if I desire drinks and ask for a cappuccino and grapefruit juice, in the absence of being offered anything more exotic. The breakfast menu is as extensive as you’d expect from a five star hotel. I regularly avoid buffet breakfasts, and there is one here which looks extensive and varied. I happen to notice an addition not listed on the website menu and decide to choose it: Poached Eggs on Mushroom.

Within a reasonable amount of time, the plate arrives. It looks very appetising, two portabello mushrooms large enough to support two poached eggs, with a reasonable amount of hollandaise sauce. Gliding the knife through it all, it reveals two medium cooked eggs, with nice runny yolks and firm, but well cooked mushrooms. All nicely put together, and well cooked, but I’m just a little disappointed. For some reason I had assume the strap line of green herbs referred to a herb butter, but in fact it was a herb crust.  As the egg sat on top of the crust, it went slightly soggy, and the flavour, though nicely cooked didn’t seem to marry well.  The combination particularly of the herb crust and hollandaise seemed quite alien to my tastebuds when combined with mushroom and egg – all the textures were too soft.

The room is comfortable and the service is discreet, but I struggle to make sense of how I feel about it. The food was well prepared and cooked, but I need more texture in my breakfast.  I decide I’m not a fan of herb crusted mushrooms which taste too… green… I don’t believe I’m gifted with synesthesia, so on a scale of 1 to 10, I give this a purple.

Brown’s Hotel,

Albemarle Street,
London W1S 4BP

HIX at The Albemarle on Urbanspoon

British

Axis, Aldwych

It’s best if I declare that I’ve been talking to Tony Fleming, the Executive Chef at Axis, for months now. In those conversations we’ve established that over the years I’ve been following Tony around London. I’ve eaten in almost every restaurant he’s has cooked in, and that list includes the Criterion, the Oak Room, Escargot, Richard Neat and the Great Eastern Hotel. When we did finally speak, it was because Tony appeared on ITV’s Britain’s Best Dish cooking a blackberry soufflé… Well. I’m a bit of a soufflé obsessive, so it was inevitable that this would be the thing that would draw us into conversation.

Since then I’ve been meaning to get into Axis to try Tony’s food circa 2012. As well as running Axis, the fine dining restaurant at No. One Aldwych, he also runs Indigo, and all of the food within the hotel. This is a daunting task given that the menu at Axis is updated frequently, and the hotel has a number of regular guests who would spot any repetitiveness.  Fortnightly there’s also the monthly Movie Night, where you can watch a film in the hotel’s private cinema, and then have a fixed menu dinner in the restaurant – the menu changes each time and is seasonal.

You enter Axis on the very corner of No. 1 Aldwych, then descend down the giant marble spiralling staircase, down into the rabbit hole… On one side there are large metal tree trunks running along the side, and there are eating areas on two levels, in two giant circles echoed by the circular balcony.   I like the space, though I don’t like the decor – that Art Deco interior would be the absolute ideal setting for some fabulous smoke filled Poirot set – but I digress…

We ate from a menu that was just a few days old, and following some consultation about what was proving popular. To whet our appetite we were given a tiny tartlett of goats cheese with anchovies, tangy, sharp, piquant anchovy with rich and savoury onion. There was also a plump langoustine served scampi style, like the scampi you always dream of, but rarely find, served in a little pool of intense tartare sauce.

The Hubby chose the scallops first, plump little spheres served on a chunky strip of Asian style pork belly. This sits on a cauliflower purée, with fine slices of raw cauliflower dressed in rock salt and olive oil. The pork belly is marinated in soy sauce, honey, citrus, cinnamon and 5 spice.  It’s then finished in the pan with the sticky sauce drizzled over the dish. I was quite torn between that dish and my own…


I ordered the duck egg with truffle soldiers. The egg is served on a bed of onion jam – it had that savoury cheek-sucking intensity that can only be achieved through long and slow reduction, in this case in brown chicken jus. Around the dish were scattered shemiji and pied bleu mushrooms, with peppery intense watercress. And the piece de resistance, the perfectly fried duck egg was placed on the top of the disc of onions, and then scattered with shaved truffles. To the side were crisp brioche soldiers, with a duxelle of mushrooms, topped with winter black truffles, and chives. The duxelle proved the perfect vehicle for the truffle, drifting the scent through the dish, without dominating it.  I loved this dish so much, within a few days I’d made it at myself, albeit a poorer home version.


Himself had the lamb barbecue lamb ribs, baked glazed shallot, grilled spring onions, onion purée and a shepherd’s pie croquette. I’m not a huge fan of lamb so he chooses it when he can. He thought it was the best lamb he’d eaten in years (it was Herdwick incidentally, from the lake district).  The croquette was made with the shoulder, before being mixed with mash, crumbed and fried.

I chose the butter poached loin of hare, jugged leg, root vegetable purée, game chips and watercress – a witty take on the hare and his daily diet.  The loin of hare is coated in dehydrated trompette de morte, which adds a piquant layer to the dense and soft meat.  I haven’t eaten hare for some time, and it’s delicious.  The texture is that of very good venison, but the flavour is much lighter, and has a grassy quality, it’s actually rather a delicate taste.  The root vegetable purée (made from separately roasted parsnip, celeriac, swede and carrot) provides a sweet and creamy hit to contrast to the peppery watercress and crisp chips.  The jugged hare has the texture of pulled pork, but is much more intense.  Marinated in red wine, then braised in stock and the marinade, it’s  thickened in the final moments with the blood from the hare – an intense little morsel.  The green watercress purée compliments the grassiness of the hare.  Hidden amongst the dish are cubes of pommes Anna, the potato scented with thyme, and is genuinely the best pommes Anna I’ve had.  Given that I make a truffle scented one, I don’t make that statement lightly.

Of course I was going to have the soufflé, it was inconceivable that I’d have anything else, except there were some amazing alternatives on the menu: morello sorbet with pistachio foam (with the chocolate tarte), and  on the specials a textures of rhubarb: jelly, foam, sorbet, crisps and crumble…   The soufflé was perfectly cooked, of course, I would expect no less of Tony.  I wasn’t utterly convinced about the balance of the spices in the soufflé itself, but when I discussed it with Tony, neither was he.  The Hubby felt the nutmeg was slightly too prevalent, but as the dish has only been on the menu for two days, it’s still a work in progress.  I’ve also documented elsewhere my dread of cooked banana, but actually the banana ice-cream was fine and came with a crisp shard of sugar craquelure, and a delicious swirl of salted caramel which complimented it perfectly.  I look forward to eating the final version.


The Hubby, feeling particularly generous after his two perfect dishes, decided to indulge me and order the dessert tasting plate containing my morello cherry sorbet. Beautifully sticky toffee pudding, clotted cream, and toffee sauce; cookies and cream parfait, mocha cappuccino, warm berries and dark chocolate cookies; and the bitter chocolate tart, pistachio foam, morello cherry sorbet. Each element of the dessert was a tiny dense hit of very intense flavours. I tried the tart which has such a high cocoa content you could fly to the moon on that tiny wedge, but is lightened by the pistachio foam – lovely.

During the course of the evening we took time to look at our fellow diners, and there is an amazing mix in the room. From the family in the corner, to the suits in the other half of the room, the entire space was packed. On the table next to us was a chap on his 71st stay, and he was greeted like an old friend by the head waiter Henry Knight. Henry brought him things he thought would interest him and they chatted with a familiarity that comes from a long and genuine relationship.  I don’t think I’ve considered the relationship a hotel restaurant has with its regulars before, especially when it comes to keeping the menu seasonal and interesting.

I have to say, even though I had eaten Tony’s food before over the years, I was genuinely, genuinely impressed by his menu. How is this place not a destination restaurant?  I spoke to a well known food blogger and we discussed how, particularly in with hotel restaurants,  good restaurants can fall through the ‘word of mouth’ cracks.  With a regular stream of hotel guests, they’re not quite as reliant on that kind of business.  However, this is as accomplished as many of the restaurants we eat in, in you can see from my list, that’s pretty good company to keep.  Next time you want to try something new, get down to Axis.  I’ve already been back to the Lobby Bar, the Hubby has already booked himself in for a business dinner with clients.  This place is going straight onto our favourites list.

Addendum: I really wanted to try that rhubarb dish before it went off the menu, so I popped back to Axis – the best £8 I’ve spent in ages – what an absolute delight!  There’s a delicious little pot of rhubarb crumble, scented with vanilla; a rhubarb purée; a beautiful rhubarb foam made of rhubarb purée, sugar and gelatine; delicate mounds of intense jelly; sorbet, and dehydrated rhubarb crisps.  The combination is light, absolutely mouthwatering, and very refreshing.  The absolutely pièce de résistance are apple blossom flowers.  What an absolute revelation – they are mouthwatering, crisp, zingy, scented – who knew? I’m going to be going around my garden raiding those trees that have a great abundance of blossom.  Only on for another week, get it while you can – a scent’sational dish!

Axis on Urbanspoon

Axis
One Aldwych
London
WC2B 4BZ

Starters  £9
oxtail, wild mushroom and horseradish
consommé, spring onions, parsley
welsh rarebit on toast, plum tomato salad (v)
chicken liver parfait,pickled radish, poached quince, hot brioche
roast beetroot, baby carrots, English mozzarella, bitter leaves, lemon thyme dressing (v)
deep fried pig’s trotter, braised head, celeriac purée, lentil jus
endive salad, roast walnuts, blue cheese, honey mustard dressing (v)(n)
selection of english charcuterie, piccalilli, garlic toasts (£3 supplement)
fried duck egg, onion jam, mushroom and truffle soldiers
 
seafooD  £13
lobster ravioli, salad of sea vegetables, basil oil (£2 supplement)
dressed crab cocktail,watercress salad, Granny Smith apple, crab bon-bons
seared scallops, oriental braised pork belly, soy sauce, cauliflower and coriander
smoked and poached scottish salmon, avocado and lime mousse, pickled baby vegetables
 
Light Main courses  £14
potato, caramelised onion and goat’s cheese tatin, sautéed spinach, tomato and coriander dressing (v)
steamed fillet of sea bass, stuffed with crab and soft herbs, cucumber, fennel and dill salad, raspberry vinaigrette (£4 supplement)
 
side orders  £4
tomato salad                                    green beans and shallots
french fries                                       crushed charlotte potatoes
wilted spinach                                  purple sprouting broccoli
 
main courses  £19
roast cod, parsnip and honey purée, home-smoked cod kedgeree, spiced fish velouté
loch duart salmon, crispy smoked pork belly, braised kale, bittersweet onions, red wine fumet
roast halibut, smoked duck gnocchi, purple broccoli, jus gras (£4 supplement)
slow cooked celeriac, cumin fried spinach, lightly spiced vegetables, lentil dahl, green chilli and cauliflower bhajis (v)
roast chicken, truffled macaroni, crispy Worcestershire cured ham, figs, Madeira shallot jus
braised beef bourguignon, smoked bacon, mashed potato, red wine sauce
roast rump of herdwick lamb, barbecue lamb ribs, baked glazed shallot, grilled spring onions, shepherd’s pie fritter (£4 supplement)
char-grilled 35 day aged galloway rib-eye, slow cooked tomatoes, button mushrooms with dauphinoise or beef dripping chips and peppercorn sauce or béarnaise (£5 supplement)
haunch of denham estate venison, red wine apple purée, creamed cabbage, braised shank boulangère, chocolate oil (n) (£3 supplement)
butter poached loin of hare, jugged leg, root vegetable purée, game chips, watercress (£4 supplement)
 
dessertS  £7
tarte tatin of apple, butterscotch ice cream, cinnamon and raisin caramel

floating islands, vanilla custard, honeycomb
gingerbread soufflé, banana ice cream, caramelised bananas
cookies and cream parfait, mocha cappuccino, warm berries and dark chocolate cookies
bitter chocolate tart, pistachio foam, morello cherry sorbet

sticky toffee pudding, clotted cream, toffee sauce
lemon tart, confit lemon
selection of british cheeses  £9
with oatcakes and Granny Smith
dessert sampling plate  £11
Sticky toffee pudding, clotted cream, toffee sauce
Cookies and cream parfait, mocha cappuccino, warm berries and dark chocolate cookies

 

    Bitter chocolate tart, pistachio foam, morello cherry sorbet

British

Spuntino, Soho

I’ve been trying to get along to Spuntino for some time now, and let’s face it, hundreds and hundreds of people have managed to get along before me to write about it. Still, Nicola and I are both ardent food lovers, and there’s always something to be learnt by having the experience first hand. We pitched up in Rupert Street straight from the Hockney exhibition, and spotted Spuntino just in front of us.  Rather marvellously its artfully dishevilled window treatment was propping up two fluorescent and garish policemen, which somehow utterly set it off to perfection. How I wish I’d taken that photograph!

Being a Russell Norman joint, the restaurant interior is kitsch, with a large bar dominating the room, around which wraps a NY diner style counter with high stools. There is also a further table at the back of the room in a little alcove. The bar itself is set up with various bottles containing spirits, mixers etc, and given the amount of space set aside for this, you definitely know that a good deal of the action is actually about the mixology and the drinks.  Menus are paper place mats, and the daily specials are written on by hand.  We didn’t have to wait, and went straight to a table. (Just a reminder that they don’t take bookings).

We decided to have some things individually, but some things to share.  We ordered the truffled toast, of course, a slider each, and a couple of vegetable dishes.

The pickled vegetables were crisp, with a good variety of fennel, beetroot, carrot, etc, and weren’t over pickled. You could still taste the inherent flavour of each variety, and it was interesting to compare the way in which the flavours matched certain veg better than others (for me, anyway).  I particularly liked the fennel, which really works as a soused veg, I’ll be giving that one a go at home.  The gentle aniseed flavour balanced nicely with the pickling liquor.

The stir fried olives really weren’t to my taste, but I know some people who rave about them.  Stuffed with anchovies, covered with breadcrumbs and fried, they were just a little too overpowering for me.  I’m sure it was the temperature, that mid-heat point where you awaken the ingredient, but don’t necessarily let it shine.

The truffled egg toast, much raved about, really wasn’t as fabulous as I was expecting either.  So difficult when you’ve read people rave about a dish, to be served a hard piece of bread, with bland cheese, with no discernible truffle taste.

But then our sliders arrived, and suddenly the kitchen had redeemed itself in my eyes.  The pulled pork slider was chunky, and succulent, but spiked with little crispy bits too… The pickled apple was just a fabulous addition, not only fulfilling that pork/apple combo, but offsetting the richness of the pork, and adding just a little juiciness to the slider.  Delicious.

Roast cauliflower with chermoula and smoked almonds was just bizarre.  I associate strong tastes with chermoula: pungent, powerful, sometimes acidic and scented, here it was just flat. The cauliflower was fine, but the almonds just looked as though someone had thrown a handful onto the plate.  Broccoli with an anchovy dressing was no more successful to be honest.  The dressing may have been nice, but I couldn’t really tell – the broccoli (which was actually good fresh broccoli) was waterlogged, all the flavours became waterlogged too…

Then yet again redemption arrived in the form of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’d happily cross London for this, which given everything that had gone before, is saying something.  The frozen parfait is salty and sweet, smooth, creamy cold… Sandwiched with what appears to be crushed raspberries in a loose jam, it’s topped with crushed peanuts and brittle – very moreish!

Nicola had a burnt sugar cheesecake, with prunes soaked in alcohol.  I didn’t taste it, but Nicola said that it tasted exactly how you would imagine it would.  I think she preferred my peanut butter sandwich.

I’m still not sure what to make of Spuntino, as many others have reported the service is very, very casual, but individually people were nice, smiley, happy and attentive.  A lot of the time though it appeared to be some sort of staff social club.   I appreciate this is a contradiction, but for me the whole experience was a contradiction.  I loved Mishkins, but this one sort of passes me by…  I think the best thing to do is to go in when you have a hangover, or you’re really setting out to get one.  I imagine under those circumstances it will absolutely hit the spot. But the slider, and the peanut butter sandwich are absolutely worth going in to try, and may just mean I give it another go.

Spuntino
61 Rupert Street
London
W1D 7PW

Spuntino on Urbanspoon

British

The Wolseley

My guest today suggests we meet at the Wolseley, a venue I have been to before, but only because of its proximity to Green Park tube station.  The favourite haunt of footballers, politicians, hedge fund managers, tourists and journalists, it inspired A.A.Gill to create his book Breakfast at The Wolseley.  The Wolseley quotes Gill’s introduction on their web site, he writes “Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life“.  I wholly subscribe to this.

The Wolseley is so named after Wolseley Motors Limited commissioned a car showroom in 1921. However, the Italian architecture, marble floors and grand setting, did not do enough to stop the company going bankrupt in 1926. Between 1927 and 2003 it was a branch of Barclays Bank, until Chris Corbin and Jeremy King turned into the venue it is today.  Previously at Caprice Holdings, and now Rex Restaurant Associates, Messrs Corbin and King do have an eye for a commercial opportunity.

Walking into the dining space itself, it’s a picture of frenetic activity, a loud hubbub of conversation and of business being done.  One immediately thinks of an old railway station café, or worse given the closeness of the tables, the layout looks like a speed dating venue.

I order a fresh grapefruit juice and cappuccino. Within five minutes the drinks arrive and I order The English, with my eggs poached.  In the times I have been here, I will say, this venue has the best cappuccino of any I’ve had before.  Beautifully presented with a heart shaped chocolate flourish in the foam, the right temperature and creamy consistency, I always have more than one and this time is no exception.

The English duly arrives and I realise I hadn’t spotted it included baked beans. Now, I do occasionally like baked beans, but they overpower everything else in terms of taste – everything tastes of beans. There is also half a tomato, a mushroom, two poached eggs, a Cumberland sausage, a piece of black pudding (about a quarter of a sausage of black pudding), and several rashers of bacon.

I try the black pudding first as there’s such a small amount.  It falls apart on the first touch, so is difficult to eat on its own.  However, is does have a strong flavour and is very moist, but it needs to be more substantial to get a true sense of it. The eggs are strangely inconsistent: one is cooked perfectly as a medium egg with a nice runny yolk, but the other overdone with a solid centre; the sausage looks good, but lacks any real flavour other than meat; there’s a perfectly cooked mushroom, not too soggy, firm and tasty; and the bacon is slightly burnt, adding some level of caramelisation to it.  It’s nicely smoked, with a salty flavour, which I liked a lot. I leave the tomato, as I always do – cooked tomato is one of my pet hates.

The plates are cleared immediately and we’re asked if we would like anything else.  I suspect this is to encourage us to move on, as the restaurant is now at capacity. I order the bill and it’s settled very efficiently. Forty minutes from the time of entering, to the time I’m back outside on the pavement needing a short walk to clear the indigestion. An old Tommy Cooper joke comes to mind: ‘Two giants sitting on a wall, one says ‘I ate a clown for breakfast this morning, I feel a bit funny now!’.

Clement Freud once said, ‘Breakfast is a notoriously difficult meal to serve with a flourish.’ I don’t necessarily agree: I think that the experience is down to well-prepared, high-quality ingredients, in relaxed and ambient surroundings. The Wolseley has everything in terms of ingredients, but you do get the impression of hurried preparation in line with the hustle and bustle of the restaurant itself.

I subscribe to AA Gill’s sentiments about breakfast, but I just can’t marry those comments to the indigestion induced speed with which The Wolseley deals with its clientele.  This is rather ironic given the quote is on The Wolseley’s own breakfast webpage, but it should be no surprise really, given that they turn around 1,000 covers a day.  No doubt I will return, as it’s in a great location, but next time perhaps for just the continental breakfast or fruit bowl I think.

The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly
Mayfair

London
W1J 9EB

The Wolseley on Urbanspoon

British

The Abbeville Kitchen, Clapham

It’s cold, and John and I are standing in the street, shivering… We’re right in the middle of Abbeville Road, and we are completely surrounded by restaurants.  We’re supposed to be here to try a new restaurant, but John mentions that he’s heard good things about Abbeville Kitchen.  We look at the menu.  Wow.  Good olives, charcuterie, etc, looks very inviting.  John insists we look at the other menus, although I’m sold on the first glance.  Nearby is very appealing food, well plated food, but really we’re after chat, and variety, and lots of picky things…

We return to the Abbeville Kitchen and of course opt for the table right next to the open kitchen, which I think the staff perhaps found a little disconcerting.  We on the other hand, want a good look at what’s going on around us. The room is all wooden floor, wooden tables – it’s functional, comfortable.

The menu isn’t huge, but what’s on here is here for a reason. Products look to be very carefully sourced, and everything looks appealing. We decide not to have mains, but to order a variety of dishes. We have huge, plump Gordal olives, Marcona almonds, a plate of charcuterie, and John has a duck heart salad.  The bread includes, I think, baguette, ciabatta, and focaccia. My bit of baguette smells good, properly proved, nice mouthfeel, as they say.

The charcuterie includes finocchiona, Iberico ham and Italian ham.  The Iberico is exquisite – packed full of flavour, complete melt in the mouth texture, as silky and as fine as you’d want it to be. The finocchiona is denser, not as good as the one I get from Natoora, if I’m truthful, but it has a complete honesty about it.  (This is probably where I discover that it *is* the one I get from Natoora)

I don’t try John’s heart salad, but it looks delicious – well, I steal a bit of bacon from it – and it’s good.  He shows me the duck hearts, they are beautifully cooked, and pink in the middle.


My own obligatory green salad is very well dressed and seasoned, a hint of mustard to tickle the tastebuds, but not enough to overwhelm it.  It also has a really good variety of leaves, a good balance of bitter and delicate.

We stay for hours talking, and the charming staff keep topping up our filtered water, bring excellent coffee and sharp, proper lemonade. I think about all the people I want to bring here, and when we discuss it later, John has been thinking the same thing.  It’s a great place.  We visited at lunchtime and it wasn’t terribly busy, but judging by the constant prep taking place in the kitchen I’d say this place probably does good business at night.  I hadn’t checked out the drinks list, but I will do next time I’m in.  Oh, and they appear to do amazing things with prosecco – I see from a past menu they had spiced clementine and when we visited they had quince prosecco.  Now how delicious does that sound?

The Abbeville Kitchen

47 Abbeville Rd
London
SW4 9JX

Abeville Kitchen on Urbanspoon

British

Goodman, Mayfair

Whilst Goodman Mayfair may resemble a NY steak joint, I’m wondering how many of those have a steady stream of diners descending to the meat locker to gawp at their wares…  There is so much interest in steak at the moment that steak joints have become destination restaurants – the breeds, the sourcing, the cooking, all to be endlessly poured over.


There are at least three good restaurant groups with dedicated steak houses in London at the moment (including Goodman,  Hawksmoor,  and Wolfgang Puck’s CUT at 45 Park Lane).  With such heavy hitters in the market, and with the prices being charged, Londoners are suddenly taking their meat very, very seriously indeed.

Ordinarily I like my steak grilled on the open fire at the Cheyne Walk Brasserie, but one can’t ignore the trend towards these places.  Having eaten at Burger & Lobster the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it, I though it would be fun to start with Goodman Mayfair.  Booking a table proved rather difficult actually, and on arriving we understood why: the room is pretty big, but was packed to the rafters with noisy diners full of bonhomie…. A quick scan of the room identified that at least 80% of the diners are men, and they all seemed to be having a great time!  The decor is very much that of a NY diner, all wooden floors, wooden tables, lots and lots of wood.  I kept having flashbacks to the Cheers bar, but it feels very authentic, like a London Smith and Wollensky…

Staff are busy and efficient – before you make up your mind, they bring around a platter of raw meat, and explain the various cuts and choices with you.  From US ribeye to Irish grass-fed fillet, the choice is impressive.  In addition to the menu, any special cuts are displayed on The Cut blackboard, and on our day included Chilean wagyu.  I asked about the regulations for cattle rearing in Chile, and this was the only question the staff were unable to answer – I’m guessing not many chaps ask!  Didn’t stop me from ordering it, but as Japan apparently doesn’t export its wagyu, and I think they use Australian at CUT, I was just curious.

To begin I had the pan fried foie gras… Served with roasted dry figs, oyster mushrooms and truffle honey, it was delicately sweet and offset by vinegar in the sauce – the acid is a necessary counterpoint, but here was a little harsh for me. the slice of foie was slim, but perfectly cooked, charred outside, delicate and tender inside.

Himself had the tiger prawn tempura with avocado and mango salsa, and a cajun mayonnaise.  The tempura batter was crisp, and the salsa fresh.  The combination is a pretty common one, but he liked the heat of the sauce and thought it added to the dish, but tasted more curry than cajun.

We both chose the wagyu, but went for different cuts: I had the sirloin, and he the ribeye.  When it came we was completely astonished by the difference in cut.  The steaks both look similar, they were both rested fully, with no apparent leakage of blood, and there the similarity ends.  The sirloin had a tight, dense grain structure, whereas the ribeye was soft, loose, much juicier and tender.  The texture of mine did open little over the next ten minutes, but nothing like that of the ribeye.  My béarnaise wasn’t the best I’ve had, but ten minutes later it still had the same consistency, which certainly can’t be said of all the examples I’ve had.  Hubby had the peppercorn sauce, which was fiery, creamy and delicious.

As sides we ordered salads, greens beans with shallots and truffled chips.  The salad was well dressed, and had good variety of leaves.    The truffled chips are delicious – crusty and crunchy, with a very discernible scent and taste of truffle.  We discovered that if you dipped the chips into the pepper sauce you had a hit of umami on the front of the palate and the heat of the pepper in the back – a very addictive combination.  As Goodman offer to bring you a selection of sauces, do try this for yourself.

Goodman’s wine list is very heavy on red, much to the Hubby’s delight!  Alex, the ‘wine guy’ noted our choices and offered us something we’d not had before, which was delicious.  We had an interesting discussion around different vineyards, and I’m definitely going to be ordering that recommendation – the first red wine I’ll have bought for myself in a decade!

Now for the technical bit: a number of us went down to see the meat room in the kitchen – the manager Nik was like the pied piper leading us into the mountain to meet the head chef, Phil…  I’m going to do this bit in bullet form…

  • The meat comes in to be assessed individually by the chef.  If he’s happy with the offerings, they make it into the locker, if not, they’re turned away, regardless of supplier
  • Meat from this country comes in at around 4 days and is cured in the locker by the staff
  • Meat from the US and Chile comes in vacuum packs, wet cured, and effectively already aged in the pack,  This then needs to be aged for 4-5 days to remove the excess moisture
  • Any meat of particular merit can be aged for up to 45 days, though typically it’s aged for 28 days.  During this ageing process there can be up to 25% wastage
  • Any meat served on the bone is aged for an additional two weeks on site
  • The room is kept at 75% humidity, and is monitored regularly.  The humidity is regulated with a fan, and the room is lined with Himalayan rock salt.
  • In terms of what they look for, we had a quick discussion about the way in which feeds effect the end product, the cut obviously, the level of marbling and fat around the cut… It would be impossible for me to describe this too you as Tim was holding up particular cuts to demonstrate that to us.  Do ask if you can see the locker for yourself.
  • In Mayfair alone, they’re getting through two tonnes of meat a month
  • On average people are eating under 500g, but just sometimes, someone will come in and order a kilo of steak – yes, a kilo of steak!
Out in the kitchen, the staff operate two ridiculously hot Josper charcoal grills!  They are fed twice a day in rotation and take around two hours to come up to temperature… Because of this they are also used in rotation.  The chef explained that the four staff who work this section effectively build the grill to the temperature they require – some like it very hot, others prefer to build the heat more slowly.  The meat is turned constantly once it’s seared, keeping in the meat juices.  At the end of service, the grill fed first is considerably colder than the later one…  It’s insanely hot down there, and as I went in February, one can only imagine what it’s like in the summer.

I’ll definitely be back to Goodman, it’s loud, it’s boisterous, and the beef is great – a great place to go with a gang of chums.  One tiny bit of advice though: if you’re a girl and you’re looking to impress a chap, bring him here, he’ll utterly love it.  And if you’re a chap looking to impress a girl, and you don’t know her that well, take her for wagyu at the Cheyne Walk Brasserie first.  You can always build her up to Goodman…

Other information:

The pictures of the food are my own, the interior shots are from the Goodman web site.



Goodman on Urbanspoon

 

 
S·T·A·R·T·E·R·S
BEEF CARPACCIO, BASIL CRESS, SHAVED PARMESAN, AGED BALSAMIC AND OLIVE OIL £8 
SWEET HERRING, TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN PRESENTATION, HOT MUSTARD AND CORNICHON £8 
IRISH SMOKED SALMON BY FRANK HEDERMAN, DARK RYE BREAD, ONIONS AND CAPERS £13 
TIGER PRAWN TEMPURA, AVOCADO, MANGO AND CAJUN MAYONNAISE £12 
LOBSTER COCKTAIL, GREENS AND LEMON MAYONNAISE £16 
LOBSTER BISQUE, TARRAGON CRÈME FRAICH E £7.5 
CAESAR SALAD, PARMESAN AND WHITE ANCHOVIES £8.5 
WEDGE SALAD, STILTON, TOMATO AND SMOKED BACON £9 
BURRATA, SPANISH WAGYU BEEF CHORIZO, GRILLED SOURDOUGH £13 
TOMATO, SLICED WITH CRUMBLED STILTON, RED ONIONS AND AGED BALSAMIC £8 
PAN FRIED FOIE GRAS, ROASTED FIG, OYSTER MUSHROOM, TRUFFLE HONEY £15
 
S·T·E·A·K·S
We have teamed up with the finest producers of natural beef in the US and the British Isles.We cut beef every day, please check the blackboards for THE CUT


USDA ANGUS BEEF 150 DAY CORN FED 
PORTERHOUSE & BONE IN RIB-‐EYE page1image29064PER 100G £6.75
page1image29744
T-‐BONE & BONE IN SIRLOIN PER 100G £6.75
GOODMAN RIB-‐EYE (400G) £32 
NEW YORK SIRLOIN (350G) page1image98792£30 
FILLET (250G) page1image100248page1image126048£34
 
SCOTTISH AND IRISH GRASS FED 
FILLET (400G) £45
page1image172088
FILLET (250G) page1image173144£28
 
CHOICE OF ONE SAUCE: BÉARNAISE, PEPPER, STILTON
 
HALF GRILLED LOBSTER TAIL WITH GARLIC BUTTER page1image187104 page1image195504£12.5 
ADD PAN FRIED FOIE GRAS (100G) page1image196592£13
 
M·A·I·N·S
GOODMAN BURGER WITH LETTUCE, PICKLE, TOMATO, ONION AND CHIPS £14
EXTRAS: SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS, CHEDDAR, BACON, FRIED EGG OR FRIED ONIONS
CHICKEN, ROAST BREAST WITH CRUSHED POTATOES AND OYSTER MUSHROOMS £15
FISH OF THE DAY £Market Price
 
S·I·D·E D·I·S·H·E·S
TRUFFLE CHIPS £5 
SPINACH, CREAMED WITH GRUYERE CHEESE £4.5
CARROTS, HONEY AND GINGER GLAZED £3.5 
ROCKET AND PARMESAN SALAD £4 
HAND CUT CHIPS £4.5 
GREEN BEANS, SAUTÉED WITH SHALLOTS £4 
MUSHROOMS WITH GARLIC BUTTER £4.5
MAC AND CHEESE, TRUFFLE SAUCE AND PARMESAN £4 
GREEN SALAD, RED ONIONS AND TOMATOES £4 
CREAMY MASH POTATO £5 
STEAMED SPINACH £4.5 
SPINACH WITH GARLIC AND LEMON £4.5 
ROASTED WHITE ONION £4
LOBSTER MAC & CHEESE £8
 
A discretionary 12.5% service charge will be added to your bill 
 

British

Corrigan’s, Mayfair

Choosing a restaurant in our house always begins in the most random way: Richard Corrigan has been on the telly quite a lot lately, what with Great British Menu and Saturday Kitchen, and the Hubby wondered why we’d never been to his restaurant.  He was adamant that he’d never seen Corrigan’s Mayfair on Upper Grosvenor Street, or heard anyone mention it.

To be honest, even though I knew it was there, I’d never actually seen it, and my ‘usual’ black cab chappie gave a me a breakdown of every building in the street but declared he’d never seen a restaurant there… So Corrigan’s is a bit like that building in Harry Potter – invisible to the uninitiated…  This makes entering the building even more of a surprise, because the interior is actually enormous, and must span the whole of the block.

There’s a very good bar area, restaurant seating, and a private room off the main restaurant.  The room feels very like a ‘posh’ Cecconi’s, except with a great deal less bustle.  It was only about 25-30% full during our meal, although there was a function being held in the private room.  With a room like this, less bustle almost constitutes less atmosphere.  Given that we were asked twice to ensure that we were finished by 9.15, one had to wonder what they were worried about.  Did people suddenly hot-foot it all the way over to Upper Grosvenor Street at 10pm?

Thank goodness we were only offered one amuse – hurrah!  This was a little ball of mozarella in a sort of doughnutty/brioche in crispy parmesan breadcrumbs, smelled fabulous and pretty tasty.

To start I had a very lovely crispy duck egg, with English asparagus, mustard hollandaise and pea shoots.  It was very yummy and the runny yolk obviously worked very well with the asparagus.  The Hubby had the terrine of foie gras, which was constructed using layers of foie gras and thin slices of brioche.  The Hubby felt this dampened down the flavour of the foie gras somewhat.

As a main course I had the pan-fried john dory with a raw artichoke and apple salad.  This was very clean, and the acidity in the apple worked very well with the rest of the dish.

The Hubby had the red mullet with chorizo, salt cod and parsley.  The mullet was cooked very well, and the salt cod complemented it, and was well seasoned.  However with little salt cod and chorizo on the plate, there wasn’t a great deal of flavour.
Dessert anyone?  Yes, we would have quite liked dessert, but after waiting for some time for someone to give us a dessert menu, and then some time for someone to return to us, the urge had completely gone.  I had quite fancied the one with the salted caramel (clearly this years’ favourite flavour with chefs), but didn’t fancy waiting for it to arrive.
This highlights the one main drawback to Corrigan’s for us: the room is very good, the food is fine, yummy and seasonal – well done Mr Corrigan.  The staff however are pretty haphazard.  At one point I asked the Hubby if he felt we were sitting in the trainee section of the restaurant.  The older staff were extremely well informed, polite, adept, discreet – everything you would expect.  The junior staff were perfunctory.  I would recommend going in a slightly larger crowd as you may need to provide your own atmosphere.  To be fair, I would assume this place is heaving at lunchtime, and it may be a better first introduction to the restaurant.
2014 UPDATE: So funny to read this back now, I’ve been several times this year and the place has been absolutely buzzing, and we’ve had exceptional food – I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it now, and we’ve taken two of the function spaces for private parties this year, with a great time being had by all.  Just shows you, visit somewhere on a quiet day, and you can have a completely different perspective of a joint!  Go…. Go now… What are you waiting for?

Corrigan's Mayfair on Urbanspoon