Plateau

[howardlong]

Folks

I went to Plateau in Canary Wharf for my second visit yesterday, this time for dinner rather than lunch. First time I went I quite enjoyed it, and was mildly impressed considering it's a Conran. But this time I was dissappointed. Let me explain.

As you can see, minimalism is the order of the day. Nice enough, but as with my previous visit I felt like I'd walked into IKEA. (Interesting to re-read my comments on London Eating back in May).

I had a couple of hours to kill (on taxi duty), so I arrived at 6:15pm and shown to the table. I was the only person in there until about 7:15pm, so atmosphere perhaps wasn't what it could be.

No amuse bouches. Bread consisted of micro small fresh warm bagettes and those dry bread sticks. Bagettes were OK.

For starters, I had scallops in a light capuccino'd mustard sauce (£12) for a starter, and this was OK although not as good as I remember from a few weeks earlier - scallops seemed rubbery. I had a glass of 2001 Chassagne Montrachet from a half bottle I'd bought (£45).

For the main I ordered a fillet of beef (£24), medium rare, with white asparagus with garlic mash (£4) and mange tout (£4). Again the main ingredient was not up to scratch, especially for this kind of money. The beef looked more medium than medium rare to me. The mash was very yummy with a definite cheese overtone. White asparagus tips were enormous and very tasty. I took a glass from a bottle of 1994 Gruard Larose Bordeaux I'd bought (£60) which turned out to be a real gem.

I took cheese which came on the trolley, although it was somewhat bare. Fifteen or so including an excellent Comte, a supermarket quality Brie, unexciting Reblechon, and excellent Roquefort. Together with the remains of my other glasses I took a glass of Jurancon for the Roquefort and my dessert.

The most disgusting part of the meal was about to reveal itself. Recently I've become partial to tarte tatin, so it was a no brainer when I saw this on the menu with vanilla ice cream.

It was awful - before I'd even tasted it it looked pre-fabbed. The bready part of it looked like a dried out thin pizza base. When I tasted it it was the most bitter and awful thing I can ever remember. Yuck! I gave up after one mouthful.

The petit fours looked rather dissappointing, so I didn't even try them.

Service was competent enough, wines were good, especially the Gruard Larose, but tragically the whole thing was let down somewhat by the quality of the food.

If you're in the area, and want something special, I'd recommend you consider Ubon as a serious alternative.

Cheers, Howard

[jimbob]

How did you find wine prices? I usually avoid Conran but on a trip to Pont de la Tour I thought them absurd. 2000 Leflaive Borgone Blanc for £70 (I pay £16 at retail)

[tony h]

I count 5 beans on your plate which makes it 80p a bean

please tell me there's more off camera

[sarah w]

Crikey, seems like a pricey time kill !!

Are the wine prices for the bottle, i dont understand what you mean by "

from a half bottle I'd bought (£45)"

had you bought them previously or on this occasion and just had a glass ?

Am i dim ?

sarah x

[jimbob]

Not meaning to answer your question but I have often thought about buying a bottle and taking an unfinished half home - Not sure if licencing laws allow?

Seems a good idea if 1/2 bottles are limited

[howardlong]

Not meaning to answer your question but I have often thought about buying a bottle and taking an unfinished half home - Not sure if licencing laws allow?

Seems a good idea if 1/2 bottles are limited

I had a glass from each bottle and took the rest home as I was driving.

Cheers, Howard

[howardlong]

Crikey, seems like a pricey time kill !!

Are the wine prices for the bottle, i dont understand what you mean by "

from a half bottle I'd bought (£45)"

had you bought them previously or on this occasion and just had a glass ?

Am i dim ?

sarah x

No, I just have a problem expressing myself ;-)

Half bottle 2001 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet white Burgundy, £45

Full bottle 1994 Gruaud Larose Bordeaux £60

Half bottles were rather limited, but no more so than I'd expect. There was a lot of New World stuff on there at the expense (or not depending on your preference!) of French and other European stuff.

Cheers, Howard

[howardlong]

I count 5 beans on your plate which makes it 80p a bean

please tell me there's more off camera

No, there were quite a few more, but still eight quid for some mange tout and tatties on top of the 24 quid for the steak is rather taking the p in anyone's book.

Cheers, Howard

[howardlong]

How did you find wine prices? I usually avoid Conran but on a trip to Pont de la Tour I thought them absurd. 2000 Leflaive Borgone Blanc for £70 (I pay £16 at retail)

I'd expect to pay perhaps £30-£35 for the Gruaud Larose in an offy. Not a fantastic wine, but good enough in my book. At £60 in the restaurant, not too bad a gouge.

Haven't been to the Pont de la Tour for ten years, so I can't really comment on that. Like you, I tend to avoid Conran. As an exception, Orrery is worth considering.

Cheers, Howard

[Suzi Edwards]

did you use your phone for the photos or a camera?

[Gareth]

I enjoyed the Orrery - especially the fact it was open on a Sunday.

The quirky interest of the sommelier at the Orrery appears to be Austrian wines. He has some excellent ones on the list and we found it well worth taking a detour into his pet subject area.

Since I generally rely on the advice of the sommelier in top-end restaurants, I've found this a useful strategy: often the wine list has an area which is disproportionate in length or unusual in orgin - or both - which ends up reflecting a particular interest of the sommelier into which he puts more care and enthusiasm than the boilerplate stuff which comprises the bulk of most wine lists.

[howardlong]

did you use your phone for the photos or a camera?

Phone - I finally found a use for the camera bit. Pics are about 12 to 20k in size so not too bad.

Cheers, Howard

[Suzi Edwards]

wow.

my phone camera sucks.

[Bapi]

Half bottle 2001 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet white Burgundy, £45

Blimey, that sounds a little steep Howard - we paid £60ish for a full bottle of the stuff at Sharrow Bay last year. A really lovely wine.

[Plutocrat]

Ate here on Friday night. As noted it is a little pricey for the quality of the ingredients given.

Suckling pig terrine was beautiful to look at but distictly lacking in the flavour department. My wifes scallops were slightly overcooked. The highlight of the starters was the sweetcorn ravioli. Very delicate flavour that built with each successive bite.

Mains were less impressive. I guess the fillet of beef as above must have seemed appealing as three out of four of us went for it. I had mine rare and on first bite it tasted excellent. On further mouthfuls however you could not that it was an inferior pice of meat and the truffle jus seriously over salted ( and I love my salt).

Lamb on a bed of peas was far superior. Very pink in the middle and good meat.

No puds for us. Filled up on too many bread products.

Overall food was ok but more on the level of a Harvey Nicks cafe than a proper restaurant. However the bill was something else. £300 for 4 people for two courses is a little steep for this quality. Admittedly £80 of this was booze ( we were thirsty ) but not a place I'll be running back to. Of course a large part of this cost must be due to location - everything else on the Cannery is similiar but I still felt my wallet had been violated.

[Gary Marshall]

Not meaning to answer your question but I have often thought about buying a bottle and taking an unfinished half home - Not sure if licencing laws allow?

depends.

technically i think not if you don't have an 'off' as opposed to 'on' licence that most pubs/restos have.

i got over adventurous in claridges bar one christmas and ended up with a bottle of champagne we couldn't finish (or start for that matter) after a few drinks there, for some reason we had already paid the tab.

the manager was quite officious in telling us he'd have to open it, which made me all the keener to get it out of the place. I got as far as the taxi rank before he caught me.

wouldn't give me my money back either, said they'd keep it for when i next went back, which funnily enough i haven't.

[Jon Tseng]

Suckling pig terrine was beautiful to look at but distictly lacking in the flavour department.

Not surprised

That sounds a very funny piece of meat to terrine - normally you'd think suckling pig would be lighter/blander just roasted and you'd have darker/older/more flavoursome meats in a terrine

Then again I guess the same could be said of terrine de veau, which is a french farmhouse cooking standby...

cheerio

J