Scottf
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Yesterday. I found it lacklustre and a little strange. It's a contemporary restaurant serving an outdated style of cuisine. The plates were too busy, too many ingredients, limited cohesion and balance. The style on the continent is now more minimalist (and ingredient focused) with a central ingredient supported by its accompaniments not overwhelmed by them. Gone are the days of reductions, streaks and blobs everywhere.
Also I found £80 expensive considering the cheap ingedients used.
FOH staff, particularly Emily, were great.
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The ham at José's half a portion to make it more accessible and more inline with the rest of the menu prices
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Berkswell
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I'd be a little harder than Gary. I found it a disappointing meal regardless of the hype surrounding the opening.
From the tapas, the salt and pepper red prawns were well prepared and tasty, the clams small and undistinguishable and the chipirone were quite poor; the batter was too thick and they lacked the texture of the freshest versions you find so easily on the continent. Also at £6.50 a plate hardly generous.
The miso tar with the scallops and mackerel tartare was jarringly sweet, like liquid toffee, totally ruining the dish. The foie gras was quite good, though with no discernable smokiness however the golden raisins were oversmoked, so make of that what you will! I agree with Gary, DOTN was the Quail, which was well prepared and cleverly integrated with the other ingredients taste and texture wise.
"English Breakfast" was a travesty, the other ingredients totally overpowered by the tomato that tasted like cheap supermarket pizza base. Cauliflower and Squid utilised good technique but the flavours were muted, including the consommé. The dish,like many, lacked punch and was a clear few steps behind The Ledbury version. The Red Mullet was nicely cooked; the rest of the dish blah.
We had to ask for salt during the meat plates as all were underseasoned. All were also lukewarm and cooled quickly. Firstly, gloopy mustard mash swimming in a layer of melted butter. Onglet was wasily our favourite, well cooked and flavoursome meat (as Onglet should be!). Pork belly suffered from rubbery skin but again had good flavour. I guess the pig and ox cheeks prove sous vide hasn't yet had its day.
Desserts as described by Gary looked attractive but underwhelmed on all fronts.
So, as mentioned above, a disappointing meal almost from beginning to end. There was too many faults in conception and execution for me and with the chef twittering how the kitchen is on fire and charging full prices from the off they don't get a pass from me. Perhaps things will improve as the restaurant and kitchen develops but at the moment I can't recommend.
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And I did rather chuckle at Nigel's observation about signed copies of the book being available for purchase at the Church Green.
From the man with his photo and signature printed on his plates
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Like a decent wine i'd say white's is ready for trying now, but will certainly improve with age.
You've got to be pulled up for that; ever thought about writing a blog
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I ate at the Piazza last week and had very 50/50 experience.My wife and i arrived to be greeted by 2 " bouncers" on the door which was a little off putting...Once we entered through the door into the exchange my breath was taken away ! The inside of the the exchange has been designed so beautifully, and had a great atmosphere. We then walked down the stairs into the restaurant,we stood and looked around for a reception desk or somebody to greet us.With no joy we wandered around until we bumped into a waitress ,she then directed us towards the open kitchen to where the reception is situated.We had our coats taken and sat straight at the table,the restaurant was fairly busy which was good,a really nice buzz to the place.From my seat i spotted Anthony snr watching his staff and the evening service in full flow(Like a Hawk) .Then looked to my right and spotted Anthony jnr sat under a sink talking on his mobile telephone in a room that i can only describe as a washing up area???My order was taken and I sat and waited for the starters to arrive,they appeared very quickly hot and presented nicely. We also ordered some bread to go with our meal ,which was one of the most funny parts of the night it was like the ends of a stale french stick, 5 tiny pieces (mouthful size) for about £3! As I ate my starter i looked over the table for the salt and pepper, there was none!! A bistro with no salt and pepper whatever next!! The waiter delivered the S+P after we'd finished the 1st course,meanwhile anthony was still sat under the sink!Maincourse this is where it went really down hill,my wife described the lamb as "the worst piece of meat she'd ever eaten" and my sole was raw,both dishes very light on any type of vegetables or potato apart from the raw fondant potato on the lamb dish.We swapped main courses as she said her lamb was ineadable and I was then left to finish off the really chewy lamb.The cooked parts of the fish maincourse were eaten and we hasterly asked for the bill,meanwhile Anthony was still on the phone which is one of the things I dont understand,this restaurant has been so hyped up in the press,and to serve such bad food in its opening weeks?? Why wasn't he looking over what was being sent out?We left after paying the bill as we didnt want to risk dessert ....... very disapointing and expensive for what it was
Rather than crying about it on the internet wouldn't you have been better served taking it up with the restaurant on the night in question?
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Currently one of London's great lunch deals.
It's always been one of the better lunch deals but unfortunately only M-F.
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Agreed. Apart from a couple the standard's been dire. No wonder it's such hard work getting a decent restaurant meal in this country.
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still one of a handful of restaurants in the uk that offers the complete experience.
What do you mean by "complete experience" and what are the other restaurants in your handful?
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interesting thing is that the judges voted through a lot of traditional cooking in the earlier rounds such as nigel over tony and then are now saying the cooking is not modern enough for the gherkin
I rate Fort as a judge but the other two are appalling for this competition. I've given up with it.
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problem is despite all his irritating talk of antioxidants and nutrition, he turns out very attractive looking plates, if they taste good too, elisha's in trouble.
and people thought tony flinn was full of himself?
at least he's not claiming to have invented a new cuisine.Very beautiful plates indeed, but you have to wonder why the foodie community aren't talking about and heading to the restaurant in any great number.
My guess? His food suffers from blandness due to his over focus on the nutritional side.
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Last time I was there, Victor was saving the very last angulas of the season for a special event and REFUSED to let us have any, for any price. I am very good at begging, but no good. Now he is giving them away to people who don't even like them and who begrudge the cost!
To be fair they weren't given away and until they're received who knows if they'll like them or not?
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i was a little shocked to be charged 200e for 4 portions of Elvers, which only two of the party of 4 ate.
Yes, thank you Gary, you're a very generous dining companion
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Is anybody aware of a bar in Bilbao that sells old rioja and is prepared to give up their secret?
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Lancashire hot pot
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coincidentally i was going to give you a bell and head over to gato negro/millbank if we couldn't get into the fox and hounds.
Well one of you's had a result
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Not as far as I know! What's the Arpege element? Salt crust? Celeriac? The whole lot?
The whole lot. I can see a few Passard touches on the online menu too though I guess there are worse influences to have.
I may be mistaken but I reckon there's some LCS in there too.
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Chef been to L'Arpege recently?
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Well done Gary, how did you get that?
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Cream of Pheasant and Parsnip Soup, Pheasant and Chestnut Sausage Roll
East Coast Cod, Jerusalem Artichokes, Spinach, Young Leeks, Cockles
Granny Smith Apple Tarte Tatin, Vanilla Ice Cream
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Where else did you go? I prefer Hisop in central Barcelona for a well priced modern tasting menu experience.
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Cinc Sentits in Barcelona?
Ate there a few years back and though didn't have these dishes the style is familiar.
Le Champignon Sauvage
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
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Is it common for you to record dish desciptions David and have you been refused elsewhere?
Be interesting to cross reference against any other negative posts