Matthew Grant
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Posts posted by Matthew Grant
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I imagine that the "wrong crowd" attracted to Petersham nurseries "ad hoc cafe" might have been due to the prices and location rather than the star. £13.50 for Buratta with grilled Polenta, £16.50 for spinach and ricotta ravioli, how about the £29 for Wild seabass with braised fennel and ginger? Its hardly going to attract a casual dining crowd stopping for a bite to eat while shopping for daffodil bulbs is it?
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I thought sushi was just raw fish alright if very fresh ,Wickipedia tells me it is meat or fish prepared by immersing in fermenting rice then throwing the rice away you must be very brave or adventurous David I look forward to your posts on the subject.I will pass unless you convince me.
Have another read of Wikipedia, the constant in Sushi is the rice and vinegar (not fermented fish), raw fish on its own is Sashimi.
Contemporary Japanese sushi has little resemblance to the traditional lacto-fermented rice dish. Originally, when the fermented fish was taken out of the rice, only the fish was consumed and the fermented rice was discarded.[2] The strong-tasting and smelling funazushi, a kind of narezushi made near Lake Biwa in Japan, resembles the traditional fermented dish. Beginning in the Muromachi period (AD 1336–1573) of Japan, vinegar was added to the mixture for better taste and preservation. The vinegar accentuated the rice's sourness and was known to increase its shelf life, allowing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned. In the following centuries, sushi in Osaka evolved into oshi-zushi. The seafood and rice were pressed using wooden (usually bamboo) molds. By the mid 18th century, this form of sushi had reached Edo (contemporary Tokyo).[3]The contemporary version, internationally known as "sushi", was created by Hanaya Yohei (1799–1858) at the end of the Edo period in Edo. The sushi invented by Hanaya was an early form of fast food that was not fermented (therefore prepared quickly) and could be eaten with one's hands at a roadside or in a theatre.[3] Originally, this sushi was known as Edomae zushi because it used freshly caught fish in the Edo-mae (Edo Bay or Tokyo Bay). Though the fish used in modern sushi no longer usually comes from Tokyo Bay, it is still formally known as Edomae nigirizushi.
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LOL, I meant that the bar is relatively high if you aren't sat on a stall so its difficult for them to reach across in an elegant way.
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THe "open kitchen" concept there isn't as clear cut as a lot of places, a lot of the food is prepped out back and assembled in front. Service at the bar was/is difficult due to the height of the bar in comparison to the servers and it sometimes can be a little clumsy due to the design.
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I once saw it described as MacRobuchon by a former poster here which is a great description. I was lucky enough to be in the Parisian branch just after it opened when the great man himself was there, great meal with even better people watching, one American foodie pronouncing the morels as the most generous plate of truffles she had ever eaten
The London branch was never on the same level as my visit to the Parisian branch but it is/was predictably comforting if you want to taste Robuchons (and a host of other chefs who he pays homage or rips off depending on how you want to look at it). I've also tried the Hong Kong branch and once again it is solid if a little uninspiring but you know what your going to get and that isn't always a bad thing. -
I've never noticed the tossers, too busy looking at the lovely waiting staff
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The other half thinks I'm being generous to the prices, she thinks a lot of the cocktails are in the £15 - £16 range!
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I've not seen an drinks list online but from memory be prepared to pay £12 - £13 per cocktail which is at the high end of the cocktail scale especially compared to places like the Experimental Cocktail Club, London cocktail club or the Player, all places that are serving good drinks at close to half the price. I'm not sure why the bar is so cool, its not particularly big, its always crowded, its likely to be hard to get a seat, the barman are hidden out back, the drinks are expensive, but for some reason it works.
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The bar is located next to Dinner but it isn't part of the restaurant, I am only guessing but I would imagine that a 19:00 table a Dinner is going to get turned so they may allow you to sit a little later but will probably still want the table back around 21:00.
The drinks are good (if a little expensive), be prepared to wait a while service can be a little slow especially if its busy. One thing I don't like about the bar is that the drinks are made out of sight of drinkers.
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Remember that 1 star is "in its category", subsequently it is probably being judged as a luxury dining venue not necessarily against a 1 star pub. Having said that the food does look nice, I vaguely remember it having a star a few years back.
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There seems to be a trend developing with Mugaritz.
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Remembering that Black cabs don't increase their fares, they just add a £4 surcharge on Christmas day and Boxing day so the price evens out quite a bit. According to the site below between £40 & £70, traffic should be relatively light so you might be at the lower end of the scale.
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Near misses:
Mugaritz - Some hits, some misses.. nice atmosphere, some really inventive food but some of the main dishes really missed the mark for me
Tuddenham Mill - V good food, service/FOH/atmosphere not quite there yet
Hawksmoor @ Guildhall - had a great meal there last week
Not really for the UK board but Mugaritz was very disappointing this year, not a patch on my previous visit. The misses outweighed the hits and the wine train had gone right downhill. Sauces and consommes weren't even close to the quality they had been first time round. I hope they can get back on track.
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I'm certainly not an expert but I've thought about similar options in the past. I think (though I may be wrong) that what you are looking at is a fridge rather than a storage unit. The dual temperatures are linked to the serving temperature of the wine, for storage I'm pretty sure red and white can be kept at the same temperature, as far as I can tell there isn't any humidity control. Can anybody else confirm that what I'm saying is correct? If I'm wrong that seems like a decent priced option!
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Pedigree is an interesting point, probably best discussed in its own thread but since you've mentioned it here I'll post quickly. This is obviously not referring to Dominic Jack at Castle Terrace who seems to have numerous years at some of the establishments.
How many times do you read that a chef has cooked at this one star, that two star and a three star in a France only to eat there and be disappointed? On the face of it the restaurants they have cooked at are great but, in my experience, a lot of chefs seem to shove a restaurant on their CV as long as they've done a couple of stages there. I know of a couple of starred chefs who have complained when a new restaurants PR have started mentioning their names as a way of demonstrating the chefs talent. The fact is it's pretty easy to get a stage in a restaurant and the way I look at this is similar to the warning on investments, past experience is no guarantee to future performance
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To put that last post in perspective so that we're not left thinking that the restaurant ripped anybody off (and to save anybody else having to click through to another blogger who can't be bothered to post their meal on EG)
I`ve decided not to write a lot about this meal and there`s only one reason for that…. Call it age , call it excessive alcohol on the day, but 4 weeks on i simply can`t remember enough about the courses to describe them.As soon as we sat down to eat , the bread arrived followed by champagne.There was still half a glass of Mojito to finish off , then the Champagne and straight on to the wine flight with the food.To say i was ever so slightly tipsy is an understatement.Enjoy the photos of each course and if you want more info then im afraid you`ll have to visit another bloggers website. As for the bill….. £600 ish for the two of us….wine being the main culprit ….Again. Don`t tell the Sommelier to “Just match the wine to the food”, it`s a recipe for disaster and a huge bill. Always state your financial limits before ordering….Some of us just never learn.
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Fantastic meal on Saturday night, we had the 7 course tasting menu with 4 substitutions to avoid eating dishes I had already tried A lovely piece of Lovely Cod with Jerusalem artichoke, the crab with cauliflower and lemon grass cream is excellent though a touch cold. If I have one criticism, and it's one that Mikael acknowledges but its the way he likes to serve it, its that the steamed fish dished could do with a touch of salt. The onion is still delightfully simple. The Seabass was not quite at its usual level but this is still a level above anywhere else in London.
The next couple of courses really did hit another level completely. The Sika Deer Royale was wonderful and surprisingly traditional in style. The foie gras was really good quality, the fatty richness complemented by the incredible sauce. Slight acidity from a touch of vinegar was relatively easy to determine but the texture and richness of it left us to think that it had been thickened with blood or the offal. I was amazed to find out that it was nothing more than the gelatine from the bones, the sauce took 3 days to make which might give you some idea what I was referring to when I said some of the dishes appear to be simple but are a bit more involved than you might realise. As we have come to expect the deer itself was one of the better pieces of venison I have tried.
The Shetland lamb we had wasn't yet on the menu (I think it will be on from Tuesday and should be a regular addition to the menu) and drew some admiring glance from the table next to us. It was incredible, surprisingly slim bones indicating a small animal, lovely crisp fat and the lamb served rare which at first sight I thought was a little underdone but one bite left me realising that anything more would have been a mistake. Quite a dark colour with a hint of iodine, served with root vegetables and another fantastic sauce.
The lemon tart with mandarin sorbet was a great way to finish a fine meal. Chloe is star in that kitchen, plenty of plaudits for the ingredients but the technical work in the pastry section is amongst the best I've tried in London.
I feel like there has been a slight shift in style since the first few weeks, some of the dishes seem a little more complex without compromising the ingredient quality and still keeping the focus on the key ingredient in each dish. I would say that this meal was solid two star territory with a couple of positive exceptions; I'll put my neck on the line and say that the deer and the lamb could easily have been from a 3 star meal in France. Outstanding
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I believe they are also Tuber Aestivum and I think you are probably right about the area having an effect. Having said that best summer truffles I've tried are nothing like the best Perigord truffles. Similarly I've had T.Melonsporum from other areas, mainly Italian and Spanish, and they never seem to be as good as those from France.
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Useful report as usual David, thanks. One of your comments strikes a chord
... but I'm afraid the truffle was too delicate a flavour for me. Not only here. This is the third truffle addition to a dish that has not made very much impression.
I also don't understand why so many chefs serve what can only be described as a defective dish just for the sake (I imagine) of having the word 'truffle' on the menu.
Really, truffle is something that either is served in adequate quantity and top quality, or it is a huge disappointment, ranging in taste and texture from nothing to cardboard.
The problem is more than likely because it isn't really the best time for black truffles, I bet if you asked they have used preserved or "summer" truffles (Tuber Aestivum) which aren't a patch on fresh Perigord Truffle (Tuber Melonsporum) which, IMO, are not at there best until later on, maybe in the new year.
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Is that really what the 5 star AA rating means?
Do they even rate restaurants outside the UK, if not how on earth can that rating be taken seriously? 
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So if there is residue left over isn't this a sign that the meat has lost moisture prior to cooking, so negating the lack of moisture loss during cooking?
My experience with well aged cuts (7 weeks plus) is that I would cook them less than something less aged because of the lack of moisture in the first place. I once had a piece of beef fillet from O'Sheas that had been aged so long it needed only a sear to cook and the texture was similar to something that had been cooked for much longer.Anyhow, Goodmans is my preference for good steak in London
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So we're talking relatively small amounts of salt? For some reason I thought we were talking larger a quantities and for a little longer than that. I've never done side by side tests but in the past found that pre salting for any length of time left the surface very moist, I can't recall timescales but I'm surprised that the liquid is being reabsorbed so quickly, when I've done this in the past it is normally against pieces of meat that weren't aged quite as long as I would like. I wonder how they are measuring reabsorbotion against evaporation? I shall give it another go
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Thanks, Nikki didn't even get past the restaurant name
Jonathan Meades Blinded by Michelin
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
Posted · Edited by Matthew Grant (log)
Just looking at the other awards Petersham nurseries has won:
* Time Out Award for Best Alfesco Dining (2005)
* The BMW 1 Series Good Food Ride for ‘The most wonderful lunchtime bowl of soup’ (2006)
* Tatler Award for Most Original Restaurant (2006)
* Observer Food Monthly Awards, runner up for best Sunday lunch (2006)
* Garden Retail Awards for best catering (2007)
* Observer Food Monthly Awards for runner-up best Sunday lunch (2008)
* The Hedonist guide to EAT LONDON (2008-2009)
* Number 1 restaurant “Worth the schlep
Hmmm....BMW, Tatler, The Hedonist guide
I can well imagine that coupled with the prices there is a certain expectation for levels of service and surroundings
Of course it's Michelins fault 