No Expert – Page 18 – No Expert …but I know what I like

Cafe Luc – European Grand Cafe (Closed)

Cafe Luc in Marylebone is as advertised, a European Grand Cafe. The atmosphere on entering is inviting and the service is efficient. It was running like a well oiled machine when we popped in for brunch – well the idea was to just have brunch, but we extended it to having dessert as well.

We ordered the Eggs Royale, and a couple of glasses of wine, and sat back to relax and people watch. The wine and food arrived quickly. The clientel seemed to be pretty international. American, German and Australian accents could be heard. The age group was fairly mixed too, ranging from young families to older couples. The place had a real buzz to it.

We moved on to dessert, I just had coffee and a selection of petits fours – Palmiers, canelé de Bordeaux and chocolate truffle. My companion made a better choice by going for the Roasted pineapple with coconut sorbet and pistachio. This was delicious. A larger portion of pineapple than expected, with some rather good coconut sorbet. The dish is served with a knife, fork and spoon. The spoon is essential for the juice, which is not to be missed. The combination of the pineapple juice, coconut and a hint of pistachio, makes for a very moorish sweet soup.

So if you are in the Marylebone area, Cafe Luc is worth remembering.

Marks out of 10

Food 5.9

Service 6.1

Ambience 6

UPDATE Dec 2011 – Cafe Luc is now closed.

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Apsleys at the Lanesborough – Where Taste Fails

ONE day and ONE meal into the New Year and we already have a strong contender for the Worst Meal and Most Disappointing Meal of 2011.

We had done a fair bit of research before booking Apsleys (A Heinz Beck restaurant located in The Lanesborough Hotel). The reviews were mixed, but on the whole quite positive. Some food critics and bloggers that we would normally rely on (you know who you are), actually rated this place as a future two star Michelin restaurant.

The room is extremely opulent, very much old world styling, which is in keeping with the hotel, however the canned music is a bit jarring.

We also found that the rather irritating, variable lighting levels created the ideal environment to stop bloggers taking decent photographs and certainly did nothing to enhance the presentation of the food.

We chose the 5 course Tasting menu with matching wines. Normally we have found that Tasting menus while often presenting dishes as small portions still manage to get the balance right, so that at the end of the meal you are comfortably full. However after 3 of our 5 courses we were pretty sure this would not be the case here.

The first course was Wild red sea bream carpaccio which bizarrely had a tropical theme, tasting as it did of Pina Colada. In our view this was hardly a suitable dish for the depths of winter. The next course was a very ordinary Pumpkin tortellini with castelmagno cheese, which was followed by 5 wafer thin slivers of Scallop.

Basically the dishes fell into the category of just okay or downright bad. The main course of Lamb with quinoa and sugar snaps in particular was actually unpleasant with a harsh astringent sauce and fatty lamb.

The dessert which was obviously designed to introduce some kind of WOW factor, fell flat. It consisted of a ice cream and honey comb biscuit filled chocolate orb. The waiter theatrically poured hot chocolate sauce over it to expose the ice cream. A nice idea, but the overall effect was to produce what seemed to us like a plate of cheap tasting chocolate sludge.

We had such a good run of restaurants leading up to and over Christmas, that we take no pleasure in reviewing this one. It brought back memories of the late and unlamented La Rotonde Restaurant at the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne and the La Dama Tourist Trap in Barcelona. Something is badly wrong when you have a strong desire to leave half way through a tasting menu.

The consensus was that far from deserving a second Michelin Star this restaurant really does not merit even the one star it already has. It is frustrating to go to these elitist high end restaurants that look the part and deliver service by numbers while failing to deliver on the food. Indeed it almost prompted us to make a new New Year’s Resolution to focus on just the restaurants in the Nigel Platts-Martin’s stable where food quality and flavour rule.

In conclusion one word sums up our experience of Apsleys – AVOID!

Marks out of 10

Food 3.5 (1.5 for the Lamb, as this was a “get me out of here” moment)

Service 5

Ambience 5

UPDATE: June 2012. Chef Change – Heros de Agostinis is now the new chef at Apsleys following Massimiliano Blasone resignation. Hopefully he will be more generous with the Scallops!

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NO EXPERT ANNUAL AWARDS 2011

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Best of the best

and the winner for BEST FOOD is

The Ritz

See post:-

The Ritz – getting past The Glitz

Runners up – Providores and Chez Bruce

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Worst of the worst

and the winner for WORST FOOD is

Apsleys

See post :-

Apsleys at the Lanesborough – Where Taste Fails

and the winner for MOST DISAPPOINTING FOOD is

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

See post:-

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – Simmer down and reduce your expectations

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Other Awards

Best Bread – The Modern Pantry

See post:-

The Modern Pantry – Food Fusion

Chez Bruce – better late than never!

We finally got around to trying out Chez Bruce in Wandsworth. So many people had raved about it over the years. In fact it was first recommended to me about 15 years ago when I lived in the area. Isn’t it annoying when other people are right, I really wish I had listened and started eating there then. I might have better fitted into the age group of the clientele too, who are typically 30 somethings.

The food which is often described as Modern British, actually has lots of different influences, French, Italian and Nordic.

To start my companion had the Gravadlax and beetroot club sandwich with herring salade lyonaise and horseradish, which was sublime. It definitely gets his vote for best starter of the year. I had the middle white pork terrine with warm potato salad and sauce gribiche which was also excellent. We accompanied these dishes with a carafe of rather stunning Pouilly Fuisse wine.

For main course my companion had the beautifully moist and tender venison loin with potato rosti and squash puree. A wonderful dish.

My Shetland salmon and scallops with Jerusalem artichoke puree, gnocchi, prosciutto and chaterelles, worked well combining fish and meat flavours beautifully.

As you can tell from all the superlatives I have used so far we really rated this place. It became our post Christmas treat, actually eclipsing Koffmanns, which is saying something.

Chez Bruce is very relaxing and not somewhere you would want to rush, so we extended our meal by having a cheese course matched with a lovely glass of chilled Rasteau 2007, Domaine De Trapadis, before “resting” and continuing on to dessert. For dessert we focused on the lighter dishes. The beautiful poached pear with honey and stem ginger ice cream and the prune and armagnac ice cream, accompanied by a refreshing glass of Muscat d’Asti.

We had no room for coffee and truffles, but did manage to squeeze in a small piece of shortbread, offered at the end of meal. Best shortbread I have ever had, with a hint of caramel, it was quite lovely.

We then asked for the bill, expecting it to be excessive as we had rather indulged ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised at how reasonable it was.

Chez Bruce is a part of Nigel Platts-Martins stable of restaurants. Holding its own against it’s sibling restaurants which include The Square, The Ledbury, La Trompette and The Glasshouse. Nothing jars here (not even the bread), the food, the service levels and the atmosphere seem just right. I certainly won’t be waiting another 15 years to return.

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Koffmanns – Pigs trotters and french fries! (Closed)

We chose Koffmans as our post Christmas treat. Pierre Koffmann ran the legendary 3 Michelin star La Tante Claire restaurant at The Berkeley until 2003, when he left to ‘go fishing’. He is now very much back on the London food scene, and back at The Berkeley.

Our first impression on entering the restaurant proper was a good one, although the stairs that take you down to the basement dining room, past the small bar area, are an accident waiting to happen.

Koffmann’s signature dishes include scallops with squid ink, braised pig’s trotter with morels, and pistachio soufflé with pistachio ice cream. So off course we made sure we ordered them. Indeed the waiter actually made a point of saying ‘and I presume you would like to order the Pigs Trotters’ – maybe the camera on the table gave it away.

We started with a tasty amuse bouche of rabbit paté, followed by a leak terrine with smoked haddock and the aforementioned scallops. Then for main course as well as the trotter stuffed with sweet breads, we had the beef cheeks. Both dishes were served with lovely mashed potatoes and a winter vegetable selection of broccoli, red cabbage and also what I can only describe as a completely superfluous order of french fries. Perhaps they were included to give us something to criticize? Certainly there was nothing much to complain about with the rest of the meal, and it still seems strange to say it, but the vegetables in particular were a standout, so much flavour. The Beef cheeks portion was large, but so light that finishing it was not a problem. Never having tried Pigs Trotters before, Koffmanns was definitely the best place to start. I’m not entirely sure what we expected, but having almost the full pigs leg complete with hoof on the plate was a bit disconcerting, but proved to be delicious. Pork crackling is not a personal favourite, due to earlier experiences where it has been more akin to chewing on a giants toenail. However this was not the case here as it was light, wafer thin and very, very tasty.

For dessert the pistachio soufflé with pistachio ice cream was quite stunning, on a par with the soufflé I tasted at The Ledbury a few weeks ago. The pear and almond tart however was really nothing special, although the pear sorbet that accompanied it was divine (a larger portion would have been nice).

We have always found that asking the Sommelier to match a glass of wine to each course makes the meal more interesting and as the wines by the glass were of a reasonable price (they ranged from £6 to £15) we knew we would not be too horrified by the final bill.

It is also always interesting to see where other chefs choose to eat in their own time. Gary Rhodes for example sat a few tables away from us, tucking into his pistachio soufflé.

Chefs who have worked in Pierre Koffmanns kitchen over the years include Tom Kitchin, Tom Aikens, Eric Chavot, Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing. Having eaten food produced by all of the above, we could certainly see Koffmanns influence.

UPDATE – Closed

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