Pied a Terre

[Jamsie]

Lunch today

Pre starter of foie gras sandwiched & mushroom mini-sausage in fab pastry.  Pasty was hot, mushrooms not - don't know if this was by design.

Starter of oxtail ravioli on a bed of veal tongue with veg dice and reduction flavoured with mustard.  Mustard kept well under control.  Ravioli - superbly meaty  with great depth despite the fact that they looked like a pair of testicles on a plate.  Tongue - soft but slightly tasteless.

Mains - pigeon on bed of wild mushroom risotto.  Fab risotto with lots of wild mushrooms - good parmesan hit also.  Pigeon legs splendidly cooked for ages - meat fell off the bone.  Breasts - not really sure what the difference is between very rare & raw – very bloody still.  Chewy, tough & on the raw side.  But not too overpowering for game.

Dessert - whole poached pear with anise ice cream & liquorice mouse was, in fact, a few slices on a pear (a bit misleading) and the ice cream had half melted by the time I got it.

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How much and over all good?

I start work round the corner from there later this month and was wanting to pop along if they did a good value set lunch

Edited October 1, 2004 by Jamsie (log)

[tony h]

21.50 for two course; 5 for dessert

it was a fine lunch - but no way would you guess it was a starred place; that its got two still baffles me.

worth going if you haven't been - but not in the sme league as, say, the capital for lunch

[Pweaver1984]

Since there very sad fire last year was just wondering if anyone is in the know about when it will re-open? Website says date is set for early August..... Will the room stay the same? What are they're staff doing, been doing?

Paul

[Andy Lynes]

Pied a Terre is due to re-open in early September. The place has been completely re-designed with an extended (non-smoking) dining room, second floor bar area and private dining room. The interior will be decorated with suede walls, cream leather banquettes, rosewood furniture, Matteo Grassi chairs, floor uplighting, grass weave and tarmac flooring. There will be art by Hamilton, Blake, Hodgkin and Clare Chapman, ceramics by Jane Blackman and glass pieces by George Papadopoulos.

Shane Osborne has been travelling and researching his new menu which will include new dishes of sauted langoustines with caramelised foie gras, pine nuts and beurre noisette poached lettuce; turbot cooked on the bone with sauted cepes and confit potatos, preserved lemon and fresh thyme; ansd white chocolate and cardamom cream with blood orange juice and spiced bread tuile.

(Info courtesy of Sauce Communications)

[Andy Lynes]

The restaurant will now re-open 3 October 2005.

[cachan]

Their website is www.pied-a-terre.co.uk

I went for dinner with my spouse and we found the food to be exquisite. We had the Teal and Scallop followed by the Venison and John Dory and then finishing with the Pear Savarin and Plum Tart respectively. All were truly impressive works of culinary art and skill and the service was perfect and the 'oz-born' ? Shane Osborn was observed peeking out of his kitchen.

The numerous canapes arrived on a platter as singles so you had to decide who gets what instead of sharing. The petit fours arrived in pairs in five containers.

The dining room seems constrained by its narrow shape and contains ten small 2-person tables and three half-circle banquettes accommodating 4-6 persons. The decor is modern and the whole place looks and smells recently re-done, which of course it is after their great fire of 2004.

And, following the advice of others, I have since always partaken of a small quantity of fermented juice, and agree that this complements the organoleptic experience.

[Gavin Convery]

I have thought it's been on fire recently.

Strangely prescient quote from Scott.

Any other recent reports since the re-opening?

[Scott]

I have thought it's been on fire recently.

Strangely prescient quote from Scott.

Any other recent reports since the re-opening?

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made a packet on insurance spread betting

[Gavin Convery]

So no-one's been? I was hoping to get there next month but was looking for reports....

[Matthew Grant]

I looked in the window last week if that's any help?

[Rian]

Although has been almost a month since I visited Pied a Terre, it seems no one has passed comment for a while, so I do my best to cobble together a review. We sat in the smaller room, at the front of the restaurant. The atmosphere is buzzy, but this is a product of the tables being slightly too close together, I feel.

We took the tasting menu, whose shape appears to have changed little for some time, going on previous posts. It went something like this…

Bread was competent, with an excellent walnut variety but an indifferent tomato. Good, unsalted butter only.

An array of canapés arrived on a raised plinth. A soft, thin slice of foie gras sandwiched between two crunchy shards of filo pastry was probably the best of the lot. A wild mushroom beignet with plenty of woody crunch also stood out. There was one with fondant potato that I remember as fairly bland.

Next we had an amuse which incorporated a beetroot foam, though I struggle to recall little else.

Pepper Seared Tuna, Caper and Green Bean Salad, Parsley Oil and Soft Poached Quail Eggs - a warm, rich yolk against the cold minerality of the tuna lifted this above many (increasingly common) tuna first courses. Since I remember hardly tasting parsley, this suggests that the oil was redundant.

Pan-fried Scallops with Carrot and Star Anise Puree, White Grape and Lemon emulsion – whilst I cannot fault the cooking of the scallops, there was too much sweetness in the dish for my taste, with the carrot, grape, and scallops themselves all contributing. The emulsion lacked sufficient sharpness to counterbalance this.

Seared and Poached Foie Gras with Fresh Pasta and Sauternes Consommé – the consommé was poured around the dish at the table, and left a wonderfully heady, sweet aroma in the room. The bite failed to live up to the bark, however, since the broth was under-seasoned. Seared foie gras was textbook: gloriously rich and fatty. Poached foie gras was less successful. Encased in tissue-thin pasta, the liver had hardened almost to a pulse, and lost its characteristic sticky indulgence.

Roasted Cod with a Ragout of Lentils and Root Vegetables, Celery Puree, Oxtail, and Red Wine Sauce – unfortunately, I remember little about this dish apart from the small beignet of braised oxtail, which was fantastic, with the salty crunch of the casing melting into soft, sweet meat.

Best end of Salt Marsh Lamb with Turnip Gratin, Honey Glazed Turnip, Garlic Cream and Pommery Mustard Sauce – lamb was perfectly seasoned, though a little overdone. It had retained sufficient sweetness to spar well with the treatments of turnip, of which the gratin was beautifully sticky and honey-sweet.

Tomme d’Abondance with a Pear and Walnut Chutney – the cheese arrived pre-sliced, with a cute little jar of chutney, sporting a hand-written label. A separate platter of crisp date bread arrived. The cheese itself was ok, nicely nutty but with a little too much waxiness. Now I am a very greedy boy, and was disappointed by this composed cheese course. The size of the slice itself notwithstanding, I love to choose from a cheese trolley groaning under the weight of fromages, and enjoy discussing the cheeses with the server. A couple of nights later I ate the Tasting Menu at Le Gavroche and the generosity of their cheese course was astonishing – I must have had 8 cheeses from a huge trolley.

Rhubarb Crumble with Rhubarb Sorbet – a deconstructed crumble, with biscuity crumbs smuggled beneath a quenelle of sorbet. More of a pre-dessert than a course proper, this was very refreshing. I find that good rhubarb sorbet tends towards a fizziness on the tongue, which I like.

Bitter Sweet Chocolate Tart, Macadamia Nut Mousse and Stout Ice Cream – my memory of this course is hazy to say the least, though I recall a fantastically rich sliver of tart.

Service throughout was attentive and the staff were keen to engage in dialogue. I suspect that this may have been a product of a paucity of tasting menus that evening – we were seated next to a couple who chatted incessantly about money and wolfed down their meal in 40 minutes, tops.

I was not over-awed by the experience. Unfortunately, I am unable to compare it to its pre-fire days, since this was my first visit. But there is little to really excite going on here, with the exception of solid ingredients, solidly cooked. At this cost (£55.50 3 courses, £75 tasting) I really was expecting a little more than that. Since I was neither blown away by the food, nor particularly pampered, I felt I had a competent 1-star meal, and no more.

Apologies for the cloudiness of some of my descriptions, but perhaps the vagueness of my recollections is telling.

Has anyone else been in recently? I would be interested to hear more thoughts.

Edited March 29, 2006 by Rian (log)

[Gavin Convery]

Rian, thanks for the info...sounds like you experience was disappointing. I plan to go soon so I'll let you know.

If you like cheese then you should go to the Greenhouse - one of the best kept cheese trolleys I have had the pleasure to taste from...

[Scott]

If you like cheese then you should go to the Greenhouse - one of the best kept cheese trolleys I have had the pleasure to taste from...

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indeed. on Tuesday night it was historic. the 2002 comte was spot on

[Rian]

If you like cheese then you should go to the Greenhouse - one of the best kept cheese trolleys I have had the pleasure to taste from...

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indeed. on Tuesday night it was historic. the 2002 comte was spot on

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I have to agree - I had the same 4 year old Bernard Antony comte at The Capital 3 weeks ago. It was a highly pleasurable experience.

Gavin - thanks for the heads up about cheese at the Greenhouse. Who supplies them?

[Matthew Grant]

Bernard Anthony supplies Capital once a week, it is a very impressive cheeseboard, possibly the best I have seen in recent years. The Greenhouse also gets some cheeses from Bernard Anthony (not sure if the whole board comes from him) but only once a month.

[GastroChick]

To be honest I've never really harboured any burning desire to want to go to PAT. Maybe it was because the recent posts on this forum have been less than complimentary. However it was my cousins birthday last Friday and she was desperate to go after sampling a small dish of their's at the Taste of London festival last year.

To my surprise I actually enjoyed the meal. Sure some of the platings were a little fussy for my taste and I'm not certain that quails eggs work that well with tuna tartare however the seabass with scallop sausage was probably one of the best dishes I have eaten this year and without blowing my own trumpet I've been doing some pretty serious restaurants - Arzak, Gordon Ramsay RHR, Mugaritz.

In my opinion this restaurant is definately worth a go.

[dallardice]

Does PaT win the award for the most out of date website for a top-flight London restaurant? Idly browsing websites when I should be working, I noticed that www.pied.a.terre.co.uk had a very "old web" feel - not so much Web 1.0 as Web 0.1.

A bit of digging reveals in the Events section that we are being invited to a Taittinger Food & Wine evening on 27th January 2003.

oops...

[Andy Lynes]

Try www.pied-a-terre.co.uk.

[dallardice]

Try www.pied-a-terre.co.uk.

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Unfortunately the site I mentioned comes up first on MSN search...

[chrisnorth]

Just to say that we had a VERY disappointing meal several weeks ago at Pied a Terre. Dishes were fussy with a lot of ingredients that didn't come together. Not a single "wow" moment throughout. Wine list has a staggering markup, and I couldn't find anything under GBP50 of merit. To his credit, when the sommelier strongly recommended a bottle we really disliked, he took it back.

We really dislike the new room -- very cold.

I don't think we'll be back.

Chris

[ravelda]

I'm off to Pied a Terre next Tuesday for dinner so will be interesting to see how it compares to your experience Chris - I must admit I have only had good meals there, but I haven't been for about 6 months. I do tend to feel that this place is the more exiting of the 4 two michelin starred restaurants in London

[Scott]

I'm off to Pied a Terre next Tuesday for dinner so will be interesting to see how it compares to your experience Chris - I must admit I have only had good meals there, but I haven't been for about 6 months.  I do tend to feel that this place is the more exiting of the 4 two michelin starred restaurants in London

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we had a table for six about 4 weeks ago, and it was magnificent.

the texture on the foie wasn't quite right, but that was about the only fault.

A sous vide bass was remarkable.

hope you enjoy!

[Scott]

Just to say that we had a VERY disappointing meal several weeks ago at Pied a Terre.  Dishes were fussy with a lot of ingredients that didn't come together.  Not a single "wow" moment throughout.  Wine list has a staggering markup, and I couldn't find anything under GBP50 of merit.  To his  credit, when the sommelier strongly recommended a bottle we really disliked, he took it back.

We really dislike the new room -- very cold.

I don't think we'll be back.

Chris

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Chris,

could you expand upon the bottle of wine you disliked, and why?

Ordinarily, a wine is presented for tasting as inspection of condition rather than one of preference. depending on the circumstances, taking back something you just didn't like is a very generous thing to do.

[ravelda]

Am off to Pied a Terre this evening, so will post later on in the week along with a run down on my meal at RHR last week, and La Noisette a couple of weeks before - it will be interesting to see how they all compare!

[Andy Fenn]

I had a very good meal here on Tuesday night. It was my first visit, and despite reading various reviews, I was still suprised at how small the space was. Even in the toilets! Staff were charming though, and did a good job of squeezing in between the tables. I quite liked the intimacy of the place.

Anyway, we had the £80 tasting menu. Canapes were good - foie gras amuse in a poppy seed crisp was great. Did the Ledbury copy this or vice versa? Good breads - 4 or 5 nice choices.

Pepper seared tuna with chive crushed potato, black olive and cabernet sauvignon vinaigrette, baby wood sorrel

I wasn't that fussed about getting this dish, as they served it at the Toast food festival in the summer and I wasn't wild about it. Obviously, it was a step up this time around, due to the additional restaurant care and skill. But I'm still not convinced. Is crushed potato a good match for raw/rare tuna? Not as good as the Ledbury version, but still a pleasant start to the meal.

Pan fried scottish scallops with squash and vanilla puree, toasted pumpkin seeds and beurre noisette sauce

This was great. I was wondering if there would be anything to cut through the obviously sweet elements, and the slight (confit?) lemon taste in the beurre noisette did this job nicely. The seeds were tasty, and added an effective textural contrast. Scallops perfectly cooked. Excellent dish.

Pan fried foie gras with carrot and cumin puree, caramel foam and balsamic jus

This was a very interesting foie preparation. Some confit onions added an additional sweet note, and the cumin flavour worked well, though it was a little strong. Foie perfectly prepped and cooked.

Slow poached wild seabass with crushed peas, creamed shallots and shellfish bisque

A melange of my favourite things. Bass cooked to translucent perfection, everything else came together very well. Dish of the night? Possibly.

Assiette of salt marsh lamb with confit turnip, turnip cream, chicken jus and hazlenut

I rarely order lamb any more as it feels a little boring, but this reminded me of what can be done. Lovely pink piece of rack(?) with a delicate herb crust, crispy tongue, melting shoulder, tiny sweetbread, and a bit of neck. Each part was clearly distinctive, and not just making up the numbers.

Cheese

I veered away from the composed cheese course and went for the full trolley. Not as extensive a selection as other London cheeseboards, but all were in very good condition. Vacherin was superb. Nice St Felicien.

Apple Foam, Sapin Sorbet

Horrible I'm afraid. My waiter admitted to not liking it. Made from a pine liqueur of some sort, it tasted like toilet duck. Not that I would know, of course.

Bitter sweet chocolate tart, macademia nut cream and stout ice cream

Excellent quality chocolate, nicely balanced with the colder sweeter elements. Didn't like the stout that much on its own, but worked suprisingly well with the chocolate.

All in all, I was very impressed. And there are plenty of things on the a la carte that I would happily come back to try. And the wine pairings with the tasting menu were unusual, but spot on.

How does it rate against the other London 2 stars? Well the square was disappointing for me, as I have posted. My one a la carte meal at the Capital had a bigger high point, but was less consistent, and a little more classical. I have only had lunch at le Gavroche, which seemed very dumbed down to me, so not a fair comparison. But pied a terre certainly holds its own.