Hedone is in Chiswick, west London, and it got it's name after the Greek word that means "pleasure". The chef and owner, Michael Jonsson from Sweden, leveraging his background as a food sourcing expert, puts the ingredients in the focus. After training as a chef many years ago in Sweden he switched career and became a lawyer, but always held on to his passion and interest for food. Besides running Hedone he also writes the influential Gastroville blog and he has advised some Michelin starred restaurants in Europe on ingredient sourcing. Hedone was recently awarded with one Michelin star. The main dining room has beautifully exposed brick walls and a very cool open kitchen, with a few seats at a bar looking into the kitchen in addition to the main dining area. We chose to dine at the bar so that we really could observe the action taking place in front of us with Michael and his team constructing dish after dish. For a foodie, it is wonderful to see how the well-organized team almost seamlessly and for the untrained eye, with little effort, put together creative plates. There is a restroom downstairs with a private dining room, and this is also where the wine cellar is located. As always, when given the option, I went with the tasting menu. The menu started with two delightful amuse bouches. Light, fresh and with a lot of flavors. The service from the attentive staff was very good already from the start, knowledgeable but also with humor. After the starters, I had a rich tomato soup with mustard, complex flavors and very fresh. A wonderful start. It was followed with poached oysters, where the fresh apple made a wonderful contrast to the creaminess of the oyster. The dish was completed by the savory taste of shallots. Well composed and cooked perfectly. Out of the next two course my absolute favorite was the Isle of Mull scallop sashimi, it was extremely creamy and flavorful. I spoke to Chef Jonsson about it, and he said that I should have been there the previous week because then the scallops were even better. It was very hard to grasp that statement, since these were some of the best raw scallops that I have had so far. I felt that the next two courses were hit and miss. The first one was somewhat of a miss. Cevennes onions that had great flavors but it was simply to much onion in this dish. It was overpowering - a smaller serving and it would have been great. The second dish was a smashing hit however. Perfectly cooked sea bass with and amazing black olive infusion. The infusion was so flavorful and didn't taste like black olives at all. I have no clue how the kitchen created this infusion but I am sure that it is a long process in order to get the different layers of flavors. The next course was a wonderful crab dish, where the foam really elevates this dish.Rich, flavorful and with perfect texture. After the crab I was served a liquid Parmesan ravioli, which worked a s fun play on a classic Italian dish. The Parmesan flavors were intense but not overpowering. The dish worked really well. The next dish was an amazing Suckling pig with beetroots, plums and radishes. Not only did it look fantastic, it tasted just as great. And the sauce...I am not sure that you are supposed to lick the plate but I just barely was able to control the urge. Another great dish from the kitchen. The final savory course was a wonderful Scottish grouse with a side-dish of some of the best sweet corns that I have had. They had a smoky flavor which really complimented the bird. The sauce was rich and definitely worked well with the rest of the dish.You are served a breast and a leg, with feathers and claw intact. The dish smells fabulous. I loved the gamey flavor of the grouse, and the other ingredients works fabulously together. What about my wife's vegan dietary restrictions? Chef Jonsson did a tremendous job accommodating her throughout the dinner. We had a long discussion with the Chef about how hard it is for a restaurant to accommodate a pure vegan and still be able to be innovate, use ingredients in a creative way and get the same kind of texture, flavors and variation that you will get in a non-vegan meal. It is even more challenging if you like Hedone changes your menu very frequently based upon the philosophy of always using the best and freshest ingredients. I must say the Chef Jonsson did an awesome job accomplishing just this. And my wife concurred, Hedone is one of the restaurants where she truly feels that she would revisit because she felt the kitchen really tried to be creative and supportive of her restrictions. Above is some of her favorite courses served throughout the dinner. I would also like to add that my wife doesn't really like black olives, but she loved the black olive infusion served with her lentils - another compliment to the Chef. The sweet section of the menu consisted of great cheeses, a fig dessert and a raspberry dessert. It was very refreshing of not ending the meal with the traditional and heavy chocolate dessert. I enjoyed this approach much more - you will not leave Hedone willing stuffed - just pleasantly full. My favorite dessert was the raspberries (I have never seen raspberries this big before) with hibiscus, coconut and cinnamon. Wonderful combinations of flavors and did I mention...the raspberries were enormous. I was very impressed with the attention to details and the quality of the ingredients. Chef Jonsson is ultra passionate about what he does he truly lives and breathes his craft. It was an absolute pleasure to sit down and enjoy our own little trip into the world of Hedone and watch the courses being put together at the bar. Being born in Sweden I was very proud to see a fellow country man put out food that can be held to the highest level. Chef Mikael Jonsson was very attentive to our needs, his staff was personable and very educated in the dishes, the wine pairings worked really well, the atmosphere is laid back and when all those things come together, you can only draw one conclusion. Something great is in the making in Chiswick and I am looking forward to the next time I will come back to London and experience the continuous evolution on one of the most exiting restaurants in London right now.
En middag att minnas, Chef Jonsson (Swedish for "A dinner to remember")!!
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Hertog Jan is a three Michelin Star restaurant in Zedelgem, just a few miles outside Bruges. Gert De Mangeleer took over Hertog Jan with his culinary soulmate Joachim Boudens in 2005. The duo have been a refreshing addition to the Belgian gastronomic world ever since, championing the motto “driven by simplicity”. The restaurant was originally a 180-year old barn that has been completely redesigned inside while retaining some of the original features. The architecture is unusual, with a very modern building extended out on one side from the original barn exterior. The new dining room looks out over the extensive vegetable garden. Before sitting down in the dining room we took a long walk in the vegetable garden, that Hertog Jan uses to create its innovate and exquisite dishes. The garden symbolizes the departure point for the guests’ journey of discovery and changes, like the dishes, with the seasons. I decided to go with the big degustation menu and they were able to match my wife's vegan dietary restrictions course for course. I will tell you about her dishes and experience later. My dinner however, started with six starters, small amuse bouches that packed tremendous flavors and was very visually appealing. The biggest surprise and also my favorite was a raspberry meringue, filled with goose liver and dusted with beetroot powder. A fantastic combination of flavors and textures. The following course was very representative of the whole menu. Stunning colors, fantastic arrangements on the plate, great use of vegetables (in this case tomatoes) and filled with immense flavors. The variety of tomatoes in this dish was unbelievable and it all came together in a wonderful way. The next course was a smoked eel with foie gras, fennel salad and miso. The salad was sublime and amazing. The smokiness of the eel worked very well with the liquorice aspect of the fennel and the smoothness of the miso. It was followed by the pepper with iberico ham. The pepper was cooked to perfection and the crunch of the iberico ham created a beautiful balance in the dish. The next course was the only letdown of the dinner. Yellow beetroot with lobster and sea buckthorn. There is nothing wrong with course in itself, but together with the all the other fantastic dishes it gets lost. It was followed by cockles and dill served together with Nasturtium which I dont think I ever had in food before. Nasturtiums are related to garden cress and mustard, and has a peppery and somewhat tangy flavor. It worked very well together with the cockles. The fresh dill added another layer of flavor which completed the dish. Beautiful to look at, wonderful to taste. The following dish was called “A walk through the garden”. It’s an amazing plate of raw and barely cooked vegetables and salad held together with caviar d’aubergine in the middle. We were told to taste them all individually. This dish is such a good representation of the chef’s philosophy. Chef De Mangeleer is confident enough in the quality of his fresh produce to let it speak for itself. To end my savory section of the meal, the waiter brought me two plates, one was filled with snow peas and young onions, the other has three wagyu sirloin pieces cooked to perfection. The meat was melt in your mouth good, with a peppery flavor and together with the snow peas and the young onions the course came together really well. It was a great way to transition into the sweet part of the menu. What about the vegan options served to my wife. Above you can see a selection of the courses she had. Incredibly beautiful to look at as well, using the full vegetable garden, and showing innovation and creativity even with vegan restrictions. My wifes favorite was the eggplant with a miso paste. It was not as good as the one she had a L'Astrance in Paris but it was pretty darn close. And combined with the other courses that was served, she felt that Hertog Jan serves one of the better vegan menus in the world.She also enjoyed a visually striking dish of avocado with tomato powder, fleur de sel and olive oil. They had a great selection of cheeses, and I went with two blue cheeses, two cheddar's and two comte's. They were all great. After the cheese trolley we were served the first dessert of the menu. A silver ball was brought to our table and dropped into a plate from 2 feet up. When it hit the plate it broke and displayed a wonderful dessert of apple, mint, herbs, elderflower and pop rocks!!! The pop rocks elevated this dish with a strong fizz which scored high on the fun factor scale. My wife had an assertion of berries, and I had to highlight this dish in the post as well. The picture doesn't give this dish justice, in real life the colors were even more eye-popping and every berry had an intense flavor. A simply stunning dish. The final sweet course before the petite fours was another visually striking dish with chocolate, wild strawberries and violet. Delicious, delicious, delicious!! Now I was feeling pretty full so when they rolled up the selection of petite fours on a huge trolley, I could only muster three. They were all very good though. The waiters are very friendly, Joachim Boudens was a perfect host for the evening making our visit to Hertog Jan a great experience. I was surprised how pleasantly full that I was after the dinner, especially after enjoying the degustation menu at De Karmeliet earlier during lunch. Little details as a stool to put your handbag on, and a hot towel after the finger food appetizers adds to the dining experience. After the dinner we had the opportunity to check out the kitchen. It was huge and the uniforms the cooks were wearing was entertaining. They all looked like gardeners.
All in all, Hertog Jan is a great experience and well worth their 3 star rating. Focusing on the ways flavours, structures and contrasts take shape, Chef Gert makes sure that his dishes touch all the senses and carry his signature style. And I loved every moment of it. It highlights local produce, especially vegetables and herbs, and demonstrates how varied the flavors from these food groups are. The wine pairings were spot on, the service was personal and effective, the barn is beautiful and the food is some of the best food that I have ever had. I can only think of a handful times where I have had a similar or better food experience. Hertog Jan must be in your list of places to visit when in Belgium. It is worth the trip. De Karmeliet is a restaurant in Belgium, lead by chef Geert Van Hecke. Geert won a Michelin star in 1985, and another in 1989, the ultimate accolade of three Michelin stars coming in 1996, which it has retained since. The restaurant is located in a lawyer’s old house in the heart of the historic Bruges, which is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is fitting that such a pretty place also hosts a very good restaurant. Geert van Hecke's cuisine is traditional french but with a flemish touch. He manages to bring beautiful dishes that are based on his classic cooking background but at the same time being very contemporary. When you enter the restaurant you can decide if you want to enjoin some champagne in the lounge while looking through the menu or if you want to head up to the dining room immediately. We were having lunch but I still went with his tasting menu, The Brugge Die Scone. The service is reserved but very professional, the courses were delivered at a good pace and properly introduced so that you really knew what you were having. The menu started with three great Amuse Bouches where they favorite was some very delicate potato chips. The following two courses were both amazing. First I had some very delicate sardines with flavorful tomatoes and an interesting spice mix. The saltiness of the sardines worked extremely well with the sweetness of the tomatoes. A great start to the menu. The next course was a perfectly cooked turbot but the shining stars in this dish were the grey shrimps from Zeebrugge. Packed with flavors they lifted the dish to another level. The next course was somewhat of a letdown. I really wanted it to work because it sounded great and it looked even better. Who wouldn't like langoustine, foie gras and eggplant? The problem was that the ingredients by themselves were great, cooked to perfection and very flavorful, but when you combined them, the flavors didn't work as well as you would have thought. The disappointment was shortlived though because the next course was a knockout. A tart made of cepe mushrooms, that had an intense umami taste that worked so well with the cream of parmesan. It was a perfect combination which could easily had one of the ingredients overpower the other but not here - perfect balance and a perfect dish. The kitchen was able with very short notice to accommodate my wife's vegan dietary restrictions. We let them know the same day which is often challenging but the chef was able to produce matching dishes throughout my entire tasting menu. Here are some pictures of her favorite dishes. She said that all of them had great flavors and she was very thankful that one of the dishes was pasta instead of only vegetables. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of restaurants only serves a mix of vegetables when they serve vegan menus - if you add pasta, rice or even quinoa, it creates much more variety in the dishes, My next course was excellent, a well cooked partridge with all the right ingredients complimenting the bird. It was also rewarding to find 3 buckshots in the bird proving that it was hunted and not farm-raised. The only complaint might be that the kitchen should probably looked for these buckshots and taken them out before serving the course. But the partridge was so flavorful that I forgive them. As a nice transition to the sweet section of the course, the lady of the house, Mrs Van Hecke rolled out a cheese trolley and served some wonderful blue cheeses and local comtes. Great selection and she is also a wonderful hostess. We talked in lengths about the Van Heckes visit to New York the week before and how they loved Le Bernadin but that Eleven Madison Park was too modern for their taste. The sweet section of the tasting menu was almost as good as the savory. Great dessert creation with fruits and berries. We were getting pretty full, and heavy desserts would almost have ruined the experience for us. Thankfully, Chef Van Hecke kept the desserts very light and fresh. Above you can see a sample of what we had. The course ended with some great petite fours as well. All in all, we were extermely happy with our dinner at De Karmeliet, Chef Van Hecke has a sense for details, every course looks and tastes amazing. The wine selection was good but we didn't go all in with wine pairings since we were only having lunch. The staff is professional and the restaurant is stunningly beautiful. We had the opportunity to talk with Chef Geert after the meal and I told him that we thoroughly enjoyed our experience and that we can't wait until we come back. I am happy to say that Bruges have several reasons for a visit, the town itself but also a three-star rated gem called De Karmeliet.
Heist-aan-Zee is a prominent summer beach town about 30 minutes from Bruges. By the beachfront Bart & Sandra Desmidt run Restaurant Bartholomeus, Sandra is in charge of the front and Bart is back in the kitchen. This restaurant is definitely worth the trip to Heist. Bart Desmidt never went to cooking school, instead he worked hard and gained experience in several good restaurants in Belgium. Like he told us when we were there, "I try to do this my way, we are trying to find our identity, instead of copying other chefs." And Chef Bart's way is working. Two Michelin stars and great reviews from those who dine at this beach-front pearl. The dining room is modern with some fun artwork on the walls and even sitting on the floor. I ordered the Terre et Mer menu which includes a glass of champagne to start, a great touch that immediately sets a very positive tone for the dinner. We start the dinner with two wonderfully fresh Amuse Bouches. Light, crisp and delightful, they get your taste buds going while working as a great teaser for what's coming. Chef Bart makes wonderful chocolate! No fear, I'll be showing you some great examples of this when we reach the Petite Fours. You can sense this background in chocolate is the inspiration of the first dish. It was a wonderful Wagyu tartar with oysters encased by sour glaze and nestled on lemon snow. The flavors of the Wagyu blend oyster blend incredibly well. This was all perfectly packed into the bowl. It is truly a visually stunning dish, which matches just how fantastic the dishes is. The next course is a great combination of lobster, melon and tapioca served two different ways. This is a fun way to serve a dish, use the same ingredients but take two different approaches to it and see how different they can actually be. Not to mention, it's a great conversation starter at the dinner table, "which one did you like the best and why?" Here is my answer, I liked them both!!! The next course is a stunner, white Alba truffle with Sole and Pasta and with a wonderful Verjus sauce. The aroma from the plate is breathtaking and when you dive into this dish, it also works amazingly well together. I think what really makes this course stand out is the verjus. A fabulous combination. Chef Bart made an amazing effort to accommodate my wife's vegan restrictions. He successfully managed to keep these dishes connected to the philosophy of the kitchen. Clean, crisp and innovative with beautiful plating that highlighted key ingredients. She was overjoyed with all her courses, especially both desserts, scoring each a perfect 10. Sommelier Marino Opsomer chose for us some beautiful wines as well that worked surprisingly well with both my and my wife's menus. The main course highlights the chef's philosophy as well. Partridge, potatoes, cepes...don't over complicate it - let the ingredients shine and the end result - an amazing dish that I can't wait to have again. The dish had tremendous depth of flavor and the bird was cooked perfectly. The sweet section of the menu is simply stunning. Our waiter serves us a plate with dots of what seems to be fruit gel or puree. Then suddenly a big chocolate globe is dropped on the plate and when it breaks the inside reveals pure sweet goodness. It's a very creative dish, visually stunning and just really, really good. It was followed by another playful dessert, an edible sandcastle with gelato. You have sweetness, you have smoothness, you have crunch, and you have a great dessert. The dinner concluded with some incredible petite fours. The variety was excellent and the flavors were spot on. What a perfect way to finish a meal!
Bart employs the philosophy that everything should be made in-house and with heart and soul. The restaurant is an extension of his philosophy. Bart and Sandra are personable, great people who share a love for food. The food is exquisite, visually beautiful and modern. Bart changes the menu frequently and uses seasonal produce as much a possible. I will make certain that the next time I am in Belgium I take a detour and stop in Heist, because I can't wait to see what's next on the menu of Bart Desmidt and Restaurant Bartholomeus. I highly recommend that you do the same. Bruneau is a renowned restaurant in Brussels, and the chef and owner Jean-Pierre Bruneau has run the kitchen for over thirty years. Bruneau is situated next to the impressive and beautiful Art Deco dome of the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg. The food is classic french with a Belgian twist. This is a delightful restaurant that offers superb service and wonderful food, at a price that is high but not outrageous. And it is also opened on Sundays which is an additional plus. I opted for the Menu Decouverte, which was the tasting menu. They don't have a menu in English but the waiters did an excellent job describing the courses for us. They tried hard to accommodate my wife's vegan restrictions and did a good job matching our courses. We started with a trio of Amuse Bouches where my favorite was a wonderful pea soup. Very rich and rewarding - a good starter. My next two courses were both clean and simple but very fresh. I had a wonderful tartar accompanied by an oyster with caviar and dill. I haven't had the combination of oyster and dill in a while and I forgot how good it is. Two great dishes with lots of flavor. The following two courses were both amazing. The first one was rich sea urchin soup. Sea urchin is one of my favorite things to eat and this soup was to die for. Light sea urchin flavor, not overpowering, but very rich and rewarding at the same time. One of the better soups that I have had. The next course was deer, with mushrooms and potatoes. Nothing spectacular but the flavors were spot on. A great sauce elevated the dish - classic french food but so good!! Above is the four vegan alternatives that my wife was offered. She was very happy with all four but the one that stood out was the mushroom tart, she said that it was very good and the mushrooms were cooked beautifully. She also loved the Truffle Soup, it was not on pair with Guy Savoy's version of this dish, but then again, I don't think anybody can beat this dish. Bruneau was a pleasant surprise for us. I read some online reviews before booking it, also knowing that over a couple of years it lost some stars, it still holds one Michelin star though, so my expectations were not great. The food was classic french but really, really good. It was well put together, it was cooked with precision, the flavors were spot on and they were able to put great vegan alternatives on the plate for my wife. The sommelier was able to match our food with some great wines and the service was impeccable. It was an evening that we truly enjoyed and at the end of the day, isn't that was dining should be all about.
One of the most widely sought after table delights in world dining are truffles. Black Perigord truffles are known as Perigord truffles as they predominantly found in the Perigord region of France. They are mild in flavor, a sweet aroma and they are mainly grown beneath hazelnut and oak trees. These exceptional diamonds of the culinary world need a first-class setting to show them off – La Truffe Noire is a restaurant dedicated to elegance and refinement, and to the magic of this extraordinary ingredient. Here is a restaurant that excites all the senses, and if you love truffles like I do, you'll adore this place. The owner, Luigi Cicirello, welcomed us to the table and was an incredible host the whole dinner. There isn't anything he doesn't know about truffles - types, how to get the best out of them, where they're from, whether they'll store or not. We know that putting together a vegan meal for my wife, with very short notice is sometimes difficult for kitchens but Luigi and his team made a great effort and my wife was very, very satisfied. Luigi was extremely personable and made our evening absolutely wonderful.. From the introduction of himself, his menu, his method, and his experience - it is very rare to have that kind of attention at any gourmet Michelin restaurant. I ordered the Privilege Menu and they put together 5 courses for my wife as well. We started off with a trio of appetizers, a Caramelized Tomato, a Foie Gras Creme Brulee and Carrot Juice. My vote for best appetizer went to the Foie Gras Creme Brulee but they were all good. After the trio of appetizers, Luigi rolls up a table and starts preparing the best carpaccio I have ever had in my life. He puts it together step by step and lets you smell the flavors as the dish becomes more and more complex. Tender fresh beef covered with grated truffle and white truffle oil with a similarly treated salad. Then add some Parmesan cheese, and finally sprinkle the most divine truffle juice over the whole dish. It is simply an amazing dish. Together with the bread we were served an amazing olive oil, L'Olio Tenero which is an extra virgin olive oil obtained by the single variety "Ascolana Tenera". In ancient times Ascoli and roman nobles families used exclusively this variety for infant feeding because it showed exceptional organoleptic characteristics. It is an amazingly smooth and rich olive. The next course was a ravioli filled with truffles with a rich cream sauce. Wonderful truffle aromas and great depth. The highlight of the menu is “La Croque au Sel” - a whole cooked Périgord truffle - it is hard to describe this divine dish and have the words make it justice. The dish is a whole 40g Périgord truffle cooked in a rich sauce, which sits in its own small detachable bowl in the middle of a specially handmade terracotta dish. On the plate, a row of tiny slices of melba toast are laid out together with a small bowl of fleur de sel and a quenelle of creamy white truffle butter. Luigi demonstrated how to eat it, placing a sliver of butter on a piece of toast, then adding a tiny piece of truffle in its wonderful sauce, and sprinkling a few grains of fleur de sel on top before popping it into your mouth. It is so rich and so flavorful. One of the better dishes in my life!! Like I said, my wife was extremely happy with the dishes that Luigi was able to put together for her. Her favorite was the mushroom and truffle salad. She said that it was probably the best salad she has ever had. She also throroughly enjoyed the Melon Sorbet. The next course was two different cheese with lots of truffle flavors. First I had a Swiss Tete de Moine shaved paper-thin and fashioned into exquisite flowers, drizzled with honey and flakes of Cohiba tobacco. It was a great cheese with rich flavors and very tasty. The next cheese was a Brillat-Savarin with truffles. A fun touch, since it was french food writer Brillat-Savarin who named the black truffle the "Diamonds of the kitchen". After the savory section we were served fresh desserts, my favorite was the wonderful curacao infused pineapple with a red fruit sorbet. Visually beautiful but very fresh and light, which is exactly what you want after all the truffle decadence. When it gets time to leave after three hours of truffle heaven, Luigi is there to say goodbye. From the truffle-themed napkins to the unique tableware, La Truffe Noire bears testimony to his passion and dedication of food in general and the truffle in peticular. The evening was spectacular, and La Truffe Noire is a must visit when in Brussels. For the food, for the amazing aromas, for the wonderful truffle and for the man himself - Luigi Ciciriello. We cannot wait until we return!!
The Ledbury is a beautiful restaurant located in Notting Hill. The corner-positioned building, with a walled-off alfresco dining area on one side and small potted trees on the other, makes a statement in bold black. Chef Brett Graham has built a gastronomic palace and he is dishing out great dishes with tremendous flavors. He has been rewarded with two Michelin stars and he definitely deserves both of them. The Ledbury is also ranked nr 10 on the Pellegrino's list. The food is modern, vibrant, innovative and with generous servings. The wine selections is very good as well, and the staff is both attentive and has great personality. They did an excellent job of catering to my wife's vegan dietary restrictions and I will highlight some of her best dishes later. I went with the full tasting menu of course and it was great - and compared with a lot of other restaurants in London, very affordable. After we have ordered some Champagne from the wine list the menu starts with canapes. Small, bite-sized, mouth-fulls of food awesomeness. If Chef Graham gets bored with serving gourmet dinners he would have a bright future putting together high-end pintxos or tapas. One little canape after another is served and they are beautiful to look at and very tasty. The first course is a salad of green beans but pimped up by grated foie gras. I have never liked green beans, I don't like the texture and the crunch you get when you eat them, but these were amazing. Smaller in size, they were cooked perfectly, and with the addition of the creamy foie gras this became a spectacular started dish. It was followed up by a flame grilled mackerel which was even better. It has similarities with the previous dish in the fact that i historically never liked mackerel either, but this was also so good. It was so good, that I am inclined to say that mackerel might be my favorite fish at the moment. That says a lot about how good this dish was. The next two seafood courses was also spectacular. A playful version of risotto where the Arborio has been exchanged with squid cut to simulate the rice. The shellfish makes the dish rich and with great depth. The next course was a cornish turbot which a thin layer of black quinoa. The quinoa made the dish beautiful to look at but also added some wonderful crunch to it. The complimenting artichoke cream was rich and velvety smooth. The next course speaks for itself, pork jowl, bacon and crackling. Add some walnuts and some mushrooms and you have a gorgeous and very flavorful dish. My wife's vegan menu was exceptional as well. beautiful dishes, her four favorites are depicted above. They were well put together, with many layers and made with the freshest ingredients. The final and main course of the savory section of the tasting menu was magnificent lamb. The dish is stunning to look at, the colors are amazing and when you bite into the lamb you quickly realize that this is lamb perfection. It melts in your mouth and it has an intense and vibrant flavors. The Ledbury served a great cheese platter and the pre-dessert was a good palette cleanser. Not spectacular, but very good. The tasting menu ends with a great raspberry tartlet with enormous berries, jam-packed and bursting with flavors. The Petite Fours are creative, innovative and very good as well. After the dinner we had the opportunity to visit the kitchen and spend some time with Chef Brett and his crew. Even though they were in the middle of a busy dinner service they took time to show us around the kitchen, they were able to recommend some really good restaurants in Belgium (where we were headed next), and we had some really inspiring conversation about why my next kitchen tool should be a commercial convection oven. We spend almost 20 minutes in the kitchen and got to try small samples of new items on future menus. What a wonderful experience!! This great attitude towards customers paired with amazing food and world-class service makes it very easy to recommend the Ledbury. You should make it a must-visit when in London.
I just finished my second dinner at The Fat Duck in Bray and I was worried that I would be disappointed. I have seen the Mad Hatters Tea Party, I have tried the nitro-poached aperitifs, and I know about the wonderful Whisky Gums. Could the food possible live up to the expectations when the element of surprise is gone. I am happy to say that the answer is a huge resounding YES. The Fat Duck is still my favorite restaurant in the world and the food can hold each one against any kitchen and any restaurant. The Fat Duck is located in Bray in the High Street. Chef proprietor Heston Blumenthal has owned the premises since it opened at the location in 1995. The kitchen is now headed by Jonny Lake who is doing a great job of maintaining and even improving the classical Heston dishes. It has three Michelin stars and is ranked on Pellegrino's lists of the best restaurants in the world. The Fat Duck serves a fourteen courses tasting menu where most of these a playful and incredibly fun and innovative. Eating at the Fat Duck is a fun journey and you want it to just keep going forever. First you are served some great Amuse Bouches. It all starts with a delicious beetroot and horseradish macaroon. The beetroot is aerated so it literally just melts away in your mouth. It is wonderful, and very, very tasty. It is followed by a Rocket Lolly and the traditional nitro poached aperitifs. This time I went for Tequila and Grapefruit, which works really well together. You could also go for a Vodka and Lime Sour or Gin and Tonic. In the next course you are served a Quenelle of Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream sitting on a bed of perfectly diced onion. Our waiter pours the dark red liquid Red Cabbage Gazpacho into the bowl. The Mustard Ice Cream cut the bitterness of the Red Cabbage Gazpacho leaving a sweet, tangy aftertaste. The combination might not sound great but it is very, very good. The next course is a wonderful journey through the forest. The waiting staff places a bed of oak moss on the table. On the moss is some Fat Duck Films, littel small strips that you are supposed to place on your tongue. While the film tasting of Oak Moss disintegrates in your mouth the waiter pour some water on the moss bed which connects with dry ice underneath the moss. Suddenly a fog covers the table and you taste oak moss and you smell oak moss. It is very rewarding experience. Fat Duck Films. It is followed by the Jelly of Quail, Crayfish Cream, and Chicken Liver Parfait with a Truffle Toast. This dish is one of the best flavor combinations I have ever had in my life. It blends so well together and creates a dish you only want more of. The next course is the infamous Snail Porridge, that I wasn't very happy with the first time. For some reasons, this time is so much better. I don't know if the quality of the snails was better or if the kitchen putting together this dish the last time just had a bad day - But this time, it is really good. A pile of crunchy, shaved Fennel topped a bright green Porridge and strips of Iberico Bellota Ham, and finally perfectly cooked Escargot. My wife was served a wonderful Beetroot Risotto that she gave the highest remarks for. This was followed by the best Foie Gras E.V.E.R!! Just look at the image above. Can you honestly tell me that your mouth is not watering right now. Cooked to perfection, great barberries, and the crab biscuit adds a very interesting dimension to the dish. Next course - The Mad Hatter's Teaparty. A white bookmark where the back of the bookmark describes the Mock Turtle’s story and its popularity in the 19th century. A two layered, clear teapot is placed before each of us and then the waiter appears with gold Pocket Watches which we were to repair by dipping in our tea. When they are dipped they dissolve and create a wonderful and rich broth filled with gold leaves. This is then poured into our teacup below containing Beef, Cucumber, and Turnip pieces surrounding a Mock Egg Yolk made from Mushroom. To accompany our Mock Turtle Soup, a Mad Hatter Tea Stand was placed in the center of the table with toast sandwiches. It is such a fun course that you often forget that it also tastes fantastic. The Mock Turtle soup with its beefy flavor profile is rich and again, something you cant get enough of. The next is the classic Sound of the Sea. This dish is served with additional sensory input, a plate of seafood served with a seafood foam on top of a "beach" of tapioca, breadcrumbs and eel. Alongside the dish, we were given an iPod to listen to crashing waves whilst they eat. Maybe a little but too salty this time, I remember liking this more the first time. Still though, a tremendous dish that I could eat over and over again. The next two courses - a rich salmon with liquorice - a personal favorite of mine. The bite of perfectly cooked Salmon with its hint of Liquorice Gel, pop of Golden Roe Trout, tanginess of Grapefruit pieces, and sweetness of the Vanilla Mayonnaise is truly perfection. The combination of textures and flavours is phenomenal and innovative. And then a vegetarian bone marrow. How they make this dish I have no idea - but it is fun but also again very, very good!!! Pigeon - before this trip I might have had pigeon four times in total, over the last couple of weeks I have already had it five times. This one might lose out to the perfect pigeon at L'Astrance but it is a close call - A great course to end the savory part of the menu. The sweet section is not necessary pictured above in the order they were served. I wanted to highlight two dishes with one full-frame image. These two desserts are probable the most visual appealing desserts I have seen but more important, they are also really good. But before we get to these, we had soem cold and hot tea - a Heston classic which always plays mind tricks on you. Tea that is both hot and cold at the same time. Another classic Heston - Whisky gums and then finally a cornet. All these are good, but the next two....WOW This are simply stunning desserts, visually appealing, full of flavors and with so much depth. Words will not make them justice - so I will only say - you have to try them!! The last course of The Fat Duck Feast was presented as a parting gift. A custom Fat Duck pink striped Sweet Shop bag was given to us with a tiny menu inside that smelled like the sugary sweetness of a Sweet Shop itself. Inside was some Coconut Baccy, Apple Pie Caramel, and The Queen of Hearts.
To summarize, the food is exquisite, fun and tremendously rewarding. They have a great wine list with choices that fits any budget. The Restaurant Manager Dimitri Bellos is a true professional (one of the best we have met) and the service level is impeccable. Jonny Lake runs the kitchen without skipping a beat and it is worth every penny (and you have to dish out quite a few). Important to know that Heston Blumenthal has announced he would be closing the restaurant for renovations for 6 months and temporarily relocating it with its entire team to Crown Towers, Melbourne, Australia. The restaurant will be called The Fat Duck for 6 months before being renamed Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. So take the opportunity to visit it before it moves, visit it in Melbourne, or visit it when it reopens refurbished and re-energized. My message is simply, I don't care how, when or where you visit the Fat Duck - but just do it!!! You will not regret it. It is still the best meal that I have had in my life and now....I have had it twice!! Joël Robuchon is a French chef and restaurateur. He was titled "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989 and also awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France's Best Craftsman) in cuisine in 1976. In 1996, Joël Robuchon retired, closing his restaurant and handing it over to Alain Ducasse. He cited the daily strain as well as the wish to leave while he still had a choice. Robuchon was unable to stay away for long and in 2003 he launched l’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. He wanted to do something different and was quoted: ‘What I have in mind is a place with a very relaxed convivial atmosphere. That’s what I think people want. There will be lots of interaction between the chef and the customers’. And this is exactly what L'Atelier is - it is great french food (two Michelin stars) but in a very modern and informal setting. At L’Atelier you can choose between the counter or the tables for a complete freedom with a menu of more than sixty references renewed and varied where it is emphasized on seasons and daily market products. We went with the bar counter with a great overview of the chefs putting finishing touches on the courses. If you love food, and watching the theater of the kitchen, once you sit down it's a great experience: great food delivered at a rapid pace. Robuchon says his inspiration for L'Atelier comes from the tapas bars of Spain, where he has a house. So I ordered the degustation menu but also got a couple of extra tapas - the foie gras hamburger was one of these extras - and it was definitely worth it. The menu started with wonderful foie gras shot with parmesan, rich, extremely flavorful and a great way to kick off the menu. My wife being a vegan had difficulties finding items on the menu but after a while the chef said that they would accommodate her dietary restrictions with four courses, and according to my wife - they were all very good. Her menu started with an eggplant spread with marinated tomatoes. It was very colorful, inventive and with a great flavor profile. The next course is magnificent. It is smoked salmon served as a tartar with a delicious scoop of french caviar on top and to top it off, a small gold leaf. You have the smoothness of the raw salmon with a touch of smoke combined with the sharpness and the crunch of the caviar. It is simply food heaven on a plate. A great dish!!! The two next courses were also great. Lobster with asparagus seems easy enough but the rich broth that accompanies the dish elevates it to a completely different level. It is followed by a wonderful ravioli of parmesan and mushroom. My favorite was the lobster, but that is not a surprise. It is hard not to love a good lobster cooked perfectly. The next course was a pea soup with dill. I wasn't sure how that combination would work but it is a great combination. Dill enhances the pea soup and I can't wait until i get home and try experimenting with these two flavors. This great course was followed by a cod, also cooked to the perfect texture. What made this course was the combination with an au poivre noir that had great depth. A surprising combination as well but it also worked out great. The next course was pigeon with Joel Robuchon's famous mashed potato. His puree de pomme has just four simple ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and salt. These are silky, creamy, smooth and luxurious pureed potatoes that will make your taste buds smile. So what is it that sets this dish apart from traditional mashed potatoes? Perhaps it is that he boils the potatoes skin-on, then peels them and runs them through a food mill. Perhaps it’s the way he stirs cold cubed butter into the steaming hot potatoes. Maybe it’s the jaw-dropping quantity of butter (2lbs potatoes to 1 pound butter) – or perhaps it’s the intense stirring required while incorporating the butter. All of these things makes for the best mashed potatoes I have ever had. Thankfully the waiter serves us an extra bowl so we really can engulf in the butter-potato flavor symphony. I then had the Foie Gras Burger and i can only summarize these little sliders with a big WOW. Fluffy bun that was baked earlier in the day with a piece of perfectly prepared beef patty and then topped with foie gras that melts in your mouth. When the dish is placed before you the aroma of the dish will make your mouth water instantly. Foie gras fills your nostrils and then you take a bite and you experience the richness of this dish. Best burgers ever!!! After the burgers we moved into the sweet section of the dinner. Beautiful desserts with sharpness and freshness. Berries were in seasons and they were excellent, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, they were all presented before our palette. Eating at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon is a fun experience. You see the food get assembled in front of you. You get a two Michelin star dining experience in a very casual, comfortable environment. The show kitchen, a good wine list and an approachable staff makes this restaurant a can't miss in Paris. Whilst L'Atelier is not cheap, if you are looking for an event rather than merely a meal, it offers good value. We loved it and will be back.
5 hours of food heaven, 5 hours of my taste buds going woohoo, 5 hours of one dish after another being served to my eyes, my nose, my mind and my palette, and 5 hours of sitting in a restaurant with a big grin on my face. Stumbling out in the warm Paris night, these thoughts swirls through my mind and I smile because thanks to Guy Savoy I just had the longest meal of my life but also one of the best. Situated in the 17th district, Guy Savoy is located only a few blocks from the l’Arc de Triomphe. He scrupulously selects his french and local ingredients according to their origins and treats them the utmost respect orchestrating extraordinary variations on flavors and textures that have earned him his golden reputation (and three Michelin stars). The end result is some of the best food that I have ever had - classics reinterpreted with cutting-edge culinary techniques. Inside, with brown walls, African art and abstract modern paintings, the restaurant decor was serious, but the colorful plates on the table showed Savoy’s festive side. I decided to go with the 18 course degustation menu and they were able to accommodate a tasting menu for my vegan wife as well (not 18 courses though). We were warned that I had a 5 hour experience in front of me, but if the food is good why not extend the joy. We started with two amuse bouches, the first one was a simple foie gras toast but the second one was amazing - a pea soup with fresh peas and a poached quail egg Already at this point, I was hooked. This is what I prefer a three-star experience to be, great culinary techniques that I haven’t seen before, combined with fantastic presentation and food that I actually like to eat. Scrumptious!! The next course was a delicious trio of tomatoes, which clearly were in season when we visited Paris. Every restaurant had a couple of tomato dishes but this one was spectacular. I also bought the Guy Savoy cookbook they sold in the restaurants and to my very happy surprise the recipe of this course was included. Now I just need to sharpen my french so I can get all the ingredients right. After the tomatoes, Chef Guy served a giant langoustine, who looked more like a baby lobster, clean, crisp and cooked to perfection. Then I had razor clams, an ingredient that very fast has risen to become one of my favorite seafood ingredients. The razor clams were served on their shells, cooked perfectly, and just complimented slightly by some lemon, a tiny bit of garlic puree and some fried parsley. This was a very well composed dish. How do you top a dish like the razor clams?? Well, you throw in caviar in the mix. The next course was zucchini flower with caviar and smoked sabayon. The zucchini flower was dried but had an interesting taste and the combination with the caviar and the sweet sabayon was amazing. It also had some Brunoise vegetables to give it some crunch. So how do you top caviar and sabayon? I didn't think it was possible and then the kitchen serves two amazing fish courses. The first one was the cheeks of Sea Bass with celery sponges. The sous chef brought the whole fish head to the table and then very carefully cut out the cheeks and put it on the plate. I heard about fish cheeks before but I never had it and it was amazing. The whole dish was elevated by the fish broth served tableside as well. After that I had a Red mullet with squid, served with some squid ink vegetable paper that was incredible. And the colors of this dish was fantastic. The pictures doesn't do it justice. At this part of the dinner - I was thinking, Chef Guy can't serve any more seafood - it is simply not possible. But it is possible. Suddenly the sous-chef rolls up a table next to ours with a funky white pillow on it. On the table is also a couple of small copper pans and a wonderful cut of raw salmon. The pillow is dry ice, and the next course is salmon cooked three ways. First, it is cooked on dry ice, second moved to my very hot plate and finally cooked in a steaming vegetable broth that is pour into the plate. It creates a wonderful texture and the chervil cubes made of jelly compliments the dish nicely. Are we done with seafood now?? Nope, Chef Savoy has one final seafood card up his sleeve, and it is a stunner. A lobster and chantarelle tart with a delicious sauce. I almost licked my plate - which I know is not considered good etiquette in any restaurant, especially in a three star one. But I almost decided to do it anyways - it was that good. What about my wife's vegan dishes? Guy Savoy does a great job of catering to any dietary restrictions and from my wife's reaction throughout the meal, she was very happy and satisfied with the plates that was served. She summarized her experience by giving Chef Savoy her number two ranking of best gourmet places to eat if your are a vegan, number one is still the Fat Duck in the UK. Picture above are two of the dishes she had, A great chantarelle dish and a wonderful chocolate gelato with raspberries and avocado. My next course was foie gras with berries and aubergine. The course would have been better without the aubergine but it was still very good. Chefs are very often remembered for their signature dishes and when people mention Guy Savoy they often highlight the Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup. It has been a signature dish of his since the 1980’s, and it tremendously rewarding . The intense broth perfumed with a distinct earthy flavor of aromatic black truffles and the strong nutty and tangy flavors gets better with each sip, leaving you wanting for more. An mushroom brioche is also served alongside, with some black truffle butter on it. When spreading the black butter on the brioche the waiter proclaims ”butter makes everything taste better!” And in this case it did. A dish that I could eat every day for the rest of my life. The next course was a lamb course with a saddle, rack, shoulder and sausage made of lamb. It is one of the best lamb dishes I have ever had. The knife cut through the saddle like butter, the flavors were intense, the lamb was cooked perfectly, and you could really enjoy the variety of lamb and how different the various parts taste. An incredible dish. Cheese was on the menu next - and the waiter rolled out a table filled with cheeses. It was the biggest selection of cheese I have ever had at a restaurant. There must have been 40 different types of cheese to choose between - I picked 5 and they were all great. After the cheeses a very nice palette cleanser was served - a little summer sandwich. Nothing spectacular, but a good transition. The following course was simple yet very flavorful, a wonderful vanilla creme with some whipped lemon egg whites. The menu ended with some fantastic desserts where the highlight were a strawberry and wild strawberry profiteroles. The berries had intense flavors and it was a perfect ending to a great dinner. The problem is that it wasn't the ending, the desserts just kept coming and coming and when the waiter finally rolled out the trolley of ice creams, sorbets, conserves and traditional biscuits, I was full beyond reason.
But what an amazing night, the food is truly spectacular, the wine list extremely impressive and the service as good as it gets. If there is a restaurant that deserves three stars then Guy Savoy is it. It is also a very expensive restaurant but once in a while when you feel like going on a culinary journey and be blown away by food that you quickly realize that you could never cook at home, then Guy Savoy in Paris is one of the best alternatives in the world. |
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