Waterside Inn, Bray

I don't know why it has taken me quite so long to venture out to Bray. What is effectively a village known predominantly for the quality of its food and drink should have been something of a mecca.  Perhaps it was a fear of leaving the boundaries of the M25. I'm not proud of this but if I'm going to leave London I tend to do so properly by either embarking on several hours of long train journey that necessitates sandwiches and a mini bottle of M&S wine or it involves planes and Terminal 5. There is a whole swathe of the country lying within 50 miles of London that I have no idea about. Someone asked me where Winchester was the other day; no idea?! I also thought Kent was to the south of London; it appears not. This needs remedying. So enough of my geographic ineptitude and on to the Waterside Inn.

An hour on the train and a short cab hop from the station and we were deposited by the river on what has been the only sunny Saturday so far this year. We were led straight through to our table and deposited with a nice view of the river but in the corner next to the fire escape (have they heard something about me?). Its not going to come as a surprise to anyone to say that this place is very, very French. Its almost as though someone has cloned a small army of clean cut, long-white-apron wearing, terribly polite Frenchmen and deposited them in the middle of rural Berkshire. You get dizzy at the number of times you respond hello on the short journey to your table.

Gripe alert. I'm going to start off the meal on a moan but promise it gets better from hereon in. Within only  a couple of minues of arriving at Waterside we are sat down with canapes and a wine list and a glass of Michel Roux's eponymous champagne (Very dry. Yeasty, biscuity flavour; not mind blowing but nice). Great, no problems there. Within the next five minutes someone attempts to take our wine order three times and remove the canapes (as yet untouched as due to the size of the wine bible I can't choose wine and reach the canapes at the same time). It is then suggested that I move my canapes to a side plate and hey presto! before I've ordered the wine or finished the canapes the first course is in front of me. To be honest I felt jammed in a corner surrounded by numerous waiters and distinctly pressured. This is meant to be a relaxing experience!

Once I finally got round to them, the canapes were pretty fab though, the best one being a steak tartare on a crisp topped with a soft boiled quail's egg. Other tasty little morsels included a welsh rarebit with pear chutney (good flavour and lovely idea but was served cold and in my book molten cheese is at its best when hot) and a smoked eel tempura. The anchovy cheese straws were well executed but really powerfully fishy. If you like anchovies you will love them. 

So from whine to wine..........




All gone!

I could have very, very easily spent the GDP of a mid sized country on wine at Waterside. It's one of those places where not only do they have an Yquem, they have multiple years spanning almost half a century. Lafites, Haut Brions, Pétrus' and Vintage Krug all nestle side by side. The wine list was the victim of someone having danced around the page with a pencil crossing through many of the better value or more interesting wines. The sommelier mentioned part way through the meal that Michel Roux senior was downstairs tasting new wines so I suspect that we arrived at the tail end of the old list.

I had opened a bottle of 1996 Sociando Mallet on Christmas Day to accompany my beef wellington so already knew that it worked well with a strong beef or game dish. 2000 being a pretty good year generally in Bordeaux, it seemed like a shout.  At around £120 a bottle it was, of course, significantly marked up as you would expect in a three star restaurant but still comparatively good value compared to many of the other wines on the list.

 A 2000 Ch Climens 1er cru Barsac acted as an effective straddle, working both with the foie gras and also with dessert. I've had the Climens a couple of times recently and its rapidly becoming a reliable go to on restaurant wine lists.
 

 The first course was a "Crémeux de parmesan à la truffe et cornes de gatte, accompagné d’une allumette feuilletée aux amandes" - in essence parmesan cream with truffle shavings. I'm not sure how it is possible to make a heavy whipped cream taste more parmesaney that parmesan itself but they have somehow achieved it. Rich, salty, savoury and delicate all in the same mouthful. Dare I use the word "umami" without sounding like an idiot? If I did, it would be here.

Next came an escalopes de foie gras chaudes à la cardamome, racines glacées, sauce au verjus et raisins de Smyrne. The foie was pan fried to the point of having a crispy caramelised crust without being overcooked in the centre. The verjus was very intense in flavour with a sticky, rich oily texture. This was definitely my favourite course of the meal and the verjus nothing short of divine although we both struggled to catch any hint of the promised cardamom which was a shame as it would have made the dish more unusual.

Tronçonnettes de homard poêlées minute au porto blanc was the fish course. I'm not going to rave about how perfectly cooked the lobster was as so it should be in a 3 star restaurant. And yes all the usual adjectives apply, sweet, tender etc etc, all present and correct. What made this an outstanding lobster dish however was the presentation and the sauce. Very fine slivers of ginger were panfried with the carrot julienne and the port reduction giving a very delicate Asian style flavour. I love how this dish is all about the lobster and not just in terms of what was a very decent quantity. Virtually no unneccessary garnish - how tempting would it be to most chefs to fill that empty third of a plate with a handful of watercress or similar?

A glass of white Pessac-Léognan Chévalier 1996 was rather a disappointment unfortunately (although H loved it). Nothing wrong with it as such, just not to my taste. Very mineral and chalky in taste with a splash of petrol on the nose and lacking in fruit to balance it out, perhaps due to the age.  I think if white wines are over 5 years I should probably stick to a nice buttery Burgundy chardonnay for my personal taste. Seeing that I wasn't a bit fan the sommelier brought me a mystery wine to try. I managed to not entirely embarass myself by identifying it as chardonnay but guessed Chablis instead of St Véran. Apparently the St Véran is one that was open for Michel Snr to try as they are hoping to add it to the new season list. They definitely should, it would be a great summer drinker.

What became very clear is that Waterside is very much a labour of love for the Roux family. Michel Snr was in the restaurant to try and approve the new season wines, the sommelier told me that Michel's taste buds are so sharp that he will literally work along a line of glasses saying "oui", "non" or sometimes just a raised eyebrow.....

Caneton challandais rôti, feuilles de chou farcies en surprise et jus aux prunes de Damas légèrement épicé. As you can see from the picture you got a lot of meat. The cabbage was stuffed with minced duck meat and whilst tasty was not my favourite. The roast onions however were a burst of sweetness that balanced the dish perfectly.

H ordered the Duo de gibier de saison, subric de potiron et champignons sauvages enrobés d’épinards, sauce poivrade. The gibiers in question were partridge and venison. On the basis that H is not a fan of pepper I'm guessing that the peppered sauce was not very strong as he didn't comment.

Being greedy, we added a cheese course having been seduced by the huge trolley that we passed on the way in.  So greedy in fact that the maitre d' stopped by to check that we were really sure we could manage an extra course. Stupid question....

Our cheese plate choices included a bleu d'auvergne, Comté another blue and the more unusual side was a paprika coated ewe's milk cheese (nice but would have been bland without the paprika).  I loved the way that the stilton was hidden on the lower level of the tray as the token British cheese in a kind of "it is not French so we will hide it away" move. I have to admit that I was surprised to have the trolley wheeled away immediately after selecting my 5 slivers of cheese before H got to choose any. Apparently 5 little slivers does constitute 2 separate portions however as we were charged the full whack of nearly £20 per portion on the bill. This does annoy me slightly since the quality of cheese is the same between a 3* or a 1* restaurant, they generally come from the same suppliers and the restaurant has to do nothing to the cheese in order to serve it other than not let it go dry or mouldy. Even with a huge mark up we were nowhere near beyond a total of a fivers worth of cheese retail. 

Around 3pm Alain Roux came and did a circuit of the restaurant leaving the last of the desserts to the well trained hands of his kitchen chefs. He showed more than a passing interest in what diners had especially liked or disliked and a definite focus on what wines we were drinking. Apparently I achieved something comparatively rare these days by managing to get both Michel Snr and Alain to sign my menu.

The tasting menu listed dessert was a Larme de chocolat lacté au caramel, cœur de mangue et fruits de la passion, sorbet mangue, unfortunately my stupid food allergies to fruit struck again (no lovely mango or passion fruit for me) so the waiter kindly offered an alternate option of a pistachio creme brulee. In my experience many things that claim to be pistachio tend to taste pretty much like the unflavoured version but are just a slightly scary, lurid green. No photo at this point as I got the settings wrong on my phone in my booze fuelled mission and managed to take a picture in black and white. Believe me, not even the tastiest creme brûlée in the world looks good in black and white. The larme (so named due to a tear shaped chocolate craquant casing holding a milk chocolate caramel mousse) did look lovely and much prettier than my brûlée but hey ho.

The second dessert on the menu was a soufflé chaud à l’orange et airelles. Light as air just as you would expect and with a much more pronounced flavour than you might think for a soufflé. Cranberries were also in the base of the ramekin as well as purely decoratively on the top. Really just perfect. 

The petit fours included a giant palmier (why not make two smaller ones?!),  by this point in all honesty I was so chock full of wine that you could have given me a honey roast spider and I'd

probably have raved about it so I would ignore pretty much anything that I say from hereon in. There may well have been some sort of macaron, a passion fruit tartlet, a nice dark chocolate truffle thing  and probably a perfectly executed nugget of nougat but I was beyond noting or describing it.

We (probably sensibly) retired to one of the outside smoking huts with armagnac (less sensible). Strange contraptions, they look like hexagonal wooden huts from the outside but inside are like some kind of Marie-Antoinette style fantasy tardis. The inside ceiling is lined in pleated pink silk and the walls are hung with elaborate light sconces as well as chintzy watercolour paintings. Heavily cushioned banquettes line the inside walls of the hut with fringed cushions for added squish. Curtains cover the windows resulting in your own private mini Versailles. I dread to think what kind of shenanigans those wall sconces have seen behind closed doors.....

Yes it really was that late by the time we finished lunch...

In a Roux vs Roux  family cook off for me Waterside Inn beats Le Gavroche hands down despite the schlep to get there.

I am now very poor indeed but was it worth it? Definitely! Would I go back? Yes, but I think it would have to be a special occasion. I'd love to  revisit on a sunny summer's day when you can hire a boat and cruise the river with your aperitif, just bliss.

Waterside Inn

Ferry Road  Bray, West Berkshire SL6 2AT
01628 620691

Kitchen W8, Kensington

Kitchen W8 is a bit of a schlep for me from SW17 and after nearly half an hour winding through the side roads of Earl’s Court I was definitely hoping that Kitchen W8 would live up to expectation with a growing grumbly tummy. If the smiling welcome and warm, friendly service of the staff was anything to go by then I would be in for a treat with the food.

The interior of the main room of W8 is exactly how I would like to have my living room if I had access to an interior designer. Pretty wallpaper and gorgeous silver accessories and lights. It feels more relaxed, homely and welcoming than the more starched austerity of chef Philip Howard’s other London restaurant, the two Michelin starred Mayfair based Square. Perhaps Rebecca Macarenhas' expertise with cosier neighbourhood haunts such as Sonnys in Barnes and Sams in Chiswick has combined with Howard's culinary genius to create a match made in heaven.

Kicking off with a glass of champagne (house bottle is Billecart-Salmon or Francois Diligent for rose) we were brought an amuse bouche of cod brandade balls. The first one was mainly light fluffy potato but the second had lots of flaky fishy flesh. A delicate lemony flavour really shone through and transformed what would have been a pretty uninspiring canape into something delicious. 

A dish of crispy hen’s egg, pata negra ham, truffled lyonnaise potatoes with a hazelnut powder was truly one of the most perfect starters that I have ever eaten. The egg was served halved with the yolk still gloriously runny with a crunchy, dark golden outside. The saltiness of the pata negra cut through the unctuous, rich yolk. The black truffle topped buttery potatoes were little bites of luxury that I was really cross I had offered to share with H. This was a dish that I immediately wanted to recreate at home but know that it won't be a fraction as good. Every mouthful was a sheer delight.

Our other shared starter was a foie gras parfait served with blood orange and rhubarb relish and sourdough toast. Sourdough bread is everywhere at the moment. From those Fabulous Baker Brothers to, seemingly, every restaurant in London it has become ubiquitous. I’m so over it and so are my teeth, too crispy and rough for me. Foie gras parfait is usually the entrée that I would always naturally gravitate towards and this one was nice. "Nice" is one of those words that can mean so many things though isn't it? "Nice" on this occasion means "so/so" tasted good but didn't blow my mind. The texture was extremely smooth and glossy but for me there was a slight bitter flavour to the parfait itself (and not just the jelly or chutney). This was a shame as it made the dish that I had thought would sparkle into one of the only mild disappointments of the evening.

The "near miss" dish that came close to being ordered was a ravioli of oxtail with caramelised onions which I would very much have liked to sample.

We accompanied the starters with a carafe of Anton Braun Gruner Veltliner and a glass of Sauternes respectively. Both were reasonably priced and the Veltliner in particular, a pleasant surprise.  

My main was a steak with smoked red wine butter and. What appears (particularly from the photo) to be nothing out of the ordinary, was a complete revelation. The pink speckled blobs on the steak looked a bit curious at first but tasted absolutely divine. Butter is infused with pellets of reduced red wine and frozen before being smoked over oak chips in W8’s kitchens. It was the most intense blast of smoky sweetness that I have ever tasted in a dish and now I have a sneaking suspicion that no sauce or butter on a steak can ever compare.

Chips were a huuuuge portion (less than a quarter are in the picture!)and served as French fries on the side. H likened them to "Burger King fries at their best" which is apparently a compliment so let's go with it.

In an extravagant mood we went all out on the red wine and ordered a 2004 Chateau Batailley grand cru Pauillac. There is a reason why wines such as this cost the extra arm and a leg but it is so worth it on occasion. Gloriously smooth and velvety and packing a big fat red berry punch, its a Bordeaux that all too easily slips down the throat. The problem with drinking this sort of thing is it leaves me wanting more and preferably as soon as possible. Bordeaux is an expensive habit to get into!

H ordered cod fillet with smoked gnocchi, razor clams and chorizo. Although the cod was beautifully executed, the runaway highlight was the smoked gnocchi. Little fluffy parcels of smokiness that melted on the tongue. Razor clams added taste and texture and the sauce was essentially chorizo based providing rich flavour.

Kitchen W8 offer a comparatively limited but excellent quality cheeseboard. I hadn't intended on an extra course but with a third of a bottle of Batailley left to polish off it seemed rude not to.  Epoisses, Comte, Cropwell Bishop Stilton and Reblochon were duly added to the calorie count.

Dessert of bitter dark chocolate mousse with salted caramel ice cream (that salted caramel yet again!)hit the spot. The black wafer thingies were a bit bitter but the ice cream was delightful, smooth and sweet with a salty bite.  The mousse was delicious but if being hyper critical I would say it wasn't particularly dark or bitter but cocoa heavy enough to sate my palate. Blobs of thyme jelly added a really interesting addition to the dish and lightened the heaviness slightly.

Yorkshire rhubarb jelly and vanilla custard was nice but would never be my first choice of dessert (when there's chocolate on offer - are you mad?!) but H enjoyed it and with the custard it did remind me of the rhubarb and custard boiled sweets in jars in the newsagents as a child.

I completely understand and agree with the importance of using seasonal produce however one of the risks of doing this can be that your menu appears a little repetitive. Rhubarb featured heavily and was an ingredient in a dish option for every course as did blood orange. NB if the ingredient in question is truffle then I have absolutely no problem with repeated use, breakfast lunch and dinner, suits me fine.

I found that the thing that made each of the dishes that I ordered truly sing was the unexpected ingredient that popped out at you, with the steak it was the smoked butter and in the chocolate mousse it was the thyme jelly both of which had an intensity of flavour that really surprised me.

Would I go again? Definitely. One of the best meals that I have had in a very long time. Does it deserve its Michelin star? Undoubtedly in my opinion. Service is excellent and attentive without being overbearing, any fiddly questions that I had about ingredients were either answered knowledgeably or answers sought from the kitchen. I really cannot wait to return

Ok, so that’s two borderline sycophantic posts in less than a fortnight, I’m going to have to go somewhere rubbish just to have something to sharpen my claws on at this rate….

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal @ Mandarin Oriental

Dinner at Dinner was, frankly, long overdue. H had performed a minor miracle and secured us a table waaaaay back when it first opened but for one reason or another it was donated very reluctantly through clenched teeth concealed by a thin smile to the willing recipient Greedy Diva. Since then I’ve been itching to pay it a visit. So, what better way to start a New Year diet than with a meat fruit? (no, really…)

We started with a hiccup in more ways than one with cocktails in the Mandarin Bar. A delightful waitress came and took my order then turned on her heel and left. No drink for H apparently. Once resolved by a passing waiter, the drinks were pretty good. Not memorable enough for me to remember what I ordered other than the fact that mine came in a martini glass with the longest stem in the world. Ever. H's Apple Martini was pretty and packed a punch.

In all honesty the bar was a bit underwhelming and not “unbelievably cool” as per its website. Personally, I’d go to Bar Boulud instead for an aperitif or just have it at the dinner table. I’m also not impressed by the £5 “late licence charge” for non-residents after 10.30pm (although granted we weren’t charged for sticking around after dinner).

Moving swiftly on to the main event. Various online reviews of Dinner had commented on hostile waiting staff but we couldn’t have found this to be further from the truth in the restaurant itself. Our waiter was really keen to explain the history behind the dishes and how they had all had a team outing to Hampton Court Palace with Heston to see how dishes were cooked back in the bad old days.

Two dishes on the menu seem to be almost obligatory at Dinner, one being the meatfruit entrée and the other being the tipsy Cake pudding. Both were duly and promptly ordered. The tipsy cake needs to be ordered at the beginning of the meal for there to be time for the pineapple to roast and the cake to bake so there is a decision making onslaught early on.

The savoury porridge which apparently dates from c.1600 was interesting and was described as containing, snails, chanterelles, garlic and fennel. I’m not sure what more to say about it to be honest as I found it to be rather lacking in flavour which was surprising given garlic and fennel being on the ingredient list. The texture was all quite sludgy with little bite. I like to think I’m pretty imaginative when it comes to food however it was quite a frightening shade of lurid green. The snails could have been mushrooms and vice versa on the basis of taste and texture. I don’t regret trying it but would be intrigued as to how many repeat orders that particular dish gets! One final gripe before this post becomes more positive, but the way to make a £15 starter look bigger isn’t to top it with lots of cress.

Now you see a mandarin.....

...... and now parfait, magic!

The meatfruit was amazing. Make that AMAZING. It looks JUST like a mandarin- until you prod it then it is all cold and jellyish! I love the idea of reviving the 16th century tradition of concealing one food as another in a kind of trompe l'oeil fashion. The orange (peel) is a mandarin flavoured jelly which tasted just beautiful with the smooth, rich pink chicken liver parfait inside.

As a main course we shared the rib of beef which was a beautiful, marbled piece of meat served with its accompanying bits on a wooden board and it was cooked to perfection. (that said if it was specifically beef I was after I still haven’t found anywhere that beats Hawksmoor Seven Dials) The rib was served with the iconic triple cooked chips- great if you're a fan of super crispy chips. One of the real highlights of the meal for me was the mushroom ketchup served with the beef. Our waiter explained that apparently mushroom ketchup originated in Asia and was imported into and embraced by the British. When it made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, for one reason or another tomatoes replaced the mushrooms and the rest was history.

Brown bread icecream with salted butter caramel and malted yeast syrup. Salted caramel remains flavour of the day on lots of London menus and I love it (although perhaps not as much as Nigella Lawson) and it was the redeeming feature of this dessert. The brown bread ice cream was not sweet and not savoury but floated somewhere odd in between. Wouldn't order it again.

Tipsy cake with spit roasted pineapple was by far and away the highlight of the meal for both H and me. The yeasty, gooey,  pudding arrived in its own cast iron ramekin topped with a golden sugary crust. Each mouthful melted releasing sweet custardy ooze. The pineapple was simply a revelation and Ive been trying to recreate it at home ever since. The length of roasting means that the pineapple just falls apart without any of the stringy, chewy down sides that pineapple usually entails. Cannot praise it enough.

Decor is sleek and modern with a feeling of space from the high ceilings. I loved the jelly mould lights on the wall and the fact that you could see the kitchen at work.

The clientele on a Sunday evening were pretty mixed between business and pleasure and groups vs couples but one guy stood out for me. In what world is it acceptable to sit at a table of six and have a large Bluetooth mobile thingy flashing in your ear throughout? The woman on his right got a bit of a look in conversation wise but who knows what his left hand dining companion had done to offend as he was out in the cold. To make matters worse, by the time we left the restaurant the Bluetooth had been exchanged for ipod headphones. Just bizarre.

If I was being hyper critical (which, let's face it I generally am) I would say that the breads on offer at Dinner are hard to the point that they err on the side of dental destruction and many dishes are quite salty. I’m usually quite a fan of salt but found myself glugging the water down on more than one occasion.

In summary I’m very glad I tried Dinner and think it is a great eating experience but don’t think I will be going back there. Not unless you could go and just order the meatfruit and tipsy cake that is.  The menu has been the same for quite some time now so I think it will be interesting to see how long they can keep up a full diary of advance bookings without having to make some changes as many of the dishes seem to have more novelty value than longevity of repeat appeal.