Text 9958, 115 rader
Skriven 2007-01-04 18:17:24 av Ian Hoare
Ärende: Dinner at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant Wednesday
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Hi,

So finally Wednesday 3rd, the long awaited day arrived, and we went to
Gordon Ramsay. To those who don't want to wade through pages of waffle,
here's a quick Q&A.

1 Was the food as good as it's made out to be? Yes.
2. Was Mr Ramsay in evidence? No.
3. Would we go again? Yes.
4. Was it really the best you've had in the UK? Arguably yes.
5. What was the service like. Very good, but a touch obsequious on
occasions.
6. Wine list? Excellent, quite pricy but a fair choice at lower prices
and good range of wines by the glass.

So, with that out of the way, here goes.

Upon arrival, we were met with a very friendly smile, and the offer to
take our coats, and having disposed of them, were ushered, slightly
ceremoniously, to our table. Practically before we sat down, waiters
were on hand to offer water, take our orders for an aperitif, and to
bring a couple of quick nibbles. Very superior nibbles. We had a tiny
filo pastry cornet containing three layers, the top was a sorrel cream,
the middle layer courgettes and the bottom aubergine caviar. Quite
superlative, with the progression from slightly sharp at the top to
neutral to sweet from the slightly caramelised onions in the
aubergines, being absolutely magic (I'm afraid that as we had nowhere
to put it down, I didn't photograph this).  The other "quick nibble"
was a smoked salmon sushi. the rice was lightly vinegared and the
outside was a mix of coriander and parsley. Yum.

With these first formalities out of the way, but feeling a touch over
waited upon, we were able to look at the menus. There were three
possibilities two tasting menus, one of them vegetarian, and an a la
carte menu. A nice touch was that the waiter asked who was the host,
and then handed unpriced menus to the guests. Again, if I had a
criticism, it would be that we weren't given quite enough time to
cogitate, salivate over and discuss the menu before being asked a first
time if we were ready to order.  We weren't!

Anyway, we all chose to go a la Carte, which was basically three
courses, rather than the 7-8 course menu degustation (yes I was sorely
tempted, but I'd have been the only one, and it wouldn't have been fair
to the others) and eventually made up our minds, REALLY hard to do, I
might add.

Here's the menu, which was pretty much exactly what was offered us.

http://www.gordonramsay.com/royalhospitalroad/menus/alacarte/

For starters, Jacquie & I chose "Pan fried Scottish lobster tail with
aubergine gratin, black truffle, crab and coriander bisque." (only
because she hates coriander, she asked them not to put coriander in her
bisque. Brother Tony chose "Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon
poached in a light bisque with a lemon grass and chervil velouté" and
his wife Gay chose "Roasted sea scallops from the Isle of Skye with
octopus, black pudding tempura, cauliflower purée and parmesan velouté"

For our main courses, Jacquie chose "Wild turbot roasted on the bone
with coriander papardelle, braised vegetables and a citrus butter
sauce" but asked them to substitute for the papardelle. (As she said
slightly ruefully, "trust me to choose the only two dishes featuring
coriander!!") Gay had "Pan fried fillets of John Dory with Cromer crab,
caviar, crushed new potatoes and a basil vinaigrette", Tony went for
the "Roasted then poached fillet of Northumberland beef, kohlrabi,
horseradish cream, truffle and root vegetable infusion" which was
served with some slowly braised ox cheek as well. I chose the "Pan
fried fillet of pork with braised belly, baby langoustine, onion
lyonnaise and a light Madeira jus" which was served with japanese
artichokes (crosnes) and baby spring onions around the dish.

We'd been given the dessert menus, because some of them needed some
time to prepare, so as we were going to choose two of the slower ones,
we ordered in advance. Jacquie & I felt we had to share a "Caramelised
Tarte Tatin of apples with vanilla ice cream (for two)", Tony had a
Roasted Chestnut Soufflé with milk ice cream, and Gay chose "Bitter
chocolate cylinder with coffee granité and ginger mousse" - also served
with vanilla ice cream.

As our wine requirements were virtually impossible to reconcile, we
decided to order a bottle of white for the first course and for the
ladies to drink with their fish main courses, and for Tony & I each to
get red by the glass. The white was the "Sol de Sol Chardonnay, Viña
Aquitania, Malleco 2003" and for our glasses of Red, Tony ordered the
"Stag's Leap merlot" from California, and I got a glass of the second
wine from Ch La Tour Figeac in St Emilion.

So with the meals duly ordered, it was time for the "amuse bouche" to
be brought. This was stunningly presented. A small spoonful of a
mixture of (fairly) seasonal wild mushrooms cooked together as a
fricassee, pointed towards a sort of vertical screen of bacon rinds and
a slice of streaky, all fried or baked really crispy and dead flat.
Looked absolutely stunning. Behind that was an egg, with the top cut
off (shades of Michel Bras). That contained - from top to bottom, a
tomato foam, scrambled egg, and baked beans.

Jacquie wasn't that keen on the mushroom mix, finding it a touch
bitter. I found it OK, though I could see what she meant, I felt that
this was fairly typical of the mushrooms that were present. The
superior "scratchings/crackling" was magnificent, full of flavour, with
a lovely crunchy texture. (Oh, we'd been advised to eat them in the
order in which they were presented). The tomatoe foam tasted absolutely
of the _essence_ of tomatoes, goodness knows how they made it. The
scrambled egg was just perfect, creamy, but set, and faultlessly
seasoned. The beans underneath were quite delicious too. we had some
animated discussion round the table as to whether they were _really_
baked beans "not in Gordon Ramsay's surely", I'm convinced they were,
and they were an excellent foil for the rest of the amuse bouche.
Brilliant - delicious, well presented and witty.

I'll continue with our tasting notes for the main meal on further pages.
Bon appetit
Ian in Forges
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