The results are now in. Here are my top 3 dishes of London 2009.
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I was foaming at the mouth, struggling to carry my various boxes of tea, assorted biscuits and fudge. When I start giving the ‘glad eye‘ to a box of champagne truffles which cost a mere £25, my significant other threatened to call the police and have me forcibly removed. I reluctantly accepted there was a recession on and put the champagne truffles back. Maybe next time.
In case you hadn’t guessed, “Fortnums” is my favourite shop in the world and my credit card still bears the scorch marks. After all that shopping, we were in sore need of some refreshment. Too early for afternoon tea in Fortnum’s “St. James’s Restaurant”, we adjourned to “The Parlour Restaurant”. Afternoon tea is not served in the Parlour but I was determined to cobble together some dishes that made me feel like I was having afternoon tea!
We settled on a “smoked salmon & cream cheese bagel” for me, and a “Welsh rarebit with tomato chutney” for her. We also ordered a pot of “Fountain Blend” tea, at a very unreasonable £5. Afternoon tea wouldn’t be the same without scones so we shared a plate of those too. Everything we ordered was excellent quality, particurly the jam and clotted cream which accompanies the scones. I was quite taken aback by the austere presentation of the bagel, a lettuce leaf would not go astray here methinks.
I’d been looking forward to visiting Wild Honey for quite a while. In fact, it was the first restaurant I booked as part of this year’s culinary tour of London. I want to say it was terrific. The problem is that for a Michelin star restaurant experience, it was just okay.
In 2007 I had a fantastic meal at Arbutus, which is Wild Honey’s sister restaurant in Soho, also owned and run by Anthony Demetre and Will Smith (no, not that Will Smith). Since then, I’ve heartily recommended the place to anyone who’d listen. Wild Honey offers a similar approach to dining as it’s sibling. Indeed, a handful of dishes are to be found on both restaurant’s menus. Both establishments specialise in bistro food - lots of slow-cooking, cheaper cuts of meat, informal service, pour your own wine, no tablecloths. You get the idea.
While the food was mostly excellent, I feel the service here could do with some attention. I’m not a fan of stuffy or formal service but I felt the service was not quite as professional as it should have been. We waited some considerable time for a waiter to bring us a menu or wine list. The waiter who eventually took my drinks order did not have a great command of English; he brought the wrong drinks, then it took me a full two minutes to explain the order to the waiter again. A little frustrating.
The Wife’s gripe with Wild Honey is the proximity of the tables; we were practically sharing a table with the people next to us. That’s fine if you’re eating at Wagamama, but at this price level, I’m not willing to eat “canteen-style“.
I started off with a “Warm smoked eel, beetroot tart, horseradish” which for me was the best dish of the meal. The warm eel was moist and very well flavoured, with the crisp and sweet beetroot tart a great accompaniment. The pungent horseradish cream and lightly-spiced cauliflower provided another set of textures and flavours but didn’t dominate either the eel or the beetroot tart. I thought this dish was a fantastic starter - well-balanced flavours and striking presentation. I tasted The Wife’s “Ravioli of English veal with butternut squash“, which we agreed was pretty tasty and well cooked.
For mains, I had the plat du jour “Roast organic pork with new season morels“. I do feel the waiting staff need to be a bit more knowledgeable about the menu. I had asked the waiter which cut of pork the dish contained but he didn’t know. “Loin?“, I suggested helpfully. He asked a nearby colleague who confirmed it was indeed loin. The dish turned out to be not only loin but a piece of belly also. The pork was perfectly cooked. The loin portion was juicy and ever so slightly rare. The belly cut was meltingly tender and strongly flavoured. The dish was accompanied by some well-flavoured polenta and the chef was not skimping with the morels either. A very good dish.
The Wife’s “Line caught cod, cockles, chorizo, chickpeas and parsley” was pretty good; huge flakes of moist cod with the chorizo lending a piquant note to the chickpeas. She seemed happy enough with it. Our desserts, a “Classic custard tart” and “Vanilla cheesecake with Gariguette strawberries” were both decent but nothing to write home about.
I like the ethos behind Wild Honey’s food but we didn’t feel pampered or even well looked after here. The owners appear to be applying the same “rustic” approach to the service as they apply to the food. For the money (about £130), I think we could have done a little better on a Sunday evening in London. Maybe Jason Atherton’s crew spoiled us too much the day before.
Verdict: 6/10
Wild Honey 12 St. George Street, London W1s 2FB http://www.wildhoneyrestaurant.co.uk/
Wahaca. For those who didn’t do so well in Leaving Cert geography, it’s the phonetic spelling of Oaxaca. It’s also the name of a restaurant owned by Thomasina Miers, winner of BBC’s Masterchef competition in 2005. Wahaca’s concept is to take Mexican “market” food indoors.
In fairness, Mexican food does have a bad reputation (at least, outside of Mexico). I remember seeing a Billy Connolly routine where he offered the theory that every Mexican dish is the same, they’re just folded differently. Fold it this way, it’s a burrito! Fold it that way, it’s an enchilada! And I suppose he has a point, most Mexican restaurant food outside of Mexico tends to be the same spicy concoction of minced beef and kidney beans. Wahaca is a little different, offering Mexican “market” specialities. I think Ms Miers is always going to have to listen to whingers banging on about Wahaca’s lack of “authenticity”, but sod them. For my money, Wahaca is a very funky place and the food is a mile away from “kidney bean” joints I just mentioned.
We arrived without a reservation on a Saturday evening, post-theatre. The waitress happily told us Wahaca don’t accept reservations anyway, and that we’d only have to wait about 10 minutes for a table. No argument from me, I had spotted the bar and instantly thought longingly of a spiky, salty margarita. We’d barely taken a sip out of our cocktails when the waitress informed us that our table was ready.
The large menu is designed for sharing. We contemplated ordering the “Wahaca Selection”, a sharing platter of tacos, taquitos and tostadas (nice alliteration there), but decided to go “á la carte”. We started off with a couple of beers and some tortilla chips served with a fiery, fresh tomato salsa. For something different, we also ordered pork scratchings & guacamole, which were tasty and curiously light in texture - not at all like a regular “scratching”.
For the main event we ordered a broad selection of dishes from the menu. Highlights included the “Beef Salpicon Tostada” (fiery slivers of beef and fresh salad on a crispy tortilla) and the “Mexican chorizo & potato quesadilla” (think Mexican toasted sandwich). Also worthy of a mention are the “red” and “green” salsas that are placed on every table. The “red” variety is made from fresh, dried and smoked chillies while the fresher tasting “green” is made from tomatillos, chillies and coriander. The bottle of “Wahaca Habanero” hot sauce on every table should have a health warning on it: Lucifer himself preps it. Delicious, but it racks up quite a few points on the Scoville-ometer.
For an informal, late-night meal I think Wahaca is an excellent choice; I will definitely return. The only low point of the meal was the “Lemon Margarita Sorbet” my wife ordered. To me, it tasted like what I imagine lemon toilet cleaner tastes like. Still, she seemed happy enough with it. No accounting for taste… 
Verdict: 7/10
Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4HG
http://www.wahaca.co.uk
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