adt

does it count as fusion if you can see one country from the other?

Whatever's wrong with the Fort St George In England? tsk... I'd be a little wary of Graffiti btw, although I have to admit it was now a long time ago I went. Fantastic sounding menu but bad combinations and poor cooking. It may have improved...

Yeah, it's a bit west-end-autistic I though. Plenty of money, not quite enough taste and even less fun. I reckon the food could be good though, there were some really interesting sounding things on the menu, and the kitchen was certainly not without moments of ability. I think I was just unlucky with the particular summer tasting menu on the day, and perhaps a few dishes that didn't turn out as well as they could.

One bad fusion I had was actually at the Sugar Club - goats cheese spring rolls with (amongst other things) cauliflower puree. why make something light and delicate like a spring roll heavy and ponderously unsophisticated by stuffing it with goat's cheese I've no idea. I think there were red peppers in there too... mediterranean+spring roll. great. This is not to imply I don't like disparate influences in fusion. I remember an old dessert at Providores that fused eastern/pacific rim, scottish, middle eastern and spanish influences with amazing success - coconut sorbet and tamarind caramel on oat shortbread with saffron poached quince and marshmallow. But you can tell it's going to work just from the description, it's the judiciousness of the flavour and texture combinations that makes it. jennahan, does the 'eastern' in your A B C encompass middle eastern / african / tropical 'non-western' influences? is the implication that fusion only really works if it is wholehearted (and skilled), and not just a dish from a particular cuisine with a token 'twist' from another?

Mmm. Haven't been - are they any good? I like the idea of a bit of judicious tampering with otherwise authentic eastern cuisine... if the result is interesting and successful, of course.. Do you think there is sometimes an arbitrary/disrespectful plundering of eastern ingredients, which doesn't respect the culinary traditions surrounding their use and development? Any specific examples? Must admit, I've got really good associations with the place, so I'm perhaps not judging it solely on the food.. but I think it's pretty good, better in the restaurant than the tapa room, although the latter is a great place. P. is much better than the Sugar Club imho (mind you, I've only been to the SC once, didn't much like it so didn't go back). You could argue that it's not a place that fully respects the integrity of certain produce - i.e. the intrinsic/underlying flavours of subtler ingredients. I once had gorgeous, very strongly flavoured duck dish with aubergines and spinach and a wonderful, very distinctive sauce, but the duck itself was in fact quite pointless, protein for protein's sake. It was totally overpowered by the rest of the dish, its underlying flavour being scarcely discernable. (same cannot be said for anything I had at Mju to be fair). Thinking about it, providores must be a pretty good restaurant for vegetarians, although I wouldn't say that all meat/seafood dishes there deserve similar criticism. I hope you enjoy the place if you do make it there, and that it's not changed too much.

I ate here a couple of months ago and was distinctly unimpressed, and I'm surprised to see such positive write-ups. I had some sort of 'summer tasting menu', and found it rather unadventurous (I like fusion influences in western cuisine, e.g. like Providores a lot, but would much rather have been at the capital than round the corner at mju, for similar money). the wagyu beef was serverd rare to the point of being excessively chewy, and really was uninsipring. The oysters, for which I paid a supplement, were fine but really nothing special, and remaining courses were not particularly interesting - the menu you describe sounds far better than what was on offer on my visit. How did you think the cooking compared to other fusion-y places like Providores? (I realise the latter is less oriental in its bias, but the only distinctly oriental places I've tried, like E&O, have tended to be less ambitious).

Olive oil ice-cream is gorgeous. Doubt that children would go for it, though.

as far as I know, freezing only suspends the life and reproduction of such microorganisms, and doesn't kill them off.

I suppose it's ok to feed raw egg whites to children? Well, I mean obvioulsy it's ok, but I was thinking about official government advice etc.

Sounds fantastic for showmanship. Presumably the custard will need some slight structure (e.g. lightly aerated/mousse-like), in the absence of churning, to make the texture of the finished product work? Unless the speed of freezing renders the ordinary churning process simply unneccessary.. you're manifestly going to the right place to find out...

I regret that it wasn't on my civilian radar, and I generally take an interested in 'moral' issues surrounding food supplies. Explains a comment that perplexed me the other day though...

or for the classy punters, perhaps a foie gras ice-cream and sauternes-ice Mivvi? perhaps not.

this sounds absolutely wonderful. how exciting when people make the effort to do interesting, creative things. what gourmet treat is lurking at the bottom of your Screwballs, though? (at least, I think that's what they were called?? sounds vaguely obscene now )

Went to Maze on Friday – overall reaction was that the cooking is very crowd-pleasing (and highly enjoyable for all that), but undoubtedly skilled, and that the DIY tasting menu approach is rather fun. Not the last word in sophistication or avant garde challenge though. The room/décor is fairly unexceptional, and the banquettes are uncomfortable unless you’re particularly tall. That said, the striking curved tiling over the bars (rather reminiscent of an underground station, but more hygienic), and sheer devotion of floor space to these bar at the expense of restaurant seating, add some interest to the space. Complaints that the service is overly stuffy and the restaurant is uninviting seemed largely unfounded on the evidence of my visit. Sommelier is very friendly and helpful - but do check the prices on the top wine flight recommendations unless you're particularly flush. Here are my notes on the dishes I went for (and also a few I stole tastes of). They are from memory, so the emboldened descriptions aren't faithful to the Maze menu. First three dishes came together, as did desserts, all others came singly. seared curry-salted scallops, golden raisin puree, cauliflower puree as satisfying as it sounds. heavily salty dusting of curry powder + salt, which gives a nicely pop ‘chip shop curry’ hint. intense, delicious, sweet puree, dark brown in colour. cone of cauliflower puree was fine but unexceptional, went well with other puree, rather than with scallops we felt. great dish though. tuna carpaccio with marinated and grated daikon pretty matching circles of tuna and marinated daikon, topped with rather flavourless cones of daikon puree. enjoyable, but I’d concur with Janice that the dressing was overpowering, although I found it was sesame oil rather than soy which dominated. it sent the whole rather too far west on the chinese-japanese scale. beetroot, sairass cheese unchallenging, but actually quite delicious. four perfect sets, in a row, each of two perfect circles of thin, dark, raw-ish (marinated) beetroot. the lower flat, the upper curved over the cheese and a small piece of more conventional cooked beetroot. each draped with a splayed, twin-stemmed garnish (some fine reddish giant-cress-like salad item), very pretty. marinated artichoke, frisee, truffle great combination of rather austere artichokes with truffle slices (as per risotto). this was let down by an excess of bitter frisee. the pointless at-table service of blob of not-especially-nice, and rather unnecessary truffle mayonnaise was mildly irritating. broad bean, pea and wild sorrel risotto, shaved truffles, truffle oil intense green risotto, as delicious as it sounds, with whole truffles slices and lovely, fresh little skinned broad beans (although not in the glorious profusion you get at locanda locatelli). less al dente than I would have anticipated though, and given the presence of the real article, I felt there was far too much strongly-flavoured truffle oil administered. highly enjoyable dish though, and mine was correctly salted. wild sea bass, ???, english asparagus nice piece of seared sea bass. skin delicious, good at edges, but not as crispy overall as it might have been. sound but evidently unmemorable accompaniments. piquillo peppers and brandade slightly unpleasant, on-the-turn sort of a brandade, stuffing ordinary enough charred piquillos. straightforward tapasy stuff. honeyed pork cheeks, asparagus, coco beans and chorizo delicious, meaty, stringy, slightly sweet pork cheeks (with an intervening aesthetic nightmare of an asparagus spear). all in an overly-cute lidded pot, that at least usefully kept it warm for the age it took for the horrifically expensive flight-of-wine recommendation to arrive. the dish tended towards workmanlike robustness, but not too distractingly spiced. the chorizo was delicious and likewise not heavy handed. very enjoyable overall. I also tasted one of the tiny portions of lobster wrapped in tube-like radish slices. which was unexceptional, and rather under-flavoured I thought. also tried the asparagus with poached quails eggs, grapefruit reduction and grapefruit hollandaise (also irritatingly administered in a tiny portion at the table). reduction good, hollandaise a bit weakly flavoured, asparagus and quails eggs nice but combination unexceptional. a shellfish bisque had a rather bitter aftertaste unless eaten with the meaty ‘sludge’ at the bottom of the bowl, with which it was much improved, but not amazing. I also stole a mouthful of the cinnamon-crusted sweetbreads accompanying the lamb, which were absolutely divine. summer fruits and some ice cream sorbet-ish stuff (wine must have been kicking in by this point) really tiny fruits (almost sinister), pretty ordinary and all rather cold and uninviting up against the wonderful… vahlrona chocolate fondant with cardamom, ice cream with caramelised nuts delicious, delicious, delicious. warm, runny fondant with a set crust, and a (not unconventional but gorgeous and flawlessly executed) touch of cardamom. nice ice cream to accompany, forget what sort, somewhat caramel-flavoured I recall, garnished with some sort of nut pieces. Overall, an excellent concept for diners greedy for choice and novelty but not wanting to leave over-full. Delicious and interesting food, very much playing to the audience, but this member of it will certainly be returning.

these...

1) flower arrangements, esp. with that green curly cane stuff 2) farrow and ball paint. (not sure how you can tell, but...) 3) sofas (especially leather) with low chunky-legged "coffee" tables 4) mini halogen lighting 5) big espresso machines 6) cleanish toilets

I agree that generally, artificial thickening can be avoided. However, it seems to me that restricting yourself to reduction and monte au beurre is problematic for more some experimental cookery, where you may not want to have a stock base and may not want to include sufficient 'substantial' flavouring ingredients in the sauce. (you can reduce water as long as you like, it won't get any thicker, and whisking in just butter won't help much).

This is interesting. I've been careful to distinguish between molegular gastronomy (the scientific approach) and 'outlandish combinations', etc., but haven't used the term 'avant garde' as I'm not sure how it's interpreted in culinary circles. Pragmatically, of course, there is bound to be a correlative tendency between chefs practising MG and somewhat outlandish menu items appearing, be they from novel technique or from novel flavour combinations. In general usage, 'avante garde' is the invention and application of new techniques in a given artistic field (dictionary.com!), which would make MG an example of it. It seems a surprising implication that it's not possible to get avant garde food in London at all, though. Has this always been the case, as what is 'avant garde' has changed over time?

But not sous vide in a thermostatically controlled water bath. Off-topic, of course, er... so would Philip Howard use such a device?

Briefly, for the record, had a very negative experience here (last autumn). The 'Bonham' carpaccio was the most horrifically salty thing I've ever attempted to eat - capers and parmesan and liberal big salt crystals... nothing to counterpoint and quite inedible. Very indifferent main, dessert and wine recommendation, timid over-formal service.

Mmm... I'm not qualified to guess about that. But it's a pity if cosmopolitan London stifles the sort of innovation that can flourish in the provinces. I'd have thought that if west end locations are presently out of the question then something less central might be plausible. Re. Maze, although sounding neither particularly MG nor challengingly outlandish, Atherton has, as Andy mentions, touched the hem of the Spanish garment, and Maze certainly has an innovative take on the tasting menu concept. I'm looking forward to seeing how this well-funded west end restaurant compares with the some of the, er, provincial innovators.

Alinea is hardly a low-budget undertaking, though. The explanation is a nice way of exploiting the absence of MG in London to taint it with aggrandisment of the chef over the ingredients, but London has a large number of venues that succeed with extremely well-known chefs, plenty going so far as to be named after them (Tom Aikens, Locanda Locatelli, Richard Corrigan @, Morgan M... not to mention the eponymous Ramsays and his flotilla of Angela Hartnett @, etc.).

Which London restaurants are taking the most radical and innovative approaches to cooking techniques and flavour combinations? It seems a bit odd to me, given the level of interest in MG and such like, that it’s the provinces that seem to get the more radical-sounding menus: the fat duck is the glaringly obvious example that is associated with trends such as MG and culinary constructivism (El Bulli, Alinea, etc.) but we also have Midsummer House, taking a perhaps imitative scientific and deconstructive path, and Anthony’s, L’Enclume, Juniper and so on, that whilst not having laboratory kitchens certainly have some pretty unusual combinations and preparations on offer. Of course there is lots of innovation, and no shortage of foams and jellies, to be had in London, but generally with pointedly classical French associations (GR, Tom Aikens), or Eastern fusion approaches. Perhaps Sketch is a candidate? Am I missing some places, or just missing the point?

What a magnificent menu... he certainly has a way with words. Bit wary of the "love parsley squirt" though.

Had lunch at Juniper recently and thought someone might be interested to hear what they’re up to with their tasting menu these days. The first onslaught was a battery of tiny amuses, rapidly arriving and departing on a small rectangular white plates. Various squiggles of essences and combinations – basil and dehydrated banana slice, aubergine (these respectively a ‘B’ and an ‘A’ shaped squiggle as a helpful aide-memoire), apple squiggle with dehydrated spinach leaf, fig with dehydrated banana, two things collectively akin to a cereal and dried fruit bar, and yoghurt with dried capers. And probably something else I’ve forgotten. Some of these were excellent. The yogurt with tiny, crunchy, salty capers was strangely pleasing – the capers were crispy skinned and reminiscent of miniaturised salty pistachios, and suited the particularly sour yoghurt. Also remarkable was the level of flavour extracted from a single spinach leaf. However, overall there were too many dishes of the same construction (a squiggle of typically cream-like, pastel-coloured and fairly intensely flavoured sauce/puree/essence/whatever-you-call-it, with a dehydrated item of some sort of other). Some of the dehydrated fruits were a bit chewy, like they’d used one of those food dehydrators they hawk at food fairs, which turn perfectly nice fruit into cardboard. Also, some of the flavours could have been more intense – particularly the aubergine, which danced alone and therefore needed a bit more roasted aubergine kick and rather less background vinegar. Still, all interesting and great fun. It was perhaps unfortunate that this overload of dried and dehydrated items was followed, after a pleasing teacup of rather yoghurty gazpacho, by some chewy dried beef with dried fig. A nice enough play on congruent textures in other circumstances. It did make the relief offered by the next dish all the greater: an beautiful, opulent little cup of green pea-flavoured froth over some sort of savoury custard. This was delicious, although its accompanying dehydrated onion slice was rather bitter in combination. This was followed by a very successful cube (ceramic) filled with caviar and a yeast froth. A simple and very effective combination that gave body to the dish as a whole without detracting one iota from the pleasure of the caviar. A tiny piece of salted chocolate was a good (if rather stingy) accompaniment, being partly made up of white chocolate - now de-rigueur for caviar? Next up was some evidence of classical grounding – not sure how it was described, but essentially it was a teacup containing langoustine cappuccino, green pea oil and whole peas. The cappuccino was richly flavoured and itself somewhat yeasty – extremely similar to the article of the same name they ladle over the crab lasagne at The Capital, but more successful, I felt, in its combination with the peas. Next, a tiny piece of artichoke heart with a tomato-based puree and argan oil. Puree an odd mix of raw tomatoey freshness and cooked tinnedness. Didn’t really get this course. The ‘peas with froth’ theme resumed in the next course, a playful little plate of fish, chips and tomato ketchup comprising a tiny piece of barely-cooked salmon, two tiny uncoloured, soggy chips, peas laced with a touch of buttery froth, and what tasted very much like real Heinz tomato ketchup. The chips were great (but stingy again) and fitted the pastiche well, and the overall combination, if too understated on the butter front, was entertaining and enjoyable. The savoury crescendo peaked on a delightfully messy combination of rare/blue beef fillet, carrots, mangetouts, carrot foam, oil, basil ‘cream’ (as per the earlier amuse) and crispy dried ham. The combination was pretty pleasing, although not symbiotic, and the meat was nicely dark and densely textured. The rather fluorescent green of the basil cream didn’t ‘go’ aesthetically. Next came Fourme D'Ambert in good condition, with a charming little tin of childhood-memory biscuits – tucs, hob nobs etc., connecting with the earlier Heinz playfulness. Then, a tiny plastic medicine glass of liquorice milk, which seemed to have a touch of vanilla about it, and was pleasant and somewhat medicinal (fittingly, I suppose). Next a sweet, intense bucks fizz sorbet, topped with sour yoghurt and a rather pointless little dot of apricot. The childhood theme was, perhaps unintentionally, resumed, the sorbet being reminiscent of being allowed orange squash scarcely diluted, rather than the usual watery ratio. Next, a sound crème brulee, the sugar pleasingly thin and crisp, but the advertised earl grey flavour far too subtle for me. This was followed by a tart of some sort, and petit fours, both of which I had to take with me as I was running out of time. (I had asked if the tasting menu could be fitted into a relatively short time slot, which was done very efficiently, although from the attitude of the place it wouldn’t have surprised me if even more courses had appeared, were this constraint lifted). I should mention that the staff were extremely friendly, and the whole place nicely informal, I felt a real affinity for it straight away. Overall, a very interesting and enjoyable lunch, with some real high points. I’m undecided on the thematic elements running through the meal, which at times were verging on repetitiveness. Also, there’s too much dehydrated stuff, and overall rather too much emphasis on small, starchless components, which didn’t leave a concrete sense of satisfaction. I don’t normally leave so craving a mashed potato and chip sandwich after a tasting menu – not through hunger (the desserts portions were relatively large) but through desire for a bit more ‘solidity’. I’d like to go back in the evening and do the conventional meal/two starters thing, to see how his cooking translates. Oh yes, the petit fours, or chocolates rather, turned out to be a simple but absolutely gorgeous substance somewhere between ganache and caramel, just dusted with cocoa. He could do a line in these, they’re in a different world to those atrocious supermarket ‘just desserts’ that Ramsay (oddly) allows his name to be put to.