Tasting menu at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

After my first reasonably good lunch experience at Alain Ducasse in London, I was ready to give their tasting menu a try this afternoon. Those yummy cheese goujons to start are so addictive!

I love the way they present the butter.

Amuse bouche: spicy crab and broccoletti.

Beneath this foamy crab emulsion lies the most velvety crab royale (made with cream and eggs, like a mousse) and generous bits of crab and broccoletti to provide additional sweetness and textures. An intense starter enhanced by the mildly spicy strip of red paprika atop the foam.

First starter: crispy raw and cooked vegetable tart with fresh herb condiment (the green sauce - includes basil, parsley, touch of parmesan) and tomato reduction (the red sauce).

A very posh take on salad, with a variety of fresh and crunchy raw vegetables on the top layer and cooked ones at the bottom. The rather impressive base is made of very finely diced tomato (very sweet) and Japanese eringi mushroom (almost gelatinous texture - well done!). However, while the presentation was stunning, the overall taste was less spectacular. The dish was extremely refreshing and wholesome, but with the exception of the base it was also somewhat one-dimensional and bland.

Second starter: "sauté gourmand" of lobster on homemade pasta and truffled chicken quenelles (creamed chicken set into an egg shape with bits of black truffle), with sauce made of lobster, dash of cognac and tomato.

Possibly the best hot dish of the meal - the intense lobster sauce worked really well with a hint of truffle, quenelles were creamy and fragrant, enhanced by the eringi mushrooms whose full-bodied woody flavour was now fully unleashed with the warmth of the dish. The two pieces of lobster were reasonably well-cooked (but surely they could spare more than two tiny pieces even for a tasting portion!). Only real sore point was the pasta, which was definitely too al dente for my taste.

First main course: simmered halibut with celeriac, shellfish and squid.

Very well cooked - the halibut was substantial and meaty without being tough, complemented by delightful chewy bits of other seafood and slices of sweet and juicy celeriac (shaped like cooked prawns!). The buttery sauce accompanying this dish was very comforting indeed.

Second main course: saddle of venison, pumpkin (with a chestnut atop), beetroot and quince, with Grand Veneur sauce (veal and venison reduction with redcurrant and a dash of dark chocolate).

Compared to the preceding courses this was the first real disappointment - the meat was a tad overcooked and too substantial a chunk. The sauce, while being appropriately rich, also emphasised the gaminess of the meat a little too heavily. In terms of presentation the vegetable accompaniments seemed to be almost an afterthought, though they provided a much-needed balance (the baby beetroot and quince stood out in particular).

Cheese would have been part of the tasting menu but I wasn't really into them, so the maitre d' suggested this excellent alternative, especially after all the substantial courses that had passed.

First dessert: exotic fruit vacherin - two scoops of sorbet (mango and lime), meringue with toasted coconut, coconut tuiles, candied orange, in a pool of mango, passionfruit and pomegranate sauce. Tropical perfection throughout and a really delightful palate cleanser!

The usual complimentary mignardises before the final dessert, with different macaron flavours this time: liquorice, rose and chocolate. 

Final dessert: chocolate and hazelnut biscuit, with a scoop of hazelnut ice-cream. I shall let the following pictures speak for this magnificent end to the meal!

N.B. This was a newly-designed dessert (on the menu from just about 2 weeks ago) at the time of lunching. 

Not very even chocolate coating, but oh well ...
still tasted great!

Decadent layers of hazelnut praline and biscuit in the
bottom layer!

This is the infusion trolley - selection of fresh herbs for brewing such as rosemary, thyme, sage etc. I didn't take the tea but thought that the whole setup made for a nice photograph.

In summary: some hits and misses for the warm dishes, but particularly lovely desserts (as usual) and definitely the most generous restaurant so far with their mignardises. In terms of service, there was a French waiter who was attending to me most of the time and he was very friendly and patient with my questions; I learnt he would be leaving the restaurant at the end of 2011 to gain experiences in the fine-dining scene in Asia. Not much to say about the rest; no one seemed to remember or have noted somewhere that I was a repeat customer - huge minus for that - all the other restaurants I've visited a second time so far had at least one staff member recognise me immediately after roughly the same time lapse between visits.

Considering that this had been a Toptable offer with a substantial discount off the tasting menu, I would cut the restaurant some slack - but for now the main menu seems unlikely to undergo substantial changes, so I am not in a hurry to return unless something on the weekly-changing lunch menu really catches my fancy. 

(Update 15/01/2012: AD is also the only restaurant I've noticed so far to increase its prices for 2012 on all its menus.)

First visit to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

I visited Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in London's Chelsea area for the first time yesterday evening. This man probably needs no introduction, having gained worldwide popularity through his TV shows, and equal notoriety for his less-than-desirable language in the kitchen. 

He has a whole chain of restaurants in London and elsewhere, but the flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay along Royal Hospital Road (3 Michelin stars, 4 AA Rosettes) is the one to which most foodies like myself would be heading straight when the opportunity arises.  The kitchen is helmed by his protégé Clare Smyth, one of the most prominent female British chefs. (Not Ramsay, he's just way too busy doing other things!) Reservations are notoriously difficult to obtain and being able to score a table (especially on a Friday evening) is as good as hitting the jackpot!

Very small space (I'm sitting at one corner of the restaurant) - full house every night! The white truffle season had just begun when I visited and its intoxicating fragrance permeated every corner of the room - surely a bonus even if one couldn't afford the seasonal truffle menu (£185!). I went for the standard tasting menu (Menu Prestige).

Elegant table setting

Canapés to start with - this is a lobster cornetto with bits of tomato and avocado within. Extremely tangy, juicy and refreshing. Great harmony of textures.

Second canapé in the foreground: mini tortilla sandwich with tomato, ricotta cheese and bacon.

Third canapé: poached quail's egg wrapped with a layer of ham and laced with white truffle oil. Creamy runny yolk, gelatinous white, crispy breadcrumb layer and fragrant hint of truffles - totally indulgent and exquisitely executed!

Salted butter to go with the bread.

Amuse-bouche: duck confit ball with ricotta cheese and chestnut velouté. The intense woody and smoky flavour of the chestnut velouté was an excellent complement to the duck confit.

First starter: pressed duck foie gras with roasted veal sweetbreads, baby carrot, carrot purée, and amaretti foam.

This first dish left me speechless with awe - this was a total creamy melt-in-your-mouth experience within, and pan-fried just right to give a very thin crispy layer on the outside, and subtle hint of my favourite charred taste. The sweet amaretti foam was another high point of this dish - almond always works well with foie gras I think! The baby carrots and purée provided a nice overall balance to this indulgent dish. Full marks for presentation too!

Second starter and a Ramsay signature: ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil velouté. 

A posh twist to the Chinese wonton, this was perfection. Bursting with flavours of the sea, the thin outer layer of dough concealed a substantial filling of the freshest catch, which was extremely well matched by the subtly fragrant velouté.

First main course: roasted fillet of Cornish turbot with fennel pollen, coco beans, girolles (a type of wild mushroom) and morteau sausage (a special kind of pork sausage from Burgundy in France).

What really struck me about this dish was the highly unusual combination of fish with pork sausage and a roast chicken sauce. One would not normally expect this to work, but it did because turbot is a very light-flavoured and meaty-textured fish. (According to my server, it could also work with halibut.) The fillet was extremely fresh and the fennel pollen was an excellent touch - always works when one wants to enhance the overall fragrance of white meat/fish without overpowering it.

Close-up of the accompanying garnish: girolles (the little dark brown mushrooms) were particularly memorable for their intense woody taste.

Second main course: roasted pigeon from Bresse with a small leg confit on the side, grilled polenta, smoked ventrèche (pork belly), braised shallot, baby carrot and beetroot, date (seen under the leg confit), and pigeon jus.

This was the most substantial dish of the evening. Pigeon was really tender (still pink at the bottom) and without any gamey smell at all - tasted a bit like liver I thought! This was matched equally intensely by a piece of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly and a sweet date. The vegetables and polenta provided a wonderful balance to the rich savoury flavours of this dish.

First dessert: Agen prune crème brûlée with Granny Smith apple juice.

Have you ever seen an apple sliced this thin?!

Crème brûlée was exceptional - intense vanilla flavour with real vanilla pods throughout. The agen prune at the bottom of the pot and the accompanying apple juice were nice finishing touches and an essential balance to the overall richness of this dessert.

Palate cleanser: Mango, jasmine and passion fruit soup with yoghurt, drunk through a glass straw.

Second dessert: blackcurrant and yoghurt génoise with violet sorbet.

Flower-infused sorbets/ice-creams always appeal to me (think lavender) and this was no exception - the sorbet was so light, refreshing and intensely flavoured. The violet sugar and petal garnish were amazing fragrant touches to the overall presentation. A perfect ending to a most indulgent and memorable meal.

But wait! There was a surprise in store: rosewater Turkish delight and dark chocolate ganache in the foreground, and guess what was in there beneath the spectacular dry ice display?

Hmm this was a little underwhelming (why didn't they fill up all the holes?) but really delicious while they lasted - strawberry ice cream balls coated in white chocolate!

Views of the restaurant, taken at 12.30 am. Yes, I was the last customer to leave because I had started my dinner very late, but the servers never displayed a hint of impatience. Service was excellent throughout,  warm but never intrusive, and seeing how interested I was in the food, they brought me a book of Ramsay's recipes to read between courses so that I wouldn't get bored being alone.

This really is the size of the restaurant ...

Bar/lounge area

A most memorable experience - will definitely return if I can get a table! (Well, it is rather pricey, but then again, certainly not something you get to do everyday...!)