• Added: 19th of November 2008
• Area: Mayfair
• Category: Restaurants

London W1S 2FB
020 7758 9160

ProfMagellan said
delicious food in Mayfair
Full marks to Wild Honey. A really good lunch. Nice modern room just south of Hanover Square (near Bond Street).
The service was very efficient and friendly and the menu
offered a wide variety of interesting dishes. The puds were especially good. We had an alcohol-free lunch so I cannot alas comment on the wine.
One gripe: there was a good value set lunch on offer but in tiny print buried at the bottom of the menu. Had I had a magnifying glass I might have seen it but it was only at the end of luncheon that I noticed it. I very much liked sister restaurant Arbutus
so my expectations were high and were well rewarded.
Not cheap - but good value as this was fine food in Mayfair.
A postscript: it was raining heavily as we were leaving. My (female) guest asked to borrow an umbrella and presto the maitre d provided one for her. That is the sort of positive attitude that makes one recommend Wild Honey
without reservation.

• Added: 13th of October 2008
• Area: Bray
• Category: Restaurants

Bray SL6 2AQ

ProfMagellan said
Gastronomic Extravaganza
Heston Blumenthal is the Damian Hirst of cooking.
So different from anything else that I have ever experienced that it is hard to know where to begin.
As one writer recently commented, Mr Blumenthal "is not just a cook. He is an illusionist, a scientist, a comedian."
There was certainly lots of theatre, copper pans, smoke
and weird glassware out of Harry potter.
It opened in 1995. After ten years, in 2005, apparently the Fat Duck won the "best restaurant in the world award" (not sure from whom) and it now enjoys three Michelin stars. So they must be doing something right.
So what of the food?
Two excellent amuse bouches: how brilliant that they asked if we had any allergies instead of plonking the amuses-bouches down without asking this sensible question: mustard ice-cream on a bed of cucumber with red cabbage gazpacho sauce, lentils in a passion fruit sauce.
Opting for the a la carte rather than the tasting menu,
I began with the cauliflower and chocolate.
Pork with trufflle macaroni as my main.
Apple Braeburn for pud.
Washed down with a Loire from the extensive wine list - a white wine which was full of character.
My host and luncheon companion, a most distinguished American journalist and writer, had sole followed by the scrambled egg and bacon ice cream.
A good selection of cheeses though nothing alas from Switzerland.
The decor was modern and muted, with a low ceiling and tables quite close together. Service was ok but no commanding presence to make us feel welcome; certainly not up to the standard of the Square or the Gavroche.
Verdict: full marks for originality, very tasty, very different. Portions miniscule in the modern tradition.
Perhaps everyone with an interest in food should go to the Fat Duck at least once to experience this - but I am a traditionalist and on balance prefer to eat at places which are a little bit more conservative. Good fun though and Mr Blumenthal has clearly worked very hard to achieve his huge success.

• Added: 28th of September 2008
• Area: Mayfair
• Category: Restaurants

London W1K 3NJ
020 7499 1256

ProfMagellan said
great Pizza in Mayfair
I have always liked Mount Street despite the fact that the most unpleasant person whom I have ever encountered used to have an office there (he has since moved - though not, as I had rather hoped, to HM Prison Wandsworth).
On a drizzly autumn day this place was totally heaving.
Very close to the Connaught Hotel, Delfino is housed in one of those splendid redbrick buildings no doubt owned by his Grace the Duke of Westminster. I am not sure if his Lordship likes pizzas but, if he does, this would be a place he would go. A fabulous selection and, by Mayfair standards, fairly priced (lunch for two plus coffee and mineral water was around £30). Most of the other punters seemed to be hedge fund managers in a hurry. So service was spectacularly fast, efficient and very friendly - from the manager's greeting on arrival to the time we left.
Tables are jam packed together; so good for a quick bite
rather than a big occasion. I would advise booking.

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Farringdon
• Category: Restaurants

London EC4A 1LL
020 7831 4000

ProfMagellan said
delicious food in comfortable setting
I was taken to lunch by a top solicitor whose office is close by. He might be a regular (he denied it) because we got the best table. The Chancery is tucked in a tiny street off Chancery Lane so I imagine that the legal profession accounts for much of its clientele. It was certainly packed with suits when I went there - and no sign of Gordon Brown's recession whatsoever, possibly because lawyers always do well in good times and bad.
The lunch is a set three course affair. I found the starters overly fussy (far too much fish) but so liked the main courses that I opted to have two of those (they did not bat an eyelid bless them) - a sort of asparagus with pasta and a very good lamb. My host had fish. The pudding (a tarte tatin) was excellent. A couple of excellent glasses of Burgundy put the seal on a very good lunch. Service was friendly and unobtrusive.
My host told me that the Chancery has been open for about five years but I had never heard of it.
It really was very good indeed and recession or not it deserves to thrive.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 3JW
020 7734 4545

ProfMagellan said
Delicious food in buzzy setting
An arbutusuneto is a strawberry tree and there used to be one on Soho Square. Today, Soho Square is not populated by exotic flora and fauna so much as by young advertising types sporting their blackberries as though their lives depended on them (perhaps if they work for Martin Sorrell they do?).
Arbutus opened about two years ago to warm reviews
but this was my first visit. My guest was a true foodie
who at one time operated a successful catering business and has trained with some of the UK's leading chefs.
She had squid and mackerel burger (as recommended by AA Gill) and a pollock (I do not jest) whilst I opted for
a beef consomme and a summer risotto of vegetables presented in a lovely copper pan (see photo). The pollock, so my guest claimed, was from Cornwall.
We shared the chocolate soup desert (a thick warm chocolate dish served with ice cream - see photo) and shared half a carafe of sauvignon blanc.
Our waiter was from France and he was excellent - a real professional. The front of house was good too - not hint of the snootiness so often found in trendy London venues.
We both enjoyed our food enormously. Helpings were generous. The menu was excellent and wide-ranging.
The setting modern but not oppressively so.
Arbutus' pricing by London standards was fair.
Recommended.

• Added: 16th of August 2008
• Area: Lausanne
• Category: Restaurants

Lausanne 1005
021 312 1933

ProfMagellan said
Super Italian in downtown Lausanne
In the Canton of Vaud (which borders Lake Geneva) there are not many Italian restaurants which combine an attractive decor with excellent cooking. L'Antica Trattoria wins on every count. Our dining companions - who have lived in Vaud for many years - speak highly of this restaurant; and it is not hard to see why. The food is quite delicious: not a huge choice but quite sufficient.
I started with a wonderful zucchini confection, followed by a generous plate of spaghetti in a piquant pork sauce and I barely had room to eat the warm chocolate pudding. Our companions had moules that they said were excellent and the ladies raved about their fig ice cream. Wine was a primitiva, an Italian red zinfandel - excellent. Service was attentive and friendly and the Patron, Signor Alberto Alloro, was a commanding presence throughout. The decor is wood and muted tones with an open plan kitchen and gallery eating upstairs. Lighting is subtle. There is some pavement dining for hotter days. It reminded me a bit of the Villandry when it was located in Marylebone High Street.
Located right in the middle of Lausanne, this is a great place if you enjoy good Italian food as much as I do.

• Added: 13th of August 2008
• Area: Montreuil Sur Mer
• Category: Restaurants

Montreuil Sur Mer 62170
33 03 21 81 53

ProfMagellan said
Very disappointing
Problems all round here at this Michelin starred restaurant near the motorway up to Calais. The menu was really dull with a heavy emphasis on fish. I ended up choosing a lamb dish that I would rate as ok but nothing special. Neither the starters nor the puds appealed. Perhaps the pastry chef was on holiday as it was a dire selection (I ended up asking for a boule of ice cream which was met with a frosty response). The service was quite slip-shod. Lots of very young staff shuffling around in a clueless way -
a million miles away from the professional equipes at other places at which I have recently eaten such as the fabulous Hautes de Loire near Blois and the wonderful Hostellerie de Levernois in Burgundy. The one or two older chaps were unfriendly bordering on the supercilious and there was a definite lack of somebody in overall charge whose duty it was to make sure (at astronomical prices) that Mrs Magellan and I were having a really good time. There was a very limited selection of half bottles on the wine list (the first two I selected were out of stock but this was not marked on the wine menu). I did not find the dining room with its curiously wide rectangular tables very comfortable either. The area around Calais is curiously devoid of great food. My advice: keep driving!

• Added: 12th of August 2008
• Area: Veuves
• Category: Restaurants

Veuves 41150

ProfMagellan said
affordable family-run hostelry on Loire
Good French cooking at this low key place on the Loire.
Set menu is 22 euros. My filet de boeuf was 24 euros.
Pleasant farmhouse-style place to dine after visiting the chateaux.
We went on a very crowded night (lots of Dutch) and the owner and her helper simply could not cope; they were stretched to the max - far too many tables for too few staff. So the waiting was painful. This was the peak of the holiday season (July) so perhaps better in quieter times?

• Added: 12th of August 2008
• Area: Honfleur
• Category: Restaurants

Honfleur 14600

ProfMagellan said
A let down
We stayed on half board at the nearby Chaumiere hotel
(same owners). We were told that, as the Chaumiere dining room was closed, we could eat at the sister restaurant Ferme Saint Simeon.
It enjoys a Michelin star and as we paid an unbelievable sum to enjoy half board, we were full of expectation.
The outdoor terrace overlooks an oil refinery (odd place to have a hotel unless they are trying to appeal to Exxon executives). The real shocker was however the menu which for those on half board was dull and very limited indeed. No perusing for us through a leather- bound "carte". Just a nasty cardboard sheet with a couple of dishes on offer for each course. Pre-dinner drinks (a kir and a glass of red) were nine euros each
whilst the acceptable half bottle of Mercurey was priced at 43 euros (some £35). This place is in fact a tourist trap. The staff were efficient if a bit sullen (the sommelier was ok). We will not be back.

• Added: 4th of August 2008
• Area: Lewes
• Category: Restaurants

Lewes BN7 3BA

ProfMagellan said
Great cooking in East Sussex gastro-pub
A little north of Brighton lies the pretty village of East Chiltington where this super gastro-pub is located.
This is the heart of the Sussex Downs which I have been visiting every year since childhood: one of England's loveliest and most unspoiled places.
On a lovely July evening, the Jolly Sportsman was packed. Drinks were taken in the garden (world class Pimms) and then the dinner inside. My guests live locally and they recommended this place to Mrs Magellan and I several years ago. We all selected the lamb which was sensational. The cauliflower soup was fine but it could perhaps have been a little more strongly flavoured. It was just a bit diffident. Puddings included crumble and summer pudding which were delicious. Good wine list. We enjoyed a Chilean pinot noir. Service was very friendly. Our excellent waitress even managed to get us seconds of the chef's special custard despite the fact that he was running low. That's what I call service. And by South East England standards not too expensive. Highly recommended.