Typing Room
Town Hall Hotel
Patriot Square, London
E2 9NF
What hits you is that the room has more energy about it than Viajante - and it has a zest and movement which is more invigorating. There's an eagerness and hunger about the place - and all the staff are imbued with it.
In this type of restaurant there is something thrilling in the anticipation of new flavour combinations on a tasting menu journey - here at Typing Room it is coupled with determination to do more with a different approach to wine pairings. Make no mistake Typing Room is as great an adventure as any tasting menu we have had but the wines were just as exciting. It was made clear too that the wine pairings were still being explored and we were asked for feedback as we went along - this is living dining.
It was refreshing to find a veggie tasting menu ready and waiting for Louise with different wines where the dishes diverged.
LM: One of the interesting things about the wine choices were that they were all organic or bio-....? [SN bio - dynamic]- not something I get to try often.
LM: I wonder sometimes whether you can judge a whole meal on the breadboard - generally my favourite dining experiences have started with something unusual and wonderful and, of course, packed with carbohydrates. In this case we were given rosemary brioche and brown bread, soft and clearly fresh out of the oven with a generous smear of marmite butter and a quenelle of a whipped butter with chicken skin. All absolutely glorious - a fantastic mix of textures. I think even a Marmite-hater would have been won over.
SN: My snacks were two corkers - Crispy fish skin, smoked cod, oyster & dill and Chicken skin, parfait, curry & raisin - both mouth watering and devilishly tempting in offering reinforced flavours fleetingly. We were served Terrassen, Jurtschitsch - Langerlois, Kamptal, Austria 2013 - as you might imagine it's a tad fresher than it's German equivalent and just the thing against the robust tastes in these tasters.
SN: The Celariac, mustard and cobnut dish which was our first dish proper: it was augmented with foie gras for me. Celeriac is a favourite of mine and with such a delicate but distinctive taste it was nicely off set by the crisp and sweet cobnuts and mustard. It's been a great year for cobnuts in my neck of the woods and it was nice to find them in a dish like this - the Horsmonden, Davenport Vinesyards - Rotherfield, East Sussex, 2013 was a very good match for this combination too. A fine English wine is a rarity in a wine pairing in our experience and this had both an immediate impact and a depth of flavours which drew parallels with the food. With or without foie gras - this pairing was a fine discovery.
LM: Our next shared dish was yeasted cauliflower with raisins, capers and mint. After our wonderful experience at Ten Bells I was really excited to see what else was going to be done with cauliflower - I've never had it presented and prepared as elegantly as this. Beautiful variety of textures and flavours - I'd happily have had several portions of that and the bread.
SN: this dish grabs the attention and this much abused veg has recently had a good deal of rehabilitation: but nothing we've had so far matches this. This dish is a wonder of construction with the soft yeasted cauli base yielding to firmer florets and then the memorable and mouth-watering crisps. What a triumph and deservedly one of the most talked about aspects of this menu. Nuno Mendes Globe Artichoke x3 pudding had thrilled us at Viajante three years ago but that was magical, exotic and somehow out of reach. This cauliflower dish is more surprising because the basic ingredient is so familiar and so routinely plain. So this dish is at once both homely and exotic: a theatrical triumph!
The wine Castelcerino, Filippi - Soave, Italy 2012 had much to contend with to get any attention - it's elegant, delicate taste wasn't going to be over-powered by our cauli-fest. It drew contrast with the sweetness of the dish but did not distract from the many wonders of the dish.
LM: Chilled tomato, scorched watermelon and goats curd was another joy to look at - a plate of artfully arranged vegetables and goat curd with a tomato consommé artfully poured over at the table. The mix of tomato and goats cheese is hard to beat at the best of times and the scorched watermelon just added another sweet tone to the mix. The pairing was Cuna de la poesia, Bodegas Leza - Roija 2013
SN: My next delight was Raw beef, smoked beetroot, horseradish and sorrel served with Mauzac Noir, Robert Flagoles - Galliac, France 2012. This was I think a wine which wasn't quite up to the task - these are strong flavours and a powerful combination and it felt it needed slightly more heft. The sommelier, who was eager for feedback on his new pairings, agreed and said he had a better option in mind for the future. It's a delightful earthy wine, but not quite muscular enough. The beef was succulent and the tiny beetroot were explosive in a way big slices or chunks could never be. The punchy leaves mustn't be overlooked in your forkful - there's much fun to be had here.
LM: Courgette, pistachio and basil was beautifully light and delicate after some of the earlier courses; almost like a palate cleanser. If I'm honest the wine pairings and cocktail were starting to kick in at that point so my memory is slightly hazy...SN: the pairing was Macon Villages, Comte Lafon, 2011
SN: The Bass, heritage tomato, courgette and squid was delicate too - and beautifully done. It had unity which one doesn't always associate with fish dishes. The fish too often sits on the margins as a strong taste that doesn't like company or it is reluctantly subservient to an even stronger ingredient. This democratic dish didn't try to overwhelm the delicate sea bass. The squid acting as alighting rod for the fishiness and the accompaniments were just dandy. The courgette needs rehabilitation too. Its cooked variations are a busted flush - this dish put it back where it belongs as a source of flavour not a filler. The wine pairing Rizling, Bolfan Rajnski - Zagorje 2011 from Croatia was a beauty
LM: Roast leek, cep, ratte potato and sorrel put me in mind of a more 'grown up' version of a similar dish I had at Ten Bells - smoky and dark tasting all the way through from the charred leeks but with a smooth and rich creamy sauce to cut through it. An absolute joy of a dish - if anything it could have been a little smaller but that is splitting hairs. SN: the pairing - Les Fensees de Pallus, Domaine de Pallus - Chinon Loire, France 2011
SN: My next dish was Lamb with burnt aubergine, yoghurt and onions - a robust combination which needed something unexpected from the pairing: the Vilosell, Tomàs Cusiné - Costers del Segre 2011 - this is a blend of six grapes grown high up in the hills between Barcelona and Zaragoza. What an extraordinary balancing act is done here - it has the richness of a fine Bordeaux but an amazing clarity, dark shadows in the taste and a quality I can only describe as poise. It was perhaps the most dramatic and unexpected mind blowing pairing of the night. I will certainly return to the wine and savour the memory of burnt aubergine with the finest lamb I've had in a long time.
My next course was a cheese board - a high quality pause in proceedings but reflecting, I'm puzzled that I wasn't offered a glass of something with it.....and even more perplexed as to why I didn't ask for one....
LM join in the party again with this cute citrous curiosity. As palate cleansers go the little dish of concentrated lemon: a meringue on top of a mousse on top of a crumbly sorbet was a pastry-less lemon meringue pie and another a coup de theatre.
LM: Chocolate, lovage and hazelnut was one of the best desserts I've eaten this year - the chocolate was in the form of a dry brownie which just sucked up the liquid from the ice cream and sauce to become something almost otherworldly in terms of taste - I love (and not just in this dish) what they're doing with flavours, marrying very rich organic herb flavours with more well known tastes.
SN: This was another dish where the texture and taste dramatically exceeded expectations. The brownie (if it had an flour in it at all) just dissolved in the mouth with flush of chocolate without being cloying or overpowering. The pairing was an exceptional match too: Chaume, Côteaux du Layon, Domaine des Forges - Loire, France 2011
SN: As the sommlier and I compared notes at the end of the meal, I noticed two dramatically different things about Typing Room - there was much more animated conversation than the last time I'd been in the room - a different style. That I was in conversation with the sommlier at all is notable too. The other thing for me was the flare in the menu and it's delivery - it's a stylish approach to food that we've all eaten before. the combinations excite as do the pairings. It was a wonderful night and we were glad to say that to Lee Westcott as we snook into the P&P for a last cocktail before departing. To reiterate: a great dining experience Lee and team, thank you very much.
