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Attica (Full Tasting Menu), Melbourne

Chef: Ben Shewry Website: www.attica.com.au Cuisine: Modern Australian

I know, I know. So it was only a couple of months ago that I had been to Attica but that experimental meal on Tuesday was possibly one of the most impressive meal I’d had in a while. I knew that night, that I had only two obstacles separating me and the full tasting menu… The first one of convincing my wife to revisit a restaurant so soon was an easy one. However, the more pertinent issue at hand was getting the all important reservation, and it had to be pretty soon for my curiosity was about to kill me, metaphorically speaking of course.

As expected from a restaurant that shot up the San Pellegrino ranking in 2013 to an incredible, but deserved 21st position, the reservation backlog had extended to as far as next year. Knowing there was nothing to lose, I simply asked whether there were any cancellations for a dinner. Surprisingly, a table had come up for grabs in a couple of month’s time so I wasted no time in booking in. It was as if my ill fortunes of getting a table at el Bulli had turned around. Now to convince the wife…

Fast forward a few weeks and here we were again with a huge grin on our face, making an entrance to occupy the last table of the evening at 8.30pm. Stepping into Attica, we realised there’s always one thing that doesn’t change here. In typical fashion Banjo, Hannah and the team greeted us with a genuine smile, welcoming us back to their home. There’s a lot to be said about restaurants that have a personal touch to their service. Attica is one of only a handful in Australia that gets this so right. So here we were, ready to embark on another adventure and what better to kick off the evening than a glass of a complex NV blend champagne, Georges Laval, Brut Nature, Cumières, France. Great minerality and ripe fruit aftertaste.

I was glad to see that the whipped olive oil with black sea salt was still being served and this time it came with a crusty wattleseed bread. The smokey mousse-like spread was absolutely divine but I was having a hard time fending my wife off as she wanted more than her fair share. Fortunately we had a second serving brought to us before a domestic erupted.

Unlike the Tuesday night experimental meal, you get an array of amuse bouche with the tasting menu. First up were Mushroom plant leaves from Ben’s garden served with a house cultured crème fraîche, alpine pepper and lemon myrtle dip. Simple, earthy and fresh. I particularly enjoyed the contrast of the cool dip and the slight heat from the peppers.

We were then presented a bowl of walnut shells that had been sliced in half. Inside them were some Walnut purée with shavings of pine mushrooms and rosemary flowers. The walnut sourced from Ballarat, Western Victoria, had a distinctly strong and earthy flavour and was complemented by the fine shavings of pine mushrooms. I was salivating at this point.

The Pickled Jerusalem artichoke was a novelty for me. It had been pickled in honey, turmeric and cider, resulting in a very raw and meaty texture. The pickling process had packed in bags of flavours and also eliminated the gas producing effects typically associated with the root vegetable! A clever piece of cooking indeed.

The finale of the amuse bouche segment went, quite literally, with a big bang in my mouth. The face of Mussel man, a.k.a Lance Wiffen from the Sea Bounty in Australia’s mussel capital, Portarlington, was carefully painted on one side of a mussel shell and served with Blue-lip mussels and sea saltbush. The delicious morsels had been shucked raw, crumbed and lightly fried for 35 seconds, allowing the moisture to be retained whilst adding a crispy textural contrast. The flavours of the sea just burst into my mouth when I bit into it with the slightly salty sea saltbush. I wanted more…

Our tastebuds warmed up and palate amused, we were ready to go. Banjo had done such a terrific job last time matching our wine so we were happy to leave the matter in his hands, and he certainly did not disappoint. Our first official course of the evening was Crab, Lettuces from Land and Sea, accompanied by a glass of Bründlmayer ‘Berg Vogelsang’ Grüner Veltliner 2002, Kamptal, Austria. The sweet baby snow crab rested on top of a luscious baby cos lettuce that had been poached in ginger balsamic and the sea lettuce on top was foraged by Ben himself. The finishing touches of a coconut vinaigrette cut through the sweet flesh of the delicate crab meat and the toasted buckwheat added that all needed crunch to complete the dish. I could almost see the ocean.

The wine of the evening was undoubtedly the Giaconda ‘Estate’ Chardonnay 2011, Beechworth, Victoria.This encounter actually led us to Beechworth in October and I can see why they are considered one of, if not the best, Chardonnay producer in Australia. It had a powerful palate and complex characters with fine acidity comparable to ones from Burgundy. It was perfectly matched with…

… our next course of Marron, Sorrel, Sauce of Onions and Pork Fat. The sweet marron tail sourced from Western Australia rested on a bed of sorrel from Ben’s garden that had been pulvarised with crispy fried chicken thighs after being marinated with coriander root. Hannah then poured over a delicious white onion and pork fat sauce to complete the dish.

The sauce provided a good balance to the slightly bitter sorrel mixture. Suffice to say the freshwater marron tail was plump and perfectly executed. Yet another superb dish.

I had fond memories of this dish from my first visit over three years ago. A simple dish of a potato cooked in the earth it was grown is anything but simple and truly captures Ben’s roots and humble origins. The waxy virginia rose potato was cooked sous-vide in earth for two hours, replicating the renown technique of the Maori Hangi in a kitchen. The result of this long-winded process was a uniformly creamy and velvety texture, not commonly associated with the humble potato. It was enthroned on a bed of smoked goats curd, coconut husk ash and crispy salt bush with freshly ground coffee; the culmination of which added an earthy undertone. Complementing this classy act was a glass of Damijan Podversic ‘Kaplja’ 2006, Friuli, Italy which had lovely sweet and silky tannins with a clean finish. By this point I was convinced that Ben was, without a doubt, currently the best chef in Australia.

Admittedly I wasn’t jumping off my seat when I read what was next on the menu but I was gravely mistaken, for the Cucumber, Holy Flax, Sauce of Burnet was another well balanced and clever dish. Shame on me for doubting. The cucumber pickled in chardonnay vinegar was charred ever so slightly before being plated up together with concentrated cucumber oil, holy flax from Ben’s garden, thinly sliced garlic that had been poached in verjus, peas and the all important Tasmanian cheddar that provided the seasoning. The burnet sauce enhanced the concentrated flavour of cucumber, leaving a very fresh aftertaste, only to be washed down with a glass of Gaia Wild Ferment Assyrtiko 2012, Santorini, Greece.

The next dish utilised a traditional Aboriginal technique of cooking in paperbark. It was the King George Whiting in Paperbark paired with a glass of Chateau Simone Blanc 2010, Palette, France. Underneath the tea tree paperbark was…

… a deliciously succulent piece of Whiting that had been caught off Portarlington. It had been basted with butter, sea parsley and lemon myrtle before being wrapped in the paperbark. It was then slowly grilled over a mallee root charcoal before being blow torched right at the end. It was decadently buttery yet the slight tang from the lemon myrtle lifted the dish from becoming one dimensional.

On to the closing act of the savory chapter with the Flinders Island Wallaby, Scorched Macadamia, paired with a local glass of Yarra Yarra Syrah / Viognier 2006, Yarra Valley, Victoria. If there’s one person who can truly treat this beautiful cut of meat, only available to a handful of people, with the respect it deserves, Ben is your man. The lightly seared wallaby loin served almost blue was incredibly tender and not overly gamey even with the accompanying rich black pudding. The bitter leaves of begonia, earthy macadamia purée and scorched nuts were beautiful props setting the natural scene of Australia on my palate. It was the perfect welcome to my permanent move to Down Under. I discreetly took my phone out to see where Flinders Island was. Damn, way too far. But no, I must find a way there…

Not long after our suspiciously clean plates were whisked away, Banjo came over to lead us to the back garden. Most of the vegetables, herbs and flowers that night had come from here or across the road from his bigger plot of farm in Ripponlea Estate but we didn’t expect to find ourselves to a few treats outside as well. The icing on the cake was being able to chat with the grand maestro himself. As ever, Ben was just humble, gracious and carried a huge smile.

The warm pink lady and granny smith apple drink kept us toasty whilst we chatted for a while. The scene was pretty familiar. We couldn’t stop thanking him for a superb meal and experience. Somewhat wistfully, we were sobering up from the copious amount of wine to the realisation that our meal was coming to an end.

But before heading back in, Ben offered us a couple of sticks of marshmallows coated in freeze-dried coconut shavings…

… to toast it over the outdoor fireplace he had installed. I know this makes me sound pretty sad, but I never toasted a marshmallow in my life and hardly knew what to do. As expected, half my marshmallow had melted into the flames of the abyss. “Amateur”, my wife chuckled as she woofed down her perfectly toasted one. It wasn’t too long after that we decided to go back inside as the temperature was in the single digits. It was winter in Australia after all.

The first dessert course of the Fresh Curd Ice Cream and Preserved Blueberries. The ice cream had been churned using a fromage blanc goats cheese from Meredith Dairy in Dyalesford. Within this there was a chewy pieces of dehydrated pink lady apple, crystal Turkish apple tea, and poached pear balls overlayed with chrysanthemum petals. It was a balanced dish of floral notes, fresh curd and sweet fruits. Accompanying this dish was a glass of Dominique Portet Vendanges Tardives Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Yarra Valley, Victoria. Another great find that lead us to their winery in the Yarra Valley the following week.

We had one last surprise prior to the grand finale with the Native fruits of Australia. The fruits had been picked and supplied by the Outback Pride Project, an organisation that works with the Aboriginal community to promote native Australian food. I had to do a double take as the fruits were being read out; I had never come across any of them (Neither for that matter had my Australian born wife). They were poached Quandongs, candied Rosela Hibiscus petals, earthy Davidson’s plums, apple-like Muntries, Riberries and a fairly tart Desert Lime. In the centre were some wattleseed and honey custard topped with native currant ice and tucked underneath some of Meredith Dairy’s sheep’s milk yoghurt with eucalyptus. Could it get more Australian? It was a superb showcase of the native produce, without being cliche or twee. Most importantly it was very delicious.

Next was the highlight of the meal, the pièce de résistance, the Plight of the bees, served in this beautifully crafted Tasmanian oak box resembling a miniature beehive box; with a glass of Chateau de Passavant ‘Les Greffiers’ 2010, Coteaux de Layon, France.

This was essentially a celebration of honey. To be precise, two distinct types of honey from Ben’s native homeland of New Zealand. The darker complex honeydew honey or Forest honey was a type of honey made—not from blossom nectar—but from honeydew excreted by plant sucking insects such as aphids. It was utilised to poach an impossibly thin layer of pumpkin, which subsequently was dusted with freeze-dried apple shavings and pressed with hexagonal patterns to represent the honeycomb.

As you pierced through the outer layer you immediately realised how complex this dish was in harmonising contrasting textures, flavours and temperatures. A dish that took Ben 18 months to perfect after 50 variations; I was glad he was persistent because this may possibly be the best dessert dish I have had to date. I could distinctly taste each layer below this unassuming surface with every mouthful. From the acidity of fennel ice, fresh mandarin wedges and distilled mandarin, to the crunchy meringue and soft layer of pumpkin, all held together by the centrepiece of the deliciously creamy curd that had been infused with wild lemon thyme honey. What surprised me above all was the absence of extreme sweetness and stickiness normally associated with honey. If there’s one person’s brain I would like to tap into, that would be Ben for dreaming up this dish. It was sheer genius.

One last gift from the Attica team who just couldn’t have done more to make this meal more perfect – a couple of hand painted chocolate caramel Pukeko eggs that went ever so well with my shot of espresso.

A culinary experience in Attica is far from any pretension. The cooking here is captivating, intelligent and educating, yet relaxing and indulgent but above all delicious. Each dish told a story or an encounter experienced by Ben and the meal represented his personal journey that had lead him here. From the depth of ocean with the Sea Bounty, to the Islands up north inhabited by Wallabies and the native fruits hand picked by the indigenous Australian people, Ben’s cuisine could not portray a better canvass of Australia than any other. I know I sound like a broken record but if you haven’t been to Attica yet, go. You can thank me later.

Les Amis, Singapore

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Chef: Galvin Lim Website: www.lesamis.com.sg Cuisine: Classic French

The fine dining scene in Asia has been witnessing some exciting transformation over the past decade and Singapore has been no exception. With the increasing presence of big foreign names like Guy Savoy and Tetsuya Wakuda joining the playing field, it is evident that demand for cuisine at the highest culinary level in Singapore is steadily growing. Furthermore, what I personally have found exciting has been the growing pool of home grown talent who have been pivotal in putting Singapore on the culinary map. One restaurant that has stood at the forefront of this movement over the past decade, producing some of the country’s pedigree chefs is Les Amis.

Unlike majority of the fine dining establishments that currently dominate the culinary scene in Singapore, Les Amis continues to do what they have always been good at and that is serving classic French cuisine using high quality ingredients. Add to that the best wine cellar in the city (and arguably the region) to complement the simple yet perfectly executed and delicious dishes that comes out from the kitchen. Could things get better? I was excited to be back in this restaurant after a 12 years hiatus. Although I had great memories of the restaurant during my younger years, I was far too inexperienced then to appreciate the skills and attention that went into each dish. What’s more, my palate was certainly nowhere near developed as today.

As Singapore’s best classic French restaurant, I expected nothing less than top quality bread and butter. After all, excellence in bread making has always been an essential component to a successful French restaurant. On that front, I was first presented with a couple of choices of butter, plain and pommery mustard, with a pinch of Australian rock salt on the side. It came with…

… a selection of bread including a mini baguette, walnut bread and sea salt brioche. I opted for the latter as I do love a good buttery bread. The freshly made brioche served warm had the perfect balance of crispness and butteriness. I knew it was wrong to smudge more butter on it but I just had to try the pommery mustard. It was decadent yet delicious. Hopefully my sacrilegious action went unnoticed. This was definitely the best I’ve had in Singapore and set the bar high for the meal to come.

Classic French cuisine tends to be quite rich and for this reason I’ve always preferred to opt for the à la carte menu as opposed to the normally preferred multi-course tasting menu. My meal here was no exception. With the orders taken we were finally under way to start this highly anticipated meal kicking off with an amuse bouche of Bonito flan with avruga caviar. The natural saltiness from the caviar complemented the flavour of the bonito stock, but what I particularly liked was the balance between the acidity from the yuzu shaving and the oiliness of the caviar. A very solid start.

I could see why many wine aficionados also came here. Unlike many of the upmarket restaurants offering only the popular and eye wateringly priced Chateau Lafite and Mouton Rothschild, Les Amis offered a very extensive and interesting collection of wine not often seen in Asia. Given their expertise in wine, I decided to leave the matter in the safe hands of the manager who recommended a bottle of Chateau Fuisse, Pouilly Fuissé Tête de Cru 2010 to go with my meal. It had a fresh intense citrus flavour with a complex finish.

The first course of the Sautéed Foie gras, smoked eel, figs, almond dragee looked deceptively simple yet made clever use of textures from the meaty fig and crunchy almonds to contrast against the delicately soft foie gras. Despite my initial reservation, the smoked eel added a beautiful and delicate flavour, adding an extra dimension to the dish. The wine was the perfect accompaniment as the citrus notes cut through the rich foie gras.

My companion on the other hand had the Chilled razor clam with parsnip, honey-mustard and seaweed oil. Naturally, I couldn’t turn down the offer of a spoonful. The dish could not have been more different to mine with the refreshingly chilled razor clams and its light yet lasting aftertaste. The Asian twist of the yuzu dressing added an interesting complexity to complement the clam and in my opinion was a better choice over the tried and tested lemon.

I deliberated over the next course of the Free range Japanese hen egg confit, woodland mushroom, summer truffle, Iberian ham, agria potato fried in duck fat. I was curious to see how the culmination of these ingredients would taste but I had my eye on another dish. They sold me the dish when I enquired about the origin of the truffle; they were Western Australian Manjimup truffles from the same specie as Périgord truffle, otherwise known as tuber melanosporum. The warm egg yolk confit hiding under the generous shavings of truffle added a creamy canvass to magnify its earthiness. The Iberian ham had a good balance of fat and provided the perfect seasoning. The soft potato crown that had soaked up the duck fat completed the trifecta with its texture. A delicate and elegant dish which was simple yet clever.

The other dish which I deliberated over was the Sautéed frog leg, momotaro tomato and age black garlic. I initially thought it was a fairly courageous move serving frog legs but immediately remembered that they were not foreign to Chinese cuisine. The momotaro tomato sauce had a naturally intricate flavour and harmonious balance between sweet and tangy. No wonder they’re so popular in Japan! Unlike the techniques used at the Relais de Bernard Louiseau in Saulieu, here they used an aged fermented garlic to mellow out the pungency and replace it with sweetness. I was very impressed to see this calibre of cooking.

As the next dish for my companion arrived I was kicking myself that I had not ordered the Char-grilled Iberian Iberico pork, cabbage rib and crunchy pear. Fortunately they were generous enough to share. From my latest travels in Asia I’ve noticed that Iberian pork has become a popular choice at fine dining restaurants. Unfortunately, I’ve found many of these establishments unable to draw out the rich flavours and delicate texture of the meat. Chef Lim however treated this supreme cut of meat with the respect it deserved. The fat content was neither too high, avoiding that offensive jelly texture, nor too low, which often results in a dried tough piece of pork. The tender and juicy meat had a lovely coat of smokiness and the crunchy pear provided that contrasting texture and refreshing yet subtly sweet note.

I was quite annoyed with myself for not having ordered the pork dish but that was only until my course of the Angel hair pasta with chilli Nduja and crispy shrimp arrived. This dish which has appeared on the menu since 1998 epitomises the restaurant’s open-mindedness and creativity that has allowed it to successfully remain as one the country’s leading restaurant. For a start, it’s quite a statement to have an Italian dish as your signature course in a French restaurant. However, this dish had transformed throughout the last 15 years under the tenure of the each head chef, allowing the personality of each one to shine. In my case, Chef Lim had incorporated a generous portion of the crispy in-season Sakura ebi (shrimp) from Suruga Bay of Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. Each bite of the crustaceans released a flood of flavour followed by a warm and comforting sensation from the carefully balanced chilli. An Asian touch to a classic Italian dish. Certainly could see why they kept this dish!

Having had three courses (and a few generous mouthfuls of my companions dishes), I opted for a lighter dessert with the Poached cherries with layers of yoghurt and pistachio biscuit, sour cherry sorbet. The best part about this dish was the quality of the French Burlat cherries, most likely sourced from Vaucluse which supplies over a quarter of its production in France. The sweet dark cherries had been poached in its own juice and married well with the refreshingly sour sorbet.

The alternative option was a Dark chocolate “P125” Soufflé with Tahiti vanilla ice cream. It was a decent soufflé but admittedly I was quite full and not in the mood for one. I personally find soufflés too rich most times and not ideal in hot climates. Whilst I could appreciate the skill that went into this one, I felt that it was a bit too much considering what I had eaten already. Mind you, I didn’t turn down the opportunity of getting a spoonful though!

I did managed to make some room for the petit fours of a lemon madelaine and lemon cream to finish the meal with my espresso.

If it wasn’t clear from my comments above, the meal here was very solid. The level of cooking from the starter to the dessert were consistently delivered to a high standard, offering punchy bold flavours using high quality produce and ingredients. Furthermore, as the menu here was dependent on the seasonality of the produce around the world, the menu evolved constantly allowing regular diners to sample new dishes on each return. One of the joys of Les Amis is its wine. Dining here without wine, for me, would be missing the point when you have such an eclectic choice that caters for both end of the budget spectrum. Armed with a solid front of house team that offers a friendly smile and a professional service, it’s not difficult to see why Les Amis has become the benchmark for fine dining in Singapore.

Sushi Tetsu, London (2nd visit – June)

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Chef: Toru Takahashi Website: www.sushitetsu.co.uk Cuisine: Sushi

Following a memorable meal on my first visit to Sushi Tetsu a couple of months ago, I was desperate to go there one last time before my imminent departure to Melbourne. My track record in getting a reservation here had been very poor but that was about to change. I jumped at the news of a last minute cancellation for a Friday lunch and here I was, yet again, immersing myself with more amazing sushi. On this occasion I decided I wanted a bit more freedom to choose from the menu so I opted for the “moon” sushi set (£28) and added four additional sushi’s. Some of the sushi that day was even better than that on my first visit, proving my point that the quality of fish can drastically affect the final product.

I was the last person to arrive for the lunch service and things were already in full swing. As always the greeting was very warm and I felt very much at ease despite dining on my own. I spent most of my time chatting with Harumi-san getting some tips on great Japanese restaurants in the Barcelona and the Asia Pacific region.

First course for lunch was Sea bass (鱸). The sweetness of the fish was brought out with the touch of home made soy sauce concoction and the green shiso leaf tucked underneath dispelled the fishiness, only leaving the delicious flavour of the fish.

Next up was Razor clam (まて貝). The quality of the razor clam was superior to the one I tried on my first visit, evidenced by the additional sweetness oozing out from each bite. I also thought Takahashi-san had really nailed the amount of lemon juice and sea salt to complement the dish.

I was excited to see Amberjack (カンパチ) which I had not previously tried at Sushi tetsu. Takahashi-san had imported this luxurious fish fresh from Japan where it was currently in season (summer). Compared to its cousin of the yellow tail, it was much softer and less oily. It was served again with the right amount of wasab and soy sauce.

The Prawn (海老) was similar to my previous visit with a slight hint of smokiness from the blow torch and zestiness from the lemon juice.

The Salmon (鮪) was similarly equally as good as the previous visit, served again with slight incisions to plump up the texture of this oily fish. I still reckon it is one of the most understated fish in Japan within the world of sushi. If only more places served them to this quality!

I was very glad to see that Akami (赤身) was on the menu again. For those of you who read my previous entry on Sushi Tetsu, I had a tragic moment wolfing down this delicious morsel before realising that I had forgotten to take a photo. Not this time. I could never live this down if it happened again. The cold cut of the akami only had a thin coating of soy sauce, releasing bursts of flavours on each bite. Delicious, refreshing and simple. The tuna Takahashi-san sourced was consistently of high quality.

Another improved dish of the Mackerel (鯖) which contained sansho (Sichuan pepper) giving the fish an earthy flavour. Along with the natural juiciness of the fish with a tanginess from a hint of lemon, it was delicious. To finish off, su-konbu (seaweed marinated in vinegar) was wrapped around it to give it additional texture and remove the fishy aftertaste of this delicate fish. I was in heaven. I should have ordered another one…

It was at this point when I had the chance to deviate from the set menu and try something different. Following Takahashi-san’s recommendation I opted first for the Scallop (帆立貝). I was amazed to see the size of the scallop he had carefully laid out. They were hand dived scallops from Scotland which were meaty on their own but Takahashi-san had added some incisions at an angle to further enhance that plump texture. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a scallop sushi this good. It was very sweet and fragrant, just the way a scallop should be.

Next up was my childhood favourite of Salmon roe (イクラ). Takahashi-san had taken the salt away from the salmon roe which had been used to preserve it. He then marinated it in a sauce made from a carefully balanced mixture of mirin and soy sauce. He carefully spooned a few out to place on top of the rice and grated some lime zest. I savoured this moment and tasted each bursting bubble in my mouth as they oozed out the intense and delicious sticky fishy juice inside, perfectly balanced with the lime zest. It was so good my cheeks just swelled up and I couldn’t stop smiling.

After savouring my salmon roe sushi which seemed to take an eternity (and I started getting some weird looks from other diners), I saw Takahashi-san preparing my hosomaki… but surely this couldn’t be the end? I still had one more sushi! Seeing how nervous I looked, he reassured me that he had not forgotten my last sushi but that this special hosomaki needed to be consumed before the last sushi due to the richness of the last dish.

During the course of the meal, Takahashi-san found out that this was my last meal in London and offered me a special leaving gift of the Toro no Oshinko (とろ沢庵巻). Essentially it was the fattiest part of the tuna (o-toro) that had been minced with spring onion and then wrapped with sesame seed and shinko (pickled radish). It was crunchy and delicious, and I was very touched. I did however wish I had ordered the nigiri of o-toro as well but luckily the next course more than made up for my mistake.

I saw the group of four diners next to me order Eel (鰻) earlier on and there was no way I would be leaving the restaurant having caught my olfactory attention with its sweet and seductive smell. The eel was blow torched before the sticky sweet soy based kabayaki (蒲焼) sauce was generously pasted over it with a pinch of sansho. The art of preparing an eel kabayaki requires years of experience as it is technically quite difficult. It involves gutting, de-boning, butterflying and filleting the delicate eel, followed by skewering and dipping it into the kabayaki sauce before broiling it on a grill at a temperature which needs to be precise and controlled. I asked Takahashi-san how he had prepared the eel but he only smiled and told me it was a secret… d’oh!

Alas, all good things must come to an end (again) and in this case with a Japanese sweet omlette (厚焼き玉子). At first sight it looked like an ordinary puffed up omlette but this one contained prawns, sea bass paste and yam. It had an interesting flavour and texture not too dissimilar to that of datemaki (伊達巻き) which contains similar ingredients and is prepared typically for Japanese New Years as part of the Osechi cuisine.

My second visit to Sushi Tetsu proved my point that the quality of fish can dramatically affect the end product of the sushi itself. A couple of sushi’s I had on the second visit were noticeably better despite the same level of care and preparation by Takahashi-san. The only difference was the fish. Don’t get me wrong, the quality on both occasion were very good but on one particular day it was even better. I was slightly disappointed that he didn’t have any sea urchin that day but I guess that demonstrated that Takahashi-san only handled ingredients that were in season and superior in quality that day. He teased me that he was getting some the following day but that was just cruel. I was thinking of just turning up next day but then again I didn’t want to inconvenience Harumi-san. Nevertheless, I couldn’t have asked for a better send off from London. I swear I will be back again…

Hedone, London

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Chef: Mikael Jonsson Website: www.hedonerestaurant.com Cuisine: Modern French

Mikael Jonsson is a man on a mission. A man with an obsession for sourcing top quality ingredients. After quitting his job as a lawyer, the influential food blogger behind Gastroville took a long journey around the United Kingdom and neighbouring countries to discover the best ingredients in europe before realising his dream in the restaurant, Hedone. How appropriate then to name his restaurant after his quest for maximising pleasure to the palate. His motto is simple – perfect dishes can only be created by using the best ingredients handled with minimal interference. It is an impressive feat that despite only openning the restaurant in July 2011 Jonsson has already achieved a prestigious Michelin star to his name and jumped straight on to the San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurant List at a very respectable 70th position. Fortunately, unlike many of the eye-wateringly expensive restaurants on that list that end up being for “special occasion only”, Jonsson has concentrated on attracting a more stable clientele. Somewhere that diners could return frequently; offering a reasonably priced three course options that changes everyday. Jonsson was happy to tell me that there was even one guy who had dined more than 130 times to date! The chef had even awarded him a plaque on the highstool my friend was sitting on. Now that’s an impressive record for anyone!

This was my first meal here. Therefore, I opted for his ultimate carte blanche menu coming in at £85 for lunch (£95 for dinner). Sure, it’s not a cheap menu but when you consider the quality of ingredients incorporated in the dishes you soon realise that it’s a bloody good deal. The only down side in the whole affair was the location of the restaurant. Chiswick, on the complete oposite side of London from where I was staying, is situated on the district line which is notorious for being unreliable, particularly on weekends. My visit was no exception; planned engineering works all weekend. Thank you TFL. Taxi it was then.

My friend and I were the first ones to arrive at the restaurant so we decided to occupy the kitchen counter seats, a definite recommendation if you want to see all the action in the kitchen. It didn’t take long for our amuse bouches to arrive after taking our orders. Starting from the left was a Smoked haddock tartlet with lemon rind, followed by an intensley cheesy Parmesan sablé biscuit with a morello cherry jelly and finally a Foie gras marinated in quince & balsamic vinegar sandwiched between sourdough crisps with sweet spices. A lovely progression in strength of flavours across the three morsels. Simple but elegant, and most importantly tasty.

I had heard countless praises sung by many bloggers and food critics alike on the quality of the house made bread at Hedone. Jonsson had spent some time with Alex Croquet in France in the art of bread making. Sure enough, the sourdough bread with unpasteurised butter was faultless and possibly the best I’ve ever had. It had the perfect crust, alluring smell and airy texture. Good bread is the most satisfying of all foods, and when served with butter I would go as far as sayng it is a feast on its own. Only on my fourth slice did my friend have to intervene and point out the obvious, we haven’t even started the meal yet. Reluctantly I put the bread down… slowly.

First course on the menu were Poached Cornish rock oysters, granny smith, shallots. The one on the right which had been poached for 45 mins and smoked lightly in juniper berries was sublime. The meaty oyster had soaked up the beautiful smokiness and dissolved gradually in my mouth with little effort. This was one of my favourite oyster dish that was almost on par with Richard Ekkebus’ one at Amber. What a great start!

Up next was a new course that was being served for the first time – Dorset crab sandwich. A buckwheat crisp was garnished with Dorset white crab meat, confit marinda tomato, fresh dill and a transparent tomato essence jelly. It had a lovely crispy texture and the sweetness from the crab meat was complemented by the lovely fresh tomato flavour from the jelly. The last hit of flavour was the slightly bitter dill that provided a good contrast to the sweetness, finishing off with a refreshing note. Very good indeed.

Simplicity at its best was the Foie gras and cepes. The raw cepes of the season sandwiched the delicious foie gras and a dollop of apricot jam was served on the side. The mushroom was very meaty and the apricot jam added a sweet fragrance that cut through the rich foie gras. The seasoning, just of a pinch of salt, was spot on. This was without a shadow of a doubt one of the best dish that lunch.

Photos could not do any justice to the Umami flan which, although one dimensional in texture, was bursting with flavour. The flan, which I believe had been made with dashi or something similar, was topped with a nori (seaweed) coulis. For me it resembled closer to a “chawanmushi” rather than a flan but I was impressed with the depth of flavour and tongue coating savouriness that made me salivate the more I ate.

After wolfing down another morsel of that delicious bread (I blame the umami flan!), a succulent dish of the Loire Valley green asparagus, Dorset wild garlic, pistachio mayonnaise was presented. There was a sweet nuttiness in the eggwhite mayonnaise that went ever so well with the juicy asparagus and garlic stalk.

The Scottish langoustine tail, crustaceans jus, herbs and flowers was definitely fresh as I saw a little green insect crawling on my langoustine. I assume the little fella had come from the box containing the herbs and flowers. I didn’t mind him and flicked him aside. At least I knew the garnishes were fresh! The sweet langoustine was served at the right temperature, warm but not scorching hot, and perfectly accompanied by the shellfish bouillon which gave it that depth of the “flavour of the sea”.

First of the fish courses was the Dorset Wild turbot, red orach, spinach, fresh almonds.
The rainbow like sheen on the turbot fillet was due to the natural gelatin from the fish and reflected yet again on the quality of the fish. The white spinach sauce mixed well with the red orach jus reduction which has a more pleasant and less bitter taste than spinach. I did however find several small bits of bones in the fish which was slightly disappointing.

I did find it rather odd to have another fish fillet course but I admit I was glad to have tried the Dorset line caught wild seabass, artichokes, piattoni beans, confit Marinda tomato as it was better than the turbot in my opinion. The smokiness from the tomato pulp purée was appetising to say the least. I know I sound like a broken record but the quality of this seabass was sensational and I never knew artichokes worked so well with it, both in a purée form and in its entirety.

I was surprised to find a pasta course (Liquid ravioli, roscott onion consommé, mild horseradish) given Jonsson’s cuisine otherwise was undeniably French. The salty smoked pancetta swam harmoniously in the sweet onion consommé and creamy parmesan cheese, with a slight kick from the horseradish emulsion.

It was at this point that I found Jonsson looking around to see what he was going to serve next. He approached us and explained that he had just received some top quality sweetbread which he occasionally got from his only trusted supplier in Paris. With a unanimous nod from both of us he quickly prepared the Veal sweetbread, baby carrot, basil, jerusalem artichoke. The earthy morrels were clean with no trace of sand unlike my last experience at Les Cols. Phew! It was a sweet dish with contrasting textures from the crunchy carrot, meaty morrels and the creamy sweetbreads. Unfortunately for me, the latter was too thick, with the wrong ratio of the caramelised surface to the creamy texture. I do like sweetbreads but I found it rather too much after a few mouthfuls.

I recently had a phenomenal pigeon dish at Azurmendi and the next course of the Roasted leg and breast squab pigeon, beetroot five ways came pretty close. The beetroot came smoked, pickeled, puréed, in a coulis and also incorporated in the offal sauce. The remarkable part about this dish was that the offal sauce was in complete harmony with the pigeon and by no means dominated the palate, no easy feat! Jonsson later explained that the pigeon had been strangled (I hoped humanely) to retain the blood to keep the meat juicy. It certainly was that and more. Delicious.

Alright, I admit it. You’re probably wondering how I managed to eat so much after helping myself to five slices of bread? The truth was that I was stuffed and therefore glad to see our palate cleanser of Granite, hibiscus, and campari jelly before the final two segments of our dessert. The palate cleanser was refreshing and the combination of mint, thyme, tarragon, parsley and cordiander made it very zingy yet retaining a right amount of sweetness. It was as if someone had smacked my jaws and brought me back to life. I was back in the game. Bring on the desserts!

The Braeburn apple Millefeuille, caramel ice cream was my favourite dish of the day, and this was quite a statement. Given the consistently high quality dishes that kept on coming out of the kitchen that lunch, I didn’t expect the dessert to be such a knock out course. The pastry was light and flakey, reflecting the masterful skills of the pastry chef. The amount of the crème patissiere was spot on, marrying really well with the acidity from the green apple. The trifecta to complete this dish was a milky caramel ice cream which was not too sweet. Take a bit of each element and imagine the flavours coming altogether in one go – bang! Delicious.

We were finally down to our last course and we could see them being prepared right in front of us.

And here it was. Warm chocolate, powdered raspberry, passion fruit jelly, madagascar vanilla ice cream. It consisted of a warm gooey chocolate mousse sealed with a crispy chocolate disc that had been sprinkled with powdered dried raspberry. The passion fruit jelly hidden inside was a clever and vital component to cut through the rich chocolate goodness. To finish off a quenelle of Madagascar vanilla ice cream was carefully laid on top.

From my one meal at Hedone it was obvious that Mikael Jonssons cooking style was to let the ingredients speak for themselves. What sets him apart from other chefs who make similar claims was his ability in maximising pleasure by drawing out and showcasing the key qualities of his superb ingredients. He is undoubtedly not just an ingredient nut but also a chef, and a very good one at that. His deceptively simple looking dishes were some of the best I’ve had in London and his bread perhaps in the world. Despite the slight hiccough with the turbot and the insect, there’s no doubt that this was one of my most memorable meals in London. If Hedone was located on my high street I would undoubtedly be there every week but for now I would just need to relive my experience through my memory and photographs.

Vue de Monde, Melbourne

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Chef: Shannon Bennett Website: www.vudedemonde.com.au Cuisine: Modern French

I’ve always regarded Vue de Monde very highly ever since my first visit back in 2010. Of the handful of restaurants I visited with my wife during that trip, Shannon Bennett was the only one who managed to excite my palate with his food following the disappointing meals at Cutler & Co and the highly acclaimed Quay. How Vue de Monde has not dominated the Gourmet Traveller list is still beyond me. I guess it’s one of those unexplainable mysteries in life, just like how Iggy’s in Singapore made the San Pellegrino’s 50 Best Restaurants list when I wouldn’t even consider them in my top 200.

Since my last visit I had heard via my wife (who took a sneaky meal there with my father in law in my absence) that Vue de Monde had gone up in the world. Literally! Since my last visit, Vue de Monde had moved from their humble digs on Little Collins Street to the 55th floor of the Rialto, previously the observation deck. According to my wife, Vue de Monde was now complete. Not only did it have the best food and service in Australia, it also had a spectacular view and aesthetic of a modern fine dining restaurant. One that was on par with many great names in the world. Obviously I was keen to return. Sadly it was a couple of years later that we finally had the opportunity to return in style by hiring their private Dom Pérignon room for our wedding guests as a number of them had flown all the way from the many corners of the world. Some of my guests had also visited Quay and the Royal Mail Hotel a few days before so I was very keen to hear their opinion as it had been a couple of years since my wife and I had been to either. Suffice to say, our guests were blown away immediately at the start of our meal by the stunning view of Melbourne by night as a backdrop.

Upon arriving at the restaurant via a dedicated express lift, diners have the option of commencing the evening with an aperitif at the Lui bar. Given the big group we had, I knew that getting everyone there on time would be a struggle so reserving a section to start the evening was a great suggestion by the manager. As a bonus we got to try some of their delicious and unique cocktails. After taking what felt like a few hundred photos of the view, we were finally escorted through the wine cellar to their restaurant and into the private dining room. Photo courtesy of Dianna Snape

I was very fond of their Paul Smith designed chairs when they were at Little Collin Street (which consequently were flogged off and my wife refused to let me bid) but I liked their futuristic aesthetical transformation. At first glance the room looked slightly cold and modern but at closer inspection you began to comprehend there was much more to it. The thought and attention gone into Ross Didier’s sophisticated furnitures embodied and captured the spirit and soul of Australia. This was Australiana without being kitch and I loved it.

The armchairs had been upholstered in kangaroo leather and skin, making it extremely comfortable for the six hour tasting menu we were about to embark on. The conventional table linens had been replaced by a stitched dark and textured kangaroo hide which covered the entire table, perfect to lean on with your elbows. Even the pebbles scattered across the table turned out to be more than decoration and played an integral part of the meal as the night progressed and the menu unfolded.

A glass of NV Larmandier Bernier ‘Cuvée Vue de monde’ Vertus Champagne AOC, France was poured out for everyone to start the evening with some hand-cut parsnip chips and a macadamia and apple dip.The meal then kicked off with an array of amuse bouches starting with Smoked eel, white chocolate and caviar. This had a good textural contrast of the brittle caramelised coating and soft eel inside, although for me there wasn’t enough seasoning coming from the caviar.

This was followed by Salt cured Wallaby and wasabi. The dried meat reminded me of a very high quality bresaola. I thought the wasabi was a very clever addition as it cut nicely into the meat.

The Truffle marshmellow had a nice crunch from the bread crumbs although the truffle was a bit lost for me.

Lastly we were served a Carrot with egg and brown butter emulsion and oyster. It had a good level of sweetness. This was an interesting dish and the flavours reminded me a lot of the langoustine from Noma (of course with at least one major difference!).

There were a few options available from the menu but we all opted for the most comprehensive package of the 10-course degustation menu ($250) with matching wine ($150). A couple of my guests matched their meal with teas, something up and coming in Australia which appeared to work really well.

To match our first course of Roasted marron with tarragon butter, we were poured a glass of what I call butter on a stick, 2010 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot, Puligny-Montrachet, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France. The tea sommelier on the other hand served a pot of Tie Guan Yin, Oolong, China. The plump freshwater marron tail sourced from Western Australia was handled with the utmost respect, and it was lightly roasted to keep it moist and juicy. We were advised to pick up the marron tail with our fingers and dip it into the rich toffee-like tarragon brown butter and the intense marron salt. On the side was a sandwich of crispy kohlrabi with a creamy marron filling. It was a very good dish. Shame they didn’t have two tails! Next up was the Duck yolk, pork, green beans and mint matched with a generous glass of 2003 Dom Pérignon, Épernay, Champagne AOC, France and for the tea lovers a Yunnan White, White Tea, China. The fresh mint cut through the creamy yolk. The yolk had been poached at 58 degrees celsius so that it oozed beautifully over the crispy pork and green beans. The only thing I felt was missing to this delicate dish was a bit more seasoning. Overall I didn’t feel there was enough pork for that seasoning element. So close to a perfect dish. What a shame!

I was very surprised with the next installment. Whilst strictly not a dish, I feel it deserves a special mention. Head Chef Cory Campbell came in with a wooden bucket on a trolley. It contained the luxurious Échiré butter, typically served in three star establishments in France and a long standing favourite amongst the European royalties. He scooped out a few quenelle and served it with a beer and fennel sourdough. As mentioned countless times, I’m partial to good butter and bread, and this was delicious. I almost forgot the mother tongue of Vue de Monde was French, despite the evident Australian twang.

The next dish of Melbourne onion soup illustrated this juxtaposition. Charactertistic of Bennett, he displayed his interpretation on classic French cuisine by adding a local twist, using an instrument that would normally make the Melbournian’s favourite beverage: a coffee siphon. The onion consommé which had been brewed in advance for 48 hours at 96 degrees celsius was heated up using a blowtorch, forcing the liquid to slowly cascade to the top where it was infused with fennel herb and caramlised onion.

The mixture was then poured into each individual’s bowl over an onion prepared in multiple ways – charred, pickled, crisped and poached. The finishing touches included shavings of comté cheese, crispy croutons and macadamian gel set in agar. The result was a remarkably sweet and intense onion soup which had the right balance of cheese and variety of textures. I always find it quite risky to serve soup at a fine dining restaurant but this dish was outstanding and inspired. It was remarkable.

Next up was Sweet baby corn, brown butter and black truffle, served with a glass of the locally famous 2000 Yarra Yering ‘Dry White Wine No.1’, Yarra Valley, Victoriaor a rather surprising Zealong, Oolong Tea, New Zealand. I had no clue New Zealand produced oolong tea but even more astonishing was that the black truffles sourced from Western Australia were from the same specie as the highly prized Perigord truffles (tuber melanosporum). The baby corn cob cooked and presented in its husk with the brown butter emulsion had bursts of flavours; so much so that I ate the husk as well! The black truffle shavings added an earthy element to this simple yet delicious dish.

It’s not uncommon to have a second palate cleanser between segments of the meal although Vue de Monde is the only place I know that does this in Australia. A bowl containing a beautiful herb and flower salad was presented. Liquid nitrogen was then poured over the top, and the instantly frozen salad subsequently shattered using a wood pestle. Once settled, a quenelle of Grapefruit and lime sorbet was placed on top to produce a very refreshing palate cleanser.

Following such a invigorating palate cleanser, the first of the three main dishes was Prawn, nettle, young garlic, smoked barramundi, lettuce, served with one my favourite local wine of 2010 Kooyong Estate, Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria or Woojeong, Green Tea, South Korea. This was another classic Australian dish where the prawn, sourced from Mackay, was prepared “on the barbie” to give a smokey taste and smell. It was accompanied by a clean and flavoursome Barramundi which had been preserved using the Japanese method of “iki jime” (spike to the brain) in order to retain freshness, flavour and most importantly kill the fish in the most humanely possible way. The prawn and fish were served on a bed of garlic purée, with garnishes of nettle, young garlic, kale, lettuce and broccoli that provided some textural contrast and sharpness to the dish. Possibly the best barramundi I’ve tasted to date.

Finally on to some red meat with the Flinders Island Lamb, olive, Australian anchovies, mustard. The lamb was served two ways – a roasted loin and a crispy belly – and certainly melted in your mouth. Just like the wallaby I had tried at Attica from Flinders Island, it was of superb quality. I was not very fond of the crust of seeds around the belly however and would have preferred a naturally crispier skin. Whilst the lamb was superb in quality, I thought the overall flavour was quite average. The matching wine was 2011 Thousand Candles, Shiraz Pinot Noir Sauvignon Blanc, Yarra Valley, Victoria and Kaga Bocha Hojicha, Roasted Green tea, Japan.

I had some great memories from the wagyu course I had here last time and was hoping to see it appear in the menu again. I was in luck, or so I thought with the Blackmore Wagyu, beetroot, saltbush, BBQ sauce, truffle.The cheek and tenderloin of the locally reared beef was riddled in marble and melted in your mouth. The sweet home made BBQ sauce was lovely on its own but I felt it completely dominated everything else on the dish from the saltbush and beetroot purée to the black truffle shavings. What’s more, I felt there was not enough seasoning on the dish. The glass of 2008 Querciabella ‘Camartina’, Maremma Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italywas a consolation and a rather smokey Lapsang Suchong, Black tea, China was matched for the tea drinkers.

Some cheese and a glass of 1988 Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port, Douro, Portugal to cheer me up from the lacklustered two courses. The cheese was decent and I was very impressed that they actually had a tea to match the cheese course with the Hong Shui, Oolong tea, Taiwan.

The third and last palate cleanser of Passionfruit, liquorice and coconut “beer”. I don’t particularly like liquorice but thought it worked really well as an aftertaste with the passionfruit and coconut sorbet.

My favourite course of the evening was the first dessert course of Strawberries and cream served with a rather delicious 2006 Dr Loosen, Riesling Beerenauslese, Mosel Saar Ruwer Qmp, Germany. It had nailed all the elements from the creamy ice cream, crunchy and chewy meringue to the fragrance emanating from the cold shavings of frozen strawberries. The icing on the cake was the natural sweetness coming from the strawberries which was divine. I was impressed at how such a simple dish could be so delicious.

It was a shame that a few of my guests had to rush home before having the last dessert as they needed to relieve their babysitters from their kids. Well… It was 1.30am after all (we started the evening at 6pm). The Chocolate soufflé chocolate mousse, crème anglaise was rather decadent and luxurious, and a not so subtle reminder of the French influence in Bennett’s cuisine. It was definitely in the best five soufflé I’ve had. The crème anglaise was much needed to balance against this imposing tower of chocolate sweetness. I would however say that the combination of this and the 2009 Domain Madeloc, Banyuls Cirera, Languedoc-Roussillon, France was overall too sweet but I won’t lie; I did scrape the ramekin. This was perhaps the one course I would have preferred to have had the tea option as the Dian Hong Gold buds, Black tea, China with a hint of citrus note appeared to go down really well for my two friends.

We finished the evening with an array of Australiana themed petit fours. Whilst the waiter explained what they were, my wife had to explain the “cultural” significance of each item to our foreign guests as we appreciated it was not necessarily obvious. We were served: chocolate mousse lamingtons with raspberry coulis inside (a typical Australian cake), musk flavoured eucalptus leaves, gin jellied one penny coins (used to play two-up, a traditional Australian gambling game which is now illegal except on Anzac day) and eucalyptus flavoured sorbet balls.

It was close to 2am when we finally got the bill. I appreciate that the same meal would have probably taken a couple of hours less had we been in a smaller group but we enjoyed every minute of the privacy in the majestic Dom Perignon room with our private view into the kitchens. We left with some goodie bags which contained some brioche bread, tea, honey and muesli. A lovely touch indeed but had the whole experience lived up to my expectation? I thought the food on the whole was great and the service stepped up a notch from our last visit as it was flawless throughout the evening. Nothing seemed too much of an effort for the exceptional front of house team and we were all impressed.There was of course the matter of the two disappointing meat courses, and I noticed across my two meals there that there was a tendancy to incorporate emulsions repeatedly which felt tiring after a while, both in terms of texture and flavour. Saying that, there were a couple of innovative dishes that were exceptional like the marron tail, onion soup and the strawberry & creams dish. I left the restaurant content that evening with the overall experience and my guests certainly thought it was the best meal they had in Australia. But compared to my experience at Attica a couple of weeks later (see review on this website), I felt the latter had made greater strides in evolving its dishes since my last visit. I know it’s like comparing apples and bananas. Regardless, to me these two restaurants are currently my favourite in Australia and by quite some distance.

Clove Club, London

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Chef: Isaac McHale Website: www.thecloveclub.com Cuisine: Modern British

After a rather sub par Vietnamese-Thai meal at Monsieur M two years ago, I was glad to finally see the back of it. With the financial backing of a pool of investors, Chef Isaac McHale, who previously worked at the Ledbury and formed part of the Young Turks, was in turn replacing the mediocre restaurant with an exciting Modern British restaurant called the Clove Club. The restaurant had only been open since March 2013 and already attracted a lot of attention including food enthusiasts from overseas. I was meant to catch up with Enfoodie for lunch here a few weeks ago but unfortunately work commitments got in the way. I finally got an opportunity early June and must admit I was positively surprised with my meal.

As I entered the restaurant I was immediately hit with a waft of delicious charcuterie. As it turns out, the cupboard to the left of the entrance was where McHale smoked, aged and preserved an assortment of meats including two types of katsuobushi – one in the traditional style and one experimental. I was already salivating just by the smell and sight of these delicious looking meats and hoped that we would be able to sample some of them during the course of the meal.

I was glad to see that the horribly bright red painted walls from the previous restaurant had been neutralised with a fresh coat of white paint, and the floor had been stripped to expose the beautiful old wooden floorboards. The decor was no longer tacky but much simpler now and the room flooded with natural light from the big windows. This looked much more inviting and promising to say the least.

There was an option of going à la carte or a fixed five course tasting menu with an array of amuse bouche for £49, excluding alcohol. We opted for the latter as the dishes all looked very appetising (Note: we ordered three extra courses for additional price coming in at £75). As I had a heavy week full of leaving dos, I opted for water to accompany my meal. Saying that, I did notice that they had a nice array of cocktails and wines that looked reasonably priced.

We started with a selection of McHale’s home made salami and cured pork. Two types of salami were presented – one flavoured with nutmeg and the other with white wine and garlic. My favourite was the third cut which was cured pork from a rare breed called the British Lop, currently being reintroduced after near extinction by the Duchy College close to Launceston in Cornwall. It had a superb taste to it. Shame I couldn’t buy some to bring home!

First course was an English asparagus, black sesame and Gochuchang mayonnaise. The asparagus was fresh and cooked spot on, giving it a firmness yet succulence. I did find the mayonnaise lovely in flavour although the spiciness from the Korean chili paste slightly overwhelming the delicate vegetable.

Goat Haggis croquettes and Tewkesbury mustard sauce which was crispy and packed with flavour inside. Slight hint of heat from the mustard to cut through the rich haggis. Lovely.

Buttermilk fried chicken presented on a bed of pine cones and needles. A pinch of pine salt was dusted on top to give it the right level of seasoning. It reminded me of the pine salt that was made and used in the Schwarzwaldstube in Germany. The batter which was made with gluten-free tapioca was light and crispy. The chicken inside was moist and surprisingly flavoursome. It was clear that the chicken was of high quality. I wondered whether they did buckets of these…

Next up was a plate of brined Sand eel with mint vinegar jelly. McHale explained that the sand eel season was very short, typically between two to three weeks each year, which explains why I’d never had them before. It had a similar texture and flavour to whitebait so it didn’t feel like much of a novelty. I’m not personally a big fan of mint sauce and found it rather too strong with the delicate fish. Perhaps some sea salt would have been sufficient.

Much better was the Wood pigeon sausage which contained its liver, giving it a very soft texture and depth in flavour. A drop of spicy ketchup on top added some heat to the dish, although I probably could have done with a tiny bit more heat this time. Nevertheless, this was a good dish.

One of the big surprises that lunch was their homemade Brown sourdough bread with oat berries. It had a good crust and airy texture, and was definitely better than many bread I’ve tried in some of the best restaurants in Europe, let alone London. It didn’t take long to finish them.

Hand dived Razor Clams with smoked butter emulsion and a sorrel and apple sauce. The razor clams from Cornwall which had been baked in hay had the right amount of smokiness. The sauce worked in harmony with the tender razor clams making this one of my favourite dishes in the menu. Unlike the emulsion from Vue de Monde, I thought this one was more refined and did not dominate the overall flavour of the dish with its butteriness.

Salad of spring vegetables, pheasant egg, fresh ricotta and lardo. I thought the texture of the vegetables were very good as they were cooked perfectly. However, the dish overall was let down by the quality of the produce as there was not much flavour coming through. The almond oil and balsamic dressing unfortunately could not bridge this gap and personally I felt the egg could have been cooked a tiny bit less as I prefer my egg yolks completely runny.

Flame grilled mackerel with smashed cucumber, served with last years elderflower vinegar and fresh dill. Mackerel is one of my favourite fish but I somehow felt that the quality again was rather disappointing here despite the flawless execution. The fragrant cucumber was very enjoyable and I thought the accompanying sauce worked really well. I just couldn’t get much flavour from the fish.

The restaurant had just received their first batch of summer truffles which we were fortunate enough to try in the Chicken, truffles, girolles, baked leek and cheddar sauce. Again, the quality of the French chicken was superb with a good level of crispiness to the skin and the amazing flavour from the breast meat and testicles. The aged Montgomery cheddar sauce worked in harmony with the leek but my favourite ingredient on the dish must have been the earthy girolles. This course proved the point that dishes don’t need to be complicated when you have top quality ingredients and produce, although admittedly my recent experience in Les Cols has reminded me that the chef does need to know what he or she is doing. He did in this case without a shadow of a doubt.

We had to do a double take on the next course of Lobster, courgette purée, almonds and spices as we were told that they had just been delivered from Christchurch… Dorset, not New Zealand. Phew! The lobster was juicy and the almond provided a contrasting crunchy texture but I was rather disappointed with the curry like flavour dominating the whole dish. I would have preferred less distraction to the sweet flavour of the lobster.

Last of the savoury courses was the Slow cooked loin of lamb from Yorkshire, old spinach and anchovy emulsion with spinach dust and kelp. Whilst the lamb had good flavours with a nice caramelised coating and cooked just the way I like it – pink. Admittedly it was not on par with the Sportsman but then again the lamb at the Sportsman was extraordinary and the best I’ve ever had. I really liked the anchovy emulsion but I thought it didn’t belong on this dish. The idea of using it as an element to season the lamb was good but the fishiness was difficult to ignore.

First dessert course was Strawberries, ewe milk mousse and almond crumble. The strawberries from Brittany were sweet and far superior to the ones I’ve had this year to date. The almond crumble added some textural contrast to the meaty strawberries and soft mousse. Delicious.

The finale was a Prune ice cream, kernel and rosemary sorbet with walnut cake crumbs. The flavour of the prune was very strong but worked well with the sweet sorbet and bed of crumbly goodness. It was a very refreshing end to the meal that left my palate cleansed.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from the Clove Club but I was positively surprised with the overall standard of the dishes that were served that day. Other than a couple of inconsistencies with the quality of the vegetable dish and mackerel, I was impressed with the diverse choice of ingredients from the United Kingdom and cooking skills that went into each dish. The service was very good and friendly throughout the meal. I did find it occasionally a bit noisy in the dining room and at times had some difficulties hearing my companion. I would definitely come back here frequently if I lived in London as I think the price of £49 per person for a tasting menu is reasonable for such an accomplished level of dining. I honestly think this is the next big thing in London and eagerly look forward to my next meal when I’m back.

Sushi Tetsu, London

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Chef: Toru Takahashi Website: www.sushitetsu.com Cuisine: Sushi

I’ve pretty much come to the realisation that if you want amazing sushi you’ll have to go to Japan, or otherwise settle with mediocrity. For this reason I’ve almost abstained in eating sushi outside Japan because all that awaited me after a disappointing meal was a hefty bill, typically fuelled by the copious amounts of beer and sake to soften the blow. It was therefore a stroke of luck when a friend of mine who just returned from a honeymoon in Japan insisted that I should come along to a sushi-ya which she claimed was outstanding. Had it not been for the fact that she had been to some of the best restaurants in Japan recently, I probably would have turned down her offer. Unbeknownst to me, she had become a regular of Sushi Tetsu over the last six months and she assured I wouldn’t be disappointed. Sure enough, she was right.

As it turns out, getting a reservation at Sushi Tetsu is ridiculously difficult. Chef Toru Takahashi who is supported by his wife Harumi in this cosy sushi-ya in the backstreets of Farringdon caters for only seven people during each sitting. Luckily there is the option of filling in last minute cancellations through Harumi-san’s tweets but you’d have to be quick because it goes like gold dust. Having picked up the nickname “Tetsu” during his training in Kobe, Takahashi-san trained for five years in Nobu London before going solo on this new venture to concentrate in the perfection of sushi making. I was amazed to find out that Takahashi-san spoke fluent Spanish having lived in Marbella for a year during his chef training years.

If you want an elaborate “omakase” menu (chef’s recommendation) ranging up to a reasonable £70, you need to let them know a few in days in advance as it requires a bit of preparation. As I was approaching this cautiously, I decided to opt for just the “Flower” omakase sushi set at £38 to test the water. When we entered, Takahashi-san was busy preparing the wasabi for the service. The root was sourced from Shizuoka, a place renown for the best quality wasabi and where the oldest wasabi farm can be found. Harumi-san first brought out some wet towels whilst her husband laid out the bamboo leaves in front of us where he would serve the sushi one by one. It took only one sushi to realise my mistake in not ordering the omakase menu. I immediately knew I had to come back… soon.

The fish here is sourced through a trustworthy Japanese distributor who picks out the best fresh fish from Billingsgate market every morning. The first course of the meal was Sea bream (鯛), sourced most likely from the northern European seas. The firmness of the flesh was unbelievable yet it retained a good level of moisture. It had the right amount of the Takahashi-san’s home made soy concoction brushed on to complement the natural sweetness of the fish for which it is prized for, ending with a refreshing note of mintiness from the discretely hidden shiso leaf. The rice was spot on at body temperature and the right amount of pressure applied to form the pellet, firm but not too compact; something which requires years of training and the first hurdle for all trainees to becoming an “itamae” (板前), i.e. the chef.

Takahashi-san smiled back as I couldn’t contain my joy. He then moved on to wipe the bamboo leaf and began preparing our next course, Spear squid (槍烏賊). It was soft and sweet, although it did have a slight bit of chewiness. The chef uses two types of nori, including Maruyama Nori which has been produced since 1854 during the Edo period and coincidentally also used by the ever so famous Sukibayashi Jiro.

After another wipe down of the bamboo sheet, Takahashi-san was on to the next nigiri of Salmon (鮪). It’s perhaps not construed to be the most exciting cut of fish but I can assure you that when you get it right, it can be very good. The superior quality was evident and combined with the chef’s masterful skill this piece of oily silky fish simply melted in your mouth.

The delicious morsels of sushi kept on coming and the next nigiri of Prawn (海老) was no exception. The prawn was boiled very slightly and subsequently blow-torched on the butterfly-cut side to enhance the flavour and texture. It was sweet with a small hint of smokiness, but most importantly juicy and flavoursome.

Next up was one of my favourite of all times, Yellow Tail (ハマチ). Judging by the oiliness, softness and time of the year, I believe this particular cut was from a farmed fish in Japan as the natural ones are more firm, lighter in oil content and typically caught in winter. As far as I’m aware I don’t think they are native to the European seas but I’m more than happy to be corrected. It’s really a personal taste as some people, like myself, prefer the oily farmed ones. I thought this particular one prepared by Takahashi-san was very good with a lovely sweetness coming through, thereby requiring less soy sauce than similar white fleshed fish.

Razor clam (まて貝). After blanching the clam and cleaning it thoroughly, very shallow incisions were made across to give it a plumper texture. It was then glazed lightly with some more homemade soy sauce, dressed with an ever so tiny pinch of sea salt, and I could also pick up a hint of citrus note, possibly from the use of sudachi or ponzu which are the traditional choice.

There is a Japanese saying in that if you want to really test the quality of the tuna of a sushi-ya, the best part to first have is the lean cut, Akami (赤身), i.e. the red meat. There is much less distraction in flavour from the oiliness found in the more expensive fatty parts of the tuna. Provided the red meat passes muster, you can proceed to order the more expensive cuts as chances are it would be of supreme quality. What happened to me here was tragic and slightly embarrassing. The akami looked so good I forgot to take a photo and just gulped it, ending with a mixed emotion of happiness and remorse. Setting my stupidity aside, the akami was very good. It was soft and released so much flavour on each bite. It was evident that the tuna was wild as opposed to farmed. I can’t remember the last time I had such a good akami. I could hardly contain myself thinking about how the o-toro would taste! (special thanks to Fine Dining Explorer for supplying the photo).

The next course of Black Amberjack (黒カンパチ) was rather a surprise as it’s not a very common fish, at least in Japan. Given the similarity in name, texture and appearance to amberjack (kampachi), this fish has recently had to have its name changed in Japan to Sugi (スギ) due to people being tricked after thinking they bought the more expensive kampachi. Whilst a cheaper substitute, the taste is not inferior and it is much more fatty than the kampachi. I quite enjoyed it, particularly given this was my first time trying it.

Finally on to the much anticipated Aburi o-toro (炙り大トロ), the fattiest part of the tuna. After tasting the akami, I knew this was going to be something extraordinary and sure enough it was. The piece of fish was again lightly slashed and then brushed with the soy sauce concoction before being seared with a blow torch. To finish off, more soy sauce was brushed and it was ready to be devoured. It was a beautifully smoky morsel with an intense flavour that followed as the fish melted like butter in your mouth. Phenomenal.

The last of the nigiri was a marinated Mackerel (鯖), which had a sheet of thinly sliced su-konbu (seaweed marinated in vinegar). Umami, which is the savoury flavour found in konbu, is regarded as one of the five basic tastes of Japanese cuisine. The konbu gave the oily fish a meaty depth and the vinegar removed the fishiness typically found in the aftertaste. It’s a very delicate fish that requires quite a bit of skill to fillet and is one of my all time favourite fish despite it being relatively unpopular.

Last on the menu was a hoso-maki (細巻き) of Yellow tail with spring onion and shichimi (seven spices), salmon and razor clam with shiso. I particularly liked the yellow tail with the heat coming from the shichimi.

So there you go. You can actually get top quality sushi outside Japan and Takahashi-san is the living proof. But in order to get a successful sushi-ya you need some fundamental elements which most sushi-ya’s outside Japan lack. First and foremost, you need to have or rely on someone who has the skill of “mekiki” (目利き), which is the ability and knowledge to pick out good quality fish. Without good “sushi neta” (寿司ネタ), i.e. the toppings such as fish, even the most skilled itamae will struggle to make something decent. After that comes the extremely important skill in the preparation of the sushi rice (temperature and perfect balance of vinegar, sugar and salt), and its application where too much or little will affect the balance of flavour, and most importantly the right level of pressure needs to be applied; too little and the pelet falls apart, too much and it becomes hard. Then comes the matter of sourcing good quality nori, wasabi, knives and getting your homemade sauces right. Finally, you need someone with years of experience to bring all the elements together. It’s an art that requires discipline and unwavering determination, two qualities I believe Takahashi-san has and rewarded him in my opinion with the best sushi-ya in Europe. The road to perfection in the art of sushi is endless and no doubt Takahashi-san will go far as he continues to polish his skills. I can’t wait to go back!

Les Cols, Olot

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Chef: Fina Puigdevall Website:www.lescols.com Cuisine: Regional Catalan

Following the recent success of el Celler de Can Roca and Ferran Adria’s legendary el Bulli, Catalunya has rapidly emerged as a serious contender to the culinary Mecca of Spain, the Basque region. Having slowly worked my way through the region’s top restaurant over the past few years including el Bulli, Can Roca, Sant Pau, Compartir and Comerç 24, my attention turned to a two Michelin starred restaurant located in the capital of the volcanic region of la Garrotxa that had managed to keep a very low profile. I couldn’t find much public information nor knew anyone who had personally been there so I was slightly suspicious. However, I was yet to be let down by a bad experience from a starred restaurant in the region so I decided to bite the bullet and organised a table with a friend who writes for the Lonely Planet’s food segments. After all, Can Roca in my opinion was the best in the world when they only had two Michelin stars so what could go wrong?

The restaurant of Les Cols is located on a quiet shaded street at the edge of the city of Olot. The restaurant itself occupies the ground floor of a 13th century masia (traditional stone house) where the top two floors currently serve as the private residence of the mother of Fina Puigdevall, the head chef. I absolutely loved the juxtaposition of modern interior decor and the rustic exterior which had been beautifully restored to retain the history and its charm. We were given a quick tour around the restaurant before being sat down at our ultra modern table. I found the chair rather cumbersome to get around but I got there in the end. Outside, I could see the resident hens roaming around enjoying the last couple of hours before the sunset. It was a lovely setting and we thought we hit the jackpot but little did we know of what was waiting for us that evening…

Alright, I appreciate that when you’re in a foreign country you can’t expect people to speak fluently in a language foreign to them. But when you’re at a two Michelin starred restaurant where half the clientele that evening consisted of English speakers, you’d expect the front of house to have rehearsed the presentation in the prevailing language, particularly when you have a simplified menu in that language. Unfortunately that was not the case here. Lucky for me I spoke a decent level of Spanish and Catalan. On the topic of other diners though, perhaps the fact that the two English couples next to our table were dressed like clowns in hippie clothes should have been the first sign of warning that evening. So sue me, but I think some effort should be made by diners if you’re going to a nice restaurant. I don’t necessarily mean a tie and suit, but tie-dyed shirts and sandals are hardly appropriate for this setting. We had two choices on the menu that evening which were a vegetarian or standard tasting menu that reflected the seasonality of this mountainous region. We naturally went with the standard tasting menu. The Garrotxa is famous for buckwheat so we were advised that they would be using it frequently throughout the menu. Fine by me as long as it tastes good.

We were offered a glass of cava from Penedes to start the evening. First up was an appetizer of Crujiente de fajol de la Garrotxa. It was essentially a crispy sheet of buckwheat from the Garrotxa which had a few slice of llonganissa, a Catalan cured sausage, hiding underneath. It was hardly anything gastronomic but one of the better courses that evening. You have been warned.

This was followed by a plate of Buckwheat blinis with Sant Pau beans on the right and Cornbread sandwich on the left which had a warm polenta filling. The sandwich, dough and beans, which had a similar consistency to porridge, had no flavour whatsoever. Maybe the chef had forgotten to season it or perhaps I was missing a point?

This was followed by a warm Buckwheat spaghetti in smoked broth which tasted of gizzards. My heart sank. This was possibly the worst start to a meal I’ve ever had. Sure, the ingredients were fresh and of good quality but I felt as if my taste buds had gone on holiday.

A trolley containing local Garrotxa bread with a choice of five local olive oils, ranging in aromas and taste. As everything so far lacked in flavour I asked for the strongest flavoured oil to compensate my palate which was rapidly losing interest in anything that was being offered. I had a feeling this was going to be one of those meals where I may need to rely on the bread for survival. Sure enough, I was right. Damn. I hate being right in these circumstances.

As I was driving that evening I could only take a limited amount of alcohol so I opted for a glass of local white and a red to match the relevant segments of the meal. First up was a white garnatxcha from the Garrotxa’s terra alta.

A slight improvement with our first course of the evening with the Wild asparagus in a charcoal tempura that was served with a beetroot romesco sauce. The tempura was not too oily but had hardly any crispiness to it. What’s more, other than the flavour of the romesco sauce there was no seasoning at all. What did they have against salt?

One of the reason why I chose this tasting menu was because of a couple of mushroom dishes that looked delicious, well at least on paper. The Wild mushroom raw & cooked had some great textures including thin and meaty mushrooms as well as crunchy croutons made from the local bread, Tortell d’Olot. But guess what? Yup, you got it right. No seasoning again.

Our night continued with further disappointment with the Fresh egg, mayonnaise and tuna. Granted, it was interesting because the tuna had been infused into the mayonnaise but the only texture in this dish was liquid. It was just sauce and runny egg, and worst of all it tasted like the tuna mayo filling from a sandwich. Yet again there was no seasoning but this course made me frustrated because the quality of their home reared hen’s egg was superb. What a waste of good ingredient again!

I was scared of trying the most anticipated dish on the menu, Morels, wild asparagus and stew sauce by this point. Things actually looked surprisingly positive initially. The creamy sauce had a bit of seasoning and depth in flavour, and the ingredients were again fresh. However, a fundamental error ruined this dish. It was gritty. The morels had not been cleaned properly. How could this happen in a two starred restaurant?Grilled peas, bacon and blood sausage. The texture of the beans were amazing and just exploded each time I took a bite. I also enjoyed the smokiness until it rather became overwhelming and one dimensional. The bacon and blood sausage hardly added any seasoning to the dish and it was screaming for some salt. Our second glass of wine was poured to go with the next segment of the meal. It was a Viladellops, Garnatxa 2012.

Rice with squids. Slightly sloppy presentation on a plate and probably would have been better served in a bowl. It was very again one dimensional where the seafood jus dominated the palate and the aioli was utterly lost.

My friend’s favourite course of the evening was the Salt cod brandade served with white grapes and spinach. The texture was very interesting again as the cod brandade had been salted and reformed to resemble a fillet. We finally had some seasoning but this time it was just too much. I had to wash this down with a couple of glasses of water and half my glass of red wine.Thank god it was the final segment of the savory courses. Duck, salsifies, pear and smashed biscuit. Duck and pear is a tried and tested combination that is difficult to fail but they somehow managed to screw that up as well. This dish was offensive in that the pear and biscuits were far too sweet and belonged in a dessert. The only decent thing was the texture of the duck. It was pretty clear by now that this restaurant was all about ingredients and texture, neglecting the most important thing called flavour.Three hours into our meal and it became clear that there were other significant issues as well. For one, my friend had to refuse her glass of wine and water being topped up countless times. No one in the front of house communicated with each other and it became rather irritating. If it was any consolation, at least the dozens of mosquitoes in the dining room were having a great time at our expense as we were scratching ourselves all night. We decided to rush through the rest of the meal starting with the Catalan cheeses. At least they had my favourite regional goat’s cheese, the Petit Nevat.We were slightly relieved in that we thought having taken salt out of the equation, dessert would have been much better starting with the Strawberries and rouleau de crème. Our relief was short lived. It was just strawberries and cream. Surely you can’t serve something like this in a fine dining establishment!Iced cottage cheese, creme caramel and basil. This was the best dish tonight. I loved the basil flavoured milky sorbet that cut through the cottage cheese. The creme caramel added a subtle sweetness keeping this a very refreshing course. I did think this could have worked better straight after the cheese course though.

Frozen cake, preserved fruits and burnt egg yolk. A rather uninspired finale that tasted like something that had been pre-made in a package. A dull ending to an extremely disappointing meal.

Crusty sugar bread and dark chocolate was served as petit fours although I didn’t want to stay here any longer and even skipped my coffee. The staff encouraged us to have a coffee and a tour of the kitchen but I refused politely. I wanted to get out. Fast.Needless to say, this was a terribly underwhelming meal. I’m not sure if other people around us were enjoying it but you certainly didn’t get the “oh’s” and “ah’s” from any table when the courses were being presented. The food was not only lacking in flavour but also imagination and depth. Granted, the quality of the ingredient was good and the textures were interesting but it felt tired and I couldn’t sense any passion from the front of house working there. For one, the Maitre’D looked like he was just dragging himself around the dining room utterly lifeless. My friend was much less critical saying she would come back just for the architecture but I thought 240 euros for two people with hardly any wine was absurd. This place has so much potential and the location is magnificent, even if a bit isolated. However, there are fundamental errors that cannot be forgiven and nothing makes me angrier than ruining good produce and ingredients. If you want to let the ingredient shine then treat it with respect and draw the qualities out.

Mas Pou, Palau Sator

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Chef: David Dausa Website: www.maspou.com Cuisine: Catalan

Mas Pou opened in 1986 in the heart of the sleepy town of Palau Sator and has remained a well kept secret amongst the regulars, locals and expats alike. Despite it’s proximity to Girona, reachable within only 20 mins drive from currently the best restaurant in the world, Mas Pou has remained under the radar serving traditional Catalan food affordable price typically coming in under 40 euros a head including wine. The restaurant is housed in an old traditional Catalan farmhouse which had been lovingly restored by the family who run the place. Evidenced by their success, they’ve even managed to open a museum next door and more recently a few self-serviced accommodations to rent out.

As a patron of the restaurant for the past 15 years, the most impressive thing I’ve found with this restaurant has been the consistency with the quality of the dishes over the years. It is for this reason that I have found myself returning over and over again each time I visit my parents who live nearby in the town of L’Escala. Weather permitted, we typically start with an aperitif in the garden and then slowly make our way into the restaurant, lead by Paco who has been with the restaurant for as long as I could remember.

It’s difficult to choose the starter so as a rule I always go for their “pica pica” selection which gives you a chance to nibble (picar) a variety of Catalan dishes in smaller portions. Saying that, I personally find the portions to be too big so always order for the number of people at the table minus one headcount. For the linguistically challenged, fear not for they have menus in English, French and even German.

Once our order was taken we were served with a bowl of quail eggs.

Rather than the usual house red, we opted for something a bit more special as this was my farewell meal with my parents before I moved out to Melbourne permanently. We therefore went with Paco’s recommendation of the Orto, Montsant, 2011 after I asked him to choose one for us from the Priorat region. It was a lovely young crianza, priced really well at just over 20 euros a bottle.

Some Pan tumaca (coca bread with tomato) to go with the meal. Paco brought out some fine extra virgin olive oil from the region to drizzle all over the bread. Simple, yet so good.

It wasn’t long before our starters began arriving at our table. This was my favourite segment of the meal and I could not wait to get stuck in. First up was a Goose liver pâté accompanied with some toast.

A plate of Jamón de Pato (duck ham) which had a good fat-to-meat ratio. Certainly went down like a treat with the red wine.

A simple Goats Cheese and quince jam salad topped with pine nuts and crushed walnuts.

A very refreshing Esqueixada, a traditional Catalan dish. It’s basically a salad of raw shredded salt cod, tomatoes, onions, red and green bell peppers and olives, dressed in olive oil, vinegar and salt. The cod is salted raw and shredded by hand to ensure a good texture.

An Omlette terrine, or essentially a vegetable tortilla, which contained egg, tomato, spinach, caramelised onion, zucchini and potato. It was creamy and delicious, falling apart in your mouth.

We were running out of space as more food kept on arriving on our table. Next up was an Escalivada with anchovies, another traditional Catalan dish made by grilling bell peppers, onions and eggplants until it was burnt outside and soft inside. The charred skin would then be removed and the inside cut up into slithers with garlic, salt and olive oil. In this case it was served on coca bread with a fillet of the best anchovies of Spain from L’Escala. I may be biased but think there’s some truth to that claim, although some of the anchovies I had in the Basque region were delicious too.

A small portion of snails to share. I prefer the Catalan snails to the French ones as they are much smaller and less meatier, but packed with flavour. It was served with…

… a generous amount of home made aioli and tomato sauce. I love their aioli so much I use it each time as a spread over the remaining coca bread. This time was no exception.

The last item from the pica pica which was a plate of Cod and minced meat croquettes. The cod croquette has always been my favourite. Juicy, fresh and not too oily on the batter.

I never learn from my mistakes as my eyes are bigger than my stomach and always end up ordering an equally huge main course. In this case I went for their 500g Rib-eye steak that had been cooked on a charcoal grill. It had a beautiful smokiness to it, perfect amount of seasoning and cooked exactly the way I like my rib-eye; medium-rare. Suffice to say, I left the chips and garnishes untouched. I was stuffed, but very happy.

And of course there was always room for dessert, especially their Cinnamon ice cream and strawberries dusted with more cinnamon powder on top. A very light course to finish a very filling but superb meal. What an improvement from my disastrous meal the night before at Les Cols.

Some post meal entertainment with a Porrón de moscatel never goes amiss. It’s nothing fancy but a social way of consuming moscatel or your sweet wine of choice using a porrón, a traditional Catalan glass wine pitcher which resembles a cross between a wine bottle and a watering can. To drink from a porrón you basically need to start by bringing the spout close to your mouth and tilt it forward, gradually pointing the beak towards the mouth until the liquid stars pouring out in a fine and steady flow. You then slowly pull the porrón away as far as you can whilst maintaining a steady flow into your mouth, bringing it back to the mouth as you finish. It’s pretty fun watching beginners getting the wine all over their face.Nothing better than some Marc de Champagne as digestif in a cold shot glass to finish the meal.

Mas Pou is a place that I could return to over and over again. Their produce is fresh, the dishes are truly Catalan and could not get any more authentic in taste. It’s rustic, not fussy and really good value for what you get. Having had a property in the region for the last 30 years, I can honestly say that I can count in one hand all the places which have stood the test of time and maintained a consistently high standard of cooking. They are one of them. I would confidently say that such a high quality authentic Catalan restaurant is almost impossible to find in the bigger cities like Barcelona or Girona. In my honest opinion this is worth the trip if you are really after something traditional rather than fine dining, although you’d also be spoilt for fine dining choices when you have restaurants like Can Roca and Sant Pau nearby. One word of warning though, reservations are highly recommended for weekend meals as it gets ridiculously busy. Sadly for me it will be a while before I get to return here again as it is a bit far from Melbourne.

Lung King Heen, Hong Kong

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Chef: Chan Yan-Tak Website: www.fourseasons.com/hongkong Cuisine: Cantonese

On my latest fine dining trip to Hong Kong I wanted to squeeze in a good yam cha (dim sum) session but had very limited time. I also wanted to squeeze in another fine dining meal so I thought why not combine the two and go for a starred yam cha meal since there were a few around? Naturally, I couldn’t resist the opportunity of trying Hong Kong’s only three michelin starred yam cha restaurant, which also had featured on the inaugural San Pellegrino Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant list coming in at a respectable 13th place. Coincidentally, the Four Seasons Hotel which houses the restaurant is also home to another three starred French restaurant, Le Caprice, but I couldn’t quite fit it in my schedule this time around. Perhaps next time.

The name Lung King Heen which means “view of the dragon”, is befitting for the panoramic view of the Victoria harbour, although I must admit there are better views in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, at under £30 a person for a meal, albeit not the tasting menu, I did wonder whether the food would do the view justice as I could not envisage how yam cha could be elevated to a three Michelin star standard. Given the hype and media coverage including San Pellegrino, I was convinced that there had to be something amazing about this restaurant so I made a reservation for two in hope for a divine meal that would satisfy my yam cha craving. My verdict on the restaurant you ask? You’ll have to read on…

We were initially offered a choice of tea, juice or water to start. For some reason I have a habit of only drinking jasmine tea so we opted for that. I find that tea in yam cha establishments can sometimes be overlooked so it was good to see them offering us a variation in strength. In addition to the familiar dishes, we opted for a couple of suggestions made by our waitress.

First up was the most expensive dish of the meal and one which they suggested – Steamed rice rolls with lobster in fermented bean sauce (cheung fun). I’m quite picky about rice rolls and there’s a lot of skill required to make a good one. It need to be fresh, thin yet tender, and it needs to have a mild sweetness on its own. The “garnishes”, in this case the lobster, and the sauce needs to complement the roll but not distract it. Suffice to say, the roll was very good here but I found the lobster almost non-existent other than providing only a textural element and the black bean sauce overpowered the dish. What a shame!

Much better from the next dish of Baked barbecued pork buns with pine nuts. In absence of my most favourite dish to my disappointment which is the steamed variation (char siu pau), we were glad to have chosen this dish. The bun had a lovely fluffed up butter crust on top and was slightly sweet, enhancing the flavour of the moist pork, which was of superior quality. I particularly liked the slight crunch from the vegetable inside and it showed the chef’s attention and respect to each ingredient.

We couldn’t have yam cha without the classic Steamed shrimp dumpling with asparagus (har gow), which again contained a very fresh and flavoursome prawn inside with chopped asparagus sprinkled on top. As expected, the prawn came in it’s entirety retaining a lot of the delicate juice and flavour, contrary to many yam cha places which serve them chopped up and the flavour lost. A simple dish but well executed.

Another classic dish of a rather giant Steamed shrimp and pork dumplings with conpoy (shiu mai). This dish is a difficult one to rate because I personally think it all depends on each individual’s preference. I prefer mine to have a higher prawn-to-pork ratio but quite often I find the pork flavour to be dominant. It wasn’t the case here and I rather enjoyed this simple dish.

I took a particular liking for the next course during my trip in China in 2011 so I was looking forward to the Steamed Shanghainese pork dumplings with scallops (Xiao long bao). The chef clearly thought about serving this dish in the easiest manner using the little wooden rack. What a great idea! This way I did not risk losing the all important soup. However, the skin was unfortunately thicker than the translucent ones I had in Shanghai. The addition of the scallop was a novelty for me as I never across this variation in China but I must admit that the soup inside was a tad too cold for my liking and the dish overall was disappointing.

Another recommendation by the waitress of the Crispy spring rolls with assorted seafood which had a lovely golden-brown crispy pastry with a distinct texture and flavour of fresh prawn again. I thought the contrast of juicy prawns and crispy pastry was executed perfectly, and if there was one thing about this place the ingredients were really fresh and of high quality. But after all, it was simply just a spring roll?

We were still quite peckish so opted for two additional dishes. The first one was the Baked roast goose puffs with chestnut in X.O chilli sauce. I didn’t particularly like this dish as my palate was dominated by the sweet chestnut rather than the roast goose. Admittedly, I can’t remember ever seeing chestnut in a yam cha course?

Last course of the meal was Steamed chicken dumplings with mushrooms and parsley.The nuttiness really came through and the chicken was again surprisingly moist and the vegetable fresh and crunchy. Not a bad dish to finish off on.

We had some petit fours which again were not something to get excited over. The chef came out towards the end of the meal but only to greet one person who was sitting two tables away and using flash photography for each course. So my verdict? I think we need to put things into context. Yes, the ingredients and produce incorporated in the dishes were fresh and better than the average yam cha restaurant. The ambiance inside was relaxing, although the crowded noisy ones on the busy streets of Hong Kong are charming in their own right. But was this restaurant truly a three michelin starred restaurant? If you take Michelin’s definition of three stars which is “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey,” then I think this place fails dramatically on all front. The service was decent but not spectacular. It took us 20 minutes to get attention to pay our bill. The view was great but I’ve had better in Hong Kong who don’t even have two stars. I have on many occasions flown out on special journies for the sole purpose of dining, and frequently been able to justify the effort on the back of just one extraordinary meal like at Oaxen Krog or on the rarer occasions just one dish like the Herefordshire steak at Ledoyen. It was clearly not the case here and I was glad this was not my primary purpose of visit to Hong Kong. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the meal, especially given the price, but this restaurant simply does not pass muster nor live up to the hype.

Schwarzwaldstube, Baiersbronn

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Chef: Harald Wohlfahrt Website:www.traube-tronbach.de Cuisine: Innovative French

Ask any gastrophile about Paul Bocuse or Alain Chapel and I guaranty you that most of them will know about their legacy as pioneers and founders of Nouvelle cuisine in France. Just like Bocuse, Harald Wohlfahrt in Germany has paved the way in redefining the fine dining scene in Germany over the past three decades. Adding to his impressive accolades of three Michelin stars which he has kept since 1992 and a 19.5 scoring from Gault Millau, he has also single-handedly trained a staggering six of the current ten three-Michelin-starred chefs in the Germany at his highly acclaimed restaurant, Schwarzwaldstube, located in the heart of the Black Forest in the hotel Traube-Tonbach. Given my limited fine dining experience in Germany, albeit very good thus far, I was very excited about my visit to the Black Forest with Fine Dining Explorer and a couple of other friends.

We decided to make the most of our trip by booking a private cooking lesson to make an original and molecular black forest gateau with Pastry Chef Pierre Lingelser, followed by a German wine tasting session with commis Sommelier Peter Zimmermann. After a leisurely paced afternoon we slowly made our way to the restaurant. We were welcomed by the owner of Traube-Tonbach, Heiner Finkbeiner, a true gentleman who makes it his mission to greet every guest of the hotel and restaurant. For a man who has won a national ski jumping competition and retained the second Michelin star when he was working as a chef in the very same restaurant, his humility and modesty was astonishing. I was humbled to be able to engage in a conversation with him over a glass of champagne before we were guided to our table to commence our meal.The style of cooking in Schwarzwaldstube was innovative as Wohlfahrt took classic French cuisine and refined it with local produce and modern German techniques and precision. They offered a choice of a standard tasting menu and, might I say, a rather daring vegetarian tasting menu, as the latter was still a new concept in Germany. There was the option of going à la carte as well but it would have just been plain rude to turn down the opportunity to taste as many dishes as we could from the legendary German chef. It was pretty much a unanimous decision to go with the tasting menu and we were soon under way…

As we pondered over the choice of wine with the sommelier, an array of amuse bouche arrived at our table. We were advised to start from the left with the chip made from tapioca and skin of soft shell with crab. The crab was very flavoursome although the tapioca very subtle. In the middle was a puff pastry with guinea fowl mousse and truffle, which had a very delicate flavour, although I found the content inside resembling more to that of a liquid than a mousse. Lastly on the right was a rye bread chip with Perigord black truffle butter and foie gras on top. It was the tastiest of the three and certainly had the most distinct flavour. The rye bread was crunchy and the black truffle was of a very good quality, adding earthiness to the delicious foie gras.

We insisted to the sommelier that we only wanted German wine this evening and he pulled out a couple of cracking bottles. The first one was the Laible 2011 Durbacher Plauelrain Riesling, Trocken Achat, which had a lovely mineral character and fruitiness to it and went really well with our first course…

… of a Variation of Char from Oberpfalz, a freshwater fish related to the trout family. We started with the Char with kataifi and salad of carrot, coriander, ras al hanut and caraway seeds in the front, followed by Char with Compté cheese and olive salad with kumquat to the right. On top was the tartare of Char with grains of beans with a crispy potato garnish, which was amazingly fresh and perfectly seasoned with the salty Char roe, finished off with a nice crunch from the potato. Lastly on the left we had the terrine of tomato and mousse of sturgeon surrounding the Char. The creamy mousse and tomato was refreshing and almost tasted like a gazpacho. It was as delicious as it looked beautiful. Good start.

The next wine to match our meal was a bit of a surprise. The sommelier insisted we try the Sauvignon Blanc 500 Von Winning. How could we turn it down after he boldly declared that this was the best German sauvignon blanc? We were indeed surprised with the minerality and juicy aroma of elderberries, ripe gooseberries and roasted hazelnut emanating from this bottle. Touché indeed Mr Sommelier!Another beautiful course of Carpaccio of wild gamba, crispy seafood, tobiko, cucumber and affila cress, served on a bed of sliced radish, decorated with cucumber jelly. The dish was finished with some dried fragrant shiso and young sprouts sprinkled on top. The tobiko egg brought a textural variation to the meaty gamba which released bags of flavour on each bite, and you could pick out a tiny bit of heat from sweet ginger. The warm crispy seafood was made with kataifi wrapped around prawn and fish paste with spices of the Middle East. It was a great dish that truly captured Wohlfahrt’s refined techniques, and more importantly all the elements worked well together in terms of temperature, texture, flavour and fragrance.

Now I’ve tried foie gras on countless opportunities and thought it would be very difficult to create something as unique as the Magnum from Osteria Francescana but I must admit Wohlfahrt surprised me with his Truffled goose liver raviolo, two kinds of parsley and truffle sauce. It contained two of my favourite ingredients, and before you say anything, no, I’m not talking about parsley!The raviolo was stuffed with foie gras and oyster mushroom with parsley purée, carefully laid on a bed of parsnip roots dressed with a generous amount of an intense earthy mushroom sauce at the table with shavings of Perigord truffle. The foie gras was cooked to perfection and the pasta was the right thickness. I did however think that the oyster mushroom was the star component of the dish.

Following a long absence, the Soufflé of quails egg, asparagus, morrels, pea puree and green sauce made it back on to the menu since a couple of years due to popularity. We were glad the chef caved in to his diners demand. The quail egg white was beaten separately and the egg yolk was dropped in the middle before making a soufflé which essentially poached the yolk. The fresh parsley sauce melded the sweet pea purée and the soufflé, and what better than asparagus to go with egg? It was fresh, light and refined. The icing on the cake was the slight nuttiness and earthiness from morrels. With skills like this I could see why Wohlfahrt was offering a vegetarian tasting menu. I could easily have had another plate of this!

On to my favourite course of the evening with the Sea bass, brandade, watercress, lemon and champagne butter. This was just one of those cases where the photo couldn’t do justice to the dish. There was so much going on in this dish and one fault could have been fatal – but it was remarkably well executed. Forming the base of the dish was a bed of sweet watercress purée which had been beaten with olive oil. A sea bass mousse was blended with potato to make a brandade, and the fish was coated with a reduction of fish foam with butter, lemon juice and zest. The brittle seabass skin and crispy potato cubes were vital for some textural contrast in the dish. In true classic French cuisine style, the rich creamy sauce made from fish foam, champagne butter and chives was served at the table to ensure the right temperature. What I particularly enjoyed about the dish was the balance of lemon-to-butter in the dish. My previous experience with similar dishes have always resulted in my palate being dominated by the zingy citrus flavour. Suffice to say, the fish was cooked perfectly but I think each element to this dish was as important as the other.

The next wine which our sommelier decantered for us was one of Bernard Huber’s flagship pinot noir, Bernard Huber Wildenstein Spatburgunder ‘R’ 2007, which had an intense red and black fruit on the palate with a massive structure and very fine tannins.

Our first meat course was the Ballotine of suckling goat, mediterranean vegetable and wild garlic sauce. On the right was a gnocchi and the vegetable used for the garnish on the left was very mediterranean and included fennel. The baby goat ballotine was made from the saddle and fillet, sourced from the nearby region of Burgundy. It was cooked for 35 hours at 76 degrees celsius, resulting in a stunningly soft texture. The sticky jus which contained wild garlic was not too sharp. I did find it a little filling though, especially given the next course was…

… a Medallion of venison, carrot-ginger purée and cardamom jus. We were served the first venison of the season with a duck liver slice, a venison innards mousse made in equal ratio with crème fraîche, and a carrot and ginger purée, with broccoli and polenta on the side. The venison was served pink and innards mousse was delicious as it was not dominant in the overall flavour of the dish. The polenta with a hint of rosemary was great to mop up the venison jus that had a subtle flavour of cardamom. The sweetness of the carrot went well with the gamey meat but I felt extremely full at this point and could not appreciate the last few mouthfuls. Shame!

I couldn’t look at cheese at this point but as my friend duly pointed out, it would be a crime to turn down a plate of cheese from Bernard Antony. I caved into peer pressure after a couple of minutes of um-ing and resorted to just getting a handful of hard cheeses and nothing too rich and creamy. Suffice to say, they were as good as always.

Thank god it was time for dessert! As usual, we were the last ones in the restaurant at this point as it was fast approaching 1am. The first dessert served was a Rhubarb and elderberry soup, violet, pine resin, thyme and herbal ice. The caramel sugarwork was made from violet and ice cream from Mediterranean herbs. On the side of the plate were raspberry cream, violet, elderflower and aniseed. I liked most of the components on this dish except for the violet. The last time I had violet in my dessert was at Gordon Ramsey’s three starred restaurant in London and the dish made me gag as it tasted like potpourri. In this case, I was able to isolate the violet from the dish and I thought the dish worked well without it. Perhaps some verbena would have worked better as a substitution?Last up was an impressive sphere of Kir imperial: Woodruff-champagne snow and wild strawberry sorbet.

As I cracked open the sugarwork globe I could see the strawberry sorbet, woodruff flavoured champagne mousse and milk chocolate foam. For those who are unfamiliar with woodruff, it is a herbaceous perennial plant that is commonly used in Germany, particularly around spring time and has a very unique fragrance and flavour, the closest being vanilla. Underneath the sphere were some macerated wild strawberries oozing with sweetness. It was exactly what I wanted – a very fresh and light finish to the meal. Bravo.

We made a concerted effort to try one of the petit fours each consisting of a nut biscuit, chocolate brownie with sesame, passion fruit tart with orange and coconut, pistachio macaroon and finally a chocolate dusted with sugar with Armagnac inside.

As expected from a restaurant of this calibre in Germany, the service was slick and impeccable. Each course and wine came with an explanation and no questions remained unanswered. I also noticed that other than our table, all the other diners were regulars who had been returning for many years. And why wouldn’t they? At just under 200 euros for a full tasting menu (drinks excluded although the average price for wine was very modest), the food served here punched well above the weight compared to many other three-Michellin starred restaurants, including a handful of classic restaurants in France. At a time when many young chef’s have looked towards a more modern and minimalist approach to fine dining, Wohlfahrt’s unwavering determination in twisting classic French techniques and incorporating German produces is admirable. Most importantly, it has given Schwarzwaldstube a unique identity that distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack. One word of advice though if you decide to come here – leave plenty of space in your stomach because you will definitely be well fed! I’d definitely come back with my wife on our next trip to Europe to try the vegetarian tasting menu, and trust me, I can’t believe I just said that!

Azurmendi, Larrabetzu

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Chef: Eneko Atxa Website: www.azurmendi.biz Cuisine: Modern Basque

On my latest visit to the Basque region I visited the legendary Arzak and went on a journey to discover the best pintxo’s of San Sebastian. There were a couple of other places I’d been meaning to re-visit but I decided to go with a wild card on this occasion. Joining the ranks of culinary excellence in the Basque region in 2012 was Eneko Atxa’s Azurmendi, located only 10 minutes drive away from Bilbao airport. Atxa has impressively amassed three Michelin stars within a very short period of time making it one of the hottest establishments in the region right now. I first heard about this place two years ago when I caught up with Dimi from the Fat Duck and after Michelin’s announcement in 2012, I prodded my partner in culinary crime, Fine Dining Explorer, to come with me on a weekend to see what all the fuss was about. As usual it didn’t take much to convince him.

Nestled high up on the hill of the biggest Txakoli winery in the region is a beautifully elongated modern glass cube that is Azurmendi. While it’s a very steep hill to drive up, the view from the top is quite impressive despite the intruding highway that runs parallel to the horizon. At the foot of the hill stands the original winery building that, until the contemporary building was completed in 2012, housed the restaurant. It now is used partly as a wedding venue and a bistro. The weather on this occasion was far more aggressive than the usual rain I am accustomed to in the Basque region – on this occasion it was snowing hard! But this was not going to dampen our spirit.

Leaving the blizzard behind, we stepped into the vast contemporary space of the restaurant reception to be greeted by the Maitre D, Jon Eguskiza. He immediately joked that Atxa’s unfortunate absence that day meant that we would be even better looked after as he could spoil us rotten. Whilst I have no comparison to make yet, I can certainly guaranty that Eguskiza did a damn fine job in looking after us that afternoon. He carried on to show us around the building explaining that the green house they integrated into the restaurant was not with the intention of moving towards self-reliance as it was far too small, but rather an opportunity to showcase some of the indigenous vegetables and fresh produces the Basque region had to offer to foreign diners.

I was particularly impressed with the couple of Haiku’s that had been translated from Euskerra to Castellano and English, all whilst maintaining the rules of haiku.

We returned to the reception to find a couple of waiters laying out a picnic basket on the coffee table. After meticulously putting everything in place they announced that our picnic amuse bouche was ready. Let’s see what was inside……

First up was a Peanut made from peanut butter with chocolate and dried mushroom dust coating. This was a bizarre dish as I felt as if I was eating a dollop of slightly sweet butter infused with earthy mushroom flavour. Admittedly this was not my cup of tea.

Much better was the Homemade cheese with basil flowers from our garden. The cheese just melted in your mouth and was not too powerful to distract the flavours from subsequent dishes so early in the meal.

The last item of the picnic was a Purple onion from Zalla skin infusion, which had been prepared by roasting and boiling the onion. There was an intense onion flavour accompanied by the natural sweetness. It was rich and clear with a lasting aftertaste.

After our picnic we were taken to the vast open kitchen but found only a handful of chef’s preparing the mis-en-place. Eguskiza explained that chefs under Atxa were not segregated to one section in the kitchen in order to avoid monotony. Instead, each chef was responsible for multiple courses. This explained why there were far less chefs here than many other three starred restaurants I had been to. We were curious to see whether this would affect the quality of the dishes so we promptly took our seats and left ourselves in the hand of our friendly Maitre D. Tasting Menu? Of course. Matching wine? Absolutely. Brand new dishes? Why not?

The restaurant offered two menu’s – Erroak (€135) consisting of classic dishes that formed the foundation of Azurmendi’s identity since inception, and Adarrak (€160) which consisted of more dishes and showcased the flavours and roots of Basque cuisine. We couldn’t make up our mind so Eguskiza suggested we create a customised menu, using Adarrak as the base, adding some dishes from Erroak to get an overall appreciation and understanding of Atxa’s cooking. Splendid! We ordered a bottle of Cava, Oriol Brut Nature as he ran through some of the options and then we were set.

First up on the menu was Egg from our chickens, cooked inside out and truffled. Part of the slightly cooked egg yolk had been taken out carefully with a syringe leaving the outer membrane intact. A rich black truffle infused broth was then injected back in, finished off with move shavings of black truffles from Zaragoza. I loved the creaminess of the egg yolk which magnified the earthy flavour of the truffle. A simple looking dish but the attention to detail was amazing, particularly given that the temperature had to be spot on and the membrane was so delicate. What’s more, the dish had to be assembled altogether at the last minute. This certainly made up for the somewhat lack luster amuse-bouche. What a superb start!

In preparation for the next course a bowl containing seaweed and dry ice was presented and water added allowing the smell of the ocean to wash over us.

Almost simultaneously we were served the Oyster, Salicornia, iodinated tremella, sea weed and small crunchy nettles with natural aroma from the sea. What initially appeared to be seaweed next to the Gillardeau oyster from La Rochelle in the shell was actually gelatinous tremella mushrooms cooked in seawater. It had a contrasting crunchy texture to the meaty oyster with diced seaweed on top. The accompanying seaweed and anemone tempura had the right level of natural seasoning, executed perfectly with a good crispiness and hardly any oil.

We were then presented with lobster done two ways with the Confited lobster with essential herbs from our garden and pork jowl. On the left was the tartare of lobster that had been infused with oil of essential herbs from their garden, wrapped in a smoky pork jowl. On the right was a beautifully cooked juicy roasted Cantabric lobster. This Cantabric lobster had more of a bite to other lobsters I’ve tried but I personally preferred this texture better.

We were initially taken back when the next course was being served as we thought our tasting menu was coming to an abrupt end. Luckily Eguskiza smiled and assured us we were only getting started as he prepared The “Earth” Tea service.

On the right we had a cup containing champignon mushroom with wild edible flowers.

On the left were some dried champignon mushrooms. We were instructed to take three tea spoonful of the dried mushroom and add it to the teapot containing a concentrated mushroom consommé to brew.

We then left the mushroom tea to brew for a couple of minutes before proceeding to pour it into the cup on the right.

The flavour of the broth was just outstanding considering this was just made from the humble champignon mushroom. The meaty mushroom had bags of flavour and the overall flavour lasted a very long time. I was so impressed I went to add a few more spoons of dried mushroom into my teapot to increase the concentration. I was in fungi heaven and this was probably one of my three most favourite mushroom courses I’ve ever had next to the Mai-take brioche in De Librije and the woodland mushroom and quinoa dish at Mirazur.

Next up was Smoked Foie Gras Sandwich with Tapenade, a new dish which had not been served yet to other customers. The foie gras encased in a herby cracker was so delicately poised on the plate it fell on its side a couple of times before it was presented perfectly on the third time. I didn’t really mind but our Maitre D was a perfectionist and I appreciated the attention to detail. We were advised to eat the sandwich with our fingers. The smokey foie gras was nice with the contrasting crunchy cracker. The tapenade on the side, which contained a leaf of sunflower, was nice but I thought the dish could have done with a bit more acidity to cut through the rich foie.

I absolutely love sweetbreads and I think it’s such a shame that many restaurants are too afraid to use them so I was in for a treat with the next course of Cauliflower, garlic potato and sweetbreads. The potato soufflé was stuffed with a garlic cream inside that oozed out. The cauliflower was served golden and crispy on top. The lamb sweetbread, which we were told was the traditional choice in the region, was beautiful without a strong offal flavour. The components were all assembled on a bed of cauliflower purée.

One of the two best courses of the day, hands down, without a shadow of a doubt was the “Betizu” ox tail raviolis, wrapped in corn bread with legume broth. The ox tail had been stewed on the bone for hours and the soft meat then taken off the bone. Iberico ham was then mixed into the meat before being wrapped in a thin layer of corn bread like a sushi roll. The rolls were then fried on each side to give the perfect crispiness to the bread coating. The finishing touch was to add this delicious morsel on a bed of sticky vegetable sauce containing chickpeas and basil. Each bite released an explosion of flavours. Whilst based on the taste, I normally would have begged for more, in fact this was exactly the right portion because it was such a rich dish.

We were surprised to find another rich dish for the next course. We were assured that this was a good progression of flavour and he was right again with the Salted stew: vegetables, anchovies and iberics with “Idiazabal” cream cheese balls. The stew was made of shallots, green asparagus, anchovies, trotters and bacon giving it a hearty and punchy flavour – a real smack in the mouth. The Idiazabal cheese had a strong flavour on its own but worked well in the context of the dish and you could appreciate the flavour of the local cheese.

I was glad to see that Atxa had incorporated another great dish from the region into his menu, and who wouldn’t? Kokotxas, pil-pil and tender and crunchy artichokes. On this occasion the dish was prepared by using kokotxas from hake in olive oil and a very creamy pil-pil sauce with chilli. The confit artichoke was fried and cut finely to spread the crunchy texture across the dish. Another good dish!

The second best course of the day following the oxtail dish was the Pigeon, hazelnuts and deuxelles. This was possibly the best pigeon dish I’ve ever had to date. The pigeon was from Arraiz, Navarra. There were some natural hazelnuts as well as “artificial ones” which were made from a mixture of the foie gras of pigeon and reduced stock from the bone, served chilled. The sauce was made from cheese and mushroom. The pigeon was cooked perfectly pink with good seasoning and the mushroom added a lovely earthiness to the dish. The nutty flavour and crunchiness of the hazelnut was the perfect accompaniment to the pigeon. Great use of textures, flavours and temperatures.I’d never say no to trying some local cheese of course! We were presented with a traditional long wooden palate containing two types of Idiazabal – one half cured and one smoked, some Carranzana, which was made from an ancient Basque sheep breed, and a blue cheese from Artziniega. They were all matched with marmalade made from apple, prune, quince and a most peculiar but delicious carrot.

Right before our dessert we were presented with a little story…

… and a brown paper bag…

… which contained Chestnuts with vine shoot scent. As we opened the bag, a waft of smoke came out carrying a lovely smoky smell of roasted chestnut. This took me back to my childhood in Asia. What was unexpected however, was that the chestnuts inside were neither hot nor indeed actual chestnuts. Instead they were chilled chestnut purée’s made from double cream with chocolate milk and natural chestnut powder, resting on a bed of chestnut powder made again from chestnuts that had been roasted until they were burnt before being ground.

The first dessert of the evening was Coffee Pudding, Rum and Farmhouse Milk, which appeared like a giant egg decorated with caramelised hazelnuts.

As we cracked open the outer shell there was a coffee purée inside that had a hint of rum. I usually prefer to not have alcohol in my dessert but this was perfect in dose as you could just pick up the flavour. The caramelised hazelnuts added some texture and the little specks of dulce de leche added that sweetness the dish needed. I love coffee so this was right up my alley.

Up next was Honey. I had seen this dish on various websites prior to coming to the restaurant and had hoped to try it. It is Atxa’s signature dish of honey comb with frozen air of honey with thousand flowers. His inspiration came from a chiffon cake. He wanted to create a light and airy dessert but with a much more intense flavour. This was achieved by whisking honey, glucose and sugar together before adding it to a vacuum bag. It was then cooked before adding air back into the bag, finally freezing it after it expanded. A pinch of the honey scented sweet alyssum was added as a beautiful garnish on the frozen honey. This was all beautiful presented on a slab of honey comb with more honey drizzled on it! If you love honey, this is one dish you really don’t want to miss and definitely a feast for the eyes.

To go with our coffees we had an array of petit fours starting with a passion fruit chocolate ball on the right, followed by a rice soufflé in the middle and finishing off with an apple pie.

With a growing number of young talented chefs like Eneko Atxa, it would seem as if the Basque region’s reputation as a culinary Mecca is safe for a while. Just like the gastronomical revolution led by legendary chefs from Arzak and Akelare a couple of decades ago, new chefs like Atxa appear to be paving a way for a new refined cuisine that continues to embrace their heritage and roots. The cooking here was without doubt very accomplished. I also loved the luxury of having so much space between the tables, allowing us to take in the whole experience without bothering and being bothered by other diners. Also, if it hasn’t been obvious already, the service here led by Jon Eguskiza was flawless. Top that off with amazing views through floor to ceiling windows across the entire dining room and you’ve got yourself a recipe for success. I hope on my next trip I’ll get to see the genius behind everything that is Azurmendi.

The Sportsman, Whitstable

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Chef: Stephen Harris Website:www.thesportsmanseasalter.co.uk Cuisine: British

When I’m presented with an opportunity to meet the chef of a restaurant I particularly enjoyed, there is always a question which I end up asking without fail – which is their favourite restaurant in the world? I always find that if I like a particular chef’s cooking style, the chances are that I would most likely like their favourite restaurants too. I appreciate it’s difficult for anyone, including myself, to single out one restaurant but you’d be surprised as to how many times I’d be given one name. It all started over a year ago when a two-Michelin starred chef in Stockholm did exactly that. His response was “the Sportsman, without a shadow of a doubt. They do the most amazing lamb”. Subsequently, I came across that name over a dozen times within a span of a few months so I knew I needed to do something about it. Three months later, I was finally on my way there.

The Sportsman is essentially a gastropub that is located an hour’s train ride away from London, in the salt marshes near Whitstable. The restaurant has had a michelin star to its name since 2009 although admittedly I think Michelin have got it wrong here as I sincerely believe this place operates at a two-michelin starred standard. Sure, the service was much more informal and the chairs at a few table were higgeldy piggeldy, but then again I liked the casual atmosphere. Furthermore, if you purely based the experience on food then I would probably say that the Sportsman puts many of the two and three starred restaurants in the United Kingdom to shame and the best way to highlight why….. is to keep reading…We were advised that the menu was seafood heavey at the start so we decided to go with a bottle of a Taittinger brut. The amuse bouche of cheese biscuit made from the award winning Ashmore cheese followed almost immediately after. It was mild, not overly salty and the spring onion was a lovely addition to it.

This was one of the main reason why I came here. I had heard of everyone talking about the pork scratching with mustard but I didn’t expect it to be so tender and juicy inside and crunchy on the outside. The wholegrain mustard dipping gave it a bit of kick and cut straight through the fat. It was the most extraordinary port scratchings I’ve ever had and I wish I could have had some more!

Next to the pork scratchings were the pickled herrings on soda bread with cream cheese and Bramley apple jelly. The acidity of the apple cut through the oily herring really well and it tasted very fresh. Overall a good balance of the elements.

A couple of shellfish courses starting with the scallop with Bramley apple foam and 24 months home cured ham. The ham was surprisingly amazing in quality with a nice creaminess and fattiness, and flavour not too dissimilar to the mighty Spanish Iberico ham. It went really well with the scallop and acidic green apple foam, eaten in one bite it released all the flavours in one go.

Next up was a baked oyster with rhubarb and seaweed granita. The quality of the oyster was very good. The combination of rhubarb and seaweed granita with the lightly baked oyster was a new one for me but I thought it worked well.

By now it was clear that simplicity was key to success here. This was particularly true with the first of the two fish courses, Slip Sole grilled in seaweed butter. The sweet flesh was quite dense and succulent compared to that of other sole varieties. The rich butter carried through the delicious flavour of seaweed and that was all this dish needed. Superb execution, brilliantly simple and absolutely delicious.

As it was in season, the next fish course was Braised Turbot with smoked roe, served with broccoli. The sauce made from smoked turbot roe could have been smokier in my opinion and the meat was slightly overcooked. It wasn’t a terrible dish but I did have to factor in that my opinion was overshadowed by the preceding course. I wanted more slip sole… and seaweed butter…

I absolutely loved the numerous plates of seafood but thought it was the right time to introduce something different. The waitress hinted us to order a bottle of red wine for the next few courses so we naturally obliged. First up was the Wood pigeon, bread sauce and crisp cabbage. The pigeon was surprisingly not too gamey with a sweet and nutty flavour. Most importantly, it was cooked just the way it should be, rare. The bread sauce was substantial, the cabbage crunchy and the pickled radish and rhubarb added some acidity to the rich dish. Not a bad dish, but this was not what I was waiting for…

This was more like it! This was what we heard everyone talk about over and over again, local Monkshill Farm lamb. They are reared next door to the pub and graze on the salt marshes, feeding on salt-tolerant plants like sorrel and samphire. We started with the Lamb belly deep fried with mint sauce. This reminded me a bit of tonkatsu – perfect crispiness and melting meat. It also had a bit of heat with mustard spread all over it. My companions appreciated the accompanying mint sauce, although I was happy to eat without it as I’m not generally a big fan of mint sauce. Then came the best lamb dish I’ve ever had to date, Roast lamb from Monkshill farm. Precise and beautifully pink again. The cut of the lamb was the shoulder and rump. Two of my favourite cuts as it has so much flavour, particularly the latter, although they can be tough but these were so unbelievably soft they melted in your mouth. They came with some seasonal vegetables but I was less concerned with them. More mint sauce on the side but I was content with the jus which was deep in flavour. I would fly back from Melbourne just to eat this again. Seriously.After depleting all of the food noise vocabulary, mainly consisting of mmmmm’s and oh’s, we realised our plates were empty. That was it. The meal was over… or was it? The palate cleanser of the Rhubarb lolly ended up being our favourite sweet treat of the evening. It was essentially a rhubarb sorbet on a stick in a cake sauce made from Madeira cake. Does that sound decadent or what? It was delicious and refreshing. I never thought I’d find lumpy cake in a sauce to be delectable but it was.

The final course of the day was Meringue ice cream, seawater spray, buckthorn and sea lettuce. Sea buckthorn is one of those things you love or hate, and I love it, particularly given one of my favourite dessert all time from Frantzén Lindeberg (now known as Frantzén) has them in the dish. The dish reminded me of a cold pavlova and I thought the saltiness from the seawater and lettuce really brought out the sweetness of the meringue ice cream. It was a good dish to finish on but admittedly not in the same league as their savoury courses.Some petit fours to finish with our coffee. They included gypsy tart with apple, short bread, Indian tea juncket and warm chocolate mousse with salted caramel. My personal favourite was the gypsy tart.

So did the Sportsman live up to all the hype? Yes, and I could even say it was in my top five restaurants of the United Kingdom, coming respectably just behind L’Enclume. It was a pub and there was no pretense but that was part of the charm, especially given its remote location in the countryside. To me it epitomised British dining at its best. The result on the plate showed a care and obsession for ingredients, and a passion for flavours. The quality of the locally sourced produce was second to none and it was utlised sensibly without complicating the dishes. It was pure and honest. All this for a mere £65 per head for the tasting menu? I can’t remember the last time I paid less than £100 for a meal that was this impressive! Would I be back? Hell yes.

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Schwarzwaldstube, Baiersbronn

Azurmendi, Larrabetzu

The Sportsman, Whitstable