IanT

I felt like some dim sum as a restorative supper after an afternoon's shopping yesterday. I was walking towards Ping Pong and decided that I'd try Yauatcha, just in case they had a table. I was quite surprised to be seated immediately (and upstairs too ). Perhaps Ping Pong has taken some of their business? I ignored my own advice and decided to try a few of the non-dumpling offerings. I had: Baked Venison puffs - Good buttery pastry but the filling tasted the same as in every other dim sum place in London. Chickens' feet in black bean and chilli sauce - This order was a bit unfair on the restaurant. I am not a big fan of chickens feet but given the setting I was hoping for a conversion of Damascene proportions...nope, I still don't like chickens' feet. Steamed sticky rice with ginko nut, chestnut and shrimp - This did not particularly appeal to me, quite ordinary. Chinese chive dumpling - Still beautiful and delicious. I had to get some dumpling action! Ginger and lemon souffle with ginger ice cream and milk chocolate sauce - I love this desert. Delicate, starch-free, tangy souffle into which you pour rich chocolate sauce. A real winner. Espresso with a lychee and raspberry macaroon - Fantastic macaroon, presumably inspired by Herme's Istaphan. Great mixture of textures and flavours. I did not enjoy the food as much as on my last visit but I'll put this down to: (i) not ordering dumplings/cheung fun; and (ii) eating on my own. Dim sum is not well suited to the solitary diner. By the third venison puff/second rice parcel my palate was bored. Overall, £31 including service for all of the above plus a delicious orange/lime iced tea represents excellent value for money for cooking of this calibre.

Durian - This must be top of the list, the smell is something else. Kim chee - I love it now but it took me a little while, most Koreans go crazy for it. Coddle - Really gross watery Irish stew with sausage and bacon. Why anyone would choose to eat this now I do not know. Goody - Torn up pieces of white sliced pan soaked in milk with sugar spinkled on top. What passed as children's food before the Irish became rich! Andouille - I eat anything, and I HATED these little fellas.

It was not the size of the serving per se that annoyed me so much as the imbalance that the small serving of lamb caused. The three tiny morsels of lamb were completely overpowered by the huge pickled onion, the sardine, the mushrooms etc. The balance was way off. Parts of the dish were very tart I agree, I'm also someone who enjoys sour flavours. 2* is hard to judge, and is perhaps more easily defined by what a restaurant lacks than what it provides. I can only base my judment on the 2* star restaurants in which I have eaten. I did not enjoy the food in TA as much as in either of Dublin's 2* venues, but found it to be on about the same level as La Gavroche. I appreciate that comparisons such as this are invidious, particularly given the huge gulf between the approaches of Roux and Aikens.

"Anointed" was my actually my description. I'm not sure if it appeared on the menu, apologies for the slip into "menu-speak". Nice reference by the way, anointy nointy.

OK - one quibble with TA might be that the "main" ingredient isn't always centre stage. I found this more of an issue with the scallops. However, it doesn't really matter as I'm usually dazzled by the fireworks that come with it. I found the saltiness of the sardine to be work just fine too much vinegar in the sauce. it needed something to cut through the "custard" but I got a serious whiff of vinegar which brought tears to my eye. also lacking in the visual feast that are his other dishes - I supose it was just too tame for me ← I didn't notice any vinegar in the sauce, the horesradish cut the sauce nicely. Also the sauce was quite far from a "custard", I'd describe it as a foamy broth. The dish has obviously evolved over time. Same preparation, the sardine is battered and deep fried.

You know what, you just might be right, the version listed on TA's website is: "Roast lamb fillet, roast lamb sweetbreads, black olive pomme purees, figs and goats cheese" Certainly sounds a hell of a lot more appetising than what we got...

That is interesting. I don't see how anyone could have loved the lamb the night we were there, there was not enough of it to love! Did the fried sardine work with the lamb for you? I can see the scallops, the foie gras and perhaps the coffee and hazelnut appealing to some people, more a matter of personal taste I think. I'd say the lemon dessert is a bit of a splitter, it has quite an intense "lemonyness" that I enjoyed but may not be to everyone's taste. I enjoyed the John Dory but would not say I loved it. What put you off?

My Dad was in London for the weekend so I decided to make my first visit to Yauatcha. We started with a couple of very good cocktails in the tea room upstairs. This is such a beautiful room and the pastries looked very tempting. I will definitely return for afternoon tea. One small complaint is that the chairs upstairs (and the non banquette chairs downstairs) are designed for individuals of a smaller stature and were not very comfortable for my Dad or I (both of us are 6'2"). The restaurant downstairs is much less inspiring from a design perspective, its an informal, modern room of the type that semms to be rigeur for most modern oriental restaurants. Overall I thought the dim sum was excellent, on a par with Hakkasan. The dumplings are amazing; clean, clear flavours and visually stunning. I was almost reluctant to eat some of them... The other items are good but it seems that this restaurant has earned its acclaim (and its Michelin star) on the strength of the dumplings. We ate: Chinese Chive Dumplings - Absolutley beautiful. The translucent green wrappers enclosing plump, sweet shrimp. Scallop shu mai - Another very alluring dumpling topped with a perfectly cooked scallop and some orange roe. Crystal prawn dumplings - Vied with the chive offering for most beautiful dumpling award. Delicious. Salt and pepper quail - A generous serving but a little too greasy. Could have been better. Sesame prawn toast - A world away from the sesame toast at your local chinese. Fantastic fusion of toast, sesame seeds and toast but I'm not sure about the use of garlic butter. Jasmine tea smoked organic ribs - Good flavour but a little dry. Char sui cheung fun - A good rendition of a dim sum classic, perfectly cooked noodle casing and flavoursome pork. Lemon souffle with hot chocolate sauce - We were both stuffed by now but we saw this souffle being served to another table and could not resist. A beautiful tangy souffle into which you pour a jug of rich chocolate sauce. Excellent. With 2 cocktails and a bottle of wine the bill came to £100 which, depending on your perspective, is either: (i) very expensive dim sum; or (ii) an incredibly cheap Michelin starred dinner. Personally I'd go with (ii). I'll be back.

Tom Aikens was the venue for an enjoyable first outing of the “’Twas far from snail porridge you were reared” Eating Alliance. Four brave adventurers made the trip to deepest, darkest South Kensington in search of gastronomic titillation. On entering the restaurant we were hit by the almost overpowering funk of the cheese trolley. The smell might put some people off but one look at that trolley groaning under the weight of its dairy delights simply filled me with expectation for the cheese course. In this regard at least I was not to be disappointed… We started with some Pol Roger NV while considering the menus. The Tasting menu had been recommended by a number of people on another site and having considered the founding principles of our Alliance our choice was never really in doubt. We also decided to put ourselves in the hands of the sommelier and ordered the wine flight. A special mention must be given to the excellent and very imaginative bread selection, some truly excellent breads. We started with an amuse of four little forks laid out on a plate. One held a cucumber jelly and some celeriac, another a sublime combination of foie gras terrine, carrot mousse and a carrot tuille. Unfortunately I cannot remember the contents of the last two forkfuls. The foie gras was clearly the highlight, one of the best mouthfuls of foie I have ever tasted. This was followed by a further amuse of chilled artichoke soup served over a jelee of asparagus and anointed with a poached quails egg and some (unbilled but very distinctive!) truffle oil. This was rather curiously served in a small vacuum pot similar to those in which foie gras terrine is sold. A delicious, seasonal amuse. The tasting menu proper started with a scallop served with pickled endive and carrot, an orange vinaigrette and carrot and orange puree. The scallop was very nicely cooked, seared on the outside and just warmed through in the centre but I felt that the almost cloying sweetness of the puree did not add anything to the, already sweet, scallop. This combination did not work for me. This was followed by cured foie gras terrine with red pepper gazpacho, pickled shallots, red pepper and raisins. Our waiter had singled this course out for particular praise earlier in the evening and as foie gras is a real favourite of mine I was very much looking forward to it. This expectation only served to add to the disappointment I felt with this lacklustre dish. The curing did not seem to add anything to the terrine, if anything only serving to blunt its flavour. The accompaniments failed in their task of raising this dish above the mundane. Next was John Dory served in a horseradish veloute and accompanied by a celeriac mousse. The fish was well cooked and very fresh and the veloute had a nice kick of horseradish without overpowering the fish. This was a successful, if slightly unexciting, dish and one that I would eat again. The roast lamb with roast lamb sweetbreads, wild mushrooms, fried sardine and pickled onion left me with a curiously “unsatisfied” feeling due to the miniscule size of the serving. The dish looked very appetising and, at first glance, there appeared to be a large hunk of lamb in the middle of the plate surrounded by some delicious looking sweetbreads. Unfortunately the bulk of this dish was the large pickled onion. My serving of lamb was limited to three very slender 50p sized pieces. Hardly one mouthful between them and too small to impart much flavour, certainly when combined with the curiously out of place fried sardine or the pickled onion. The sweetbreads were delicious but could not save this dish from being a complete failure. The cheese trolley was then wheeled to our table. I can honestly say that this was the finest cheese service I have ever experienced, in fact I would go so far as to say that it is worth visiting Tom Aikens just to experience this course. The selection is broad, perhaps 40 French cheeses, all in excellent condition and including many I had not previously sampled. The waiter responsible for the cheese was knowledgeable and wildly enthusiastic. Once he realised that we shared his passion we received service the like of which I have never seen before. We sampled every cheese on the trolley. The waiter would cut a slice and put it on a plate in the middle of the table, we would then divide it into four and each sample a piece. These “tasting” portions became larger as the waiter warmed to his task. After tasting the entire trolley we each selected 5 or 6 personal favourites to be added to our individual plates to be served with bread, biscuits and a delicious fortified Spanish wine. Highlights included the comparisons we were able to draw between three different Bries; a regular Brie, a Brie with black truffles and a triple-cream Brie. Surprisingly I preferred the regular Brie (who knew that adding extra cream or black truffles does not automatically make something taste better?!) and a wonderful blue cheese which had been matured in a fortified wine (anyone know the name?). The cheese waiter must have spent 20 minutes beside our table; serving cheese, sharing our enjoyment and imparting his knowledge to us. A wonderful experience. Following the cheese was always going to be difficult but the Coffee and Hazelnut dessert did not even put up a fight. A tiny, bland sliver of coffee and hazelnut cake was served with slightly artificial tasting coffee mousse chocolate tubes and an uninspiring coffee parfait. The Lemon dessert was a definite winner however. I very much enjoyed the lemon rice pudding and the lemon mousse white chocolate tubes while the lemon sorbet nestling under a lemony foam was delicious and refreshing. Very good. Good coffees were served together with some decent petit four including a wide variety of tuilles, madelines and truffles. This meal was served at a leisurely pace over almost 5 hours and while we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly I have to admit that many of the courses simply did not work for me. I don’t think this was a case of the restaurant having an “off” night. Many of the preparations and combinations (the scallop and carrot/orange, the lamb and sardine, the cured foie gras) simply did not work in my opinion. I look forward to hearing from other diners to see if we were alone in being left cold by these particular dishes. The peripheral items; bread, amuse, cheese, and petit fours were excellent but the body of the meal; starters, mains and deserts were (almost all) disappointing. On this evidence the calls for TM's second Michelin star are premature.