Berners Tavern, 8th November

Stephen and I were both already convinced that Berners Tavern was going to be gorgeous both aesthetically and gastronomically, so the fact that it was, was no surprise. 

I think Jason Atherton must be having a laught calling it a Tavern. I've rarely dined in grander surroundings whereas a tavern to me is somewhere peasants go to drink. This place is huge, with walls completely covered with framed portraits. They fit together in such a perfect jigsaw that the arrangement must have taken ages to design. You feel like you are dining in the middle of a fine arts gallery. The other decor is no less sumptuous with giant opulent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and grand banquettes taking centre stage on the floor.

We arrived very promptly at 8 but something had gone wrong and they didn't have our reservation. Luckily the place wasn't as busy as we thought it would be and they were able to find us a table within 15-20 minutes. Which gave us a chance to try out the cocktails at the bar. An expensive chance, for at £12 - £12.50 they weren't cheap, and probably an expense we wouldn't have incurred had our table been ready when we were. But they were rather good, mine in particular with mead in it was one of the more unusual cocktails I've ever had - and I've had a few.

We were lead to our very low-rise table. Luckily it came with low-rise seats so we were in proportion. We were rather tickled, though, that our waiter was the tallest waiter we had ever encountered, making us feel a bit like we were children seated at the kids' table, looking up at the looming adult serving us.

The staff were very friendly. We had a couple of little mishaps but in a way we didn't mind - it made the whole place seem more 'human' than had everything run like clockwork. For example, we had to ask for the wine menu, when we were being asked for our food orders, and then, after our starters were cleared away, someone was sent over to crumb down. He thought we were done and cleared away our placemats and salt and pepper and then brought over the dessert menus. At first I wasn't sure if they just liked to get prepared well in advance but then we pointed out we hadn't had our mains yet and he was very apologetic and whipped those menus away. And returned our salt and pepper. Though not our placemats...

So, the food. Was wonderful. Starting off with the bread and butter they brought us - two slices white, two slices rye (possibly, can't remember now!) it was dense and had the right amount of chewiness. And there was enough butter not to feel you had to eke it out.

I had looked at the menu beforehand and was particularly worried about choosing a starter as I liked the sound of pretty much all of them. A recent potential allergy to seafood helped me narrow it down, but not by much. We thought for once we should try one of the 'renowned' dishes so Stephen had the ham, egg and peas, while I went for the crispy lamb with butternut and parmesan fregola with marrow crumble.

Wow. What a meaty, hearty dish this was. Honestly, I'd have been happy if this was a main course. I had a 'patty' of lamb which was mixed with some greenery and was crispy on the outside. It had been daubed with butternut squash puree, shavings of pecorino and then bits of marrow crumble I believe. This was then served with a pot of the fregola which had a much deeper cheesy, butternut and marrow taste. It was such a profound earthy, meaty flavour. I loved it but it totally blew Stephen away and he pronounced it the star of the meal.

From the bite of his egg, shards of ham and light, minty mushy peas I had, I thought his starter held up pretty well to mine, but he was having none of it.

We continued feeling pretty pleased with ourselves with our mains. I could not resist having the duck, even though I seem to end up having it everywhere. But when it came with such yummy-sounding things, how could I not? The caramel apples in particular were worthy of note although the plum puree and turnip all tasted great with the perfectly cooked duck. And it was so nice to get a bit of leg with it as well. Dark duck meat is fab.

Duck

Lamb

Stephen had the rack of lamb with lamb neck, cous cous, smoked aubergine and cabbage which he also very much enjoyed though he wished he had more sauce with his as the cous cous soaked it all up.

On top of this we ordered some of the duck fat chips and yes, managed to fit them all in as well. We thought that they were better than the chips at (whisper it) the Hand and Flowers!

We were utterly stuffed by now, and must have looked it because when we finally ordered the dessert, our waiter immediately asked if it would be to share. To be honest, we almost passed on dessert as compared to the other courses, nothing was standing out as a 'mustn't-miss' dish. But I'm glad we didn't as we were served the best eclair I've ever had and I bloody loved it. It was a proper pud with lots of gooeyness and cream, and pastry but in a refined way. Salted caramel ice cream on dark chocolate nibs partnered the caramel-apple stuffed eclair. Fantastic. The only qualm we had with the meal was that prices are very steep, a few quid less here or there would have felt like a reasonable price to pay. 

And so, our love affair with Jason Atherton continues. 

*Apologies for the poor quality photos - the lighting, while perfectly ambient for dining, was too low for good pictures.

Pollen Street Social, 17th March

Going to a Michelin starred restaurant for lunch for no special reason isn’t something that most people would consider, but I posit that you should when it comes to Pollen Street Social. As it happens, we went to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday, but I fully intend to return and I’m not going to wait for a special occasion to crop up before I do.

The reason I say all this is because the set lunch at Pollen Street Social is an absolute steal. Two courses are £22.00 and three are £25.50. With wine and service included our entire meal came to just shy of £50 each and we were absolutely stuffed, having thoroughly enjoyed some superb cuisine.

In some places, if you go for the set menu, you might feel you are being relegated to a subclass of diner, as the choices on the menu are limited and sometimes don’t seem to showcase the best of what a restaurant can do. This was not the case with Pollen Street. All of us could have quite happily had any of the dishes on offer for any of the courses and not felt hard done by. Not only that, but we didn’t lose out on having the full dining experience by going for the set menu. By that I mean we were offered the bread basket not once but twice (and yes, I did have some both times), we were furnished with a palate cleanser between main and dessert, and at the end of the meal we were given a delightful mini cake to round it off. As an added bonus, when we booked the main dining area was full and we were seated in the bar area. There were only about 4 other tables in this area, at the back of the room, which made it feel like we had our own private dining area, away from the bustle and noise of the hoi polloi. The only downside being that we didn’t get the spectacle of the chefs at work, or see the dessert bar laid out at the back.

And so, on to the food. We had a choice of three starters – pork knuckle and foie gras terrine with coco beans, squid and sourdough toast; hake with slow-cooked egg and curry rice; and mackerel tartar. Poor mackerel lost out as the five of us found the other two dishes more tempting. I had the terrine (anyone who reads this may by now realise gambling on me having a terrine as a starter is a safe bet). It was an excellent introduction to the standard of the food there. The bread was dense with plenty of flavour and the terrine was much richer than I thought it would be. I think that’s the first time I’ve had foie gras and I think that is what accounted for the luxurious taste. The star of the starters was the egg dish which three of my dining companions ordered. It was presented as a large, gelatinous looking globe of egg with flakes of fish and fried garlic all over it, and then a velvety vivid green soup was poured around it. Stunning. I had a small taste of Stephen’s and it was very silky.

Almost forgot to mention the tart picallili (green blob partially obscured)

There's some oxtail with that there marrow

For our mains again there were three choices – a fish dish that no one really bothered to do more than glance at (though it sounded nice), and then two meat options. Ox cheek with salt baked onion, mashed potato and bone marrow, and dingly dell pork belly with spiced pig’s cheek, pear puree and lardo potatoes. Stephen and I had the pork, the others had the ox cheek. I was over the moon that each dish came with a separate mini tureen of jus which the waiters poured over the meat. I love a little theatre at the table. Once again, fabulous food. I did have one potato that, dare I say it, may have been a tad underdone. And the pork belly did not have crispy crackling on it’s top, so if that’s something which would lose it points in your opinion, then be warned.

Sprouting broccoli - a token effort at some veg

When the dishes arrived I will admit to thinking – that’s not enough! But as I forked in the last mouthful, I was already getting that slightly uncomfortable full feeling. I could have easily gone without dessert and still not needed to eat until much later in the evening.
But, while we were there... Well, silly not to! There are two main choices for dessert but also a selection of sorbets and ice creams on offer. I had the rhubarb sorbet with pistachio financier and ginger, Stephen had the chocolate pave with vanilla ice cream and smoked vanilla crumb. The other sorbets on offer were mango, passionfruit, beetroot and one other I have forgotten. The ice cream choices were vanilla, chocolate, 
milk and honey, and tonka bean. 

But before we had that, we were proffered our palate cleanser. My biggest regret of this meal is that I didn’t take a picture of this when it was first set down. They had recreated a soft boiled egg. But it was nothing to do with an egg at all. The bottom of it was pineapple granita, there was then a thick layer of lychee foam (which looked like egg white) and this was then topped with  a passionfruit coulis (which look like a bit of soft yolk poking through. It was incredibly refreshing, zingy and sweet. Wonderful. 

Finally, dessert was served. I think this may have been my favourite dish of the day, mainly because it was something I wouldn’t normally go for. The rhubarb sorbet was refreshing and the pistachio financier nice and crumbly. Some stewed rhubarb and chantilly cream were some nice added extras. 
I didn’t even have any food envy of Stephen’s amazing looking chocolate pave, which tasted as good as it looked. Even the ice cream/sorbets that the others ordered were presented beautifully. Laid out in individual cups nestled in ice like oysters. So, so pretty! 

Chocolate pave

rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

Sorbet selection

A pumpkin and apricot bite-size cake and the meal was done!