Monday, November 27, 2006
Le Gavroche and the Theory of Everything
Physicists today strive for a "GUT". Not, as you might think, the outward bulging sign of an overindulgence in the finer things of life, which of course is appropriate for a Piggly Wiggly review, but rather a "Grand Unified Theory", uniting all of the known universal physical forces in a harmony of mathematical precision and concision, commonly known as a "theory of everything". Little do they know that a theory of everything already exists, of my own devising, which I'll share with you now. My theory of everything states that about 90% of everything is rubbish. 90% of books, TV, cinema, theatre, people, events, music and crucially for this review, restaurants, are rubbish (or pretty much thereabouts).
Is this not a depressing statistic I hear you cry, if we are doomed to spend nine tenths of our time in the mire of mediocrity? On the contrary, all the joyous things in life, the things that make, not to wax too philosophical here, life worth living, are about discovering the 10% that's either really good, or even occasionally, where ordinary superlatives breakdown and you find yourself sampling the very top 1% of the finest things there are to enjoy physically and/or intellectually. Or rather, to be more specific, the top 10% of the top 10% of things that you, in particular, might enjoy, wherever your own sick, twisted tastes and fancies deliver you. The mathematically inclined amongst you, or indeed just the slightly wilier, will of course realise that by assuming the truth of my assertion, 90% of theories are also rubbish. Aha, clever, you see? In which percentile my theory of everything lies, is therefore left as an exercise for the reader.
Le Gavroche, just off Park Lane, on the surface, both when you look at it from the outside, and when you descend into the velvety, warm, decorous interior of it's evidently lush and well to do basement dining room, past it's swanky ground floor bar, does not strike one as one of those "90% experiences".
Our 18:30 reservation brought us into a slightly under populated room, but still buzzing nicely, which filled up quickly thereafter anyhow. "People watching" to coin a phrase of the parlance of our times, is greatly facilitated by the relatively open plan design, so I can only deduce that chief amongst the attractions of the space is both being seen, and, to judge by the Hedge Fund Type Expense Account Toffs loudly holding forth at the table next to us, heard. Piggly Wiggly informed me that in Hedge Fund circles Le Gavroche is the local "des-res" (desired reservation) for expense account entertaining, and judging by the smattering of European languages, and evidently post work besuited and booted clientele, I was in no doubt as to the correctness of the reputation. This makes an interesting contrast to some smaller dining spaces, where sitting down to table is about the culinary experience, as opposed to the expense or the expanse of the dining. In retrospect, I think this might not be a particularly foodie-serious atmosphere for a Gastro-Piggly, so be warned.
Service was prompt and fairly unassuming to start with, and we kicked off with a couple of glasses of vintage Taittanger Champagne. I'm moved to wonder at this point about aperitifs. In all their bewildering variety, there can be only one that, for it's purity and refreshment, wins out every time - and that's clearly a glass of champagne. I often see people with Gin and Tonics, beers, pints and all sorts of alcoholic non sequiters clutched in their sweaty digits as they make their way to tables (or have it brought, in the classier joints), but I can never figure out why. Cocktails are for cocktail hour, not an immediate pre-prandial tipple. Indeed, there are chefs who will refuse you a Singapore Sling, A Roaring Twenties or whatever your concoction of choice might be, on the grounds, justifiably, that it interferes with their culinary master plans for you. Observant readers will note the evident restraint I've applied in not using some of the more common and vulgar cocktail monikers to go for the obvious snicker, for which you can thank me later.
Anyhow, menu choice is simplified greatly in a restaurant like Le Gavroche, when, like Piggly Wiggly and myself, you have cast off the chains of petty bourgeois morals, and (with the aid of some starvation dieting) have just decided to pork out and go for the degustation menu (7 courses, including 2 deserts, plus a cheese plate). With matching wines you are, as we used to say in our local Cummann, "elected".
Course the first: Poached scallop with a julienne of vegetables and ginger and spicy red pepper. This was revelatory. For an instant I thought we were receiving sushi until I cut into an tasted the scallop, pleasingly plump, a good two or three mouthfuls of sweet meaty juicyness. I still prefer them fried but this was utterly delicious - not overwhelmed by the ginger in any way (although the vegetable medley was a tad salty for one mouthful) and perfectly cooked, with a perfect wine accompaniment.
Course the second: Crayfish tails in a butter sauce with escargots. Again, somewhat revelatory - quite how you decide to pair up snails and tails I don't know but it worked exceedingly well - probably because they met somewhere in the middle of that deliciously light, creamy butter sauce, with a delicious little dollop of garlickly-oily pesto as well.
Course the third: Fillet of John-Dory with garlic crostini and with an aubergine thing on the garlic toast and some sort of very spicy thing as well. To me this was the pinnacle of the evening's enteratainment. Quite how it's possible to create something so spicy, with such crystal clear favlour sa the same time, in particular with something as delicate as fish, and John Dory at that, is beyond me - which is why I'm a consumer, not a creator of fine dining I suppose. The garlic crostini coated with aubergine added a great cruncy contrast to the thin layer of broth 'ponst which the John-dory sat, succulent and again, ferfectly cooked, not one iota of the flavour being lost in the spice and the delicate garlic.
Course the fourth: Foie gras with crispy duck pancake. Now, call me inhumane, but I "lerve" foie gras, so I was eagerly anticipating this course. However, it turned out to be quite disappointing. First and foremost, it was certainly not a great piece of meat, it was not cooked particularly well, and came with a pointless accompaniment of a crispy (i.e. dry) duck pancake, of all things, and a hoi sin sauce, that Piggly Wiggly described as being like an "overcooked duck samosa". In it's own richness, the accompaniment did nothing to improve or compliment the foie gras. In fact, it detracted. Compared to many memorable foie gras starters we've had, this was a dismal failure. For example, in one 3 Star, a superp piece of meat, which was both superior in quality and cooking, came with a nice, simple, sweet, crab crisp; in New York, we had a stunning accompaniment to the biggest chunk of foie gras I've ever had, of sauterne grapes in a light gravy, brilliantly allowing the richness and texture of the foie gras to melt around the mouth; or indeed in just a plain old bog standard French restaurant near Grenoble, where Piggly Wiggly got an eye poppingly enormous tranche de foie gras with a simple crispy salad; or, at another 2 Star establishment, where we had an utterly surprising foie gras, poached in a jar with a cauliflower cream. This was really quite a let down after the trio of superb starters and we were hoping it was just a blip. However…...
Course the fifith: Venison. While perfectly cooked, just rare enough, with excellent accompanying vegtables and sauce, this venison was a touch bland for my taste. While I will admit that I prefer game to be gamey to the point of giving you slight palpitations as to whether you should really be eating something quite as rancid as this, this was merely a texture rather than a flavour - a very nice texture, mind you, but still pretty much flavourless all the same. Unfortunately, not much could redeem this course in my view. Piggly Wiggly was of much the same opinion, although the wine pairing did something to mitigate the failure.
A word on the service at this point - it was pleasant and efficient, however, it was also somewhat less than enthusiastic in terms of explaining the dishes and in particular the wine accompaniment. At other locations, the sommellier delivered such mouth watering descriptions of the wines accompanying the meal, and what it was meant to accentuate, that we were practically grabbing the bottle and swigging it back before he was finished. Here I felt a little short changed in terms of what we were supposed to be looking out for in the wines and the food. In any event, it didn't mar the vening in any way, but it didn't add a great deal either.
Course the fromage: After an appropriate and decent interval, we decided to gird our now considerably porkier loins, for a cheese plate selection. We requested, as is our wont, the stronger variety of cheeses, and received a reasonable selection of good to moderate cheeses with decent wafter thin biscuit selections, along with some celery. All in all satisfying and adequate, and I'm not trying to damn with faint priase here.
Course the sixth: a dark chocolate gateau with a praline nutty cream, only slightly memorable, but tasty all the same - not a favourite with Piggly Wiggly though.
Course the seventh: Upside down tarte tatin. Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan of apple tart, whatever fancy way it's dressed up, so this was a bit of a "miss" for me. PW is a fan though and pronounced it worthy.
Course the petits fours and coffee: my decaf had that percolated to death hint of Bisto gravy grnaules about it, but the petits fours were good, although not remarkable.
Overall - would I say Le Gavroche is well worth it's Two Star Michelin assignation? Deffinitely yes, in particular if you compare it to the overwhelming disappointment of Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin (the only 2 star restaurant in Ireland). However, utlimately, it was quite pricey, even considering the degustation menu, the matching wines and service (aboout 380 GBP in total).
That of course reflects the clientele, undoubtedly the Expense Account Brigade from Hedge Fund Central. However, for value, and quality, it certainly is no where near it's other 2 Star London rivals to which we've paid visits.
Some good things: utterly sublime wine accompaniments, excellent starters (scallop, crayfish with escargots, john-dory); good cheese plate and good wine list as well.
Some not so good things: outside of the degustation menu, nothing sufficiently tempting to take you to A La Carte Land; somewhat unenthusiastic service, the course and wine pairings being a bit under-explained; an inconsistency in the quality of the courses (excellent being directly followed by the merely passable); only okayish deserts in my view (which is a key factor in forming my opinion, generally). Also, for the Gastro-Piggly on the look out for a special occasion restaurant, a more impressive dining space, and potentially less expense account stuffed atmosphere might be had at say a place like Gordon Ramsey at Claridge's, or even the Wolsley, although the food at the latter, while constantly improving in our view, isn't Michelin Starred.
While on the whole Le Gavroche has a very well deserved reputation, with good service and an enticing wine and degustation menu, many of the courses of which, but crucially not all, were superbly executed, and would be a good stop off on the way to giving your boss a heart attack when next he reviews your expense account, for the Piggly Wiggly Epicurean Oddyssey, it's neither sufficiently good value, adventurous enough menu-wise, or foody-centric enough, to entice a second visit.
Is this not a depressing statistic I hear you cry, if we are doomed to spend nine tenths of our time in the mire of mediocrity? On the contrary, all the joyous things in life, the things that make, not to wax too philosophical here, life worth living, are about discovering the 10% that's either really good, or even occasionally, where ordinary superlatives breakdown and you find yourself sampling the very top 1% of the finest things there are to enjoy physically and/or intellectually. Or rather, to be more specific, the top 10% of the top 10% of things that you, in particular, might enjoy, wherever your own sick, twisted tastes and fancies deliver you. The mathematically inclined amongst you, or indeed just the slightly wilier, will of course realise that by assuming the truth of my assertion, 90% of theories are also rubbish. Aha, clever, you see? In which percentile my theory of everything lies, is therefore left as an exercise for the reader.
Le Gavroche, just off Park Lane, on the surface, both when you look at it from the outside, and when you descend into the velvety, warm, decorous interior of it's evidently lush and well to do basement dining room, past it's swanky ground floor bar, does not strike one as one of those "90% experiences".
Our 18:30 reservation brought us into a slightly under populated room, but still buzzing nicely, which filled up quickly thereafter anyhow. "People watching" to coin a phrase of the parlance of our times, is greatly facilitated by the relatively open plan design, so I can only deduce that chief amongst the attractions of the space is both being seen, and, to judge by the Hedge Fund Type Expense Account Toffs loudly holding forth at the table next to us, heard. Piggly Wiggly informed me that in Hedge Fund circles Le Gavroche is the local "des-res" (desired reservation) for expense account entertaining, and judging by the smattering of European languages, and evidently post work besuited and booted clientele, I was in no doubt as to the correctness of the reputation. This makes an interesting contrast to some smaller dining spaces, where sitting down to table is about the culinary experience, as opposed to the expense or the expanse of the dining. In retrospect, I think this might not be a particularly foodie-serious atmosphere for a Gastro-Piggly, so be warned.
Service was prompt and fairly unassuming to start with, and we kicked off with a couple of glasses of vintage Taittanger Champagne. I'm moved to wonder at this point about aperitifs. In all their bewildering variety, there can be only one that, for it's purity and refreshment, wins out every time - and that's clearly a glass of champagne. I often see people with Gin and Tonics, beers, pints and all sorts of alcoholic non sequiters clutched in their sweaty digits as they make their way to tables (or have it brought, in the classier joints), but I can never figure out why. Cocktails are for cocktail hour, not an immediate pre-prandial tipple. Indeed, there are chefs who will refuse you a Singapore Sling, A Roaring Twenties or whatever your concoction of choice might be, on the grounds, justifiably, that it interferes with their culinary master plans for you. Observant readers will note the evident restraint I've applied in not using some of the more common and vulgar cocktail monikers to go for the obvious snicker, for which you can thank me later.
Anyhow, menu choice is simplified greatly in a restaurant like Le Gavroche, when, like Piggly Wiggly and myself, you have cast off the chains of petty bourgeois morals, and (with the aid of some starvation dieting) have just decided to pork out and go for the degustation menu (7 courses, including 2 deserts, plus a cheese plate). With matching wines you are, as we used to say in our local Cummann, "elected".
Course the first: Poached scallop with a julienne of vegetables and ginger and spicy red pepper. This was revelatory. For an instant I thought we were receiving sushi until I cut into an tasted the scallop, pleasingly plump, a good two or three mouthfuls of sweet meaty juicyness. I still prefer them fried but this was utterly delicious - not overwhelmed by the ginger in any way (although the vegetable medley was a tad salty for one mouthful) and perfectly cooked, with a perfect wine accompaniment.
Course the second: Crayfish tails in a butter sauce with escargots. Again, somewhat revelatory - quite how you decide to pair up snails and tails I don't know but it worked exceedingly well - probably because they met somewhere in the middle of that deliciously light, creamy butter sauce, with a delicious little dollop of garlickly-oily pesto as well.
Course the third: Fillet of John-Dory with garlic crostini and with an aubergine thing on the garlic toast and some sort of very spicy thing as well. To me this was the pinnacle of the evening's enteratainment. Quite how it's possible to create something so spicy, with such crystal clear favlour sa the same time, in particular with something as delicate as fish, and John Dory at that, is beyond me - which is why I'm a consumer, not a creator of fine dining I suppose. The garlic crostini coated with aubergine added a great cruncy contrast to the thin layer of broth 'ponst which the John-dory sat, succulent and again, ferfectly cooked, not one iota of the flavour being lost in the spice and the delicate garlic.
Course the fourth: Foie gras with crispy duck pancake. Now, call me inhumane, but I "lerve" foie gras, so I was eagerly anticipating this course. However, it turned out to be quite disappointing. First and foremost, it was certainly not a great piece of meat, it was not cooked particularly well, and came with a pointless accompaniment of a crispy (i.e. dry) duck pancake, of all things, and a hoi sin sauce, that Piggly Wiggly described as being like an "overcooked duck samosa". In it's own richness, the accompaniment did nothing to improve or compliment the foie gras. In fact, it detracted. Compared to many memorable foie gras starters we've had, this was a dismal failure. For example, in one 3 Star, a superp piece of meat, which was both superior in quality and cooking, came with a nice, simple, sweet, crab crisp; in New York, we had a stunning accompaniment to the biggest chunk of foie gras I've ever had, of sauterne grapes in a light gravy, brilliantly allowing the richness and texture of the foie gras to melt around the mouth; or indeed in just a plain old bog standard French restaurant near Grenoble, where Piggly Wiggly got an eye poppingly enormous tranche de foie gras with a simple crispy salad; or, at another 2 Star establishment, where we had an utterly surprising foie gras, poached in a jar with a cauliflower cream. This was really quite a let down after the trio of superb starters and we were hoping it was just a blip. However…...
Course the fifith: Venison. While perfectly cooked, just rare enough, with excellent accompanying vegtables and sauce, this venison was a touch bland for my taste. While I will admit that I prefer game to be gamey to the point of giving you slight palpitations as to whether you should really be eating something quite as rancid as this, this was merely a texture rather than a flavour - a very nice texture, mind you, but still pretty much flavourless all the same. Unfortunately, not much could redeem this course in my view. Piggly Wiggly was of much the same opinion, although the wine pairing did something to mitigate the failure.
A word on the service at this point - it was pleasant and efficient, however, it was also somewhat less than enthusiastic in terms of explaining the dishes and in particular the wine accompaniment. At other locations, the sommellier delivered such mouth watering descriptions of the wines accompanying the meal, and what it was meant to accentuate, that we were practically grabbing the bottle and swigging it back before he was finished. Here I felt a little short changed in terms of what we were supposed to be looking out for in the wines and the food. In any event, it didn't mar the vening in any way, but it didn't add a great deal either.
Course the fromage: After an appropriate and decent interval, we decided to gird our now considerably porkier loins, for a cheese plate selection. We requested, as is our wont, the stronger variety of cheeses, and received a reasonable selection of good to moderate cheeses with decent wafter thin biscuit selections, along with some celery. All in all satisfying and adequate, and I'm not trying to damn with faint priase here.
Course the sixth: a dark chocolate gateau with a praline nutty cream, only slightly memorable, but tasty all the same - not a favourite with Piggly Wiggly though.
Course the seventh: Upside down tarte tatin. Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan of apple tart, whatever fancy way it's dressed up, so this was a bit of a "miss" for me. PW is a fan though and pronounced it worthy.
Course the petits fours and coffee: my decaf had that percolated to death hint of Bisto gravy grnaules about it, but the petits fours were good, although not remarkable.
Overall - would I say Le Gavroche is well worth it's Two Star Michelin assignation? Deffinitely yes, in particular if you compare it to the overwhelming disappointment of Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin (the only 2 star restaurant in Ireland). However, utlimately, it was quite pricey, even considering the degustation menu, the matching wines and service (aboout 380 GBP in total).
That of course reflects the clientele, undoubtedly the Expense Account Brigade from Hedge Fund Central. However, for value, and quality, it certainly is no where near it's other 2 Star London rivals to which we've paid visits.
Some good things: utterly sublime wine accompaniments, excellent starters (scallop, crayfish with escargots, john-dory); good cheese plate and good wine list as well.
Some not so good things: outside of the degustation menu, nothing sufficiently tempting to take you to A La Carte Land; somewhat unenthusiastic service, the course and wine pairings being a bit under-explained; an inconsistency in the quality of the courses (excellent being directly followed by the merely passable); only okayish deserts in my view (which is a key factor in forming my opinion, generally). Also, for the Gastro-Piggly on the look out for a special occasion restaurant, a more impressive dining space, and potentially less expense account stuffed atmosphere might be had at say a place like Gordon Ramsey at Claridge's, or even the Wolsley, although the food at the latter, while constantly improving in our view, isn't Michelin Starred.
While on the whole Le Gavroche has a very well deserved reputation, with good service and an enticing wine and degustation menu, many of the courses of which, but crucially not all, were superbly executed, and would be a good stop off on the way to giving your boss a heart attack when next he reviews your expense account, for the Piggly Wiggly Epicurean Oddyssey, it's neither sufficiently good value, adventurous enough menu-wise, or foody-centric enough, to entice a second visit.
# posted by Flann O'Brien @ 10:26 AM 
