Pearl Restaurant (formerly QC)

[marlena spieler]

complaint: wrapping a seabass around a piece of fresh mozzarella and a slop of pesto. then cooking it. i felt like crying.

[cheeekymunkey]

All in all, three of us had an extremely enjoyable evening at Pearl last night. We went with some expectation to be served sweaty cheese and extortionately priced wines, but were pleasantly surprised to experience neither. The tasting menu was along the lines of this:

Tomato consomme and cucumber sorbet

Tasty, refreshing but modestly oversalted. The cucumber sorbet erred more on the side of dill than cucumber and the tomato consommé had a strong undercurrent of ketchup. Not bad though.

Scallops, frogs legs, parsley puree and garlic foam

Even for a tasting menu not receiving a whole scallop seems a little bit mean. Instead we each got two-thirds. One of my thirds was a little overdone. For me, the main problem was the overpowering parsley puree.

Autumn vegetables

By far the most disappointing dish of the night. The roasted parts of the dish tasted if they had been roasted some time ago. The fact that they were fridge cold was a further give away. Nice horseradish dressing though.

John Dory, Ossobuco croquette

An absolute stunner. At the time, I got a little excited and declared it one of my favourite dishes of the year. Maybe it is. The combination of the fish, the orangey/gingery dressing and the crunchy, meaty croquette was delicious.

Pata Negra, Chorizo and lentil salsa, red pepper puree, roast langoustines

Well-executed but it did seem odd having such a Spanish dish on a menu that otherwise was French. It was a bit of an assault on the taste buds. Tasty pig.

Vanilla yoghurt, sugared almonds, jam

A posh version of a prêt very berry breakfast bowl.

Custart tart, walnut ice cream, prunes

Second best dish of the night. Nice texture to the custard tart. Great ice cream. A slightly wintery, heavy-ish way to finish the meal.

Wine matches were mostly predictable (except for a dry Tokaji with the vegetable dish) but good. Our wine waiter was lovely, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Other than the menu being a little eclectic, there was really very little with which to take issue. Ooo except that they bizarrely only served two of each canape between three of us. I just don't understand that - someone always misses out.

Anywa, I’d go back just for the john dory/osso buco...

Edited September 14, 2007 by cheeekymunkey (log)

[chrisp]

I'm going here for the Toptable offer (3 courses for £30 from a set menu) on 2nd October. Anyone else tried this and can tell me how limited the limited menu is?

I suppose I could always go A La Carte on the night if the set menu looks very basic - I get the feeling this is what they would prefer you to do a lot of the time.

[chrisp]

I'm going here for the Toptable offer (3 courses for £30 from a set menu) on 2nd October. Anyone else tried this and can tell me how limited the limited menu is?

I suppose I could always go A La Carte on the night if the set menu looks very basic - I get the feeling this is what they would prefer you to do a lot of the time.

←

Had a brilliant meal here last night. Just in case anyone was thinking their standards may have slipped! The caramel dessert is one of the best I've ever had.

Chris

Edited October 3, 2007 by chrisp (log)