London Restaurant Festival 2011: Gauthier Soho

Chef Alexis Gauthier has a solid pedigree having worked with Alain Ducasse and been chef-patron of the Pimlico restaurant Roussillon which gained a Michelin star in 2000.  Wanting a more cosmopolitan audience, Gauthier, together with his sommelier Roberto Della Pietra, took over the Lindsay House premises and opened his eponymous restaurant just 18 months ago and although he is still an investor in Roussillon, his heart is now in the heart of Soho.

So when choosing from the list of 2011 LRF restaurants, his new-ish restaurant Gauthier Soho was an easy draft pick.  Add the fact that in the past year it too has been awarded one Michelin star, along with news that the Festival menu applies for dinner, not just lunch, and we're totally sold.
The 4-storey 18th century townhouse is bathed in atmosphere from the moment you are invited to ring the doorbell in order to enter.  Is this to keep out the riff-raff - we are in Soho after all - or to perpetuate the feeling of dining in a private home?  Whichever it is, it's a cute touch and apparently a legacy from its former occupant.  There are dining rooms on the ground and first floors and we are smoothly and efficiently divested of jackets and whisked upstairs within moments of our arrival - if this all sounds a bit rushed I don't mean it to,  but I would have enjoyed peeking into the ground floor area.  Perhaps we'll have to come again - a feeling that grows throughout our evening.

We're seated at a round table that offers us both a view of other diners as well as the comings and goings of waitstaff, sommeliers and maitre d's.  The walls are a soft white with very little decoration, and the lighting can only be described as intimate (apologies therefore for the murkiness of some of the photos as I don't use a flash in restaurants).  This is definitely a diner-a-deux restaurant.

The Festival menu on offer is £30 for three courses and although we're presented with the A La Carte menu as well, I try and stay focussed on the Prix Fixe where there are a generous 4 choices per course.  It's clear that some hard decisions are to be made as each offering starts us salivating.  Meanwhile there's a baker's half-dozen of in-house breads to choose from - how about walnut, or olive, or little French batons?  Two dishes of olive oil are presented - one fruity, one peppery - and we dip away ignoring, for the most part, the slab of butter sprinkled with sea salt.  That's better, it's easier to think now we've some ballast in the hold.  We opt for the two seafood dishes - roast Scottish scallops with girolles and herb and lobster open ravioli with a lobster and wild mushroom veloute  - and a half of Chablis will do nicely, thanks.

Before that a trio of amuses-bouche arrives: a shot glass of velvety mustard chantilly with slender toast soldiers, cured salmon with creme fraiche and a sprinkle of caviar, and crisped prosciutto with figs.  If this were a contest it would be tough to pick a winner, but maybe the chantilly gets it by a nose.

The lobster is lovingly embraced by silken pasta, with rich veloute in support dotted and dashed morse-like around the plate.  It is, simply, delicious.  The huge diver scallops sit in an Orla Kiely arrangement of the two sauces and are perfectly cooked, yielding to the gentlest pressure.  The girolles are almost superfluous but create a trinity of flavours with the garlic and parsley sauces. 

The Chablis has stood up well to both these dishes, and we savour the last sips while anticipating our entrees: soft and crunchy duck magret with sweet and sour autumn vegetables and duck jus, and sweetbreads and pancetta with caramelized carrots, sprouting broccoli, parmesan veloute and veal jus.  We've found a well-priced New Zealand Pinot Noir on the list - not an easy job - and it is duly presented: 2009 Lake Chalice Marlborough Pinot Noir.  Yup, that's the one.  Textbook summer fruit flavours, hints of violets and plums, supple tannins - should be perfect with our two choices.  And it is oh so quaffable.

The duck breast is pleasingly pink and tender, and rests on  very lightly pickled vegetables - a contrast of flavours and textures - and there's a gentle spice layered through the jus.  The 'crunchy' also comes from the crisply caramelized skin.  It's a medley of autumn notes and perfectly rendered.

The sweetbreads are as advertised and are prettily arranged  atop the carrots and broccoli.  They disappear fast, and with
gusto.  The Pinot, as predicted, pairs elegantly with both the
duck and the veal, and we have enough to enjoy with the cheese which one of us has ordered for the dessert course.

The staff have been as much a part of this meal as any of the dishes - professional, friendly and attentive.  They have charmingly allowed us to pace the dinner like a marathon rather than a sprint.  They also generously bring two cheese plates so we can each enjoy the reblochon, ossau iraty (a Basquaise sheep's cheese) and calvados washed-rind camembert without fighting over the spoils.  The last of the Pinot is teased out to match each morsel. 

A pre-dessert arrives: a toy-town portion of candied pineapple, lemon mousse and lemon sorbet.  A great palate-cleanser that sets us up for the piece de resistance, and Gauthier's signature dessert: golden Louis XV. This homage to the somewhat excessive French King (he is rumoured to have had some 90 illegitimate children) may also pay court to Gauthier's mentor Ducasse and his Louis XV restaurant in Monaco. It is in itself an embarras de riches -  a thin chewy hazelnut meringue base, then a layer of crunchy white chocolate/hazelnut Croquante, topped with chocolate mousse, enrobed in dark chocolate ganache and crowned with a flourish of gold leaf - pure theatre and a dazzling demonstration of a patissiere's skills. 

Before we leave we learn that the restaurant also has a retail wine license and is currently offering customers a free lunch for two when spending £100 or more - something to remember next time we need to replenish the cellar. 

There's a lot of talk about French food being on its last legs: one foot is already in the grave, suggests the recent news that there are now more Michelin 3-star restaurants in Japan than in France.  But on the evidence of this dining experience, rumours have been greatly exaggerated and there's little to beat classic French technique in the hands of a creative and accomplished chef.  This is food that seduces and teases like an amour fou.  No wonder I was helpless to resist spicing this blog with French phrases and bon-mots.  Oops, there I go again.

Go before Gauthier gets his second star and while it's still affordable - you won't be disappointed.

London Restaurant Festival 2011: Sat Bains

It's London Restaurant Festival time again, and a chance to road-test some places that might ordinarily be outside our budget.  

New on this year's menu is the chance to experience some outside-London chefs, and we jump at the news that Sat Bains is one of the first to be featured at Fortnum and Mason's Gallery Restaurant - Sat's eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant in Nottingham has been on our radar for some time, and despite having family in the area (and therefore a reason to visit) we haven't yet made the pilgrimage.  So, yes please, 2 for lunch. 

It's the first Monday in October but London is basking in an Indian summer and everyone seems to be blissed out by this second-chance summer warmth.  Secretaries and salesgirls soak up the rays in nearby St. James' Park as we waft in to the light-filled restaurant and are seated at a window table overlooking the bespoke shops of Jermyn Street.

Happiness

The staff here are more accustomed to serving quick business lunches, and the arrangement is of family-style seating although because of our later booking we luck out with a 6-top to ourselves.  A bit quirky - the wine list comes from F & M's own-label retail offerings and is priced at retail too - what is already a bargain is super-sized when we ask about their American Express deal which takes  an additional £10 off per bottle.  This includes a Rose Champagne made for F & M by Billecart-Salmon - how can we resist?  The listed half-bottle is a ghost, but the friendly maitre d' will pour from the 750ml and charge us accordingly (it later turns out that we get the tenner-off deal on that too).  I love great staff.

Our meal starts with pancetta-wrapped pork belly with pickled vegetables, 3 luscious little fingers of piggy heaven. Turns out these particular porkers live next to the Walkers Crisps factory and are fed the rejects (hopefully not smokey bacon flavour), which results in unique earthy notes.  They are set upon so quickly that by the time I'm reaching for the camera it's just a crime scene - nothing left but fingerprints.  We've saved some Bubbly to pair with this course and it cuts through the fattiness perfectly.

Salmon in Oyster Veloute

A palate-cleansing salmon with oyster and miso veloute follows - the oysters have gone, leaving the taste of the sea behind, a singing briny broth that lifts and cuts the richness of the (cured rather than cooked) salmon.  Like exploring a little rockpool, there are lots of treasures to be found in this dish - tiny clams, cucumber and some crunchy 'popped' wild rice among them.   

We've ordered a minor red Burgundy (Givry) to pair with the salmon and the next dish which is mutton with shallots.  Slow-cooked and meltingly tender, the mutton is paired with a shallot puree as well as a slow-roasted shallot.  The wine may have been slightly challenged by the salmon, but it's in its element here and its berry fruit and earthy structure makes a great partner to the meat.  

We've seen Chef working the room a bit while we've been dining, and are delighted when he sits down to join us.  Yes, Sat sat.  So now's our chance to ask about the food (this is
how I learn about the pigs and how to pop wild rice).  He is very unassuming and eager to talk about his restaurant as well as this 'pop-up' experience at Fortnum's and agrees with the suggestion that next time he might offer a wine-paired menu as an option. 

Dessert is a medley of late summer fruits, crushed meringue and a light granita - what is that herb?  Not strongly flavoured like mint or basil, but it is a herbal taste, maybe it's green tea?  Something to ask Chef about next time. 
It is simple and delicious. 

The new Michelin guide just awarded Sat his second star - so we feely doubly lucky to have had the chance to try his food without leaving London or our budget behind.  Though next time we're up in Robin Hood country I'm certain we'll go to the source.