Arbutus, London, Westminister Evensong (revisited)

my unfortunate tee

Of the many fine meals Jenn and i had in London, one of the most interesting and delicious one was at the one Michelin Starr'd restaurant on London's Frith Street, Arbutus. It was the evening we returned to London from Bath, having checked into The Savoy and sorted our luggage out, we sat down to discuss dinner plans. Originally, we had wanted to go to The Bleeding Heart, a restaurant recommended by Jenn's boss located in a place of fascinating and Charles Dickens associated history. However, upon asking our butler, a lovely and pleasant young lady hailing from Montreal, to make a booking at the restaurant, we were informed that it was, in fact, closed due to the holiday/new year season (which we found to be a rather common theme to a number of eating venues, the lovely Polish place in Kensington, for example, closed the day after we dined there and will not re-open till the 5th of January, 2012... i also overheard the staff at St. John mention that the night we had dinner there was their last night of the year). Pouring over our guides and our on-line Michelin guide, we quickly found two more options that, upon consulting our butler, was also closed for the season and the remainder of the year. Arbutus was our third try, and happily, it panned out. We had originally phoned our butler about getting a booking (and also checking if they are open) at Arbutus. However, because the concierge was busy at the time, we decided to try our luck by stopping by the concierge desk on our way out. As luck would have it, we got to the desk as one of the concierges on duty wraps up a phone call he was on. After a few minutes on the phone and some questions from the restaurant, through him, to us and answers from us, through him, to the restaurant, we were booked into Arbutus for a 1930 dinner at the table counters -- they were full up in the restaurant so our choices were 1930 at the table counter or 2100 at a table, neither the concierge or us had any idea what a table counter looked like other than not a table but 1930 was a better time for dinner than was 2100. With that booking in hand and a happy heart, we stepped out to the London air, heading for Westminister Abbey, where, as i had mentioned in a previous post, we greatly enjoyed the verger led tour and, afterwards, the Evensong service (certainly one of the highlights of the trip, despite my uneasiness and shame over my attire of ironic tee-shirt)and the walk in the rain to the St. James Park tube stop and then back to The Savoy for a clean up before dinner. We decided to take the tube to dinner, as it looked fairly close by, but immediately got turned around six ways to Sunday upon exiting the tube station.-- London streets are certainly an interesting array of tangled webs, when i found out that a London cab driver had to be able to conjure up the most direct route from point A to B in order to pass their licencing exam, my respect for those hard working conveyors of humanity increased exponentially. After asking for directions and getting put on the correct track, marveling at the size of the fried spring rolls at the 6.95 GBP per person Chinese buffet near the Tottenham Court Tube Station, and avoiding a gaggle of tambourine playing, drum pounding, dancing and singing Hare Krishnas, we arrived at the door of Arbutus at 1940. A rather aloof Asian woman greeted us at the hostess stand and asked for our particulars. We told her that we had a 1930 reservation at the table counters and she replied with, "well, you can choose between the bar or the counter, your choice". Now, personally, i didn't really see a difference before me, a choice of a bar or a counter as the two meant the same, and, since before me is presented a marble bar and two marble, 2 person, high tables, i was ever more confused. When i got no further clarification beyond a blank look when i asked her "what is the difference?", i simply informed her that we will keep the original choice made during the reservations and the the "table counters". These, it turns out, were what she meant as the "counter" and are in fact the two person tall marble tables set across the walk way from the bar. She did take our coats and leave us a claim cheque.

Having sat down, we were quickly attended by a member of the staff who dropped off two menus and a drinks menu along with questions for choice of water and also a bread basket presentation of bread (it was unclear if there were choices of bread or what type of bread it was but, since they all looked the same, i simply took a crusty slice and was very happy with it as a carrier of butter). The menu is concise and eclectic, small plate choices of "Grilled and tempura tender stem purple sprouting broccoli, Caesar mayonnaise", "Squid and mackerel 'burger', parsley, clams, sea purslane", "Crispy pigs head, spinach and turnip salad", and "Slow cooked belly of lamb, Iranian aubergine - kashk bademjan" immediately struck us as interesting and tempting. The mains were equally exciting, choices such as "Roast rabbit, shoulder cottage pie, artichokes, carrots and pancetta", "Cod fillet, crispy chicken wings (boneless), pink grapefruit, ginger and honey preserve", and "Pieds et paquets - lamb's tripe parcels and trotters (Marseille style)" were tempting our hungry stomachs and teasing our appetites. In the end, the two of us decided on the following:

Jenn: Grilled and tempura tender stem purple sprouting broccoli, Caesar mayonnaise on the side to start, and  Cod fillet, crisp chicken wings (boneless), pink grapefruit, ginger and honey preserve for her main.

Myself: Crispy pigs head, spinach and turnip salad to start, and the Pieds et paquets -- Lamb's tripe parcels and trotters (Marseille style) -- for my main.

The starters do not disappoint. Jenn's plate of purple broccoli two ways was fantastic, though they didn't put the mayonnaise on the side but streaked it on the side of the plate. The tempura was crisp and not overly oily. The batter light, airy, but crispy and serves as a lovely counterpoint to the soft broccoli it envelops. The grilled broccoli was simply done but allowed the natural goodness of the veg to play at its strongest. My order of crispy pig head was a thing of beauty and magnificence. Imagine a good head cheese, but instead of all the gelatin and cooked, pulled, shredded meat substitute firm cuts of cheek, nose, face, and ear that is all formed together in a tin before being sliced and crisped on either side and cooked through. Every bite one gets a bit of the delicious supple meat with bits of fat interspersed through out. Each bite brings a melting of porky flavour on to one's tongue and a contrast of subtle textures as soft cartilage competed with muscle and soft connective bits for your chewing enjoyment. It was a thing of beauty! It was a magnificent use of an oft thrown away part of the noble porcine. The spinach and turnip salad added a welcomed bit of acid and gave the dish a small cover of "healthiness" after the slice of that lovely, crispy, porky, unctuous pig's head conglomeration of wonderful deliciousness.

The mains themselves also stood proud and attested to the quality of the kitchen. Although, and Jenn and i had long extensive discussions about this, the two dishes in contrast makes for some head scratching.

Jenn's dish is a beautifully assembled plate, a beautiful moist fillet of cod sitting in the center of the presentation flanked by a boneless fried chicken wing cut in half and a single leaf of bright, beautiful savoy cabbage punctuating the presentation like that dot at the bottom of the question mark. Jenn's fish is cooked to perfection. Soft, moist and oh so flaky. Each bite is flavorful and full of joy. The boneless fried chicken wing served as a breaded and fried poultry crouton to provide a contrasting texture to the fillet of cod, the center piece of this dish. i've yet to find a purpose for the single leaf of perfectly blanched and beautifully presented savoy cabbage.

For mine, three plates arrived to become the first half of the presentation. The first plating is in a shallow bowl where two halves of a bias cut lamb tripe parcel (lamb tripe stuffed with cured pork and herbs) stands in a pool of deeply flavoured, wonderfully red, sauce.  The intestines was tender and mild in flavor, allowing one's taste buds to focus entirely on the slightly spicy and salty pork stuffing within. The sauce adds a bit more spiciness to the tripe parcels. The second plating is a copper sauce pan containing a slow cooked stew of lamb tripe and white beans in a tomato based sauce that is a tapestry of flavours layered one upon the other. This plating is a textural and flavor departure from the first preparation, the slow cooked tripe covered in sauce is fluffy, soft, and tangy with the beans adding a bit of starch and texture to each bite. The third plating is in a small saucer with a rosette shaped coaster acting as the carpet upon which a tangle of crispy, deep fried, lamb tripe is scattered.  Slightly salted and just a little bit oily, they are wonderful things that is addictive in this complex dish or simply with a beer. After the three platings were finished, a fourth plating is presented, shredded trotters on toast and a mound of salad composed of greens lightly dressed in a slightly acidic dressing. The fourth presentation, served room temp after one is done with the first three platings, offers that tip over the edge and free fall into complete pork overload. The entirety of my main was literally about twice the amount of food present on Jenn's single plate.

After we both enjoyed our mains and i took a slight breather after my tripe extravaganza, we were greeted with choices for dessert. We were informed that the tart tatain for two is what they are rather known for, but both of us were distracted by something else entirely on the menu. Jenn ordered the pear clafoutis with vanilla ice cream and i went for the classic Sicilian lemon tart (i am a sucker for lemon desserts). Our choices wrapped up the night beautifully. Jenn's clafoutis had the beautiful sticky crispy caramelized edge with the lovely soft fruity craters of pear and a beautiful vanilla ice cream slowly melting over it all. My Sicilian lemon tart was the most lemony dessert i have had in a long time (in fact, since Jose Louis's old Meyer Lemon Tart that he used to serve at Cafe Gibralter) and it was wonderful. The dark yellow custard is topped by a slightly bruleed top, bits of dark caramel giving the tart an almost red lid, bitting into each bite bursts the lemon custard and release such intensity of flavor you can't help yourself but to smile and reach quickly for another bite.

All together, the dinner was a fantastic experience. The food was top notch, rustic yet elegant. The service, however, was uneven and odd. Of the staff i could observe from the front of the restaurant, there was one fellow behind the bar, two hostesses, three runners, one fellow who keeps coming in and out but i couldn't figure out what his job was, and the person who takes the orders and seems to run the place and does everything else as well. The pacing of the meal was sporadic, as was the attention to the dinners. We would be left alone with empty water jug and glass, no bread and then suddenly, dishes arrive, water is poured, bread offered, question asked, and then again, outer Siberia, alone with our food and people watching (not that it was not entertaining, what a strange crowd that night). It was obvious that the guy who took orders and seems to be in charge liked us. He took time out to chat and talk about the food but then would be out of sight for the next half an hour as it seems everyone was looking for him all at once. Food great, service... odd.