What the critics say: The Seahorse, Hix…

30th November 2009, 11:04am

A round-up of the latest reviews

The Seahorse, Dartmouth
Giles Coren, The Times, 28 November

"Unbelievable fish. Henry and I split a large monkfish tail which, in the white heat of Tonks's furnace, had been rendered unlike any other monkfish I have eaten, the water having been blazed out of it with such fury that there was none of the bounciness and chew that gives it the name of 'poor man's lobster'. It had not curled, had developed no shine. It was complex and flesh-like. As rich as halibut or sole, but more relaxed, earthier."

"And then we had the T-bone steak. To share between five, come on, it's not that greedy. People used always to have a fish course then meat. Again, the staggering heat worked wonders on a wonderful raw material. The fillet on one side was sweet and buttery, the sirloin rampant and gamey with age."

Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London
Jasper Gerard, The Telegraph, 27 November

"We start with hot carrot soup in shot glasses, topped with cold liquorice. 'Clever contrast,' smiles Blumenthal, referring not just to the differing temperatures. 'Did you know liquorice is 200 times sweeter than sugar, which is why he has used such a small amount?' I nod sagely. Carrot is also sweet but at the other end of the sweetness league. This is the Wareing technique: presenting surprisingly complementary contrasts, cooked with classical elegance.

"My highlight is 'pan-fried' foie gras with peach, honey, amaretti, black olive and peach jelly. It comes with fantastic, surprisingly strong almonds. So this is heaven – what a privilege to gain a sneak preview. There is also lapsang syrup, another contrast. The smoky lapsang answers the sweet syrup and sets off the foie gras majestically."

Hix, London
Zoe Williams, The Telegraph, 27 November

"I had a salad of watercress, shallot and dandelion (£3.75), an appealing but by no means necessary antidote to the richness. You'd never order a sausage on a night out, would you? You'd never sit underneath a Damien Hirst chandelier and think, 'I'll have the sausage.' I only did it because someone beat me to the last gurnard. But when I cleaned my plate and beamed appreciation, a different waiter said conspiratorially, 'Was that the veal?' It's a whole new Soho-insider's secret: peerless processed meat.

"Few truly new things happen on menus that aren't silly, but here's one: there are proper pudding-sized puddings, but there are also small niblets of sweetness, which are much closer to what you actually fancy at the end of a meal. I had the nut clusters (£3.50), which was fine, though I could have lived without it. C had the sloe-gin jelly shot (£3), which was very fruity and boozy and simple. You might want to consider adapting it for domestic entertaining, if you want to make your guests drunker than they intended."

Ashmolean Dining Room, Oxford
Tracey MacLeod, The Independent, 28 November

"At the top of the building, the 90-cover restaurant has been magically raised on the roof; a glass-walled rectangle with light pouring in from all directions. Curvy Arne Jacobsen chairs and a couple of central canteen tables for communal dining give an informal, almost café-like feel, but the well-drilled waiting staff and ambitious menu mark this out as a restaurant with designs to become far more than an add-on to the museum's visitor experience."

"My friend's cassoulet was the proper job, its golden carapace of breadcrumbs giving way to a porky mulch harbouring Toulouse sausage and confited duck leg. My chargrilled sea bass was advertised as coming with gremolata, but arrived at the table nude; when I protested, it was removed and swiftly returned with its promised slathering of parsley and lemon zest, but with no explanation or apology. It was a nicely cooked piece of fish, though, the skin blistered from the grill, the flesh sweetened by herbs, and the accompanying boulangère potatoes were outstandingly good."

Pierre Koffmann Restaurant, London
Toby Young, The Independent, 22 November

"I start with game pithivier with a jus corsé and, credit where it's due, it is one of the best things I've eaten all year. The meat is enclosed in a wonderfully light pillow of pastry and the jus comes in a little jug so you can make a hole in the crust and pour it in. It is rich and intoxicating, the kind of dish that plunges you into a narcoleptic reverie.

"Our waiter informs us that Eric Chavot is doing a guest stint tonight and, for my main course, I opt for one of his dishes: roast venison with red cabbage, hazlenut purée and red wine and cassis reduction. This is not quite in the same class as the game. A deconstructed version of the Middle European classic, the venison appears beside a mound of cold, pickled red cabbage. The flavours are all fully developed and the dish is well-balanced, but it's not the winter warmer I expected."

Allium, Oxfordshire
John Walsh, The Independent, 21 November

"From a brief menu (four starters, four mains) we ordered a trio of hare for me and crayfish with sweetcorn and coconut for my date. Her crayfish was visually very striking: in a old-fashioned cocktail glass, some scrambled-eggy gloop lay on a brown Guinness-like soup where an orange froth hovered over lumps of crayfish. By the time I registered that the gloop was boiled-until-mushy sweetcorn with cream, the brown stuff was crayfish consommé en gelée, the fish was tasteless and the froth or spume was horribly sweet coconut, it was too late. It was the most revolting thing I've put in my mouth for ages, and I'd swallowed a whole spoonful.

"My trio of hare was a terrine, a consommé and a rabbity loin. The terrine was insufficiently moist but nicely gamey, and I'd have enjoyed it more had I not been given rillettes as a taster. The consommé was slightly sweetened and had an off-putting aftertaste, almost as bad as the mid-taste of the fish-corn cocktail. The waitress noticed my hideous grimace. 'The crayfish is an unusual taste, isn't it?' she said, beaming encouragement."

Galvin La Chapelle, London
Fay Maschler, Evening Standard, 26 November

"Salad of wood-fired autumn vegetables with walnut (in the singular) and goat's cheese featured a puny array of veg. Members of that church may well be happier with the velouté of Potimarron pumpkin, chestnuts and cèpes. Escabeche of yellow-fin tuna with aubergine caviar appeared seared rather than fried then marinated the way escabeche describes. More like tuna tataki, it was well liked.

"Salad of red-leg partridge with pomegranate and maple dressing hovered on the edge of oversweet but never fell over. However, I wouldn't call it a wine-friendly dish, a description also not applicable to the main course tagine of squab pigeon with harissa sauce. How Paul Jaboulet Aîné of Hermitage la Chapelle would have flinched at that mention of harissa."

Roka, London
David Sexton, Evening Standard, 26 November

"The miso soups, both white and red, were a bit average, lacking in that great umami hit. Tuna and salmon sashimi were ostentatiously presented in a dish laden with one huge ice crystal as well as lots of the crushed stuff but the fish itself was nothing out of the ordinary. A softshell crab roll (£8.60, five pieces) was again highly ornamental, with some crab on top of the roll and spikes of chive projecting but, while tasty enough, the crab didn't really have any particular wow factor, with the seaweed wrap being a bit chewy too.

"On the other hand, baby squid (£5.90), crisp-fried in a light tempura batter and highly spiced, were very enjoyable, as were grilled chicken wings from the robata menu (£4.90). Maybe simple and cheaper is the way to go here?"

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