Tag Archives: London

Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

Posted on by
1

For some self-indulgence, and to celebrate my 43rd birthday we decided to dine at “Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley” in London. I’ve been a fan of Marcus after seeing him on “The Great British Menu” and impressed with his love of food and classic techniques. I initially wanted to visit Pétrus when he was working within Gordon Ramsey’s stable but they parted company some time ago and I missed that chance. Thankfully I didn’t miss out this time round.

 

This restaurant has been awarded 2 Michelin stars and it is clear to see why; excellent food and amazing service that went “above and beyond” anything I’ve ever witnessed in a restaurant before. I think the third star won’t be too far away personally. As with most Michelin starred eateries it isn’t cheap but I choose to spend my hard earned cash on food, which is one of my loves in life so I tend to not “worry” too much about the £££s as long as I enjoy the experience, and this one I truly did. The restaurant is a fairly large affair, with little areas here and there and the decor is low-key but stylish. Our table was set in an alcove, near the windows, and had an “eyes-in” to a section of the dining room – it was almost like a private dining area with it only having 5 tables. The chairs were very comfortable as the dining session was just short of 3.5 hours but it didn’t feel like we had sat there for that length of time (always a good thing!). Also, the service was very discreet – not 100′s of waiters dancing all over the place but a small group of well-honed waiters and front of house that delivered each course with minimal fuss (a stark difference to that of the Waterside Inn).

I wanted to “splash out” so we opted for the Chefs Menu with Wine Pairing. This menu consisted of 10 courses (so get comfy as this is fairly long), with a couple of amuse bouche and chef’s specials. At the end of the evening we both felt very full, which isn’t always the case when trying some taster menus. So, here’s what we had (along with the wine pairings as we asked for a copy fo the menus to take home which is always very handy!)

First things first – bread. I think it’s a good sign if the bread is good, and this was. I had soda and then potato & onion, Mini had rye. There were 2 butters; a plain butter and one quenelle of beurre noisette which had a nutty taste to it, really nice and the first time I’ve ever had it as an accompaniment to bread.

Kicking off with a glass each of Ruinart champagne we munched on our amuse bouche; 1 was prawn rolled in sesame seeds – pop the whole nibble into your mouth and immediately get a mouthful of fresh prawn, quite a depth of flavour too from something so small, a great start. The other was pork hazlet; a cube of around 1cm in size. Think of your best sausage roll you’ve ever tried and multiply it by 100. Deep flavours, balanced seasonings that stayed in your mouth for some time afterwards – a great start we both thought.

Chefs pre-starter was Cauliflower Cheese. Not the stuff you had at school that was all gloopy, wet and minging. This came in a tall shot glass. Pureed cauliflower, hot, topped with a cold cheesy foam sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Starting off with the spoon you take a swipe out of the foam and get a whoosh of cheese (Wotsits on steroids!) and you then realise that the cauliflower is hot below, a brilliant contrast. The puree/soup was very fresh and packed with flavour.

Dish #1; Orkney scallops, grapes, cucumber, Kaffir lime, Alexanders paired with a glass of Fiano di Avelino, Pietracupa, Campania, Italy 2009.
Scallops intertwined between a thin strip of cucumber, lying on top of lime mayonnaise, with some salad leaves and half a grape (I did comment to Mini that for the menu to say “grapes” you needed more than one!). Scallops were perfectly cooked, slight brown on the outside. Paired with the lime mayo they were incredibly fresh and tasty. The wine fitted perfectly (as did all the others, and they weren’t skimpy servings either)

Dish #2; Foie gras, sorbe, walnut, date, milk tuile paired with a Vouvray ‘La Reveillerie’ Lemaire Fournier, Loire Valley, France 2003 – almost like a dessert wine; real depth of flavour, great neck and lovely orangey/brown colour.
3 dollops of foie gras moose (like mini merengues just piped) – incredibly light and smooth, not too powerful in the taste either which was just right. The walnut bread was about 2mm thick and 10cm long but it tasted like you had a whole walnut tree on a plate – so full of flavour. The milk tuiles were small shards which were stuck into the foie gras – think of Nice biscuits – really nice. The sorbe was a small dollop of fruit, that is similar to pear, and gave a sweet edge.

 

Dish #3; Crab, chestnut, agnolotti paired with a Dido, Rene Barbier, Monstant, Spain 2008.
The crab was served in two parts; the brown meat wrapped within the agnolotti (think ravioli), white meat was shredded along side a piece of claw meat. The little pockets of ravioli were lovely, small yet dense. Unfortunately when I was eating the rest of the dish I found some chunks of crab shell – not what I would expect from a 2* restaurant. It spoiled this particular dish and I informed the waiters who were very apologetic.

 

Dish #4; Sweetbread, goat’s curd, squash, caper butter paired with a Piper’s Brook Estate, Pinot Noir, Tasmania 2005, fairly light for a pinot noir but a great match with the sweetbread.
I “love” sweetbreads and this one hit the mark, nicely caramelised giving some small crunchy parts. When ordering I said that I didn’t want the goat’s curd but when delivering the dishes they mixed them up so I had the plate with the curd on. Nothing major some may say, but again this shouldn’t happen at a place like this. Another “let down” was the caper butter – neither of us could taste the capers. At this point in the evening I was feeling a bit “low” as 2 dishes had not lived up to expectations, I was really hoping we hadn’t already hit the peak with the 2nd dish and was now nose diving.

Dish #5; Scottish lobster, broccoli paired with a Chassagne-Montrachet ‘Enceigneres’ Dom. Marc Colin, Burgundy, France 2008.
Broccoli 3 ways; mandalin thin slices of the floret, a bright green puree and poached stalk. The lobster was simply divine; 2 good chunks of this wonderful seafood.

As I said a few lines up, what with the crab shell and the mixup of plates I was feeling somewhat let down with the evening, due to these 2 errors. Now this is where a restaurant earns 2* with amazing service. As an apology, and they said they were very sorry about the crab shell incident and plate mixup, we had an additional course. A small plate of pasta (we think Fettuccine) with herbs which came with a small copper saucepan. The waiter then showed us the saucepan, took the lid off and inside were 2 black truffles. He then commenced to grate a good helping onto each dish, not skimping at all. I was very happy with this, not only as we had this extra course but the fact that they had acknowledged the 2 issues and acted speedily to resolve it.

Dish #6; Halibut, cockles, fennel, clementine paired with a Viognier ‘Les Contours de Deponcins’ Francois Villard, Rhone.
The first time I had tried Halibut and I loved it. Perfectly cooked, falling into small pieces with the push of your fork. Fennel done 2 ways (braised and grilled), with some cockles and clementine – I really like the mix of fish and orange, Mini wasn’t sure as we had something similar at another place and he still wasn’t sold on the idea.

Dishes #7; So now, the main courses. I chose the Cumbrian lamb, sweetbread, quince, leek paired with Barolo, Francesco Rinaldi & Figli, Piermont, Italy 2007. Mini went for Galloway beef fillet, Dorset snails, horseradish, kale paired with Gramercy Cellars, Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, USA, 2008.
Both dishes were A-M-Azing. Seriously. The best lamb I have ever eaten. Considering the portion size (and again it wasn’t skimpy, 4 good cuts of a cannon of lamb) it tasted as though all the sheep in Wales had been condensed into this one cut. I was lost for words when I tasted the first bite, on par with the scallop I had at Le Gavroche (2 of my all time dishes now). Mini had his beef blue – you can only really order blue when eating at a place that knows what blue is. This was cooked perfectly, looking like the cow had slowly walked 1M away from a candle. Mini said the beef was “melt in the mouth” good, and all I heard was a lot of “mmmms” when he was munching, which is his sign of enjoying the meal.

The Assistant Manager came over to see how things were going and, for the first time, I said “Best Lamb I’ve ever eaten, please pass my compliments to the chef”. He was very happy that we had our evening turned around, and passed my compliments to the chef. So now it got even better. On his return he asked if we would like to take a tour of the kitchen. “Let me think about that for 1micro second”….”Yes please!”. We have never had this oppurtunity at any other restaurant, and he said he had asked someone else previously who had turned it down! So off we trotted to “where the magic happens” (my phrase, not his) and he explained who was doing what, that this was the main “cooking” kitchen with the prep kitchen “in the bowels of the building”. It was a flurry of activity and a smallish size of kitchen. We chatted with the Head chef (not Mr Wareing unfortunately, but that would have been amazing if he was there), and also with the pastry chefs (Gods). When we left we realised how hot it was in there, I know a silly thing to say but I take my hat off to those cooks; you really have to love your job to work those hours in hot kitchens. I was literally buzzing after this, like I’d done a line of coke (not that I ever have) – I was beaming just like after meeting Michel Roux Jr when he came to our table at Le Gavroche (get me name dropping!!!!)

Bring on the desserts!! Ok, so a pre-dessert (bend my arm then). A little hazlenut and chocolate layered slice, imagine a Kit-Kat crossed with a Topic bar but a bit fancier. Very scrummy.

Dessert #1; White Chocolate ice, redcurrant.
Another shot glass affair, with white chocolate upto the brim and redcurrants sprinkled on top. The chocolate was thick, oozy, umptious with the redcurrants piercing the richness. Not sure where the ice bit came in, but I wasn’t complaining.

Dessert #2; Apple, crispy cinnamon pastry, apple jelly paired with Umathum, Scheurebe, Beerenausslese, Burgenland, Austria 2009.
Something like a deconstructed apple pie. The apple jelly had a real wobble on it, good sign there, and was intense with apple flavour. The pastry was a mille-feuille tower of crispy cinnamon pastry with pureed apple in between.

Dessert #3;Cru Virunage chocolate.
A small slab of chocolate, probably 5cm square, 7mm high and served on a small slate tile. The chocolate on top was a small veneer of melted chocolate with gold leaf, and below it a chocolate sponge. Considering a spoonful size this gave a real WHACK of chocolate flavour, incredibly intense. After finishing one I don’t think you could eat another without feeling a bit sick – in a good way, not wanting to be ill but just due to the richness of the chocolate. We each had a cup of tea at the end. The tea “menu” was a box of phials containing the tea leaves, allowing you to smell each one and also having a short description. I had Dragon Well – a nice strong brew, and Mini had Verbena Mint Tea – very lemony and refreshing.

 

Phew! Reached the end (fingers aching). A thoroughly enjoyable experience was had by both of us. Not without a couple of issues, but fantastically turned around by the shear expertise of the staff; they were all very friendly, unpretentious and helpful – they also took off the 12.5% service charge (which was discretionary but they took it off without us asking). We had a copy each of the menu, and also a bag of chocolate truffles to take home (these were very nom). The cherry on the cake would have been meeting Marcus Wareing, but the cake was still bloody brilliant.

 

Cost – £465 (Chef’s menu £120 each, Wine Pairing £105 each, Tea £5 each, Water £5.50 for the table)

Food – 9/10

Service – 10/10

Value – 8.5/10

 

 

 

Dinner, Mandarin Oriental, London

Posted on by
1

Heston Blumenthal’s latest project; Dinner. Dining with a historical background, reproducing recipes from centuries ago.

The Mandarin Oriental. A 5* hotel in Knightsbridge. In my opinion one of the finest hotels in London. We have stayed just once, but I feel it is the epitomy of 5* service. From when the doormen see your taxi pull up, to being seated in the cocktail bar before dining. It’s not cheap – but hey this is London and 5* so you don’t bother to look at the prices, you choose what you want and enjoy it. If you think about the expense you won’t enjoy it as much.

Once we had been seated in the cocktail bar, “The Mandarin Bar”, we chose a cocktail each. I went for the Thai Martini – Lemongrass infused Plymouth gin stirred with sweet vermouth – very light and refreshing. Mini went for a Mai Tai #1 – Bacardi and Myers rum shaken with fresh lime, Pineapple, almond syrup and a dribble of grenadine, Served long over ice. Waiting for our drinks to arrive we were informed that our table was ready. 730pm.

On entering the restaurant you could smell the “newness” of it still. To the left was the kitchen sat behind glass walls. To the right the private dining room. The main restaurant is a mixture of dark brown leather chairs, and cushioned benches (banquette like) with dark brown wooden tables. Hanging from the ceiling are huge, round light holders – think of medieval rooms with something similar to a wooden wagon wheel hanging from a chain. Instead of candles, these were adorned with electric light bulbs which had matching filaments; perfect W shapes. The lights on the walls and columns were glass mouldings of jelly and blancmange moulds. Dotted on flat surfaces here and there were small, glass vases holding various white flowers and plants. The leather chairs were very comfortable.

Having already studied the menu at great detail once we had reserved a table, we already knew what we were going to have. The following was our choice for our first meal at Dinner:-

For me; Salamagundy, Sirloin of Black Angus and Tipsy Cake. For Mini; Meat Fruit, Spiced Pigeon and Chocolate Bar. We also ordered a 3rd dessert, Brown Bread Ice Cream.

Let the review begin!!!

Salamagundy (c.1720) Chicken Oysters, Bone Marrow and Horseradish Cream

Very light and tasty. I love bone marrow, and this married well with the salad and chicken oysters (just in case you don’t know what chicken oysters are, they’re the two small, round pieces of dark meat on the back, near the thigh). The horseradish cream was delicate and not overpowering. A really good start.

Meat Fruit (c.1500) Mandarin, Chicken Liver Parfait and Grilled Bread

First time you see this, you have to remember this is not a Mandarin (well you are sat in the Mandarin Oriental), but a chicken liver parfait. The mandarin, bright orange, even had the small green leaves sticking from the top. After splitting the parfait with your knife (it didn’t need cutting as such as it was ultra smooth and light) you see the inside. Light, fluffy pate. We were told by our waiter that the parfait also had foie gras mixed with the chicken livers. The parfait was outstanding; sublime texture, deep taste but light as a feather. Another great start.

Sirloin of Black Angus (c.1830) Mushroom Ketchup, Red Wine Juice and Triple Cooked Chips

Upon arrival, the waiter had a slight accident and sent my chips flying across the tray. He immediately apologised, left the remaining items and got a new portion sorted. The steak was cooked well, being a sirloin it wasn’t packed with flavour, I would have preferred a rib-eye. The chips were golden in colour, piping hot, light and crispy. It may have been the fact that they had just come from the kitchen, but all I could taste when eating them was the oil they were fried in – and it wasn’t the taste I was looking for. My search for the “Ultimate Chip” is still being done (so far the best chips I’ve eaten were in the Fountain restaurant at Fortnum & Masons in London) – I digress. The mushroom ketchup was a little too acidic for my liking; it consisted of small, chopped mushrooms, with vinegar, shallots and beef stock. By far the star, in my eyes, of this dish was the red wine juice. This was packed with flavour; deep and beefy. You could see the tell-tale sign of butter (I guess) as you poured it as you could see a small oil slick on the top (good oil!)

Spiced Pigeon (c.1780) Ale and Artichokes

A pretty looking dish, delicate and light. The pigeon was cooked perfectly, still pink in the middle. The artichokes were in quarters, matching the portions of pigeon. Mini said the dish was pleasant, but didn’t really have much spice considering it was advertised as Spiced Pigeon. He said he got a small hit at the start, but this fizzled away within seconds
The mains, in both our thoughts had been a bit of a let down. We realise this is a new(ish) restaurant, not awarded with anything yet (and awards aren’t all the be-all and end-all for us), but we both thought this was a definite dip in the proceedings. We also thought the meal was feeling a bit rushed, in that the starter was quite quickly followed by the main. Thankfully things did get better from here. Desserts were coming, and we had ordered 3 which is our latest “thing”. We do this so we can share them and have a bit of everything.

Tipsy Cake (c.1810) Spit Roast Pineapple

When we spoke with the waiter who was taking out first order, we said we had already chosen online and were thinking about taking the Tipsy Cake. He said it would be good to order this now as it took 40 minutes to spit-roast. When the dish came we thought “Why bother saying about the time taken” as there wasn’t that much pineapple. It was about 6 chunks. Think of portioning a pineapple top to bottom, giving a wedge of pineapple. It was very, very juicy as you bit into it. The juice poured out. For my personal taste it was a little tart, but I am quite sensitive to tart food. The Tipsy Cake was served in an small iron pot. The closest I can think to describe it is similar to lardy cake, maybe even a doughnut texture – light balls of dough, with a fantastic sauce hidden below. It tasted like butterscotch to me (I maybe wrong here!), but putting a spoonful of all components into your mouth was a divine experience. Writing this is making my mouth salivate – that, in my world, is a good food memory!

Chocolate Bar (c.1730) Passion Fruit Jam and Ginger Ice Cream

On arrival I looked at the plate put in front of Mini and just went “wow”. This “wow” was for the dark, ebony coloured slab of chocolate sat on the plate. It didn’t look real. It looked like a chunk of shiny marble. To the side were some biscuit crumbs and a quinelle of ice cream. Pushing your spoon into the chocolate bar makes way to a hard base. Putting the chunk of dark matter into your mouth gives you a hit of bitter, dark chocolate. Awesome. The ice cream had a refreshing zing of ginger to it, but neither of us could taste the Passion fruit. We think it must have been inside the bar, but we just couldn’t taste it. This didn’t really matter. This dessert was Mini’s favourite (probably due to it be chocolate, period.).

Brown Bread Ice Cream (c.1830) Salted Butter Caramel Malted Yeast Syrup

This was another of my choices. I’m glad we ordered it, but I think I enjoyed it the most, as I like malty tastes. The ice cream sat atop a mixture of oats and biscuits. How did it taste? Think of a hot, freshly baked brown loaf. You get a taste of the malt, a bit of the salt, a slight sweetness, and then the cold,smooth ice cream. It wasn’t ‘outstanding’ but it was enjoyable.

To accompany each dish we had “wine by the glass”. I didn’t take a note of the full name as I had forgotten my notebook, but we had the following; A Riesling (Salamagundy) and a Vouvray (Meat fruit) with the starters, Burgundy with both mains, a Pacherenc and another Riesling with desserts.

To end the meal we both had a tea each; 1 Silver Needle and 1 Li Shan Black Tea. These came with an amuse-bouche which was a white chocolate ganache infused with Earl Grey tea. I had 2 of these! The teas were very nice, mine was malty and strong, mini’s was refreshing and light.

In summary, we had a nice evening. The food was good, not great. Maybe we had a higher expectation. We knew we weren’t going to get the Fat Duck experience, it’s not that kind of dining. I did think that some of the flavours would have been very different to what I have had before, but nothing really was. The service was very good, but as said before this is the Mandarin Oriental. Even this wasn’t without a couple of small issues, maybe if we’ve not eaten at 3* places before we wouldn’t even have spotted them, so it’s nothing to worry about, but they say the devil is in the detail. The things we noted were; placing the bread and butter onto the table, my glass was knocked. Clearing things from the table as single items, rather than waiting for both to finish. Brushing down the table to then remove the salt and pepper, leaving salt and pepper on the table and not clearing it away. Spilling my chips on the tray. Not big things, but things you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see at a restaurant like this, bearing in mind the location and costs.

We also noted that there were a number of empty tables, which was odd as all we’ve heard is people trying to get booked, and being told “3 month waiting”. We sat down at 730pm and finished 10PM. There were at least 6 tables around us that stayed empty all night, and we couldn’t see the other side of the restuarant. It did feel busy, but there were a lot of staff going here and there; we had 5 different waiters. All were friendly and charming, with a couple really standing out.

Would I recommend “Dinner” to people who haven’t eaten in London before? I’m not sure to be honest. This could be a bit harsh to say, but I think it needs better consistency and this should come with time. London has so many fine restaurants that I think you could get a similar experience to, and a lot cheaper. I know I’ve said about cost here and there in this review, and I know this is London and it’s the MO etc, but this wasn’t a cheap meal. Having wine by the glass always bumps the price up (the Burgundy was £21 a glass), and the cocktails cost £32 for two. Overall, including service @ 12.5%, the cost was £282.67. We didn’t feel robbed, but it was a mixed feeling for the night. If, after reading this review, you want to visit to try, then please do.

 

Food – 8/10

Service – 9/10

Value – 6/10