LaTrouvaille

[SamanthaF]

After the stunning success of the 1st London Egullet dinner, Scott and I returned to La Trouvaille last night.

I was so impressed with my dinner from the other night, I ordered the same again - mushrooms stuffed with foie followed by the pork belly. My starter was great - even better than before, but what a disappointment the pork belly was. It was 'hard' with no fat, plenty of bone, and horror of all horrors the crackling was softer than a silentnight matress! When I questioned this, I was told that it was down to supplier and the breed of pig used. Not an explaination that I found credible.The plums served with the pork were also very hard, I wonder what the preserving method was?

Scott ordered the snails followed by Osso Bucco. Scott's starter didn't do much for him, the lardons were merely gristle. The osso bucco was amazingly overpriced, and very difficult to eat.

The wine we ordered was not in stock, and instead of offering an alternative, they simply bought out a huge bottle of the house red - this was however corrected almost immediately.

We declined puds and coffee.

The staff were great, and very pleased to see us. The dining room was freezing, maybe that was because we were near the window?

We left feeling wounded in the wallet, considering we had not enjoyed the evening. :confused:

[Andy Lynes]

It sounds so disappointing!  I thought the kitchen managed admirably with our large table and a busy upstairs restaurant so it seems that they can deal with a busy night like a Saturday. Simon is a regular and has never had a bad word to say about the place, so what can be the explanantion?

I ordered the snails on the night and loved them, the lardons were the real thing and not just gristle. I tried some of Tony's pork on the night of the egullet dinner and although others had complained, I thought it a lovely dish with good crackling, moist meat, great cabbage and the plums and cream were interesting and worked just fine. Why it shoud have been so different is a mystery.  Different chef maybe?

If you feel you want to leave before dessert is a real indication of a bum night out ,and a feeling I have quite regularly in Brighton unfortunately so I empathise.

[Simon Majumdar]

I can only suspect that Trouvaille is becoming a victim of its own success.  It has done so well, but the last two visits have seen a slight decline in the cooking.

It is a shame, but is often the way.  It does make me very sad as dependable places in London are few and far between.

I shall go again, but it will be interesting to see how it does

S

[Scottf]

Andy

It was the same chef as Sam went into the kitchen  and spoke to him about the eggs!

Simon

You've probably hit the nail on the head.  It was almost like the food had come off a production line rather than prepared with any care or attention.  Sam said that if she didn't know better, (and does she?!), she thought the pork had been microwaved.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on on your next visit.

[cabrales]

It was the same chef as Sam went into the kitchen  and spoke to him about the eggs!

Scott -- What did the chef say about the eggs? And how did he come up with the separate preparation of the whites from the yolk so thoroughly discussed in another thread?  

[SamanthaF]

Hi Cabrales,

The chef said that it was 'interesting' to cook the eggs. The biggest problem he noted was getting them to cook sufficiently. He had to put them in the oven to finish them - which explains the firm yolks.

[Scottf]

Cabrales

The chef said they were much bigger than he thought and that he didn't have a pan big enough to cook them.

His preference was to scramble but as we requested fried he wanted to serve them with runny yolks but space prevented him from frying them as he wanted.

Neither he or any of the staff fancied trying them

[Scottf]

Sam, I hadn't noticed your name change to Scott

[SamanthaF]

Scott - I didn't see you talk to the chef :wow:

[Simon Majumdar]

Get a room, you two

S

[Andy Lynes]

Same chef then - even more interesting. Is it possible he is having a bad run? I assume he works with minimal assistance given the size of the kitchen and may simply be feeling the pressure.

Simon, I would be very interested in a report on your next visit to see how things develop.

[magnolia]

Well they will always have a place in my heart; I have found a recipe for olive oil ice cream in a French cook book, and it calls for an ingredient for which I was having trouble finding a translation - crème fleurette; ultimately Jon Tseng found out what it is, a 35% liquid fat cream that does not exist here...so I called La Trouvaille, and they put me through to the chef; I explained my problem, he very kindly spent five minutes explaining the differences between all the creams, and then told me the closest thing here would be single cream.