Pollen Street Social.

[Gary Marshall]

yes it has, guess which came first?

[mxkupc]

Not being from London I'm pretty sure the answer is that the Ledbury came first. I'm not sure if this was mentioned in another thread but I thought it very odd and obvious. I've never observed such in any NYC restaurants. There are of course only so many proteins and the same seasonal ingredients seem to be on every restaurant menu at times, but I've just never noticed such similarity in preparation.

[Prawncrackers]

Maybe what you've experienced is the same style of Modern British cuisine? Is not that surprising that two leading Central London restaurants use the same techniques.

[Matthew Grant]

Do you not think that the "social" element refers to the relaxed "drop in when you like to the bar". Have some tapas. Have a dessert or two, or even see if a table is available in the restaurant for something a bit more substantial and a more ordered dining experience?

I returned again on Tuesday night, restaurant half empty until gone 21:00. Food still nothing to shout about but better executed than last time. All I can say is the crab was average, the lamb was average and the apple was average. The crab was "fine" (waiters take note its as low as I go before saying it was poor). So what if its "Cotswold lamb", I bet some farmers in the cotswolds sell to supermarkets, combined with tired old combinations (aubergine and cumin, yoghurt, olive) it felt distinctly old hat.

The social aspect alluded to by David is as far as I can see a non starter. Arrived 10 minutes early for our table and were told we couldn't have a drink at the bar as it was full. What this means is that all the stools were taken, doesn't matter that there were empty tables or large areas of floor space to stand in and we were ushered straight to our table. I'm really not getting the place at all

[olicollett]

So my lunch that I mentioned a while back turned out pretty well - it was good value and dessert at the bar was very nice.

But you're right about the social aspect, it doesn't make much sense to me either

[marcusjames]

I hadn't been to PSS before. After the mixed reviews I thought I'd give it time to bed in and, quite frankly, am glad I did as just had an utter belter there on Wednesday lunch. By their own admission, many tweaks have taken place and the menu is now simpler and more concise.

I took the set, which was incredible value at £25 for 3 courses. The ham hock, squid and coco bean starter came loaded with an unadvertised foie running through it. Yorkshire partridge boasted breasts, leg, a fantastic bolognese ragu, two preparations of carrots, spiced plum jam and an aerated, sourdough bread sauce. It ate more like an ALC dish than anything I've had from a set before. Whilst on subject of ALC, I added in an extra starter (purely for the purposes of research you understand) of parsley soup with truffled egg and smoked eel that knocked my socks off. Huge depth of flavour with beautiful presentation and execution. How they're producing this sort of food doing 100+ covers is astounding.

The wines by the glass weren't cheap, but offered unusual, well-sourced quality and it was nice to see them hand-poured at the table.

The room hummed pleasantly throughout - I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

[olicollett]

Good to hear Marcus. I'm certainly going to give it another go, as I say that lunch I had in October was good food wise - I still feel the venue is a bit like a case of having all the right components but not quite working out how to get them working well together.

I'd really like to return and do some kind of tasting menu to get a better sample of the different dishes there

[david goodfellow]

I hadn't been to PSS before. After the mixed reviews I thought I'd give it time to bed in and, quite frankly, am glad I did as just had an utter belter there on Wednesday lunch. By their own admission, many tweaks have taken place and the menu is now simpler and more concise.

I took the set, which was incredible value at £25 for 3 courses. The ham hock, squid and coco bean starter came loaded with an unadvertised foie running through it. Yorkshire partridge boasted breasts, leg, a fantastic bolognese ragu, two preparations of carrots, spiced plum jam and an aerated, sourdough bread sauce. It ate more like an ALC dish than anything I've had from a set before. Whilst on subject of ALC, I added in an extra starter (purely for the purposes of research you understand) of parsley soup with truffled egg and smoked eel that knocked my socks off. Huge depth of flavour with beautiful presentation and execution. How they're producing this sort of food doing 100+ covers is astounding.

The wines by the glass weren't cheap, but offered unusual, well-sourced quality and it was nice to see them hand-poured at the table.

The room hummed pleasantly throughout - I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

That is great news Marcus.

We may just have to make a speedy return to eat our way through that excellent value lunch menu again

[marcusjames]

Oli - hope you're well mate.

Set menu - £25. Squid was around £10. Even if I'd added in cheese or another course I'd only just have been touching the £45 mark. I think the food's incredible value. Oddly, they suggest turning starters into a degustation on the website, but not the menu itself once there. Still, at those prices, whichever way round, it's very doable.

PM me, we should catch-up and maybe munch somewhere!

[david goodfellow]

Ok. So I have taken the plunge and booked a return visit, to give that set menu a good seeing too.

Can't wait.

Watch this space.

[marcusjames]

Good morning and luck David. Pray God you enjoyed it as much as I did, having a slight case of nerves now! Looking forward to an assumed report with trepidation...

[david goodfellow]

Thanks Marcus, and really no need to worry, I'm a big fan of PSS and never go into any dining experience looking for negatives. I just know it will be as you say.

Can't wait. I'm really up for it

[david goodfellow]

Dined here yesterday lunch and managed to bag a table at the very last minute, even though it was fully booked on the website.

Just shows that with a bit of persistence anything is possible.

Don't have time to post a full review now, as we have yet to decide where we are to eat today, and have more than a few choices available.

So much in love at the dessert bar (no not us)

Edited January 15, 2012 by david goodfellow (log)

[thampik]

We had lunch here yesterday on our way to see a play. With the reviews here, my expectations were very high, but I found too many off notes for this to be anything but a minor disappointment.

We were greeted by a front desk lady(girl?), for whom the concept of being welcoming or smiling seemed entirely outside her job description. What a shame for the restaurant!

Things picked up though and we had some excellent bread with baccala puree and olives to start.

I ordered the ham hock (without any foie gras that I could detect!) and found it strangely tasteless initially. However it started eating a lot better as I went though it - I can only think it was served too cold to start with.

For mains, I had the partridge dish and this was really unctuous - though I found the Ragu oversalted if eaten by itself.

The dessert of chocolate fondant with strawberry ice cream was executed perfectly but underwhelming.

I found the dishes very one note (the exception being a fabulous pre-dessert of lemon posset, strawberry granita and a mousse of some sort). Somehow this is not how I remember the Jason Atherton of Maze. Surely the food was more interesting or is just the passage of time?

[marcusjames]

I don't think the ragu was meant to be judged on its own. If the dish was the same as my visit, it's scattered across and throughout the plate and was, I assumed, meant to be a form of seasoning as a result. That in my book is called playfully clever, but each to their own.

Edited January 29, 2012 by marcusjames (log)

[david goodfellow]

I really have become lazy of late, blame it on Xmas. Its great to go out for a nice meal but sometimes it is too time consuming to write it up.

Note to self.......... Must try harder.

The dish mentioned above was on the menu when we visited, and I wanted to eat the dish myself but as ever the gentleman, the lady had the first choice.

It has to be said that she thoroughly enjoyed the dish, and a clean plate went back into the kitchen. My couple of nibbles that I ate were enough to convince me that the ragu, although deep and rich, worked in tandem with the other ingredients. Having said that I could have quite happily eaten the ragu mixed in with some fresh egg pasta.

[olicollett]

Is anyone booked in to the Singapore night with Sat, Claude and Jason on 26th Feb? I'll be going

http://www.pollenstreetsocial.com/blog/

[confiseur]

Went on Saturday with other half, early sitting ( 6.15 pm ). Not very discretely let them know I used to work together at Browns with their Shanghai offshoots head chef, him in the larder, me in the pastry. 2 glasses of Nyetimber 2006 immediatley arrive..result lol...

Mrs, well pleased to see the man himself on the pass.

Me , scallops and beetroot to start, wife had some-such with a quails yug, enjoyed immensely.

Both had angus beef for mains, asked for medium, both came rare but the quality was superb. Wonderful side dish of celeriac potatoes, only criticism is it was not enough for 1 person let alone 2.

Nice pre-dessert with frozen pear/pear espuma

Dessert of Apple tatin with a smoked whisky ice cream for me, the wife had a the chocolate ganache. Both quite heavy but very tasty indeed.

The bill came with some warm rhubarb madeleines....I liked that.

Less than £100 per person with 2 glasses of wine and another 2 Nyetimber.

B****y good value indeed imho and so much more than 1*cooking . Been to Maze ...not so long ago...and this was better.

[MaLO]

Nothing on this thread for a year then twice in a day. I had lunch here a couple of weekends ago. Only been one before and had the lunch menu. This time we had a variation on the tasting menu. The standard tasting is not served at lunch time so we got a selection from the lunch menu and some from the tasting.

To start we got some nibbles; olives, brandade, pork cracking and apple purée.

First course was Crab, nashi pear with cauliflower. Good flavours, light and fresh. I could have eaten much more of this one.

Tartare of fallow deer with beetroot followed. Another light, flavourful dish. The beetroot had gone through a number of processes before it ended up on the plate. It was good although it would have been interesting to try some 'plain' to see if it was worth the effort.

Slow cooked egg, bacon, parsley and salt cod came next. This was one of the starters from the lunch menu. A more substantial plateful than the full English served on the tasting. It was good. No particular surprises except for a little fish bone. Bacon and egg, it'll never catch on.

Next was Turbot with cauliflower cheese purée, clam, roast carrot and cauliflower / clam chowder. Turbot is a big favourite of mine and this was very nice, a good depth of flavour to the sauce and a nice bit of fish. A few more clams wouldn’t have gone amiss though.

We opted for one of each meat mains so we got Best end of salt marsh lamb, braised shoulder with lamb floss, chervil root, black cabbage, truffle purée

and Black Angus fillet, miso egg plant, roasted salsify, charred onions. They brought side plates and we shared.

I think I preferred the lamb. The truffle purée was particularly good. I dont remember there being any egg plant with the beef but there was some very nice oxtail served in the bone.

First dessert was Pear sorbet, aerated poire william, walnut powder.

Final course was 70% Chocolate ganache, banana ice cream, sesame crumble, Pedro Ximenez, chocolate coral. This was quite a plateful. Quite a few textures and flavours. Very enjoyable.

We drank by the glass and let the sommelier choose for us. We had some house Anjou, dry furmint, a delicious white burgundy and finally a Pinot noir. All in all very good.