The chef from Hell

I have to say, my eye has been off the ball in the restaurant world and things have been happening in London, the stakes have been raised and we have finally become a true culinary capital. A lot happens in a just few years the young guns have finally arrived.

Young Chefs working around the world with the best, along with home grown new British culinary talent have come home and found backing or opened pop up restaurants. European chefs who have chosen London as their base. So now we are blessed with a flow of new and interesting places to eat even in these difficult financial times
Vajante for example, a new style of cuisine imagined by Chef Nuno Mendes born in Portugal and now based here. He came to the fore through his pop up restaurant the loft, still operating but now welcoming European young talent to cook on a one off basis.
When I first came to London my major culinary influence was the French brasserie I worked as the grill chef and subsequently on the sauce section at Langans Brassiere when it first opened, and I have been a fan of the style ever since, never leaving Paris with a visit to at least one of the genre.
Now in London we are lucky enough to have Les Deux Salons a slice of Paris in convent garden more contemporary than the Parisian classics but with a nod towards the culinary heritage, but with I hasten to add British produce everything I ate was of premium quality and my ideal kind of eating.
Anthony Demetre oversees the kitchens. He followed on from me at Putney Bridge restaurant, where he gained his first Michelin star. He has since set up Arbutus and sister restaurant Wild Honey.
I chose to eat exclusively starters, as I wanted to enjoy more flavours and textures in small portions. I started with Cold Sliced calf’s head with tartar sauce.
  An metal eared dish filled with Brandade of Cod, fried baby squid and a parsley cromeski.
As I looked around at my fellow diners it was apperent that much care has been taken in choosing the dishes plates and small casseroles that the food has been presented in quality products that will distress with time and a add a true patina to the eating experience.
It must be 30 years since I have seen a cromeski on a menu, and after eating this one I am all for seeing them back again, liquid parsley at its core! Ravioli with rose veal and spinach was more like a crespele but very good nonetheless. The steak tartar, well that had me in rapture, chopped, at last someone who does not mince the meat it makes a world of difference.
A rhum baba was only marred by the temperature of the sponge, much too cold but all can be forgiven, because of the very large portion of rum that was applied to the baba straight from the bottle.
A wonderful lunch. After four months of eating just proteins this was a welcome break. A reminder to look more often what is happening here at home rather what is going on in Europe and Japan, we are becoming no longer the poor culinary cousin.

40 – 42 William IV Street, London WC2N 4DD  020 7420 2050

Viajante Patriot Square Bethnal Green London E2 9NF
+44 (0) 20 7871 0461 http://www.viajante.co.uk
the Loft http://www.theloftproject.co.uk/about/