Two closures and visits to The Ledbury, Kitchen Table and Pied a Terre

Unfortunately two of my favourite restaurants have closed recently. Nuno Mendes at Viajante left to start up Chiltern Firehouse, which is getting some good reviews and soon due a visit. The restaurant itself closed on 28th February, with Jason Athertons group looking to put in Lee Westcott from 22 Ships Ham & Sherry in Viajantes space. The second is Tom Aikens Restaurant, which closed last month. Tom is apparently looking to relocate to somewhere busier, either the West End or East End. I hope they hurry up, I really enjoyed our visits to his eponymous Chelsea restaurant.

Also closed is Bo London, which looking back now, received a better write up than it should have done. These days, post HKK, I might have forgone the several hours of writing, formatting and photo editing and not bothered to write it up, much like disappointing meals at other places which never make it on to my blog. Whilst the food was excellent, the portions were tiny and the bill massive, and that's my main memory of it these days.

Edit: Reports of Bo London's demise have been greatly exaggerated, apparently it's a refit not a closure.

Edit 2: Actually, no, despite the statements that it was a water leak and refit, Bo London Ltd is in administration. Watch this space though, they might do the phoenix company thing and rise from the dead.

Since my previous post I had two more excellent meals with my wife, a fourth visit to Kitchen Table for their fabulous New Years Eve meal and a long lunch at Pied a Terre, who had an excellent 6 course tasting menu for £49 offer going that coincided with my wifes birthday. I've been meaning to go to Pied a Terre for a while, and enjoyed some fantastic dishes, a lovely gnocchi and chestnut truffle veloute starter, an excellent cod dish and guinea fowl main with some top rate patisserie on show with a chocolate dessert. On top of this was one of the best breads we've had in the form of  a treacle loaf, and a very generous selection of petit four to finish, with some awesome cloud like doughnuts.

I also went to The Ledbury with my brother, in London on his annual trade show visit, and we indulged in the long tasting menu with a bottle of very good white and had a nigh on perfect meal. I'll write it up in detail soon.

Lobster ready for plating at Kitchen Table.

Sketch, Upstairs At The Ten Bells, Kitchen Table 3

Sketch

My wife and I enjoyed the tasting menus at Pierre Gagnaires London outpost, Sketch. The venue is a large building just off Regent Street, with tea room, bistro, bars and the 2 starred restaurant, The Lecture Room and Library. The building features some serious decor and design throughout and some stunning areas including a toilet with egg shaped pods like none other I've seen. Upon arriving were lead up a roped off stairway, and double doors were theatrically opened to show the restaurant in all its glory, the best looking dining space I've been in so far.

The meal itself was fabulous, with each course featuring multiple elements, sometimes presented on multiple dishes. My first course of a warm dish of lobster, broccoli and sauternes gel, a small bowl of cold lobster jelly, and Asian salad of claw was a good example of this.  Every course was of the highest quality, as good as anywhere else I've eaten since starting the blog. Stand out dish was probably one of my wives vegetarian courses, a smoked potato, beetroot veloute and blackcurrant ice cream, an unlikely combination that worked incredibly well,  smoky, earthy and sweet yet balanced and in harmony, truly outstanding. I also loved Pierre Gagnaires Grand Dessert, 6 different dishes my favourite of which was a lemon veloute, thai herbs, fruits and sorbet, with one of the herbs being coriander, the first time I've had it in a dessert yet worked perfectly with the citrus flavours. All six dishes were an absolute treat.

Although I've not written in as much detail as I have with other meals due to time constraints, I can't praise Sketch enough, the venue, food and service were of extremely high standard, and The Lecture Room and Library at Sketch is easily one of the best restaurants in London.

Upstairs At The Ten Bells.

We had an excellent Sunday lunch at Upstairs At The Ten Bells, the Spitalfields restaurant from the Clove Club guys. As it was December only a set menu was offered, but this was a selection of starters including the excellent buttermilk fried chicken dish on pine I had at the Clove Club, although this time it was pheasant. My wife and I both a had a chestnut veloute starter of excellent quality, and I had an absolutely brilliant main course, a featherblade of beef generously covered in a bone marrow butter, swede puree and cavelo nero. The bone marrow butter was awesome, a slight cheesy note from what might of been unpasteurised butter with the richness of bone marrow, a perfect accompaniment for a blade of beef so soft I used a fork to cut.

I like this venue, the pub being steeped in history, indeed the rickety stairs up to the restaurant featured bare plaster, gas lamps and an old sash window that looked as it probably did when Jack The Rippers victims plied their trade there.

Return to Kitchen Table 

Our third visit to Kitchen Table showed the same commitment to consistency, high quality food and service we've had in all our meals there. An excellent evening as always, with some stand out dishes including a pigeon, a beef and burnt cream combination, which sounded unusual but worked incredibly well, a corned beef sandwich amuse bouche that still has my mouth watering to think about it, a beefsteak mushroom dish, a butternut squash pasta dish laden with truffle, and a fantastic brie, white Alba truffle, honey and brioche cheese course that would be hard to top anywhere.

Sketch

Upstairs At The Ten Bells

Kitchen Table

Lobster three ways at Sketch

Smoked potato puree, beetroot and blackcurrant at Sketch

Lemon veloute, thai herbs, fruit and sorbet at Sketch.

Featherblade of beef, bone marrow butter, swede puree, cavolo nero at Upstairs At The Ten Bells.

Brie, white Alba truffle, honey and brioche at Kitchen Table.

Return to Kitchen Table

We enjoyed another Friday night at the fabulous Kitchen Table. This is now a firm favourite of ours, with the round-the-kitchen format and friendliness of the team adding the extra dimension a normal restaurant just can't provide. I won't go into lengthy detail with each dish, but can assure you every course was delicious.

The menu was a similar set up to previously, with the opening oyster and pickle having some lovely sea jelly and fresh flavours. The bacon jam loaded chicken skin was better than ever, and the salmon canape was particularly good. My raw scallop dish was a standout, with an excellent ginger mayo to match the scallop, the wife had a remarkable spring onion tempura. A lovely mackerel dish offered some tart flavours from green strawberries to match the excellent fresh mackerel. The barbecued spring cabbage  was excellent, a truffle and parmesan loaded variation of an old favourite of mine, cabbage in cheese sauce. The bone marrow dish to follow was my dish of the night, with an astonishingly good beef fat lardo to go with the celeriac, fried marrow and chicken gravy with superb flavours throughout, absolutely stunning. The vegetarian version featured a girolle puree to match the celeriac.

Duck came in two parts, breast with a tart fruit yoghurt, and a second dish of confit duck, crispy wafer, pistachios and cherries, a great combination I could have happily ate as a large main. The vegetarian duo had some excellent fennel, barbecued in front of us on a wood and gas pit. Cheese course was a burrata, gooseberries and some of that awesome buttery fried sourdough we had on the previous visit. Desserts started with a single raspberry filled with frozen basil olive oil, with a refreshing blueberry, mousse and granita to follow. The barbecued peach with honey spooned from the frame was revelation and barbecued peaches and nectarines have featured at home since. An excellent strawberry dish followed, with caramac, ice cream and a fabulous fried vanilla sugar coated brioche. A glass of leaf tea with a mandarin ice cream teacake and cappuccino ice cream ended the meal.

Excellent root beer to be had too, I've not had the Dominion Root Beer before, I really liked the use of honey.

We enjoyed our meal just as much as the first time round, James, Sandia and the team provide one of the best evenings in London. We will head back in the autumn, if not sooner to see what the menu provides. I can't wait.

Oyster

Pickle

Salmon

Lemon

Chicken

Tomato

Scallop

Spring Onion

Mackerel

Potato

Cabbage

Beef

Girolles

Duck

Fennel

Duck Too

Blackcurrant

Buratta

Blueberry

Peach

Strawberry

Mandarin

Coffee

Kitchen Table

Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs

Kitchen Table is at Bubbledogs, a champagne and hotdog bar in Fitzrovia. The dual venue is by  husband and wife team, Sandia Chang and James Knapett, as sommelier and chef both have considerable experience at some of the best restaurants in the world. When booking I was assured by Sandia that vegetarians were gladly catered for, with a vegetarian menu created for my wife to match the evenings menu.

Friday night at Bubbledogs is a popular affair, with a queue of bright young things stretching out the door into Charlotte Street. We had arrived early hoping for a glass of champagne to start the night off not knowing about the queue and waiting list, but luckily as we had a booking at Kitchen Table we ushered in after just a short while. We had the second seating at 7:30 and enjoyed a glass of one of the many grower champagnes on offer, a Raventos I Blanc Rose before being ushered through a through a thick curtain at the rear of the room. Kitchen Table itself is a room reminiscent of a one of those small Japanese restaurants and similar to New York's much vaunted Brooklyn Fare and Momofuku Ko, a bar with a 20 or so seats around a kitchen area and pass, with a tasting menu and omakase format. Service is lead by Sandia, with her and Jack attending to diners, and James and a team of 3 creating the dishes. At the back of the room is a blackboard, and under the days date 12 courses were listed, each a single ingredient name. The evening is highly personal, with the dishes being announcing by James, and the team interacting with guests throughout the evening.

We began with a glass of Balfour Rose and proceed to watch an apple being rotated and shaved into long strips using a nifty Chinese gadget I now know exists. These strips were laid out, dressed, a single poached oyster added and these were then rolled up to form the first course, Oyster. Along side, a poached parsnip was used instead of an oyster to create my wife's dish. The dish was a pleasing burst of fresh flavours, crisp apple, salty and sweet oyster, and my wife enjoyed the parsnip greatly. Following this was an incredible dish, cod roe smoked in house puree was sprinkled with a gratings umami rich dried scallop and served with a hunk of fried brown bread. Rich and indulgent, this was heavenly combination, with an excellent depth of flavour. I loved this dish, a turbocharged version of an old favourite Taramosalata. For my wife an equally delightful spiky artichoke puree, carefully balanced with what I believe were tiny pickled elderflower heads gave rise to an accompaniment of positive comments.

Following this a dish made up of some of my favourite things, Chicken was a masterful combination of chicken skin, rosemary mascarpone and bacon jam. The chicken skin was crisp and captured the perfect moment of chicken that any carver of the family roast will remember, the creamy cheese balanced perfectly with bacon jam, which was basically a chutney made with bacon, a concept I look forward to trying with a whole host of meals. All elements worked brilliantly, an absolute cracker of a dish. For my wife the chickpea crisp, rosemary mascarpone and an excellent roast tomato jam was a gorgeous combination. Next up, scallop with a bergamot puree and baby radish. The scallop was well timed, soft and sweet with the strength of the bergamot showing precise judgement, partnering the scallop without overpowering and a beautiful match. Equally pleasing were the baby radishes. My wife's broccoli stem was soft and of good quality , reminding me somewhat of gai-lan and held good flavour with the bergamot and radish.

Cod was a finely timed hunk of cod neck with some stunning morels, fragrant celery stems, chickweed, parsley oil and an intense chicken gravy. The cod was a great cut of fish, with lovely flavour and texture and the morels were extremely good, some of the best I remember, I loved the interaction with the chicken gravy with the fish and morels too. One to remember. My wife had some fabulous macaroni, with chickweed, celery, parsley oil and more of those morels. She agreed with me about the morels, definitely head and shoulders above the others we've had this season.

We had another glass of bubbly, a grower champagne from a small vineyard, Francoise Bedel, which was fabulous, quite different to champagnes I've had before. We both had the same dish next, this was the second day of English asparagus, and it was served lightly blanched and raw with a cream of aged parmesan and for us a supplement of Perigord truffle.  The asparagus was excellent, and went beautifully with the umami rich parmesan, the  generous shavings of truffle adding the unique earthy fragrance and flavour as only truffle can. This was an excellent dish welcoming this seasons asparagus in the best possible way.

The next course was for me lamb, and for my wife heart of fennel. My Cornish lamb was barbecued and served with charred cucumber yoghurt and fennel. The chef mentioned he wanted to capture the new spring and this was done perfectly, with a truly excellent barbecue lamb being as good as it gets, with huge depth of flavour. The lovely fresh tzatziki and aniseed crunch from the fennel went wonderfully with the lamb and put me in mind of dining al fresco on a warm evening. Following this was a cheese course, although something a bit different. Ardrahan is an Irish washed rind cheese, this was breaded and fried, and served with a vibrant green wild garlic sauce, wild garlic stems, pickled onion and charred onion. I love melted cheese, and this was a great plate, the tart pickled onions, smoky charred onion, garlic and creamy cheese a great partnership.

We asked to be recommended another glass of wine, and with the desserts had a very nice Pinon Vouvray. The first dessert was prepared in front of us using an ice shaving machine picked up by the chef in Thailand, and I also recognised it from my trips to Malaysia, where ais kacang is a popular treat. The shavings were mixed with mango, and this was piled on top of mango puree, coconut flesh and yoghurt for a superb fragrant tropical dessert and palate cleanser. Second dessert was Yorkshire forced rhubarb and elderflower mousse, with some lovely looking and tasting rhubarb and a wonderful feather light mousse. Final dessert was quite unusual, an impressive number of elements presented in a fantastically coloured plate of warm beetroot cake, beetroot ice cream, licorice ice cream, sour cream sorbet, licorice syrup and beetroot meringue. This was one of those dishes where even if you're not keen some of the ingredients in isolation, mix together with the sum being greater than the parts, this was a very clever creation and most agreeable. My wife especially enjoyed this being a huge fan of beetroot, and mentioned that this one of her favourite desserts.

We had a lovely darjeeling tea to finish, this was brewed in a single serving pot, timed using an egg timer and served in a large glass as to appreciate the quality. The petit four was Mandarin, a variation of a teacake with mandarin jam and biscuit, frozen marshmallow and hogweed topping the chocolate covering, a very fine example of its kind indeed.

We had a really excellent evening at Kitchen Table, enjoying fantastic food and drink as well as a warm and personal service above and beyond you would ever receive at a larger restaurant. We couldn't have felt any more welcome. I loved the format of the restaurant, and this has to be the number one choice for food lovers in London, indeed, I was not the only blogger there that night. I especially enjoyed the interaction with the team, learning about how some of the ingredients are sourced, including foraging by some of the chefs and it was fascinating witnessing the technical precision and creativity at work. The chefs prepared a wonderful vegetarian menu for my wife, and we were assured that forthcoming spring and summer vegetables will offer some really exciting dishes that we will definitely be worth returning for.

The bill came to £268 including service.

Oyster.

Parsnip.

Roe.

Artichoke.

Chicken.

Tomato.

Scallop.

Broccoli.

Cod.

Macaroni.

Asparagus.

Lamb.

Fennel.

Ardrahan.

Mango.

Rhubarb.

Beetroot.

Mandarin.

Kitchen Table

Bubbledogs