Chances are that, unless you’re a student of the food blogosphere, you haven’t heard of Mikael Jonsson and his new Chiswick restaurant, Hedone. And he’d be perfectly happy with that. Jonsson, unlike most London chefs, actively eschews the idea of publicity for his restaurant, claiming to have toyed with appointing a PR to keep food critics away in the early months. This stands in stark contrast to just about every other restaurant, which is all too desperate to get as many bloggers, tweeters and influential voices in through the door in the early days of their operation. But Jonsson is defiantly his own man. Straight talking – he openly admits to having spent years sending back dishes that he was unimpressed by in top restaurants and explaining why – and dismissive of attempts to lump him in with ‘new Nordic cuisine’, he would pooh-pooh any attempt to describe him as one of the most exciting new chefs to emerge anywhere in the past few years.
However, because I have come here to praise him, not to bury him, I am going to do precisely that. Hedone is a complete contrast to most linen-tableclothed and formal dining rooms, offering a relaxed atmosphere with a wooden bar that looks into the small open-plan kitchen and comfortable wooden tables. It’s more like a branch of Le Pain Quotidien than the sort of place that tends to get foodies salivating desperately. This knowing unpretentiousness is part of Jonsson’s plan, as is the location down the less-travelled end of Chiswick High Road. Nobody would ever mistake him for someone who is attempting to get the world and his wife into his restaurant through self-promotion.
But come they have done, and Hedone finds itself full most nights. Jonsson is even going to have to begin turning tables in the modest 35-cover room, just to cater to demand. What people are going to eat remains something of a mystery until they get there, as Jonsson likes to use the freshest possible produce and is constantly refining and developing his menu to make sure that everything on it represents the highest possible quality. Of course, there are a few dishes that are already quite famous, and others that deserve to be. A starter of Cevennes onion with pear shavings is both sweet and simple, just as another dish of slow cooked hen egg with Scottish girolle mushrooms adds apricot jam, a curious but breathtakingly accomplished idea.
For me, the stand-out dish was steamed wild Dorset turbot, simply presented with cockles and cavolo nero. The turbot was breathtakingly tender and tasty, with the surface being iridiscent like mother of pearl. The previous best turbot I’d ever tried had been at the three Michelin-starred Le Bristol in Paris; this was superior. It was swiftly followed by breast of squab pigeon, with juniper-smoked potatoes and parsley and pistachio. Daringly, Jonsson not only serves this up complete with claw, but supplies a finger bowl so you can nibble on it daintily, something that has apparently caused consternation amidst the well-heeled of Chiswick, who probably didn’t expect to be presented with a pigeon claw when going out for a nice bite to eat.
A cheese course offers a small but well chosen selection of impeccable fromage, including a fine Gruyère Arpege from Switzerland and a delicious Bonde de Gâtine goat’s cheese from Poitou –Charentes, and desserts include a surprisingly light chocolate mousse creation, called the ‘Hedone chocolate bar’, and an English blueberry tart with Tahitian vanilla ice cream that my companion pronounced the best dessert she’d ever had. All the above were superbly matched by the expert sommelier, whose splendid sideburns should win an award in their own right, although Jonsson openly disagreed on his choice of a sweet Coteau du Layon to pair with the onions. (For the record, I thought it worked superbly.)
All of this is priced at far below what you might expect to pay in a competing establishment -£50 for four courses, and £70 for six courses – and the quality and ambition of the cooking represent excellent value for money. Jonsson openly describes the current state of Hedone as ‘the beta stage’ of what he eventually wants to achieve, and given the already extremely high accomplishment of his restaurant, the thought of this being surpassed over the coming years is both inspirational and rather frightening. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.
301 Chiswick High Road, W4.
www.hedonerestaurant.com
