Text 9959, 133 rader
Skriven 2007-01-04 18:17:26 av Ian Hoare
Ärende: Dinner at Gordon Ramsay's final pt3 
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Hi folks.

And here's the final part. 

Then came the puds! at least, that's what we thought! But before they
did, we were treated to two different "pre-desserts". Two of each, with
the theory that we would chose one each. In fact, we swapped them over
half way through. One was served in a tall conical glass, and was
billed as "Pineapple champagne with crème fraîche. Well the fizz came
from space dust!! In fact it was fresh pineapple juice, into which the
space dust had been stirred, topped with a little layer of crème
fraîche which I think I recognised as being the same one as Tom Rains
had used in the Old Bell to make his crème fraîche sorbet. Not too
sharp, creamy and flavourful. 

The other was served in a short, wide conical glass. This had some
pumpkin puree in the bottom - just a bit, which was textured very much
like tapioca instead of being completely smooth. On top of this was the
"fromage frais", though it's not any F.F. I've ever eaten, I even liked
it. Billowing out from the top was a tuft of candy floss, and at
service the waiter poured a little puddle of a chocolate sauce.
Excellent both of them, though I was somewhat at a loss to know what
function they were supposed to fulfil. It wasn't really doing the job
of a trou normand, which is something (originally) strongly alcoholic
to help you eat the next 4 or 5 courses with pleasure. I didn't reallt
see it as a helpful introduction to the dessert proper. Both were
delicious, but in my view, extraneous to the meal itself. So let's pass
on to the desserts themselves.

I'll start with our Tarte Tatin. Those who know us well, know that
Jacquie makes a very good Tatin, in fact, some gastronomes have said
it's the best they've had anywhere and certainly Jacquie & I have never
had one better in ANY restaurant. So we ordered it here, in a slight
sense of challenge! As it arrived, I could see that they had certainly
managed to caramelise the apples and impregnate them with butter just
as they should be. They were dark brown and slightly translucent from
the butter they absorbed. As the photo shows, the tarte was brought
whole to the table and we were invited to decide in what proportion to
cut it. We were firmly egalitarian and so it was cut in half! But
before plating it up, the waiter poured some caramel sauce in a
stunning figure of eight pattern as the photo shows.

There were two main differences between Jacquie's and his. Firstly, he
used puff pastry, rolled VERY thinly, which espoused the form of the
apples, instead of remaining fairly flat. Secondly he used quite sharp
apples, and a touch less sugar than Jacquie does, so the overall taste
was more towards the sharp end of the spectrum. The ball of vanilla ice
cream which accompanied the tart was excellent, not too sweet and
nicely vanilla-ish.

This was a very fine tarte Tatin indeed. As good as Jacquie's though
not necessarily better. That said, it was quite different, because the
pastry was of course very much crisper. Very interesting indeed, and a
real pleasure to eat.

Gay ordered a bitter chocolate cylinder with coffee granité and ginger
mousse, also served with a ball of vanilla ice cream (the old Paco-jet
was working overtime!!) Another triumphant dish, the coffee and the
ginger were perfectly balanced both with each other and with the
chcolate, although very different in texture. The ginger was perfectly
dosed, being neither too powerful, nor too namby pamby.  Wonderful
again.

Finally Tony's roast chestnut soufflé. This was served with milk ice
cream and in addition there was a very little liqueur served with this,
which tasted to me quite powerfully of hazelnuts. The soufflé was
light, creamy in the middle and redolent of roasted chestnuts.
Wonderful again, though quite a large portion. Smashing puds, full
marks.

So we then ordered our "coffees". I had an ordinary coffee with milk,
Tony had a mint tea, Jacquie ordered verbena which is what she always
has at home and Gay had a decaffeinated espresso. I'm sorry to say that
Jacquie's infusion was a disaster. I was deeply suspicious when it was
brought to the table in the glass pot. FAR too dark and looking as if
some sort of powder had been used instead of the verbena leaves we
expected. it tasted tannic and bitter, with a VERY faintly verbena-ish
overlay. I think it was some kind of herb flavoured tea that had been
made. Not good at all. The head waiter tasted it and agreed that it
wasn't good, explaining that the supplier had changed things only a
couple of weeks previously. However, the other three were delighted.
Tony's mint tea was made with fresh mint leaves, Gay's expresso was
suitably small, suitably powerful and very agreeable. My white coffee
was excellent.

With these last beverages, they brought some "petit non fours". Petit
four more or less means little thing from the oven, and you expect some
kind of pastry or bun or cake. Nothing could have been further from
what we had. Three different offerings. There was home made turkish
delight, delicately lemony/rose water flavoured and quite soft
textured. Then there was strawberry ice cream balls, covered in white
chocolate and stood in a rack over dry ice in water, so the balls were
emerging from the mist! Finally there was a kind of stylised metal
"tree" with silver balls impaled upon the branches, these were little
chocolate coated truffly things, painted with edible silver paint.
really pretty and delicious.

And that's that. We didn't have very much wine, partly because we
couldn't possibly have drunk all the wines that would have made a
perfect match, and partly because, quite honestly after three weeks of
celebrations together we didn't feel like too much alcohol. As I said
in part one, we ordered a whole bottle of chilean white- an excellent
chardonnay, chosen from the list of "Sommelier's specials" and a glass
each for Tony and me chosen with help from the friendly German wine
waitress (from Hamburg) as I have already said. Both wines were
delicious and both complemented our main courses excellently.

I've commented slightly adversely on the over zealousness of the
service. I think that this may well be down to the fact that the
restaurant has just emerged from a major refurbishment, and I wonder if
many of the waiters aren't fairly new, and trying too hard. They were
VERY pleaant, VERY keen but just went a touch over the top, especially
when we arrived. That said, we noticed the same syndrome when we were
at the Connaught. So it is just possible that this is the way GR likes
it. If so, I think he's wrong.

However, I would be completely unfair in finishing with a couple of
negative remarks. As I said right at the beginning, this was a
wonderful dining experience, arguably the best meal I've had in the UK.
I don't think they put a foot wrong anywhere in the conception,
execution and presentation of the food. I'd gladly go again.

I hope you all found this useful and worth while. I've really enjoyed
writing it up and reliving it.

Finally, here's a link to the photoset (you may have to fiddle to copy this!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/mbfood/F2670471/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flic
kr.com/photos/70078878%40N00/sets/72157594457862330

Bon appetit
Ian in Forges
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