Bacchus - CLOSED

Food_Snob

Bacchus - 13 June 2008 28th August 2008

0 found this helpful

I appreciate it is no longer open, but I still thought I would share these notes I made a couple of months ago...

Illustrated Critique:

http://foodsnobblog.wordpress.com/category/restaurant-reviews/bacchus-restaurant-reviews/

Text-only Critique:

Carbonation, emulsification, oil spherification, vacuum distillation…alright, settle down, I am not reviewing el Bulli, it’s not Fat Duck either (well, this week anyway), but of course you already know this from the post heading. Yes, it is Bacchus of Hoxton. Of where? Of Hoxton. You would be forgiven for not having heard of it before; it is a pretty miserable, impoverished and ugly area just north of the City, so miserable, impoverished and ugly in fact, it is rather trendy. Actually, it is not all bad; Hoxton did give the world the Kray twins, Lenny McLean (actor, bouncer, bare-knuckle boxer and ‘hardest man in Britain’) and Jamie Oliver. Well, OK…maybe it is that bad.

I had never before been and most probably never would have gone to Hoxton were it not ‘thanks’ to Nuno Mendes. Nestled away behind a council estate, a few minutes’ walk from Old Street, sits his Bacchus; former pub, current laboratoire gastronomique, or more appropriately, laboratório gastronômico. Chef Nuno, formerly of el Bulli and Jean-Georges, has established an impressive outpost (or blockhouse, considering the neighbourhood) of creative cooking. His mission is to bring avant-garde cuisine to the masses; his motto, ‘fine dining in trainers’.

The restaurant its very self is a combination of contrasts: well-maintained, large and painted completely white, it stands out clean and precise amongst grubbier surroundings; yet, it is also slightly anonymous, the signage almost unnoticeable and the front door easy to miss. However, it works.

Entering the restaurant, you are instantly absorbed by a welcoming, comfy ambience: windows draped with heavy curtains, warm woods and candles on each table combine to create a disarming charm. The faux Parisian bar and open kitchen add a further layer of intimacy, allowing guests to watch the chefs at play and encouraging a fuller dining experience.

After being greeted at the door, I was politely escorted to a table where the menu, printed on a single sheet of paper, awaited me. There were only two choices: the full tasting menu, 7 courses, £60 or the reduced tasting menu, 4 courses, £45. Brilliant! Bacchus made it too easy. Both my sad inability to make quick, decisive dish choices and my desire to sample as much of the menu as possible (reading between the lines - eat as much as I can), were simultaneously neutralised; the full menu please. However, because I do not eat pork, I had to request one dish, Umami: Del Mar La Montagna - Memories of San Sebastian, be substituted. Although informed this would not be a problem for the kitchen, I was quite disappointed. I had already learnt that Chef Nuno had a special fondness for San Sebastian, so I could not help but expect that this dish was close to his heart and probably something rather special. C’est la vie!

My order dispatched, I sat back and contemplated the menu. I had barely started this when I was distracted by the appearance of Chef Nuno himself, who looks like a cross between artist, mad scientist and wizard, hunched over a large canister at the serving station. Suddenly, a mysterious mist, oozing out this magic container, began to envelop his features; I was immensely curious. After some more technical, scientific ‘fiddling’, the sorcerer’s, sorry, chef’s creation was presented to me.

“Your first amuse bouche…” I was probably as excited at the intimation that more surprises from the kitchen were to follow as I was to discover what I had before me, “…nitro cocktail of ginger and whiskey, ginger and whiskey tea.” Liquid nitrogen had been used to transform the cocktail from liquid to cold, refreshing solid, lumps of which now floated in a sharp, yet sweet pool of tea that had been poured tableside. It was a pleasant surprise.

A selection of breads were then brought out: olive oil infused savoury biscotti, cinnamon & icing sugar Pain à la Grecque, parmesan choux, romanesco sauce. I thought this an interesting take on traditional bread and butter service. Not only did the taste differ, but each offering varied in texture. Each was pleasant, but the melt-in-your-mouth choux was my favourite.

A second amuse bouche followed. Parmesan Porridge, Mushroom Consommé. I liked the consommé, but wasn’t moved by the porridge; my clumsy palate could not taste the parmesan nor did I find the mixture creamier for the alleged cheese.

First course: Kingfish Sashimi; strawberries, almonds, foie gras. I imagine it is dishes like this that detractors of avant-garde cooking drool over; the personification of ponciness, random foods thrown on a plate, blah blah blah. I loved it. Juicy fish, prepared simply with olive oil, sake, and strawberry puree whose acidic sweetness cut through the fish; a heavenly morsel of foie gras; almond crumbs providing a contrast in texture; and sweet, fresh strawberry gel and creamy fennel spread linking the components together. I was left wanting more; a good sign.

Second course: Asparagus Chawanmushi; textures of asparagus, confit clams, milk kappa. Chaw…chaw…chawanwhat? I found out later this is a Japanese egg custard. A ceramic pot, sealed with a lid upon which sprigs of asparagus and succulent clams were enveloped in thin peppercorn-infused milk feuilles was brought out. The lid was lifted to reveal a poached egg atop an egg and parmesan custard. I could not get enough of what was on the lid, but, though the egg was well cooked, I found the Chawanmushi forgettable.

Third course: Oysters & Onions Old But New. This dish was able to show off the skill of the chef. Those who have heard of el Bulli may have also heard of the liquid pea ravioli served there; Chef Nuno applies the same technique, spherification, here. Sodium alginate and calcium chloride are added to onion soup to induce a chemical reaction, creating a very thin skin made only of the soup itself.

For the diner, this means two perfect bubbles of rich onion potage bathing in onion jus, upon which lay a slice of savoury biscotti topped with a dollop of oysters tartare, pomegranate seeds and charlotte pepper mélange.

Only recently I was served an oyster amuse bouche at le Bristol prepared in the same fashion, so though not my first exposure to spherification, it was nonetheless interesting and impressive. However, it was also my least favourite dish. I thought the individual flavours robust, but found it difficult to enjoy the ingredients together, due mainly to the physical impediment of having to eat the bulle d’air de soupe in one go (otherwise a big onion-y mess would result). Still, marks for effort.

Fourth course: In place of the San Sebastian tribute dish, came langoustine, pine nuts, smoked aubergine, honshimeji mushrooms, spring onions (this less than sexy title is my own manufacture). Mon Dieu! Any worries left over from the previous dish, were absolutely demolished; this was delicious. Tender langoustine, smoky aubergine, sweet mushroom, sweeter onion; each ingredient was superb and superbly partnered.

I was told that this was a new dish the Chef was developing for future menus, causing me to infer that I was some sort of gastronomic guinea pig…never was there a more grateful test-subject! I must also mention the gentle, enchanting aroma of this dish; smell your food people!

Fifth course: Red Mullet Toast & Liquorice; courgette & crab, blood orange & saffron. A delicate courgette flower stuffed with creamy crab mousse and coconut tofu carré lay immersed together in a bath of blood orange, saffron, enoki mushrooms and liquorice cubes. Resting on the rim of the plate was a perfectly cooked, tasty red mullet fillet under a thin savoury cracker upon which nestled crunchy flowers. Sounds good? It was good. The red mullet, one of my favourite fish, and crab-stuffed flower really stood out for me. I would have preferred a stronger taste to the tofu and liquorice, which unfortunately, I found a little bland and I am also not a huge fan of oranges, but I cannot blame the kitchen for this. Coincidentally, the preparation of the fish was reminiscent of line-fished whiting from Saint-Gilles in a bread crust, yet another le Bristol offering.

Sixth course: Slow Cooked Squab; mangosteen, edamame beans, rhubarb, garlic. Sacredieu! Another stunning dish; it looked sexy, it tasted sexy, it even smelt sexy. The perfect pigeon was prepared in two ways; one portion came as a beautiful chunk of pigeon breast sat in a bed of soy beans, whilst another as a selection of different cuts entrenched with a plump mangosteen in sweet, piquant rhubarb jam. A smooth soy puree added further flourish to the plate. This was a feast for the eyes; the contrast between the beautiful falu red of the bird and summer garden green of the soy was evocative and arresting.

Seventh course: White Chocolate Mousse; mango, passion fruit gel, ginger iced milk, gingerbread crumbs. This was an excellent conclusion to the meal; light and refreshing, fruity and spicy, one was left suitably satisfied instead of sickly surfeit. A thick white chocolate sponge laden with sweet mango jelly and crunchy vanilla chilli tuile was served along with smooth ice cream spiced with ginger and atop ginger crumble. Embellishing the dish was a pool of passion fruit gel, stroke of pineapple oil and fantastic black olive caramel bubble. Sweet versus sharp was the major theme here, with a subtle interplay of textures in the background.

Petit Fours: Crema Catalana, passion fruit sponge, financier, chocolate truffle. A decent selection of PFs helped me digest my espresso. The crema Catalana was creamy and spot on sweet; the sponge was forgettable; and though I am generally indifferent towards financiers, I admit this was a fine example. I was glad I left the glorious truffle till last. One bite and I was in love - deep, velvety smooth and so wrong. I would have been happy had a single truffle been served to me as dessert.

After all this, it would be fair to assume that I was embarrassingly, uncomfortably stuffed - not so. Even though each plate left me wanting more - due to the profusion of flavours rather than paucity of quantity - I was indeed full, however, it was more of a belt-hugging-belly-dutifully satiety that felt very well earned. This is thanks to the light use of dairy and carbohydrates in Chef Nuno’s cooking, making the meal, for those calorie-conscious, a lot less guilt-inducing. This does not mean that anything is sacrificed: the always-evolving dishes are lessons in how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Classic and unconventional ingredients are employed to create a full taste-texture-colour-smell experience. In a manner that stoked my memories of Alain Passard’s cooking, the Chef aims, through interesting combinations and much-perfected cooking methods, to extract and enhance the foods’ own natural flavours.

Bacchus is a genuinely delightful experience and one I would well encourage. The food is well thought out, well designed, well crafted, well presented and well worth it…I do not want to gush, but after successive disappointments dining out, I am pleased to have finally left a restaurant with a fat smile on my face and warm feeling in my belly. The food needs no further tribute. The staff, polite, friendly, inquisitive, are each genuinely interested in your thoughts and share their own, encouraging a refreshingly honest dialogue; over my meal, I had a conversation with each of the three serveurs and Chef Nuno himself came out to meet his patrons. Throughout the evening, I had already observed him at the serving station diligently analysing every single dish as it left his kitchen; he is obviously someone who cares about his cooking and enjoys it too. In person, he is charming, passionate and intense and I was instantly won over by him.

I am glad that Bacchus’ star is indeed rising; professional and ‘voluntary’ reviews are becoming more consistent in their applause and were it not for Michelin inspectors’ emphasis and preference for classic, formal French cuisine, Bacchus would surely be starred, but I do not think that Chef Nuno is too concerned about this. He is more focused on his mission to make fine dining accessible to a wider audience and I do believe he is succeeding; the varied crowd I dined with - a pair of foreign tourists/bloggers (they were snapping photos of their food), a family celebrating something, a well dressed elderly couple and a group of mid-twenty-somethings in jeans and trainers - are testament to this.


177 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6PJ
tel: 020 7613 0477
nearest tube: Old Street, Farringdon
www.bacchus-restaurant.co.uk

chrisp

Closed 11th August 13th August 2008

0 found this helpful

Sadly, Bacchus shut its doors to the badlands of Hoxton on 11th August, to reopen shortly as "Bacchus Bar & Kitchen", a more straightforward gastropub.

Can someone update this listing to reflect this?

Niamheen at 14/08/08

To my shame, I never made it to Bacchus! I've heard such good things. Will the new gastropub offer more standard fare and less of the molecular gastronomy stuff?

chrisp at 14/08/08

Yes, according to those in the know the chef from Bacchus (Nuno) is going on a big trip around the world to soak up as much international cooking expertise as possible, then will return some time in 2009 with a new restaurant in a more central location. Meanwhile, the old site will host chef Richard Tewnion, and will serve more standard pub food.

Add Comment

aidanbrooks

Creative modern global excellence 17th April 2008

8 found this helpful

The question you'll be asked as you prepare to leave Bacchus is not "How was your food?" but "How was your experience?" You don't come to this converted former pub at the unfashionable end of Hoxton to satiate your hunger with good nosh - Fred Cooke's Eel & Pie shop nearby will do that. You come to Bacchus to experience an El Bulli-trained culinary genius taking your sensory perceptions to places they don't normally go, with truly amazing combinations of aroma, flavour, colour, texture and temperature. It's an inevitable yet ironic consequence of the friendly and unsnobbish "fine dining with trainers" ethos of the place that some visitors simply don't get what it's about. But leading restaurant critics, chefs and countless foodies have already confirmed what I knew within minutes of my first visit – that Nuno Mendes is one of the best and most creative chefs working in Britain today. There's only so long I can go without experiencing pleasures like parmesan bread cooked à la minute, nitrous rose water and mackerel cooked at such a low temperature that it melts like butter on the tongue, so I was really looking forward to paying a visit during a brief holiday break back in my home city.

Reviewers seem a bit obsessed with sous-vide cooking, but the truth is that the team at Bacchus use a panoply of equipment and techniques to arrive at their product. And if there's anything new to be tried, Nuno will be the first to experiment. Hence the tasting menu is constantly evolving, to the point where it's not unknown for a dish to change during the course of a service. On my visit last week, the White Chocolate Mousse had definitely taken on some components that were not on the menu. Amongst the evening's highlights for me were “Oyster and Onions Old but New”, a traditional partnering revolutionised by use of the largest spoon in the culinary alchemist's spherification toolkit to create an exploding flavour bomb. The Red Mullet And Liquorice Toast was a brave attempt to pair the perfectly cooked fish with courgette, crab, blood orange and saffron. And the Loin of Venison with Creamy Scallops, Morels and a Study of Peas was a sheer delight to the point where any thoughts of the prime ingredient being out of season were completely brushed aside.

For a very reasonable supplement, matching wines – from Sake to Sauternes - are expertly selected to compliment each course. In the West End it's not difficult to run 2/3 or more of your bill as drink charges – at Bacchus the paired wines are 35% of the total. Just let the front of house team look after you – service at Bacchus is far better than I've experienced in several Michelin-starred restaurants. And, if like me you forget to inform them that someone at your table is a coeliac until the bread arrives, just watch how well they find a creative alternative and do far more than just ‘cope’ with component substitutions in each of the following menu dishes, without the slightest fuss.

If you are looking for an experience that will challenge and delight your palate in a totally relaxed but totally professional environment and leave you feeling – at least for one night – as if the Iraq war, global warming and the credit crunch never happened, then Bacchus in Hoxton is the place for you.

Browners

Accessible Molecular Gastronomy 6th June 2007

3 found this helpful

Inspired by Marina O'Loughlin, we made decided to trek out to Shoreditch to sample boil in the bag cooking East End Style. At 8 the smart dining area seemed disturbingly empty but soon filled up with noisy locals and keen foodies, eager to see what all the fuss was about.

Service ranged from naïve to expert as the owner/head waiter taught his fresh staff on the job. The freshly baked bread was the best we had eaten all year even though we had to add our own salt to give it a bit of zing.

Starters were sublime; Scallops cooked sous vide with a subtle cauliflower puree were delicious if a little bit like a Foxton's home – too beige and a bit homogenous; calamari gently warmed for a day or so were the most tender rings of squid any of us had ever had the pleasure to eat; and my duck cannelloni was beautifully textured if a little bit low on flavour. This was a theme with the meat throughout our meal – fish was brilliant sous vide, meat wasn't… my rare steak was plain dull whereas the halibut was sensationally juicy with flesh that was firm but fell apart if you gave it an intense glare.

The highlight of the meal was the range of foamy deserts. Cinnamon pie with apple air and Malden was outrageously weird, assaulting my taste buds with such veracity that I could only laugh deliriously. Having eaten at the Fat Duck it's safe to say that Heston is safe in Bray for the time being, however Bacchus was much more fun and I'd love to return.

freddie5540

11th May 2007

3 found this helpful

After having had problems finding the 'pub' that is bacchus we settled into a cosy dining room. Despite our table having one leg shorter than the others, we ordered some house cocktails and felt excited about the prospect of a 'sous'vide' meal. I was dining with chef with lots of experience in this field of cooking. We opted for the 9 course tasting menu with wines to accompany each course. The cocktails arrived, or should i say bizarre foams. The taste was not unpleasant but it was a £5.00 drink that dissolved in the mouth in seconds.

The food followed and it was all abit of a disaster! Sous vide cookery means that the protein in each dish is never taken much higher than 60 degrees so as not too coagulate and loose vital juices. However i dont think any of our food was served above 35 degrees. Plates we often noted were cold, only bringing down the already low temperature of the food. The salmon dish was a textural dream but most other combinations were very bizarre. My friend who has dined in some of Spain's finest sous-vide restaurants and described Bacchus as 'way of the mark'.

Its an interesting idea for a pub in a starnge setting but at over £400 for four of us, i would rather have gone elsewhere. We did drink some interseting wines with our food and were served by friendly staff, but for that money its not enough for me.

Alexandermoore

9th May 2007

0 found this helpful

Great dining experience in a great atmosphere

sue

Intriguing Experience in Hoxton 2nd May 2007

4 found this helpful

Our long awaited evening at Bacchus arrived. Initially we were a little put-off by the surrounding area, but once inside this beautifully decorated former pub we felt very welcome. Warmly greeting our dining companions, we ordered a bottle of Italian sparkling and toasted to their upcoming nuptials.

The atmosphere at Bacchus suffered a bit due to only two other tables of two dining on this quiet Tuesday night. The service however was very friendly and helpful throughout the evening. The wine list had one of the most unusual selections I have seen in a while, though we managed to select a decent bottle of Chianti Classico Riserva.

The restaurant specialised in the Sous-vide method of cooking, which involves vacuum sealing the meat/fish and slow cooking for hours. This means that all of the flavour is contained within the food and it just melts in your mouth. Our meal was inventive and delicious, with the highlight being the Lamb Shoulder (from the tasting menu which they happily agreed to serve as a main course) which melted like butter in your mouth.

The chef came over to have a chat with us after seeing my reaction to the 'surprise' wasabi which was part of my dessert!