Jaan

[Suzi Edwards]

I have a vague recollection of reading some good reviews when this place opened. I am going there tonight, was wondering if anyone had been. Can't see any mention of it on here.

Cheers.

[circeplum]

i absolutely loved it. thought it was a sexy space with great staff and truly interesting and accomplished cooking. and there's a lovely garden, too.

but i remember jay rayner's review said something like 'is this the worst restaurant in britain?' (is that right, jay?)

go figure.

m

[Suzi Edwards]

toptable have a two for one offer on there at the moment. hopefully it will be on the proper menu and not some "special" one.

circeplum, thanks for the comments, was it quite dressy? sounds like i should be going for the bond girl look from your post. :-)

[circeplum]

yep, bond girl would be a great look for jaan ...

accessorised by the young sean connery?

m

[jayrayner]

The exact line was 'i can't describe this as the worst restaurant in Britain, but only because I haven't been to them all.'

Pants, pants, pants. the worst experience of the past two years, apart form the pub in the black country.

[circeplum]

I am going there tonight ...

so how was it? sexy or pants? or sexy pants?

m

[Suzi Edwards]

well, sean was busy so i took my boyfriend....

we arrived. we were shown the menu for the top table two for one "offer". it consisted of a salad or two and a sandwich. i felt rather cheated. we decided to go for the tasting menu...5 courses for £45, £75 plus wine. the a la carte is short and we felt that the tasting menu had everything that we wanted to eat on it! the menu was as follows:

carpaccio of tuna with wasabi ice cream and lump caviar

foie gras with glazed lotus route, kumquat and caramel praline sauce

monkfish with a langoustine crust, asparagus salad and a shellfish coconut emulsion

grilled scottish fillet with braised veal tongue, tempura of okra and pepper vinegar sauce

iced soup of earl grey tea or cheese (£3 suppliment)

despite requests they couldn't give me a list of the wines, but they weren't anything special (two crozes hermitage (viognier and i can't remember the red) a young margaux with my cheese, icewein with the foie and a sauvignon blanc....) they do have a great selection of wine by the glass and the menu suggests a different glass for each choice across the whole menu.

the fillet was great, nice to see tongue on a menu for a change. the monkfish was also perfectly cooked, but the langoustine "crust" was more of a topping. can't really complain, but i was looking forward to a crunch. the wasabi ice-cream was really, really good, but the portion was way too small. cheeses were nicely kept and came with some unusual jellies.

i think the kitchen tries to be too clever though; foie gras doesn't need a caramel praline sauce and try as i might i couldn't find the shellfish coconut emulsion. the restaurant's aim is to bring "the subtle flavours of cambodia to traditional french cooking"...but i guess i don't really see the point. it is at its best when it forgets the cambodian stuff and delivers basic french cooking..

i'm assuming they're going for michelin stars as there are lots of amuses, pre-deserts etc and they passed the napkin test with flying colours (!) the chairs are terrible though, they have these weird "skirts" on them that make everyone who isn't sitting up poker straight look like they're in a nursing home.

total bill was £200 (including two "perfect" manhattans and a "mediocre" kir royale) service was ok generally, but the wine service was the low point of the meal...food was consitently placed in front of us and we waited several minutes each time for the right wine to be brought to us.

i can think of many, many ways to spend £200. going back to jaan isn't one of them. there are just too many better resturants around that do the same thing.

[jayrayner]

Personally I would be willing to pay £200 not to have to go to Jaan. I still have nightmares about the cod cheek and okra dish, using fresh sauteed okra which became more and mroe gelatinous on the plate the longer it sat in front of me. Fishy snot, cooked by someone with no understanding of the thickening properties of okra.

[circeplum]

serves you right for eating okra ...

m

[Suzi Edwards]

perhaps they have links to the okra industry as there was a tempura of okra with one of the dishes last night too.

[jayrayner]

I have a policy (only very loosely adhered to) of trying those things on the menu which sound most horrible. Because it's much harder to make the nasty concept taste good, than the nice. Unfortunately I've found that if it reads nasty it always tastes nasty. Black Pudding spring rolls with chill jam at Brian Turner's, anyone?

I did not order cod cheek with sauteed okra at Jaan because I wanted to eat it; I ordered it so my readers wouldn't have to. I am, madam, here to serve.

[rjs1]

serves you right for eating okra ... 

m

Okra's fine as long as you soak it in lemon juice diluted with a bit of water first.

[jayrayner]

serves you right for eating okra ... 

m

Okra's fine as long as you soak it in lemon juice diluted with a bit of water first.

And then throw it away.