Patterson's

[Andy Lynes]

I've been forwarded a menu for a new French restaurant in Mill Street, Mayfair called Patterson's. Charles Campion gave it a very positive review in the Evening Standard recently and it sounds just the thing for those yearning for some good, solid, old school cooking.

Suppliers to the restaurant include Allens for his meat, Rossmore oysters and cheeses from La Fromagerie. I should be paying the place a visit in the next couple of weeks and will report back. For now though, here is the a la carte, which given the number of luxury ingredients and location surely can't remain at £35.00 for too much longer :

STARTERS

FOIE GRAS BALLOTTINE WITH SAUTERNES JELLY

LOBSTER BISQUE WITH CRAB BEIGNET

SMOKED HADDOCK SOUFFLÉ SERVED WITH A CHIVE CAVIAR SAUCE

ROAST SCALLOPS, CAULIFLOWER PUREE AND NOILLY PRAT VELOUTE

QUAIL WITH A CITRON RAVIOLI AND PEA PUREE

ASSIETTE OF NATIVE OYSTERS

TRIO OF PORK WITH AN APPLE SAUCE

TERRINE OF WILD MUSHROOM AND BABY VEGETABLES WITH A

TRUFFLE CREAM

MAIN COURSES

VENISON WITH POACHED PEAR, CELERIAC ROSTI AND GAME SAUCE

TOURNEDOS ROSSINI

HERB CRUSTED LAMB WITH AN ARTICHOKE BARIGOULE

BRESSE CHICKEN, FONDANT LEEKS, A SHALLOT AND TARRAGON VELOUTE

SEABASS WITH A RAGOUT OF MUSSELS, COCKLES AND CLAMS

DOVER SOLE WITH LOBSTER TORTELLINI AND CHAMPAGNE SAUCE

MONK FISH WITH PANCETTA, TRUFFLE POLENTA AND MUSHROOM

SAUCE

TART FINE OF TOMATOES AND GOATS CHEESE WITH A HARICOT

VERT SALAD

DESSERT

BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE WITH A LEMON GLAZE

MIXED FRUIT CRUMBLE WITH CRÈME BRULEE ICE CREAM

CHOCOLATE FONDANT WITH MALTED MILK ICE CREAM

APPLE TATIN

ORANGE AND CHOCOLATE TART WITH ROAST KUMQUATS

SELECTION OF CHEESE

£35

[rshorens]

Is the L35 menu for lunch or dinner? It sounds wonderful. Might try it later in November.

[Andy Lynes]

That's dinner, lunch is a very reasonable £16.00 for 3 courses. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I'm going next Thursday.

[Andy Lynes]

The restaurant has a website.

[Andy Lynes]

I was invited to try Patterson's for lunch today by PR company Pink Fish. All food and drink was on the house as it always is on these occasions so this is simply a report rather than a review as such. The room is quite plain, white walls, a few large and colourful canvases dotted around, wooden floors, a skylight to the rear and lots of linen. A small bar area has very comfy sofas and turned out to be a pleasant place for a beer and a chat.

We ordered from the a la carte which turned out to be a mistake as I got the strong impression that the kitchen was set up for the set lunch and was possibly struggling to produce the carte dishes at their best. However, an amuse bouche of asparagus and shellfish soup was nicely flavoured if a little salty, and starters of smoked haddock souffle and scallops with cauliflower and noilly prat veloute were impressive. My main course of dover sole however was poor: overcooked and served with rather thick skinned and solid lobster tortellini. Venison was judged to be better.

Desserts got things back on track with a decent tarte tatin (not cooked to order) and a chocolate fondant with good malted milk ice cream. I would like to return to try the set lunch, which featured the likes of scallops as a starter for just £4.00.

[tony h]

cheeses from La Fromagerie.

aaaaaah! is that bitch taking over the whole fuckin' market?

[Andy Lynes]

She mainly sells to the restaurant market rather than the one you speak of.

BTW I think her cheeses are fantastic.

[rshorens]

We had lunch at Patterson's on Nov. 21. The atmosphere and decor were lovely. Having just flown in from San Francisco, we ate lightly.

I had monkfish tail with red cabbage and scallop veloute and my husband had filet mignon with leaf spinach and ceps, capped with a nice sized piece of foie gras, all of which were delicious. We had a glass of Hugues de Beauvignac Sauvignon Blanc(Cotes de Thau, 2003). The amuse was veloute of butternut squash. We enjoyed the La Fromagerie cheese plate- our servor was very patient, cutting(at my request)small pieces of every cheese. Service was excellent. Prices for lunch now are: starters, L5, Mains L10, and desserts L4. Overall a very pleasant lunch.

Roz

[Andy Lynes]

News of a special menu at this restaurant :

Burns Night Menu

Smoked Haddock Soufflé served with a Chive Caviar Sauce

Haggis with Bashed Neeps and Tatties

Cockie Leekie Soup

Scottish Beef with Stovies

Meg Dod’s Syllabub

Scottish Cheese Plate

Cost is 40 pounds per person and will be available every evening from 19 - 25 January. Ingredients are sourced from Scotland: smoked haddock from James Cook of Eyemouth, Haggis from nearby Ayton, Aberdeen Angus from Aberdeenshire via Allens.

(Info courtesy of Pink Fish)

[Andy Lynes]

...and another.

APHRODITE’S APPETITE

Oyster Lunch - £12 per person

Dozen Pacific oysters

Cheese plate

Coffee and truffles

Patterson’s daily lunchtime oyster menu is designed to share and therefore might be ideal Valnetines Day given the bivalve's supposed aphrodisiac qualities. In addition, ‘this is just the thing for Mr and Mrs Atkins to shed those post-Christmas pounds’ according to Giles Coren in the Times magazine.

(Info from those hard working Pink Fish people.)

[howardlong]

I've been forwarded a menu for a new French restaurant in Mill Street, Mayfair called Patterson's. Charles Campion gave it a very positive ...

I know one of the Chefs there, although I haven't been - yet. He is leaving Wednesday next week (he's an Ozzie on a walkabout) and I've promised to make a visit before he leaves. I'll let you know how I get on!

[howardlong]

Two of us went to Pattersons last night (15 January) and quite enjoyed it. First impressions do count, and particularly nice was that as we entered two happy smiling front of house staff rushed to greet us. I immediately thought "I'm going to like this".

(I must express an interest here as I know one of the chefs).

Turns out one of those greeters was Maria Patterson, better half of the chef, Raymond.

The a la carte menu was fairly substantial, with about ten starters (£13 to £18) and ten mains (£13 to £20). We both selected scallops with squid for starters. My fellow diner ordered a risotto for her main and I took the beef tornedo with foie gras.

The wine list has about sixty entries, mostly in the £20 to £40 mark. In the fine wines, the selection was limited with about half a dozen entries going up to £150 for a Chateau Palmer 1997. We chose a bottle of 2002 Sancerre and a half bottle of what turned out to be a Beaujolais: the menu descriptions are not too helpful, including only the chateau/domaine names for the French wines, nothing else. Had I known what I was ordering on the red I would have made another choice, but it was still fine for everyday drinking, being much heavier than my traditional idea of a Beaujolais.

The scallops were well complimented with the squid which was served in a sauce of the ink. The main part of the squid was stuffed with a tangy tomato based vegetable ratatouille thing - very good.

My beef main was not bad. The foie gras had been made into a mousse and was served inside cannelloni pasta.

Service was farly informal, and always with a smile. I like that.

Raymond came over for a chat for ten minutes at the end of the evening.

In short, I found Pattersons good for everyday eating, and with their charming, cheerful staff deserves success. Although different food-wise, I'd put it in the same category as Racine. It won't get a Michelin star, but it deserves a mention in the 2005 guide.

Cheers, Howard

[battleofthebulge]

Dinner at Pattersons Saturday 2nd July

First, a word of caution about the menu prices. They're running a 50% off a £40 set menu on toptable (I think). However, we didn't book this, and were initially given a menu where the starters, mains and puddings had individual prices, with each course the same price irrespective of choice. Can't remember exactly how much each course was, but if you added the three up it came to £35. When we were offered the menu again to make our pudding choice, the price was given at the bottom as £40 for three courses. So, there are differently priced menus - with the same food. Didn't see anything on the £40 version which was any different to the one which added up to £35.

Anyway, to the review.

We booked early, 7.30, so the restaurant was pretty empty. And even when it filled up a bit it still didn't feel very atmospheric. The staff didn't seem to be having fun, either. We didn't order a starter, which was a mistake because it seemed to take a verrry looong time for our mains to appear, even though we were the only ones eating at that stage.

His lobster lasagna was superb - small, but extremely rich with a wonderful cream/shellfish reduction.

My chicken (mistake I know I know never order chicken) was rather dull. Roast bit of bird, with sloppy mash, redeemed only by the very tasty leek. Not often you get leek, and this was a goodie.

Pudding was stunning: presented on a slate, in three parts. Part the first: a small cube of chocolate fudge supporting a lollipop chocolate mint. Part the second: a miniature milk bottle and straw containing a rich (slightly too sweet) chocolate milkshake. Part the third: a rectangle of chocolate fondant on a crispy chocolate base, topped by a circle of spun sugar and a wavy sort of chocolate crisp. We shared it, and even just having half made me feel over-sugared!

Wine list was relatively short and a bit overpriced. We had a Spanish white - Albarino - which was a bit sweeter than I'd have expected, but still went well with the very rich seafood.

Verdict: some very interesting ideas, patchy cooking, nonchalant service.

Sarah

[Matthew Grant]

My chicken (mistake I know I know never order chicken)

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If you get good chicken it is one of the better meats in my opinion. The trouble is getting good chicken.

[rjs1]

We had lunch at  Patterson's on Nov. 21. The atmosphere and decor were lovely. Having just  flown in from San Francisco, we ate lightly.

I had monkfish tail with red cabbage and scallop veloute and my husband had filet mignon with leaf spinach and ceps, capped with a nice sized piece of  foie gras, all of which were delicious. We had a glass of Hugues de Beauvignac Sauvignon Blanc(Cotes de Thau, 2003). The amuse was veloute of butternut squash. We enjoyed the  La Fromagerie cheese plate- our servor was very patient, cutting(at my request)small pieces of every cheese. Service was excellent.  Prices for lunch now are: starters, L5, Mains L10, and desserts L4. Overall a very pleasant lunch.

Roz

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This restaurant doesn't seem to have attracted much mention recently. Had a pleasant lunch there on Friday - prices haven't moved in the five years since the post above, except that puddings have gone up £1.

Starter was caramalised cauliflower risotto with a lovely bit of smoked haddock. Risotto was very competently made, but I couldn't detect caramalisation of the cauliflower. I tried it to see if cauliflower could be made interesting, and it can't...

Main was an assiette of lamb with red-wine sauce, puy lentils, spinich and potatoes - really good, five or six different lamb bits, very flavoursome sauce.

Pudding was a fig tart with a nut ice cream, just right for a winter day.

We drank what I think claimed to be a Pinot Noir from Corsica, which I found hard to believe - perhaps there is a cool microclimate somewhere on the island. Acceptable at £24.

Overall lunch for two with service was just under £75. Not stunning, but decent food in pleasant surroundings, friendly and efficient service; pleasantly surprised that it was full for lunch when so many West End places are quiet.