Pied à Terre, London, W1

Pied à Terre very proudly wears its two michelin stars clearly proclaiming the double accolade on their website. With that, I must preface my commentary on this restaurant in that my only other recent experience of two stars is Marcus Wareing, an unmemorable tasting menu experience in a stuffy and pompus environment albeit great service in the early summer of this year. However the fine showcase of food photography that is the PaT website is a statement in itself, and I throughly enjoy watching the changing background images. Whoever the skilled photographer was, certainly had his share of great lighting. They make the restaurant certainly tempting at the very least. So, the restaurant was booked with just over a week of notice and so happened to be on the night of snow storms and transport melt down in London. Not a single taxi was in sight and I ended up having to traverse from the office in treacherous snow and icy conditions. It was a fantastic start to the night as I sweatily slid into the restaurant in my leather shoes. The outside of Pied à Terre was deceptively ordinary looking on Charlotte Street. The front section of the restaurant was small, with four tables tightly placed designed for diners in pairs. Glass and mirrors have been used to create the illusion of space and soft furnishings to absorb noise. We were sat in the corner of the minimal yet intimate dining room.

Whilst we had our menus we had green olives to nibble on but before the evening had begun we had already decided upon the tasting menu, an 8 course degustation put together by the chef and co-owner Shane Osborn, the only Australian chef to hold 2 Michelin stars. The menu that in various forms has received a mixture of criticism but mainly accolade from diners read like it demonstrated skilful craft and practice at gastronomic cookery. The selection of canapes were like a jump start to our dining experience – A Potato gnocchi, tomato fondue and parmesan, a tartlet of onion and chorizo with golden raisins, a pea pannacotta, jerusalum artichoke mousse with toasted almonds and a winning foie gras mousse sandwiches between two ultra thing poppy seed crackers. I did love that poppy seed cracker, and it did make a reappearance in the cheese course. Like Oliver, we had to ask for more. All in all we were beyond satisfied with each course perhaps only slight thrown off by the poached chicken oyster which I felt wasn’t as tender as I wanted it to be and tasted like a weak chicken broth. I do love to dismantle a good roast chicken and pleasure of the oyster is one I rarely share.

I had had a good week of Foie Gras and an even better one with Venison. Venison in three countries in 7 days. And the PaT Venison did not taste gamey and neither should it. Prepared correctly, this was venison dripping with juice, yielding to our knives like butter, sweet on the tongue and with a richness without any of the fattiness of beef. This reminded me of skiing trips with my parents over Christmas in Austria when I was a child. Ja wohl! Dessert was the signature bitter sweet chocolate tart, an intensely rich and dare I use the word decadent extra thick mousse-like tart accompanied by a deep fried macadamia nut, macadamia foam . At the end, we were presented various Petit Fours on a metal and glass structure reminiscent of La Defense in Paris. The tower of cakes, jellies, mousse cups and various sweet crisps. This was quite the impressive sugar fix and at this point, as if by perfect timing, we were about to hit our 2 hour 45 minute return time. A couple of frighteningly overpriced glasses of 2005 Chateau Robin des Moines, an earthy and fruity elegant Merlot accompanied my meal as we were not planning to drink wine.

When I read reviews and comments on restaurants I often find reference points can sometimes be completely lacking. One so-called review on a website from a “regular” at Pied á Terre gave a resounding nil points out of ten for their food describing it as lacking “wow factor” and “bland.” I think that is a bit strong at the best of times and the food would have to be inedible to a degree of litigation to get zero surely? They clearly did not vomit after their meal. I had also read that style was put before substance. Should I grumble about the gargantuan mark up on the wine (at £13 a bottle from wine merchants)? Or the unexpected let down of a single chicken oyster? I don’t have my own rating system. What should two stars mean to me? It means that I was paying for ambience, impeccable service, a wine list I was nothing less than impressed with, and the finest gastronomy. Pied à Terre satisfied us most of the time on all these levels.

Welcome to my new website and thanks for reading.

Pied à Terre
34 Charlotte Street, Soho W1T 2NH
tel: 020 7636 1178

www.pied-a-terre.co.uk

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Some more photos from the night

Above: Pepper Seared Yellow Fin Tuna, Chive Essence, Crushed Potatoes, Black Olive and Shallot Vinaigrette

Above: Pan Fried Foie Gras with Balsamic Gel, Roasted Chantaney Carrots and Pistachio Powder

Above: Pan Fried Icelandic Cod with an Emulsion of Brown Shrimps, Romanesco and Pinenuts, Broccoli Velouté and Sea Purslane

Technorati Tags: french cuisine, charlotte street, london

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