Food: Pied à Terre, Charlotte Street, London, 18th May 2007

It’s taken me a long time to write up Pied à Terre, partly due to being busy and partly because I was waiting for them to send me through the menu, which they did (Pied à Terre Menu and Pied à Terre Dessert Menu). In fact they sent me the wrong dessert menu but we remembered the details of our desserts!

Okay, so here is what we ate:

Amuses-Bouches

Aubergine Caviar, Mozarella wrapped in Parma Ham, Foie Gras Crisp, something else with red peppers

Starters

Carrot and Lime Marinated Scallops, with Avocade Puree, Baby Carrots and Pea Shoots (Jessie)

Tuna wrapped in Parma Ham with Soft Poached Quails Eggs, Green Beans, Pickled Mouli, Parsley Puree (Me)

Main Course

Pan fried John Dory with Roast Shallots, Green Tomato Fondue, Scallop Sausage and Vichyssoise Foam (Jessie)

Best End of Salt Marsh Lamb, Honey Glazed Turnip, Boudin of Morteaux Sausage, Celeriac Purée and Wild Rocket (Me)

Desserts

Lychee Mousse and Strawberry Yogurt Ice Cream with Champagne Foam (Jessie)

Acerola Cherry Parfait with Chocolate “Soil” and Lemon Sorbet (Me)

Coffee, Petit Fours

Food Cost: £62 each so £134

Wine

Assyrtiko, Sigalas, Satorini, 2006

Wine Cost: £32

Food + Wine = £166

We went for Jessie’s birthday and ended up taking the tube which meant that we were there in about 10 mins. We were welcomed very pleasantly and led into the back room of the restaurant. Along the right hand wall was a banquette alongside which were all of the tables for 2 (4 if I remember correctly) and one table for 4. However, at the end of the banquette was one table for two where, rather than sitting opposite each other, the couple sat at a right angle, thus allowing for more intimacy (and gossiping). Rather luckily we were given this spot! This also meant that the person sitting at the right angle to the line of diners against the wall (me!) could look down the line of tables and nosy in on what was going on with everyone else. This was quite a nice thing to do whenever something exciting turned up but it was quite a effort to get our eyes off our own food once it had arrived (and off each other of course!).

We toyed with the idea of getting the tasting menu but decided on a la carte in the end. To begin the meal we both had a glass of rose champagne which was rather delicious (Ruinart, NV) . Then arrived some tasty walnut and olive bread, soon followed by the amuses-bouches. The four items were arranged along a glass platter, each with its own holder. Of the four, the fois gras crisp stood out visually: there were two pieces of “crisp” with a dollop of foie gras sandwiched between them. In taste terms, the aubergine caviar was delicious, tasting slightly spicy. The mozarella and the pepper thing were both very good flavour combinations but that which looked the best, and was the most interesting to eat (in the mechanics of eating sense) was the least interesting flavour wise I felt. Still, the set was a great marker to set down for what was to come.

And my, what did come. Our starters were rather stunning. Jessie’s scallops were carpaccio’d and presented in a wash of green and orange. She loved the presentation of the dish and the textures, the baby carrots were a particular favourite on in both regards. She said it was very tasty as well, the combination of the carrot and lime with the more subtle flavour of the scallops was a particular standout. My own dish was a wonderful mix of textures and flavours. The tuna arrived in three cylinders wrapped around the sides with the parma ham and each of the cylinders had half a soft boiled quail’s egg resting on it. The flesh was translucent and mixed well with the creamy quail’s egg yolk and the salty parma ham. I had a little trouble at the time identifying the mouli; it had such a familiar flavour (it is something eating quite a lot by Punjabis) but just didn’t look like the radish that I wanted to call it! It has a sharp radish-like flavour but pickling it gives it a lovely addition of sweetness from the vinegar.

My main course was once again delicious. The lamb was a deep crimson in the centre and gradually got browner out at the edges. It had been rolled in a green herb paste that definitely contained rocket. The turnip pieces melted in the mouth (honey and turnip is such a classic combination) and were best accompanied by cloves of garlic that had been roasted so long that they were mushy inside their skins. The intriguing part of the dish was the sausage. I am a little confused with the description “Boudin of Morteaux sausage” since I thought that a boudin was a sausage?! Anyway, this was a sausage (and not a sausage in a sausage!) of various tasty pork morsels and lightly scrambled egg. I twas rather lovely to try on its own and, much to my suprise, was a great compliment to the lamb. Jessie doesn’t remember so much of the detail of her dish but one thing that was particularly intriguing was the scallop sausage. I remember that it puzzled us considerably when it arrived since we had forgotten that it was part of the dish! I do remember her raving about the combination of the shallots and the fish though!

Now, the puddings. What to say… Jess’ mother makes just about the best desserts I’ve ever eaten (with a couple of exceptions, more on this below) and so you would imagine her foodie daughter to be something of an expert on a good dessert.  She declared this the best dessert that she has ever eaten. Full Stop. That says it all really. However, being the person that I am, I can’t help but add some embellishment. Firstly, like everything else that arrived, both desserts looked stunning, especially Jess’. She had two perfectly shaped mounds (one of lychee mousse, the other of the ice cream) both encircled by sugar rings giving them a Saturn-esque look. All of this was surrounded by a lake of champagne foam. In my own dessert, the cherry parfait was intriguingly encased in a thin sugar layer which was sprinkled with the chocolate “soil”, a mixture of dark chocolate and nuts to give a soil-y texture. On top of all of this was the lemon sorbet, shaped as a small lemon! Needless to say it was also delicious, coming second in my all time pudding list only to the raspberry and strawberry soufflé at the Waterside. There was also a delicious predessert of treacle foam with a port sauce which I could have easily eaten a whole plate of.

We ordered coffee, and were rather glad that we did for it came with a fabulous set of petit fours. First we had four small sweet delights, a cake, a jelly, a sweet and a marshmallow, of which the  soft and flavoursome passionfruit marshmallow stood out. We were then brought a metal wire tree, at the end of each of the “branches” of which was a tuile biscuit. An enjoyable end to a very enjoyable meal.

This was, quite simply, a stunning meal. The service was top class (you’d expect nothing less from a restaurant of this calibre) and the food was brilliant. I have been readily recommending it for a special meal (and one person has even listened to my recommendation, which makes a change!). This has to go in to the top three restaurant meals.

P.S. Almost forgot about the wine. Mineraly, citrus tinged white that accompanied some of our selections very well (my starter, Jessie’s main). Lots of information here.