Not your usual salad, not your usual pannacotta...
For these are Enrico Crippa's interpretations of these humble dishes in his restaurant, Piazza Duomo in Alba.
They taste as good as they look. What was in between was equally, in fact even more, ravishing, in a spectacular 'traditional' tasting menu (there is also a more innovative one) which elaborates with great imagination, precision and a touch of magic on some classic Piemonte flavours and dishes.
Here are the traditional Agnolotti:
Prices are at the lower end of what you'd expect from a 2* restaurant currently producing, with a couple of others, the very best of Italian cuisine.
Crippa is assisted by a very capable and lovable front of house team. The wine list offers a long, truly excellent selection at all prices, even ones so low that such numbers simply do not not appear in London restaurants...We know, as we asked the sommelier to guide us on some wine around the 100 euro mark to match the food. But, to our surprise when we got the bill, we think he misunderstood 100 with 30 - or he just decided on the basis of our modest appearance that we could not afford an expensive wine...
It can be a great drinking, as well as eating, experience at Piazza Duomo (markups are generally well below 100% except for the very bottom of the list). We were moved indeed by this lunch.
PS: sorry for the long absence. Under time pressure, we stopped blogging, and mostly even taking photographs in restaurants. But we intend to come back with some suitably 'downsized' reports such as this one!
The drinks: Beside the usual suspects, also very good value by the glass options.
We sought a lunch refuge from unremitting heavy rain in multistarred Helene Darroze’s venue at the Connaught.
(Us, drenched) ‘Hello, do you have a table for two?’
(Receptionist, looking dubious & worried) ‘Ehm, have you had a look at our menu?’
But we appreciated her concern that two miserable looking fellows like us might come to regret a fickle fine dining urge…
In fact, in this luxury, wood-panelled stucco-ceilinged Baccarat-crystalled environment, one of those places where service goes to the absurd point of not even letting you make the effort to open the bathroom tap as somebody does it for you,
we were on the verge of a fine experience which was very far from breaking the bank.
The amuse must be a clear self-introduction by the chef, and these
chorizo cake, leek and potato Vichyssoise with Bellini foam
suggest a liking for rich textures and muscular dishes, with no national boundaries. The velvety and lightly unctuous Vichyssoise is paired with pungent and strong, decisive flavours. And it works (except that the crumbly cake tends to disintegrate in your hands – maybe they should call the bathroom guy to pick up the crumbs for you, lest you get tired).
The bread, arrives after the amuse, a selection from a lined banneton taken from the rustic stone topped workbench that sits in the middle of the room, hosting a triumph of bread types, olive oil bottles, rosmery and sage pots, the look of which puts you immediately in a good mood... and we opt for a rye and a fig bread.
Two very different starters. One, an almost vegetarian dish, a
Poivrade Artichoke...simply roasted, herb and salad ravioli gratinated with Brebis basque cheese, Culatello di Zibello, Chicken jus pearled with Sicilian olive oil
which Man liked more than Woman, especially the cut of the artichoke (which you cannot appreciate, as it is hidden by the Culatello of Zibello sliver), the overall neatness of the presentation, the fine jus, the seductive sweet saltiness of the Culatello, and the ethereal encasing of the chunky filling of spinach and ricotta (a recipe Helen has probably stealed from the Sainsbury’s ricotta tub :)). Woman, ever the Italian, found the proportion between pasta and spinach in the parcel to be unbalanced, and the artichoke not particularly intense in flavour.
Whereas we enter international fusion territory again with this
Line caught Calamari...sauteed a la minute, black and creamy Carnaroli Acquerello rice, light bitter jus with chorizo and confit tomatoes, Reggiano parmesan emulsion
where a creamy, enveloping ink black risotto accompanies four slightly too hard yet obviously very fresh calamari. And if the parmesan cream, poured on the dish at the table, wasn’t just a touch over-salty, we would appreciate its overwhelmingly intense perfume and flavour and rich texture even more.
A venison reached the highest culinary echelons, and we will give it the place of honour, but this
Halibut...roasted with a crust of hazelnut and rosemary, potato gnocchi, watercress, walnut emulsion
wasn’t bad either…enveloped in its fine, tasty hazelnut crust, cooked perfectly.
Oh, look, the gnocchi even have the all-important indentation which is so rare to find even in Italy…but, but, wait a minute…they are very hard! We bite the bullet (ah ah) and are confirmed in our belief that Italian and French people have different concepts of pasta and starchy food in general… Gnocchi aside, we found this an elegant, well-structured and subtly complex dish, where the walnut foam was an intoxicating actor.
Our state so far can be described as extremely comfortable, relaxed and satisfied, both by the food and by the setting. The sweet offerings that followed did nothing to alter this state…
A chestnut triumph: the intense chestnut cream cubes are an impact piece. On the whole, very intricate and teasing play on flavours and textures, from the light crunchiness of the chestnut wafers to the soft chunkiness of the sponge base to the – perhaps the lime sorbet too much of a contrast, both temperature-wise and tartness wise. On the other hand…
Hazelnuts, home made pralinee', Carupano chocolate cremeux, lemon and ginger foam
The lime and ginger foam well suits the hazelnut dessert: striking flavours, very good, with multilayered textures: tangy and airy lime and ginger, frothy but consistent praline and creamy chocolate: yummy!
The service
Amiable and correct (except for a rather hurried tall blond). And generous, with a sense of pampering. They let you try the wine by the glass, which not everybody does even at this level.
The low
Some noisy customers who may have all the money in the world but obviously cannot buy themselves manners. And the hardish calamari, tsk, tsk…one wouldn’t expect them in this sort of restaurant.
The high
Roasted fillet of Venison with a coffee Bernoisette, celeriac fondant and crispy, intense jus perfumed with robusta, Stilton chantilly
What a sumptuous, very deeply and chromatically flavoured meat and reduction. We keep wondering what that delightful pungent burnt hint comes from; until we check the menu and remember the coffee. The meat is served not sliced as for some reason we were expecting, but in a whole succulent fillet chunk, on top of a very powerful celeriac (for Woman almost too powerful), and made memorable by the cheesy (Stilton) cream. As in many great dishes, an air of simplicity masks craftsmanship and complexity, and the flavours are at the same time robust and subtle.
The treat concluded with a nice filter coffee (we still tend not to trust espresso in French restaurants, despite our excellent experience at Hibiscus), a stunning selection of petit four, a whole trolley from which you can choose, and even a canele to take home (more on this story later...). How spoiled can one be?
we behaved...
The Price
The tasting menu would have cost a standard £85. Our 3 course (in fact more) lunch menu at £42 included two glasses of wine each, water and coffee, so that the total bill including service came to less than £95. Unbelievable value. Now, we are, as you know, tight fisted bastards; but with such generosity and quality one really feels one has to express some tangible gratitude, and so we did.
Conclusion
What the amuse bouche promised, the rest of the meal delivered: rich, solid, elaborate dishes, elegantly presented, classically conceived but with a search for interesting, unusual, complex combinations. To be stern, we can’t say that every single dish was executed or conceived faultlessly or that every one of them was a total success, in our opinion. But this is to be stern and maybe too much so. This is a place where one can enjoy a wonderful, relaxed, lunch of unquestionably high standard and technical complexity, in an elegant environment, and feeling pampered. At lunch, incredible value too. One feels strongly like going back.
Just some impressions, not a full blown careful review, about a short pre-theater December dinner at that long-standing bastion of Michelin excellence, Pied a Terre.
An impressive, generous, intricate amuse, whose list of ingredients is sufficient for a meal: pea pannacotta, toasted almond foam, jerusalem artichoke (right), foie gras in a sandwich of poppy seeds fillopastry (centre), onion and chorizo cake (centre left), parmesan and tomato gnocco (communist)
Sculpted flavours, multidimensional, and much unctuosity.
Wood pigeon in Madeira Consomme' and salt-crusted celeriac:
Deep flavours, dark flavours. Pity that the salt of the celeriac crust dissolved in the soup, defeating the purpose, we believe.
A beautiful Tempura prawns and butternut squash risotto
which stunned us for the idea, mixing two traditions, and the excellent execution of the risotto (and the toasted pumpkin seeds a perfect touch). Much unctuosity.
A brill:
perfectly cooked material of absolute quality, in a pungent reduction. For its (partly just apparent) simplicity, one the best dishes.
A lamb, a dish of literally towering complexity whose naturally explosive flavours could have spoken for themselves even better, we think, with a simpler, lighter, less fatty preparation. But that caramelised chicory was a beauty, and that tender fillet, dreamy. Much unctuosity.
We were certainly happy, very impressed, though for some reason not totally ravished by this cuisine, in which we found expressed a flamboyant imagination and technique knowing no boundaries, yes, but which also struck us as somehow lacking lightness and the killer punch of simplicity (such as we recently found, for example at Heinz Beck's place). It's probably just a matter of subjective taste, as Shane Osborne is obviously a great professional. Dare we say it? To us it seems almost as if he is, after all these years, still trying too hard.
We were ravished, however, by the service, so friendly, charming and willing to offer all the time and attention in the world even to customers of the least profitable or least refined variety (like the guys who made a sandwich with the butter on the table). We'd like to compete for the least profitable competition, as we were there for a quick bite of the pre-theater two course offer at £32.50.
It would be nice to be back. But at full prices, and even at lunch/pre-theater prices, there's a long list of possibly more immediately compelling competitors...
The day: 5 December 2009, Lunch. The place: 29 Maddox Street, London W1S 2PA The venue: Hibiscus The food: Modern French The drinks: Optional glass of wine with Saturday lunch, and a list you might expect in a 2* French restaurant.
We stroll down Maddox Street, stop staring at a closing down sale for golfing item (might need them soon, if we do not want to be social outcasts in the golfing reservation we have now moved to), and the owner chats us up, and tells us that it has never been this bad for business. Well, ought we not to support local business? The Golfman tries to dissuade us from the object of our desire: ‘too expensive’, he claims, while trying to talk us into a beginners set of clubs, a real bargain at £125 – well, the set lunch at Hibiscus still sounds more attractive, thank you very much.
An oak panelled room which feels fresh and informal in spite of a large chandelier. Chef Bosi in the kitchen, with his two stars. All looks set for a promising Mayfair experience, during a London weekend which featured a double culinary bill for us (the other one at Heinz Beck branch at Apsleys – more on this story later). And a very fine experience it was.
The bread is home-made, warm and good – puzzling that it only comes in one variety, though.
The amuse bouche… where are we, at Dolada (thankfully not). But the amuse bouche in an egg shell is all the rage now, as we recently sampled there a similar idea. Here at Hibiscus it is a very interesting amuse of complex flavour. We ask two different waiters but we manage not to fully understand either. One says that there are 17 Moroccan spices, the other 20. One says it’s a walnut veloute’, we are dubious because we cannot recognise the walnut (are they mushrooms? or is it all confused by the 27.5 spices?). The only spice we clearly distinguish is cinnamon (we hope it was there). At any rate, it was impressive, pleasantly unctuous, light, complex and balanced (but no acidity).
The
Raviolo of Scottish scallops and Brixham brown crab, fricassee of Puy lentils, cep veloute’ and coconut milk
was, beside having a very long name, a very accomplished dish, the seafood springing flavour out of a fine, light, well-cooked raviolo. Delicious the contrast with the acidically tangy lentils. If ceps were there, though, they were entirely overpowered.
And a
Warm Royale of toasted rice and walnuts was pure elegance, the toasted notes so intense that they struck your nose even while the dish was being brought to you, the contrast between smoothness and crunchiness in this simple looking dish a minor masterstroke.
Our mains were in different registers.
The
Roast Shropshire partridge with smoked beurre blanc was in a sense more ethereal despite a general assertiveness, the meat cooked very precisely and melting in your mouth. The broccoli (we think) ‘mousse’ with a on top toasted bread with on top a meaty taste (the lot of which was there, we think, in place of an advertised caramelised Savoy cabbage) a solid, gracious complement. What a pleasant dish, and look at the care for the vibrantly coloured garnishes.
We touched overall more ferine, earthier notes with the pheasant and foie gras pithivier (puff pastry encasing), which we shall nominate the dish of day (read on).
Also two very different desserts.
Iced chestnut parfait, Sharon fruit sorbet
A great classic combination, and a very satisfying dessert: the parfait was topped with a thin sugary crust, though in spite of this the dish was somewhat lacking in sweetness – fine for Man, less so for Woman – which was most evident in the sorbet and the fruit puree. We put this down to the variety of the Sharon fruit and on it not being quite ripe enough (we mean this). Thin slices of raw chestnut added an interesting contrast in texture and clean flavours.
As for the
Dark chocolate tart and white fig ice cream
again, the fruit was muted – the icecream had the perfect consistency, but alas wanting in flavour (why use figs in December?). The pastry in the chocholate tart was the wrong side of firm, but the chocolate filling was truly seductive, intense and rich.
At the end of the meal, some impressive petit-fours appear, together with coffee.
Now, we always have problem with espresso in French restaurant, but this is actually fairly good. Yet, ‘fairly good’ is not enough as an answer… the charming Italian waiter aims at perfection, and insists on bringing us another one to prove he can do better. The second one – well, actually it is the third one, as what we suspect was the second one meets the disapproving eyebrow of the Manager. So, the third one is creamier and attains perfection. The now caffeine-soaked Man looks happy indeed.
The service Extremely friendly, formal but approachable. A smiling, efficient and smooth Manager in full control, we were taken good care of by an Italian waiter, a sweetie, and he gained brownie points with Man at the moment of coffee…Maybe they could speak slightly louder ad more clearly when describing the dishes.
The low Nothing in particular, details here and there. The not quite ripe Sharon fruit, some lack of ‘sculpted’ flavours, some defects in the table cloth (e.g. a velcro strip bulging out). All stuff it would be too ludicrous of us to count against Hibiscus except if it has ambitions to perfection.
The high
Warm Pithivier of pheasant and foie gras, roasted root vegetables
In principle a more rustic dish than the others, the presentation is truly haute cuisine, those brown tones in the sauce ‘pool’ a veritable painting. The classily made puff pastry, suitably imbibed, encloses a livery, earthily flavoursome filling which is elevated by the deep, deep reaching sauce. We were struck by the judicious use of foie gras; and, for a change, in this dish the salad was apt and not a pointless addition.
The Price The three course Saturday set lunch with a glass of wine, coffee and petit fours comes at a very attractive £48 per head. Tasting menu for 6 or 9 courses at £75 and beyond.
Conclusion Chef Bosi produces superbly accomplished cuisine of real finesse all round. Multilayered flavours and complex combinations hang together beautifully. We are not surprised his restaurant holds two stars. In our modest opinion, what the place is missing to reach the absolute top is an absolute precision and definition in flavours that we found missing, compared to other restaurants (e.g., Jasmine or Apsleyes). Having said this, Hibiscus is obviously an obligatory stop for any gourmet in London, a place where you will have a wonderful and relaxed dining experience.
