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Aurelia

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Whenever I am wandering through the hallowed streets of Mayfair something that always amazes me is the sheer number of really excellent places to eat. Some might say that there are too many upmarket, luxurious restaurants around this area already to which I would respond “It doesn’t matter how many there are, the really good ones will go from strength to strength while the poor ones will be forgotten in a few weeks.”

Thankfully, the newly opened Aurelia, which specialises in Mediterranean and Italian dishes to share, is set to be one of the success stories. The place was an absolute pleasure to visit and my evening spent there was one of the most enjoyable I’ve had in a restaurant in a long time. One of the reasons why it works so well is that the people behind it, The Waney Group, have a lot of experience in the industry, having masterminded favourites such as Roka and Zuma.

I was immediately impressed when I walked into the ground floor bar which is a friendly and welcoming place. I was even more delighted however when we were taken to the downstairs dining room which features an open kitchen, allowing diners to watch the various grills on the menu being prepared. The end product really is superb and the sharing aspect of the dining experience is a novelty. The leg of Salt Marsh lamb is served with a delicious pesto and the pork chop with fennel is very nearly a match for Heston Blumenthal’s own version at Dinner. I tucked into both of these dishes heartily and with some excitement much to my guest’s chagrin – he could only watch on as I got well and truly stuck in with carnivorous aplomb. Starters are also a real hit and the perfectly put together dish of mozzarella and tomato, which can so often be a very dull option, was creamy and full of flavour. Wines are carefully matched to the food with some excellent Italian and French bottles on offer, including a particularly good Chianti. We tried to drink sensibly throughout the evening but our good work was ruined by a fierce glass of Grappa which was produced at the end of the meal, needless to say the journey home slightly more blurry than it should have been.

It’s also worth making sure that you leave enough room for dessert because the sweets on offer are not to be missed. Choose from a rich cheesecake made with mascarpone, a semi-deconstructed crème brûlée or a fine cheese board, to mention just a few.

The service was friendly and efficient which is impressive given how busy it was. The fact that it was quite so busy is, in itself, notable given that Aurelia has only just opened. We even spotted a celebrity diner there in the form of Marina Diamandis, from band Marina and the Diamonds and this is certainly the sort of place where many more are sure to flock to. Aurelia is set to see out 2011 as one of the hottest places to be in London, and deservedly so. I am looking forward to my next visit already. Don’t forget, too, that it’s open for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, making it a truly all-day option.

www.aurelialondon.co.uk

Tags: gourmet dining, London restaurants, Mayfair restaurants, mediterranean food
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Benares Mayfair

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

If the term ‘curry house’ summons up some sort of time warped establishment where the closest that the dish comes to a culinary highlight is chicken tikka – ‘but with a twist!’ – then the last decade or so’s influx of really high-end establishments in London has put this cliché to bed. But then calling establishments of the calibre of Tamarind, Quilon, the Cinnamon Club and Rasoi ‘curry houses’ is as wrong-headed a description as describing The Fat Duck as a former pub. They specialise in synthesising the various traditions and styles of sub-continental cooking with Western flair and pizzazz, offering menus that delight and challenge in equal measure.

One of the most notable examples of these new-style restaurants is Mayfair’s Benares. Situated in suitably grand premises on Berkeley Square, Atul Kochhar’s establishment has quietly racked up the plaudits over the years, including a Michelin star (one of the remarkably few Indian restaurants in the UK to have such an honour.) On a recent visit, it wasn’t at all hard to see why. Kicking off with a cocktail in the stylish wood-panelled bar, it’s quite clear that there’s a great deal of imagination going on here. A passion fruit chutney martini, something of a signature drink, combines vodka and passion fruit chutney to deliciously decadent and unusual effect.

It’s the food though that has attracted the plaudits. There are numerous different ways of enjoying it here – everything from bar dining menus and lunch platters (ideal for a quick in and out visit, though why on earth you wouldn’t want to stay here is beyond me) to the heartier options of a multi-course tasting menu, described here as a ‘grazing’ menu, or of course the a la carte. Whichever route you choose, you’re in for a culinary odyssey through many of the unique dishes. Mustard marinated chicken tikka and tandoori salmon trout are excellent starters, while some of the main dishes, such as the spice rubbed Romney Marsh lamb cannon (or the Maans Sukka, to give it its proper name) and the Hiran Boti (a roasted rack of deer) offer the perfect combination of fantastic English ingredients with Kochhar’s impeccable cooking. Desserts are easily worth leaving some room for – a chocolate fondant was particularly sublime.

While there have been a few establishments opening and closing in the past couple of years that have dropped well below the excellent standards that Benares represents, there can be little doubt that this is a truly superb place, and let’s hope that it continues to go from strength to strength.

12a Berkeley Square House, W1.

www.benaresrestaurant.com

Tags: benares restaurant, indian restaurants london, London restaurants
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Noisy Lovers and Souffle

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Let me start with a sweeping statement: an evening that begins with noisy lovers will end well.

That is, when Noisy Lovers is a cocktail concoction of vodka, cointreau, raspberry and lime, sipped in good company at Blakes Hotel, South Kensington. You’ll leave satiated and giggly, nipping round the corner to catch your bus to bed.

The cocktail list has us oohing and aahing, but it is the food that is the real firework display at this calm basement restaurant. Dark and oriental in decor and feel, stepping downstairs in W8 lifts the weight of the world. It is cool out of the solstice sunshine and delicately scented, instantly draining the stresses of another day in the smoke.

Having procrastinated at our desks over the menu, we’ve made the kind of pre-decision food decisions that would let us order without even glancing at the menu. We’ve discussed the merits of salmon sashimi vs. carpaccio of beef vs. diver scallops, but we look at the card, all the same – to avoid giving the waitress the creeps, if nothing less.

We rattle off orders – the diver scallops with ginger and basil made the cut, along with a warm chicken salad with avocado, pomelo, cashews and nam jim sauce – until we’re surprised to see a raised eyebrow and look of pure doubt on the face of our waitress. It’s the Soufflé Suissesse. ‘It’s pretty big,’ she warns, and it seems there is some discrepancy between eyes and stomachs. We agree to share, and the panic disperses as quickly as it had arrived.

When the soufflé comes into land we take a moment to scrape our jaws from the floor, such is the monstrosity of the thing. If you’re in need of a talking point – or a conversation stopper for that matter – this is all you require. Made with seven eggs, the soufflé is the size of a sandcastle, transformed into an awakening volcano with the oozing of gruyère sauce, its cheesy lava. With an extra dose of sauce in the centre, the volcano erupts and the party really starts.

The soufflé is light and fluffy, yet possibly the most richly cheesy dish I’ve ever come across. Quite frankly, it is extraordinary. The chicken salad is the perfect accompaniment for a little light relief, and the pomelo like it’s fresh from a market stall in Vietnam, while the scallops are delightfully tender and delicately flavoured, dwarfed by the soufflé yet packed with flavour.

So the soufflé has set the precedent, and the man calling the shots in the kitchen has got it sorted. We move on to black cod with miso and ginger sauce, beef fillet teriyaki with hot sake and crispy ginger chicken, with garlic and ginger sauce, with forks flying between plates to snatch a taste of each. The beef is plain delicious, the cod soft and fresh and the chicken the right side of spicy, with the combination descending into a tour of Asian cuisine. Accompanied by baby broad beans and coriander rice – a triumph in itself – the clash of cutlery on empty plates soon fills the air.

Having made it this far, and having heard recommendations from previous diners, dessert is all but irresistible, especially given the caramel soufflé heading up the list. We all know what is coming next: another sand castle, another volcano, and even more fireworks. Though we think we know what to expect, the caramel edition enters a whole new realm. A caramelised crust, chewy with slightly burned sugar and inside the sweetest treat you can imagine and jug full of butterscotch sauce, just in case it isn’t caramel-y enough.

The chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream and green tea ice cream we’ve also ordered are scrumptious in their own right, though they fall by the wayside for a few minutes as that tense situation where four people attempt at politely getting their fair share of one pudding takes over.

While we’re smiling sweetly and taking ladylike spoonfuls, really each of us is plotting on legging it with the lot and locking ourselves in a cupboard until there is none left.

Well that’s what I was thinking anyway.

Blakes Hotel, 33 Roland Gardens, SW7 3PF

www.blakeshotels.com

Tags: London restaurants, luxury hotels, restaurants, west london hotel
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Cassis Bistro

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Situated a hop and a skip from both the V & A and the Brompton Oratory, there’s little doubt that Marc Abela’s latest opening, Cassis Bistro, is firmly aimed at an upmarket and well-heeled clientele.

The impression is reinforced from the moment you walk in the door to find a tasteful collection of modern art (Abela’s own) decorating the restaurant, from such figures as Julian Opie, and the suitably suave yet accommodating staff prepare to minister to your every request. There is no shortage of high-end establishments round this part of London, but the emphasis on Provencal cuisine is a subtly original one; as with his Michelin-starred flagship The Greenhouse, Abela understands how to offer a twist on what his audience might expect.

My esteemed colleague Harry and I were pleased to discover, looking at the menu, that the highly talented head chef David Escobar had not attempted to become over-ambitious and ignore the central tenets of Provencal cooking, namely simplicity and sparing use of frills. Thus, a starter of three different kinds of pate with fig chutney and country bread was nothing short of rapturous, with delicate attention paid to the flavours of chicken, pork and liver, making the combination a beautifully hedonistic one. This was equalled by a fine beef carpaccio, given a kick by the well-placed addition of some aged Parmesan. A couple of glasses of Viognier made for fitting accompaniments.

For the main course, my eye alighted on a herb-crusted rack of lamb with the slightly eyebrow-raising addition of aubergine caviar, a combination I hadn’t previously encountered. Thankfully, it proved to be excellent, the aubergine’s subtle richness accentuating the tenderness of the lamb. One imagines it passed onto the great meadow in the sky happy. Harry, meanwhile, pronounced the duck breast with chickpea galette an excellent affair, and a shared olive oil mashed potato offered a decadently sumptuous experience that very nearly matched Joel Robuchon’s signature dish.

By this point, we were at belt-loosening stage, but we thought it would be rude not to sample a couple of the desserts, and we were exceptionally glad that we did. Raspberry millefeuille was as delicate as earlier dishes were robust, offering a refreshingly tart flavour in the raspberry that undercut the usual sweetness of the millefeuille. Meanwhile, a salted crème caramel was one of the best that I’ve ever tasted, being far from the shamefully floppy mound of sugar that this usually appears as but instead offering a punchy, complex mix of sensations that puts the usual drab mediocrity to shame.

It’s easy to praise Cassis Bistro to the skies. It’s been a massive success since it opened, and no doubt it will continue to be so. We’re looking forward to our next visit already.

232-236 Old Brompton Road, SW3.

www.cassisbistro.co.uk

Tags: cassis, fine dining london, Joel Robuchon, julian opie, London restaurants
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Chansons & Champagne in Soho

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Kettner’s in Soho. The place is legendary.

Oscar Wilde, Edward v-eleven, Lillie Langtry, Agatha Christie. Me. We all came here.

I was born with the gift of quiet, speculative laughter, and a sense that the world was mad. I was born with a love for sweet bubbly things, and strange word pairings, and rebellious looking girls who like to tune a guitar.

I sit down on the high stool and Peter comes over with the Champagne menu. The girl starts to sing Moulin Rouge-style – a long, mellow ballad with vibrant overtones – and I promise myself I will come again, on my own, when no ones looking, and probably in disguise (Cyrano de Bergerac, perhaps).

He puts down a glass of Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2005, and quickly disappears into a gilded nook where a trio of starlets hold fort, then over to the Laurent-Perrier and Charles Heidsieck and Vilmart Grand Réserve (from the exquisite Rilly-La-Montagne region); then he fills two glasses of golden stars for London’s most talented chanteuse – probably called Tallulah Tonic or Mika Doo.

“Our aim is to seduce you with a cheerful mixture of vintage tunes and enough red lipstick to keep every laundry in London busy for a whole month.” It says on the card.

I raise an eyebrow, and Peter has a sparkle in his eye. He has soul. You need it to work here, they say.

My blackberry goes. Chansons & Champagne can wait for my date in the Brasserie.

An actress, she looks the part in this place. ‘Fun, delicious, and semi-sinful’, they do a ‘coquettes’ night to bring back the glory days of aforesaid Cleopatra. She’s on the Rosé, talking to the waiter, also French. He’s got a sparkle in his eye, and he suggests Seared Turbot and King Scallops with Caviar Beurre Blanc. Other theatrical folk have it, but I get another glass of Pretty Gorgeous Rosé – also French – and start on a Crotin of Goats Cheese & Roasted Beetroot.

Hey, you famous here? She says. I think so, I reply, unsteadily, looking at myself in the mirror.

Beef Bourguignon, Smoked Bacon, Button Mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Not bad at all. Perfect with a glass of red 2006 Chateau Nicot. Crispy Sea Bass with Poached Rhubarb & Minted Peas. White Chocolate Mousse and warm Chocolate Torte to finish off. She’s feeling a little emotional. But this is no time for emotions. Indulgence is not supposed to be emotional, I say.

Upstairs, and round about somewhere in this humungous Georgian house there’s The Attic Bar, The Salle, The Den. Aesthetic marvels to hire for corporate folk to feel inspired. A private rendezvous in Tête à Tête for Cyrano and his muse. Next door, A French film directors party gets underway in The Apartment, complete with casting couches, drinks cabinet and grand piano.

The Chanteuse, sitting on the bar, stiletto tapping gravely, is still making sounds as she pulls out a ukulele. Peter is already swilling the Champagne, and smiling at us and pulling out a stool.

Every woman is a rebel, after all.

www.kettners.com/home/

Tags: champagne bar, cool nights out, gourmet food soho, London restaurants, Oscar Wilde, soho restaurants
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Cielo

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Open since February, Cielo serves modern Italian food in the kind of place that might be personified by a man wearing a sharp blue suit and a penchant for surrealist portrait painting. A cutting edge dining place with combined art gallery and nightclub, this select Mayfair venue offers a truly unique evening out.

We arrived at 8pm to a quiet setting; not wholly convinced we were in the right place, we were led through the dimly lit art gallery/entrance, gold restaurant/bar area and up to an enchanting mezzanine. The maître d’ assured us that the rush usually started at around 10pm. Eyebrows raised, I looked up and drank in the verve through the glass ceiling, and then pondered the quietly flickering flame around about. I’d have to wait and see about the influx, but just then, I was tempted by the house specialty aperitif – a heady mix of apple liquor with cloudy apple, elderflower and Moët & Chandon that was too sweet for me, but a hit with most others.

From this vantage point we could see a few other groups joining the party. The dining space does not sit many guests so when people start to arrive, the amp is turned up pretty high, and crescendos in a wave of chatter and laughter. We were taken to the table at our leisure and throughout the evening the service was attentive and informative as well as friendly and welcoming. Italian hospitality is not lost in Cielo’s modern attitude, and each guest is greeted like an old friend, so much so that the atmosphere is that of an extended family reunion. The drinks menu is varied, focussing on cocktail bar style drinks, as well as a limited Italian wine list.

The tuna fillet starter was executed well, the seared fish accompanied by a refreshing combination of fennel, celery and oranges, and the southern Italian flavours and textures came together well and balanced the dish. The pasta Sofia was the better of the pasta dishes – an asparagus cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and served with prawns. The plate jumped out with its colouring and layout, the type you wish you ordered when you see a waiter whisk past with one. The green cannelloni was bursting with cheese and the grilled prawns proudly sat to the side. The apple tart was recommended by our waiter for dessert and it did not disappoint; light puff pastry with a warm apple filling, apple drizzle and a creamy dose of vanilla ice cream. My sweet tooth comes and goes, but any combination of warm apple, sugar, pastry and vanilla is guaranteed to satisfy me, from Viennese apple strudel to American apple pie.

We finished the meal with a quality espresso and smooth amaretto. By this time, the party was really going and the club downstairs, Luxx, had opened. Diners were finishing their digestifs and heading downstairs for more. Had the following morning not called for an early rise, we would have been right behind them, absorbed in the celebratory atmosphere. Cielo is the place to go when you want to sit back and eat some good food, stir some fine cocktails and indulge your friends with a few wanton anecdotes. Its friendly, the service is spot on, and what’s most important, you look good sitting there as the party starts to roll.

3 New Burlington St,
London W1S

Tags: boutique hotels, cielo, London restaurants, luxx, posh restaurants
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