Thursday, January 14, 2010

Subversion

My word for the day is subversion. Under my semi professional outfit (semi professional because I rarely dress properly for work, a plus of not having clients to canoodle too often) I am wearing an astroboy t shirt. This will make me happy all day. I am wearing this t shirt for a couple of reasons. One was that it was snowing when I went to work, so I wanted a layer that could be dried over hand dryers with relative ease should I end up drenched in melted snow. Another was that I have yet to work anywhere with an office that features properly regulated climate control. A key investment piece for my colleagues this year was a pair of gloves with the fingerless option. I spent most of yesterday saying "No, I haven't just gotten into the office, I am just wearing my coat to stay warm". The main reason though, was that I had a hangover this morning and instinctively went for comfort clothes.

The poor vision and killer headache were a direct result of dinner at Wild Honey last night. I've resisted the urge to go to Wild Honey till now, largely because I was really dissapointed by Arbutus. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Arbutus. It was just like Independence Day - not a bad movie, but much less than the press surrounding it. I also made a bad call at Arbutus and had the Bouillabaise, which I have a tendency to order though I almost never like it. The hype around both siblings is generally the same: "impeccable", with something about the value for money, the use of less popular cuts,and a reference to Putney Bridge (now so close to forgotten that I can't even find a review online). I can't remember what went wrong for me with Arbutus other than that I didn't like the Bouillabaise, and that it wasn't actually huge value for money, despite expectation. I think part of the issue was probably that I'd gone with people I wasn't relaxed with, and so the food and service had to work harder to make the experience a great one.

I totally disagree with Adrian Almighty Gill, who preferred Arbutus, and agree with Matthew Norman's non food-critic friend, who said "Five minutes of service here has obliterated the memory of two hours of mediocrity at the other place, and the setting is infinitely better, too."
The setting is actually fairly interesting. Tables are in booths on either side of the restaurant, with a long table in the centre. That table houses the cheeses under a perspex lid, which avoids the smell of the cheese permeating through the room. Great in principle, but whenever someone had cheese, the lid would be lifted and there would be an assault on the senses. Plural, since the Australian potential-vegetarian (he had a trial run there last night) would lurch away from the cheeses and into me every time this happened. Beyond that though, I really liked it. I've always liked the cosiness of booths, and it lends to an intimate conversation. Perfect if you're having dinner with disgruntled colleagues or an ex or a war criminal.

The menus were on the table when we arrived and featured these starters:
- Partridge and foie gras boudin blanc with wild mushrooms and pea puree;
- Exmouth crab with poached pear salad;
- Pork belly with Hereford snails and a butternut squash puree;
- Potato Soup with mackerel rilette and muscat grapes;
- Ravioli of winter vegetables;
- Foie gras terrine with pickled quince and wet walnuts;
- Smoked eel, chicken wings and sweetcorn with sweet and sour turnips.

Imagine the dillemma. I didn't want all of them, but it was fairly close. In the end I managed to convince Fred to share his with me, and we settled on the boudin blanc and the crab. Both were excellent. The crab was all white meat in decent chunks so it didn't keep falling off the fork (pet peeve, I don't like to struggle to eat), properly briny and generously portioned. The poached pear was something I actually felt jealous off. It was thinly sliced, so it didn't overpower the crab. I've never been able to poach a pear so that I could slice it like that. I've barely been able to poach a pear at all. The boudin blanc was amazing. I've always been nervous about it but this was absolutely gorgeous. I unashamedly kept going back for more from Fred's plate. I couldn't work out where the partridge came into it, but that didn't matter.

The main courses on offer were:
- Bouillabaise, but I'd learnt my lesson!
- Pumpkin risotto covered in wild mushrooms and parmesan. The psuedo-vegetarian had this and I thought it was weak. It was a little oversalted and tasted too rich, if that's feasible;
- Cod with gnocchi, shellfish vinaigrette and something involving sea purslane;
- Roast veal with caramelised endive, wet walnuts and sage. This was tempting but for once I resisted! Alex had it though and he thought the veal was overcooked. I suspect we were too early in the week to have hit the centre of the joint, and no choice was offered as to how well cooked it should be, but that's difficult with roasts in any case;
- Salmon trout with creamed cabbage and wild mushrooms. Fred went for this and it was a little surprising in that the fish resembled sea bass (I have my suspiscions!), but it was lovely. A very generous portion of fish for the price, with plenty of the mushroom to buffer it;
- Haunch of venison, curly kale and jeruselum artichokes. I was tempted after my New Year's experience to go for this because of the artichoke, but didn't.

So what did I have? I cheekily asked the waitress to upsize the Pork belly starter, and it was fantastic. The clear winner. Fred got a third of it for previously exhibited good behaviour and the decision was unanimous. It wasn't fatty, though moist through and with a crunchy crackling. The snails were just the right texture. Yum! I might have to go back. For dessert we were evenly split between the cheese and the chocolate soup with almond soy ice cream. Both were alright but not amazing, which was dissapointing. Still, we were sated.

It's a winner!

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