Rootdown - Take 2

***Note to our Esteemed Readers***

We are going to try some different formats for our blogs - please let us know what you like :-) L & S

Rootdown: http://rootdownlondon.com/#home

Why did we go? 

We've been here before - and not that long ago - read about that here.  We wanted to see how things were going because this place holds fast to the side that simple ingredients can make great dishes with care and ingenuity.

Rootdown is also one of the most adept social media savvy places we've visited.  It's all about their fantastic Facebook page - even down to our menu for the evening.  So go here - love the menu and 'like' the page.

https://www.facebook.com/rootdownldn?fref=ts

Where is it?

This time we took the train to Clapton (10 minutes from Liverpool Street); much better than the rush hour bus we suffered last time.  It's a 5-10 minute walk south from the station across the roundabout and behold, a garden of earthly delights. Hackney is on the up and there's a sense that this kind of place has to stay one step ahead of bars, restaurants. Happily it does so, thanks to the sense and creativity of those running it.

What is it like inside?

This has to be a versatile venue and Ben and Becca manage to alter the mood a lot with the lighting.  But it's as useful for a business brunch as it is for a romantic night out. And the music and the busy flow of dishes from the kitchen mean it has a feeling of purpose, but in that charming way they have, the bar is not a barrier but a workspace where more magic occurs.

Starters:

SN's Salmon & Octopus

LM's Burnt Goat's Cheese salad

LM: Burnt goats cheese salad with heritage tomatoes and leaves was a joy - really light, simple tastes but the charred texture and taste of the cheese really gave it something else. Gorgeous.

SN: my starter hit me with both barrels.  The home smoker now works at a prodigious rate on a range of items including the home made butter below.  The smoked salmon was wonderfully full flavour but without the oiliness which plagues commercial packs.  The Octopus Salami was thing of beauty but such a surprise.  Ingenuity showing through again.  And finally the caper berries sealed this treasure of a dish - try it while you can.

Drinks: 

Cocktails were essential to put the week behind us!

SN: I had a vibrant Amaretto Sours - which looked as gorgeous as it tasted. 

LM: I can't remember which cocktail I had (which may say as much about my week as the potency of the drink!) but it was delicious - sharp and refreshing and setting me up nicely for the meal to come.

For wine we went for the Pinot Noir Estate, Johan Vineyards, Oregon 2011 (US) - a lithe wine of great flavour and the depth to hold up against or main course flavours.

Service:  At the front of this house Becca moves between the tables with enthusiasm and all the gen on the marvellous food and the tricks of it's preparation.  It's lovely when there is a crowd in to see each table getting in the Rootdown vibe and having their tastebuds and curiosity engaged.  The staff here are well acquainted with each dish, each cocktail and all the wines.  The pace of service matches the relish and interest of the diners, time as so often in the best experiences seems to melt away.

As friends of Rootdown we're bound to be biased but it is a special feeling to go back and find their energy undiminished and the kitchen's latest miracle greeted with the same surprise and wonder by the staff and their customers.


Main Courses:

SN: My Lamb Chump tumbled over itself with exciting textures and tastes and mingled flavours.  The meat itself was divine, but the crab apple and tahini were surpassing neighbours.

This dish of beetroot upstaged the lot - needs to be sampled!

LM: I missed out on the dish of polenta with mushrooms and asparagus on my last visit so was excited to try it this time. Comfort food at its best, with lashings of parmesan to cut through the soft polenta and a fantastically light truffle oil to give it even more depth


Desserts:

SN: We are getting horribly addicted to this pudding - there will be weeping when it disappears.  It is just astonishing. Flourless chocolate cake - once tasted never forgotten :-)

Overall

Food quality, drinks and service 5/5
Ambience 5/5
Magic 6/5 (that's allowed cos it's magic)

Best Bit:

SN & LM: The whole menu was superb but we have to choose one thing.

This za'tar bread and home smoked butter - it's mind-blowing

Summary
We love Rootdown - they treat their customers as dinner guests and the kitchen tries so very hard to surprise us with foods we think we know: so far they have always intrigued and delighted us  It's up there with the most ingenious places we have visited and we'll look forward to going again.  Their food is special: the quality is high because they're determined to make their mark that way.  Their produce is worth all their efforts each dish has that defining feature.....even down to their own smoked butter (gorgeous)!

EDWINS

***Note to our Esteemed Readers***

We are going to try some different formats for our blogs - please let us know what you like :-) L & S

Edwins : http://edwinsborough.co.uk

Why did we go? LM picked up good things about Edwins from the social media.  SN: liked the reviews on Tripadvisor.  We were delighted to see that Edwins is also in the 2016 Good Food Guide.

Where is it? It's on Borough High Street a little way away from the bustle and extortion that goes on in and around Borough Market.

What's behind the name? Who is Edwin?: There's a sad history to this tribute to a man born nearly 170 years ago.  Edwin Brady started a collection of curiosities and the pub became The Hole in the Wall in 1883, the curiosities included risqué postcards which one customer found too much.  The sadness was that Edwin was refused a license and died in penury in 1906 of TB.  The Museum went to New Cross, the pub was renamed ten years ago.  But the restaurant and I like to think the enterprising spirit of Edwin remains embodied in this restaurant.

What is it like inside? Its quirky, like and expanded 1950s suburban dining room.  Plenty of room for the diners and lots of nice touches.

Starters: a nice range of small plates, well presented . My Colchester oyster was very tasty - much more so than many I've had in Soho. The girolle risotto was rich and fragrant. LM had a simple but very effective medley of tomato, beetroot and goat's curd - classic flavours beautifully presented.

Drinks: The cocktails were delicious and much more thrilling than the online menu suggests. LM had a citrusy cocktail which sharpened the appetite beautifully. The wine list was too good - a balance of wines of various styles and country of origin, and prices covered wide range. Now I check we ordered a 2011 Burgundy and got a 2012 - the wine was very good, but given the price hike on older wines I think it's important the customer gets what they order.

Service: It's easy to overlook service which is seamless.  But the staff were both discreet and yet somehow ever present (at least when we needed them).  Lovely people, nice responses to our expressions of interest and quick and unflustered.


Main Courses: Our large plates were accompanied with garlic mash and a bowl of greens which were very well done - with just a hint of olive oil on the mash and a vibrance to the greens.

SN: Venison was very tender and the accompaniments were very well balanced.  it was beautifully presented and I'm suddenly a big fan of shallot puree.

LM had grilled halloumi and duck egg on a celeriac hash - portion was possibly a bit too generous but delicious nonetheless.

Desserts: we were full and so shared a most divine dessert of a chocolate pudding with honeycomb ice cream.  Awesome paring and distinctly chocolatey.  SN also enjoyed their flavoursome coffee.

Overall

We'd give Edwins 5 out 5 stars for food, ambience, service and price.

Best Bit:

SN: The venison - so hard to get tender and flavoursome - delicious

LM: the candles

Summary 

A hidden gem without the pretensions of Borough Market but fine, simple ingredients cooked

well in the English style.  They have created homely surroundings with excellent table service and a marvellous tribute to the sad life of the curator of the Hole in the Wall museum of curiosities.

Out of Town: Salford - Face and Foot - An Offaly Good Night

Half of STB went out in Salford, SN writes

Chefs Richard and Mike served up a cornucopia of innards in Salford for one night only and I had a beautiful and adventurous Doctor with me to identify the parts...

This my first visit to a Face and Foot pop-up - I was very impressed.  These are ticket only events: single dates promoted mainly through Twitter.  Anyone in the North West who wants a fine dining experience on the edge should follow them @facefootfood  to keep in touch. 

This event was hosted at The Kitchens a fine facility for foodies and their chefs in Salford's Spinningfields district.  It's worth saying this type of event would have cost a good deal more in London and I dare say it would have been much less convivial.  The food was amazing but I wouldn't underplay the atmosphere our hosts create which added so much to the experience.  Rarely do LM and I get to chat to other diners in London (we once managed it at Galvin La Chapelle). We knew no one there at the start of this escapade - but soon the warm, friendly and very funny conversations gathered momentum and carried on all night (and onto Twitter too).  Interesting and interested people are all that are needed and we moved from Cilla Black to a Beatles Conspiracy Theory to working up a cheap and profitable Dragon's Den idea for putting unruly children to sleep (but not in the veterinary sense... I think....)

We were two of 14 diners and once assembled on one big table canteen style - we were away.

First up - a raw liver cocktail and a Tequila shot - though daunting the chilled liver, mixed with tomato and strawberry, was smooth and as approachable as a pate.  The shot was a good match.

Next up, tiny lamb's liver with mushrooms and sherry on crostini - absolutely delicious

The slider of ox heart tartare was full of flavour and gloriously meaty - truffle chips were quickly devoured.

The three soft tacos took us from lamb brain to pig cheeks via chicken hearts.  It may be giving you too much detail to say my main delight was matching the texture to the origin. Each had it's own glorious accompaniment and by this stage the wine, chatter and enthusiasm for the fare were in fullest flow.

Timely then that the chefs produced a pudding to lift the room to new heights.  Chocolate, blood and orange pudding - what was added in a very corporeal sense was body to the run of the mill mousse.  It had a persistence and flavour to bowl you over with every mouthful.  The Choc Chip and Bacon cookies are the 'take away and try at home' dish I think - texture was again a surprising component but sooooo satisfying.

The good doctor and I were euphoric (and I was driving so it wasn't the wine!) as we left - we summoned up enough energy to go dancing afterwards too.  Reminding us that offal is tasty and not too filling - not to mention the health benefits.

More to the point - this type of dining, in this type of setting proved a real game changer for me - as previous posts have shown - we are all over new restaurants and great chefs in London.  Manchester has a lot to offer too and dining canteen style adds so much more to the night.  Thanks to everyone who made it offaly good.

The tickets were £21 and the clever wine choices £10/bottle

Out of Town: The Damson, MediaCity, Salford

Damson Restaurant

Orange Building, 

MediaCityUK, 

Salford M50 2HF

http://mediacity.damsonrestaurant.co.uk

SN: I went with a couple of friends to The Damson overlooking the gardens at MediaCity in Salford the other day. Sadly I didn't take a camera so you'll have to do with descriptions of the excellent fare.

We were shown to our table - part of a range along a window maybe 25 yards long overlooking the gardens and Manchester Ship Canal quayside at MediaCity in the city of Salford (not to be subsumed into it's metropolitan neighbour Manchester.  The Quays developed as the northern home of the BBC and the Imperial War Museum as opened in 2011 and has soon become a favourite playground for the locals.  This independent restaurant was pleasingly full.  Our seats overlooked the view but there is also a large tabled private dining room and "a bar area" which is cosy and I imagine the place for quiet conversation - no tables were set there but it can be booked.

We were encourage dot go straight to our table but there was no attempt to sell us cocktails or an aperitif. I had to go and ask for a cocktail menu as I spent too long trying to attract the attention of the staff.  That said when it came the Peach Bellini was a nice enough way to kick things off - rather plain both in presentation and taste though.

Our visit coincided with a change in the menu - we felt the main courses had come a bit less adventurous but the starters had the three of us musing on choice.  

After nice bread and salty, whipped butter, I started with Kataifi foie gras, szechuan poached peaches & toasted almonds.  This was divine combination - the katafi pastry - so often the Greek dessert of choice, was a rich and crunchy back drop to the rich baked foie gras.  The pate supported in a basket of the pastry accompanied with gently spice peaches and toasted almonds - there was a drizzle of honey involved too.  The richness and the sweetness were great in the same mouthful.  The greasiness of the foie gras remains on the plate and I think that's a bit of an oversight.

Our wine was a Rosé to cope with our wide ranging menu choices.  The wine list is varied and very well stocked at the lower and medium price range though a little light at the top end.  We had the Cinsault/Tribouren/Mourvedre/Grenache, Domaine Rimauresq Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence, France 2011/12 (though I think we had something a little younger)

Whilst my fellow diners had plaice and duck respectively, I struggled to choose: I took this as a good sign! Eventually I opted for a seaside/hillside combination of Lamb rump cooked sous vide, seashore vegetables, clams, lamb broth, confit garlic foam.  It came in a big dish with a deep centre - four uniform cubes of lamb covered in vibrant green young samphire and surrounded by broth which was cooking the meat a little more.  Around one quarter of the dish a swirl of garlic foam added more to the presentation and taste.  The lamb was uniformly cooked and though I would have ordered it somewhat rarer in other circumstances, it was magnificent and wonderfully counterpointed once more by the calms and samphire.  The celeriac didn't really do much truth be told, perhaps something punchier would have added more.

Desserts followed with recommendations for matched wines.  I eschewed the prescribed Gewurtztraminer and substituted a Monbazillac to accompany Vanilla & mango cheesecake, lychee sorbet, pina colada sphere. The none too subtle but so enticing aroma and taste of the wine may have dented the punch of the cheese cake a bit but I loved this sweet - lychee sorbet was also perfumed and the mysterious globule on the spoon when the dish arrived whilst not spherical was certainly pina colada.  This little coup de theatre was very good and vividly set the palate up for the dessert.

Not to be left curious I also had a glass of Pedro Ximenez with a coffee.

All told this meal presented really good value: in London it would have cost half as much again.  Exciting foods and a lovely range of drinks. The service was understated and after a while friendly at the table.  When I went on an explore and said hi and thank you to the kitchen staff: there was a hesitant acknowledgement but no more.  I think kitchen staff at whatever level should be talking to their customers.  It's a shame when they are hidden away from those of us who enjoy the fruits of out labours.  There is something a bit mechanical about the staffing at this restaurant - missing a chance to engage with the dinner.  They might have sold me another dessert, they certainly wouldn't have sold me any cocktails had I not asked.  Engaging your customers is more then a perfect looking but empty smile - there could have been more of that.

Rootdown

237 Lower Clapton Road

Hackney

London

E5 8EG

0207 686 6080

http://rootdownlondon.com/#home

We are slightly behind in our blogger but Rootdown became a pressing priority after a night there last week.  The bloggers we read are spreading the word about this place opposite Clapton Pond and rightly so.  We were amazed.  Rootdown takes us a little further out but is worth a journey of ten times the distance to sample its unique flavour and style.

Siblings Becca and Ben Scales opened the place recently; it's unprepossessing and has the air of a quirky bar cum diner. This is a seriously good dining experience worth of a top quality eatery, but it manages also to be the kind of place where people will pop in for cocktails on a Friday night accompanied by a delicious soundtrack.  The decor is restrained, the elbow room is plentiful and the service is quick, cheery and informative.

I don't tend to look a menus but LM had been planning our visit and targeting the chickpea doughnuts with zeal.  There was some small dismay (swearing) when Rootdown changed the menu the day we got there.  In the end something more fascinating was on the menu but it will change again.  On that basis look at the menu if you want to know what's what - but also look at the website because it is a great example of how to present your restaurant and its wares.

I chose an Austrian red from Muhr van der Niepoort, Sydhang 2011 which proved to be suitably flexible for our starters and mains and like everything at Rootdown the price was not outrageous.  The real story of the night unfolded from the moment we tried to decide on cocktails....

Chilli Pear Caprioska

LM: I kicked off with a chilli pear cocktail, not a combination I would have immediately thought of but as it turned out fantastically well matched flavours. There was just enough chilli kick for me - apparently the recipe has been toned down recently for being a bit too hot - great to see a bar taking on feedback so willingly.

Mozzarella, cucumber, mint and peach

My starter was simple but divine - generous chunks of fresh mozzarella with peach, cucumber and olive oil dressing. No need to do anything fancy with seasoning when the produce is this fresh and tasty - they'd got the peaches absolutely perfect, firm without being under. Fantastic dish.

Shredded beetroot, zata'ar labneh, black onion seeds, caraway.

SN: The bold colour of this starter as you approach the plate is soon confused by the subtle complexity of the taste and fragrance and texture.  Beetroot - another roof our under-rated veg - is a delicately sweet carrier for the tastes of shoots and the crunch of the caraway and black onion seeds.  The fuzzy mix of flavours in the zata'ar adds a depth and the smooth labneh contrasting texture.  Delightful.

Broccoli tops, freekah, burnt lemon, tahini yogurt, soft boiled egg and pomegranate molasses.

LM: I was torn between main courses - the other option was a slightly safer sounding polenta with mushrooms - but I'm glad I went for the more unusual option! Again the elements were cooked to perfection, the broccoli still had enough bite, and the egg was a really interesting addition to the meal. I was a little dubious about the burnt lemon (with egg?!) but it was smoky enough to add a really subtle depth of flavour to the rest of the dish.

Onglet steak, Janssons Temptation, watercress Cafe de Paris Butter

SN: I'm still on a wave of delight from this main - so much so I tried to make the potato dish myself this weekend.  My attempt was lacklustre compared to Rootdown's effort and demonstrated just how much care they had put in - adding a crunchy exterior to the blocks of layered potato and onion speckled with anchovy and baked in cream. I would, ordinarily steer clear of some of the typical tastes in Scandinavian cooking, but this was out of the world.  The thread ran through to the Café de Paris Butter (garlic, anchovies, capers and herbs in the classic recipe).  Onglet steak is steak at it's best - I love its texture and flavour - no wonder butchers used to keep this steak for themselves.  All together this was a mighty offering - not too heavy though - full of flavour, richly rewarding and remarkably straightforward though difficult to bring off as well as Rootdown do it.

In a remarkable tribute to Rootdown and Becca's skills selling the menu, I decided on two Desserts...

Flourless Chocolate Cake, crème fraiche, cherry compote

SN: I should probably leave LM to describe this - her face as she took the first bite of flourless chocolate cake probably paints sufficient of a picture....

LM: I think the pictures say it all - quite possibly the best chocolate cake I've ever had - rich, gooey, dense and full of flavour - I was very close to ordering a second portion despite being full to bursting at this point.

SN: LM helped me with our extra dessert - a cheese of glorious flavour, rich and golden and superb silk texture.  Mrs Kirkham and her family come from three generations of cheesemakers and the farm near Goosnargh in Lancashire is doing something special.  Rootdown's generous portions helped us end the meal in style.  A gorgeous flavoursome chutney balanced the plate and sourdough as transport of delight.

Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire, chutney and toast

It's quite simple really: great service, great wine & cocktails and simply amazing food delivered with flair.  I really feel (and felt as soon as I saw the menu) that this place is rooted in the simple aim of allowing people to eat and drink well at a very reasonable price. With drinks and three and a half courses our bill was just over £50 each.

Their attention to detail and balance is superb but not fussy: for example the cherries match the astounding flourless chocolate cake perfectly - not too sweet, not cloying, some welcome texture and visual appeal. 

Cocktails are sophisticated but not overblown - we could have spent all night working our way down the list.  The wine list is bold and confident (rightly so) those with set expectations might have to think a bit or take advice but there are gems there.  The service was a key component, Becca made us feel very welcome and right at home.  The staff are friendly, attentive and down to earth. We loved it here - not least because LM had so many choices of vegetarian dishes which we hold in as high regard as they do.

Mouth watering dishes, satisfying platefuls where one should no fear of trying something different - something for everyone and you are in safe hands. We have been to some swell restaurants this year already but this is the best restaurant I've been to all year.

Honey and Co

Honey & Co

25A Warren Street, 

London 

W1T 5LZ

http://honeyandco.co.uk

SN: Honey & Co is a small, well-regarded establishment on Warren Street, overlooked by the Post Office tower.  They serve what they describe as "food from the Middle East" completely underplaying the excellence of the cuisine.  They have a great reputation.  It is a compact space with a large window at the front, a few tables outside and there is a large counter at the other end groaning with cakes.  The menu is absolutely about Middle Eastern food and its delicate flavour combinations and it is impressive in it's range which changes regularly too.

We started with the Luxury Mezze with six or seven dishes which were just a treat:

First few dishes in the Mezze

LM: everything was delicious and so well balanced. The quality of the ingredients is really clear - the hummous, for example, is smooth and delicate, a million miles away from the gritty, garlicky rubbish you get in a lot of places. Feta cigars had a lovely crunch to them, and there was a good balance of salads to go with the heavier dishes.

tomato and sheeps curd

feta filo cigars with honey

SN: this was very impressive mezze - the dark crusted bread was just gorgeous and at every turn there was something to divert and delight.  And echo what LM said about the hummous - a smooth texture I hadn't encountered at all and none of the cloying after-taste of the worst attempts I've suffered.  There was plenty for two of us.  Colour, flavour and texture brilliantly covered across a range of simple but elegant dishes.

Persian meatballs in yoghurt sauce

SN: It was hard to choose a main course: my decision was based mostly on curiosity about how a yoghurt sauce might match meatballs.  It was just divine with peas and pea shoots and mint balancing the gently spiced lamb meatballs with even more luxurious tastes.  Again I was struck by the high quality ingredients, simple ideas and delightful sense of discovery in this dish. When Honey & Co present a dish it's without fuss, but the real satisfaction is in the tastes and textures that they leave you to explore.

lentil and carrot kofta

LM: my main was a lentil and carrot kofta with carrot and walnut salad and tahini (which you can't see, but was underneth the kofta). Absolutely gorgeous dish - lighter than it looks, the kofta had a lovely crunch to them and were soft and spicy on the inside.

Cold cheesecake, kadaif pastry, honey

LM: My dessert was probably the least exciting of the courses for me - a little bit too much cheesecake topping and not enough pastry base, although the sugared nuts and honey gave it a glorious edge. I had dessert envy over SN's choice...

Warm pistachio and goats cheese baklava with set lemon saffron cream

SN: LM was right to suffer dessert envy.  I like baklava very occasionally and I was interested in the Honey & Co take on it: I was ready for something sickly but there was none of that.  It was the highlight of the meal in every sense.  Delicious understated filling, rich in the fullest sense of the word, delicate pastry and the gorgeous cream to set it off and provide a vivid sense of the Middle East sun. The striking colours, textures and tastes sum up all that I really enjoyed at Honey & Co: nothing offends, mostly it intrigues and everything is of a very high quality.

We didn't get round to cake

SN: But there was a problem - having put all that effort into the food, they fell flat on their faces on customer services.

We were 1 hour 52 minutes into our allowed 2 hours when we were presented with a bill.  This was galling - I'd had no time for a coffee, I was thinking about more wine and even toying with the idea of another dessert (on the advice of Itamar Srulovich who had just responded to a question I had just tweeted).  It was a greater disappointment to be moved on in such a perfunctory, charmless way. Had the service been lightning fast throughout I might have felt the restaurant had kept it's side of the bargain - but it wasn't.  Service was poor: we waited five minutes for our member of staff to get off the phone to order dessert.  When we ordered the sweet no sense of the impending exclusions was given - she could have had one more sale if she had recommended we ordered coffee at the same time as ordering dessert.  At one point a different person came back to check our order.  I don't think they were doing everything they could to maximise our enjoyment in that 2 hours.

This is a venue where you will have great food - food in truth worth more than they charge for it - but a meal out is more than that - especially for us.

I guess the owners might argue that they would prefer to offend a few people by moving them on than risk having empty tables.  There was a queue of people waiting, but it seemed fewer than the seats available.  But with our departure and the departure of a large birthday party party at the same time, a lot of space was freed up.  The overall impression left for me is that are not well enough organised - certainly that's how it felt. No one awards prizes for restaurants that turn round tables quickly.  They should pay a visit to the Regency Cafe in Pimlico which has a system which shows it can be done. I won't be going back.

They may excuse this by saying that all the other restaurants do it: our experience is that whilst other restaurants may say that, they very rarely do it. So a sad end to a great food experience and if you are booking - beware the sting in the tail!

Grain Store Unleashed

Grain Store Unleashed

St John's Square, 

86-88 Clerkenwell Road, 

London 

EC1M 5RJ

Phone: +44 (0)20 7324 4455

eat@thezetter.com

SN: Grain Store Unleashed is the re-invention of Bruno Loubet's Bistro deep in Clerkenwell hosted in the Zetter Hotel.  It has relaunched recently and we were lucky enough to get a table shortly after the re-opening.  It is a light and airy, casual style eateries during the day and something a bit mor intimate at night.  We went for Sunday Lunch (a rarity for Split the Bill) to see how it matched up to one of our favourite venues - Grain Store at Kings Cross which we first visited for this blog in Oct 2013 and again more recently in February.  We are still big fans - read how Unleashed stacked up....

As you can see - it's a nice spacious spread of tables with a busy bar and a Spring-like French garden feel about it.

Rhubarb Negroni

SN: It's worth just pausing a moment on Grain Store cocktails - always simple on the page and complex and entertaining on the palate.  This Rhubarb Negroni attracted us both.  The Italian Aperol provided rhubarb and floral flavours whilst the Lillet Blanc (a mix of Bordeaux white wine and exotic citrus bitters) provided a foil to that.  The triangle completed with a robust Beefeater Gin.   Fantastic.

Crozes-Hermitage Les Pontaix 2013, Domaine Fayolle, N. Rhône, France 

SN: This wine was on offer as a bin end in February so unlikely to be around now.  But robust enough to cope with the avalanche of flavours.  We know that if nothing else Loubet squeezes every ounce of flavour out of his ingredients and everything needs a pretty robust wine to balance it.

Cornbread with avocado butter

LM: We started our meal with complimentary cornbread with avocado butter. The cornbread was hot and fresh with crunchy seasalt flakes and the avocado butter was spiked with lime to cut through the richness. A very encouraging start...

Vegetal oyster & caviar, ‘Bottom of the Sea’

SN: This was a curious starter and I was expecting something that made more immediate impact but it did excite the taste buds.  A bit more explanation from the staff might have helped I think.  The overall package is very much of 'the sea'.  I enjoy date seaweed sheet a little more than the oysters - the caviar was delicious but the pickle puree was fine on its own without the onion.

Asparagus in brown butter, pomelo & bronze fennel

LM: Asparagus was a really interesting dish - not particularly adventurous looking on the plate, and for a moment I wondered whether I had picked badly, but thankfully not - the asparagus was dressed with what can only be described as magic butter - sweet and tart without being sour, and fantastically complimentary to the asparagus.

Spring vegetable cassoulet, pulled lamb shoulder

SN: The strong broth beneath this dish would have been sufficient on it's own but with carrots, peas beans and epic poached white radish this was already one of the best dishes I've had at a Loubet restaurant.  The pulled lamb was very finely balanced against these lovely delicate veggie tastes.  As usual Loubet gets these subtleties just right.  Idea for a snack or a light lunch this dish was rich enough for a main course and so hearty as to leave me comfortably full.

Kohlrabi & broad bean raviolo, ramson

LM: Raviolo was gorgeous, the filling wrapped in paper thin slices of kohlrabi rather than pasta and served in a rich broth of beans and peas. So simple but so well made, and I loved the lightness of it. Really generous portion as well - but all about the flavours rather than the bulk.

Parsnip & white chocolate cream, matcha tea, pink grapefruit & passion fruit gel, caramelised puffed oat

SN: this was something I'd yearned for: a decently done parsnip dessert.  Be in no doubt, it tastes primarily of parsnip but the white chocolate is a surprisingly low key accompaniment and looks just divine.  I recall when making homemade parsnip and apple soup, I always struggled to maintain a pure colour but this is spot on.  The oat adds one sort of bite and the gel quite another - it's a hefty kick of tartness that the cream needs.  The shade grown (and therefore very green) matcha tea is a beautiful complement too.  Delivered as a powder it is sparing but a welcome added dimension.

Lemon & strawberries petit pot, rosemary crumble

LM: My dessert was delicious but probably the least adventurous of the dishes. A layer of macerated strawberries was topped with a creamy lemon layer and freeze-dried strawberry coated crumble. I couldn't taste the rosemary but it was tasty nonetheless.

Gorgeous  coffee too!

LM: Overall I think it's fair to say we were both really impressed with the quality of cooking and the inventiveness on offer, and the service was exceptionally friendly and warm. There were a couple of minor glitches from the soft launch including a light spraying for us as the plants were being watered and being charged for the wrong bottle of wine, but both were quickly rectified and with no drama.