Restaurant Review: Le Roi Fou, Edinburgh (October 2018)

I had to cancel my first reservation at Le Roi Fou (The Crazy King), at short notice. A few months later, during the Edinburgh Festival, I was perusing the menu outside hoping there was a spare table for walk-ins when a familiar voice greeted me by name. It was John Hemy, ex manager at The Pompadour, who, unknown to me, had moved to this smaller operation. Not only was there a free table, but he also remembered my previous cancellation. Now that’s what I call personal service!

Few new restaurants in Edinburgh have made such an immediate impact as Le Rou Fou. Within a year of opening it gained the 2017 Best New Restaurant at the Scottish Food Awards. 2018 saw three more accolades: Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year (Edinburgh News), Classic Cuisine Chef of the Year, (again from the Scottish Food Awards), and Winner of the Eating and Dining Awards (List Magazine). An encouraging mark in the 2019 Good Food Guide has consolidated these achievements

Located at Number 1 Forth Street in the Newtown district of Broughton – a stone’s throw from the York Place tram terminal – on the site of a former hamburger restaurant, Le Roi Fou is the joint venture of chef Jerome Henry and Isolde Nash, his creative director. Their aim is to promote a “joint appreciation of art, culture and food……in a bijou restaurant for bon vivants”

The brighter part of this“Restaurant des Artistes,” with window tables either side of the entrance, leads to a high tiled wooden bar and the more intimate “salon” at the back with its grey green walls dressed with fine art, and subdued lighting. Throughout, banquette seating, walnut chairs, fine napery and gold velvet curtains give a stylish, luxurious feel in an atmosphere which is relaxed and informal.

Heading a small team in the kitchen is French-Swiss born Jerome Henry. His is a bold move away from his twelve years’ experience in London: five years as head chef at Les Trois Garcons, a celebrity haunt in trendy Shoreditch, then seven years at Anton Mosimann’s Private Dining Club in pricey Belgravia. With such a distinguished CV, expectations would inevitably be high, and in this respect he does not disappoint.

A seasonally changing a la carte menu currently offers a wide choice of twelve starters (£7.50 to £17.50), ten mains (£15 to £31), and desserts and cheese, (£5 to £9.50). While vegetarians and pescetarians are well catered for, it is also pleasing to see such iconic dishes as oysters Rockefeller, seared foie gras and steak tartare. For a true gastronomic experience, there is a five course tasting menu (£50) with an optional cheese course (£9), and flight of wines for £40.

Prices are eminently fair, especially for lunch and pre theatre sittings – three courses for £24.50 – considering the quality of ingredients, the skill in cooking, and the generosity of spirit. Portions are generous even in the tasting menu with courses of a la carte proportions.

John Henry’s accomplished cooking is deeply rooted in the classics, free from faddish techniques and presentation – no smears, foams or spherification! Top quality raw materials are treated with respect, combinations showing a well-considered balance of tastes, textures and temperatures. Timing in meat, game and fish cookery is precise, allowing the natural flavours to shine. Saucing is a particular strength, elevating dishes such as lamb’s kidneys and sweetbreads with a grain mustard sauce. Occasional contemporary influences can be seen, say in a chimichurri sauce with calf’s liver or white miso and aubergine sauce dressing a scallop dish. Presentation is clean without being showy.

The select and mainly French wine list, overseen by sommelier Sam Webber, avoids greedy mark ups, with pleasing options by the glass. The flight of wines to accompany the tasting menu has inspired choices which complement the dishes perfectly.

My August tasting menu began with a amuse bouche of pleasingly light and crisp comte gougeres with a savoury dip.

A second amuse featured two oysters Rockefeller, the aroma from the toasted shells complementing the flavour of the warm spinach and herb crumbed topping enveloping the plump bivalves. The buttery, briny juices of this decadent dish were greedily mopped up with the excellent focaccia bread.

A giant hand dived scallop was grilled to produce a gently charred crust which contrasted with the delicate sweetness of the opaque flesh. Partnered with braised octopus, with its soft, texture and clean taste, the dish was bought together by a velvety sauce of confit Isle of Wight tomatoes at room temperature to maximise its flavour. This was a real triumph of seafood cookery in its combinations, timing, textures and temperatures.  Wine: 2016 Loureiro, Dócil, Projectode Dirk Nieport, Lima Valley, Vinhos Verde, Portugal

Then followed three “tasting” dishes which, given their generous size, would easily pass for main courses elsewhere.

Equally accomplished as the previous course was a generous tranche of halibut, streamed to retain the moistness of its thick white flesh. Cucumber and radishes added freshness and texture whilst a salsa verde featuring pistachios and rocket gave a deep herbaceous lift.   Wine: 2016 Pouilly Fumé, David & Hervé Millet, Domaine De La Loge, Loire, France

Cooking rabbit has been the downfall of many a good chef, but here it was handled with consummate skill. Braised and wrapped in pancetta, the meat was succulent in texture and mildly gamey in flavour. Sweetcorn in puree and kernel forms added different textures and sweetness, to contrast with the tangy bitterness of wilted cavolo nero. A light, flavoursome jus bought the dish together. Wine: 2015 Syrah, Alain Graillot & Ouled Thaleb, Tandem, Morocco

The final savoury course showcased a finely judged breast of new season grouse. Being only a fortnight into the season, the gaminess was – thankfully – muted whilst the texture had the melting softness of butter. Girolles and pearl barley added earthy elements to a dish finished with a sublime bread sauce and a rich jus with great depth of flavour.  Wine: 2004 Chateau Musar, Gaston Hochar, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

With such robust savoury dishes, a light, delicate dessert which encapsulated the tastes of summer was offered as the final course. This took the form of beautifully sweer Blacketyside Farm strawberries with fragrant elderflower curd, a silky smooth strawberry ice cream and shards of crisp meringue.  Wine: 2016 Bugey, Cerdon, Renardat Fache, Method Ancestrale, France

Without doubt, this was one of the most impressive tasting menus I have eaten, and such a refreshing change from the dainty, insubstantial sous-vide courses, with their smears, blobs and foams encountered elsewhere. Flavour was paramount, with refined classical techniques doing full justice to the well sourced ingredients.

The whole experience was enhanced by the welcoming, knowledgeable and unobtrusive service overseen by John Hemy. Given the scale of the operation, the adage that “small is beautiful” definitely applies to dining at Le Roi Fou.

Fine Dining Guide will certainly return sample more of Jerome Henry’s exquisite cooking. No doubt 2019 will bring further accolades in the guides, especially from Michelin and the AA, which have yet to grant Le Roi Fou the recognition it deserves.

from Fine Dining Guide

Corinthia Hotel London: André Garrett to be Executive Chef Jan 2019

Many congratualtions to André Garrett who has spent 5 years delivering memories to treasure at his eponymous restaurant at Cliveden House hotel, Taplow, Berkshire.  As a regular visitor to the restaurant and general Cliveden lover, he will be sadly missed.   Those naughty people at Michelin somehow overlooked a significant period where everything had come together from the kichen and one of the strongest star standard restaurants in the country was delivering without that recognition.  So all the very best to André on his new adventure! Having visited the Corinthia for the Gold Service Scholarship final judging process 2018 (as a participant consuming food and drink and asking the occasional question rather than doing any judging) I can honestly say that the Corinthia will prove a wondeful venue for André and no doubt one in which he will continue to flourish.  See you there my friend.  Take care, all the best!! And Thank You!!! Simon C

Below is more information related to the announcement:-

Corinthia Hotel London is pleased to announce that André Garrett will join as Executive Chef of the hotel in January 2019. André’s remit will include the entire hotel, overseeing banqueting events, room service, afternoon tea, breakfast, Spa and Garden Lounge, and all bar food menus as well as The Northall restaurant.

André has been Executive Chef for the past five years at Cliveden House in Taplow, Berkshire. Previously he worked in London with the Michelin-starred Galvin brothers, at both Galvin at Windows atop the Hilton on Park Lane, and prior to that at Orrery in Marylebone. Renowned for his elegant, modern cuisine, André is on the board of the Academy of Culinary Arts, for their annual awards of excellence, and the MCA, as well as a panel judge of the Roux Scholarship. In 2017 he was awarded ‘Hotel Chef of the Year’ in the Hotel Cateys.

“We are delighted to welcome André to our Corinthia family,” explains Thomas Kochs. “André’s appointment reinforces our commitment to create some of the finest food and drink experiences in the capital. Together, we look forward to bringing an exquisite new offering to our guests.”

Corinthia Hotel London’s restaurant and bar outlets have seen an exciting new direction most recently with the opening of Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, the relaunch of its cocktail bar, Bassoon, in partnership with Sager + Wilde, and the hotel’s afternoon tea in the Crystal Moon Lounge has enjoyed a complete makeover to celebrate the ceremony of a traditional English tea service.

Under the helm and expert guidance of André Garrett, The Northall restaurant will take a new culinary direction with a menu offering incorporating a broad fish and seafood selection influenced by the Mediterranean. Further details of the restaurant and its new menu will be released in the New Year.

André Garrett adds: “Corinthia Hotel London celebrates exceptional food and drink, which is why I relished the opportunity to join this dynamic team. I am excited to return to London and to be working alongside Thomas on this new culinary direction.”

About Corinthia Hotel London

Housed within a Victorian building, Corinthia Hotel London features 283 rooms, including 51 suites and seven penthouses, offering sweeping views across London’s most popular landmarks. Corinthia London provides unrivalled world-class luxury with superb ground floor restaurant and bar offerings. The hotel is also home to the flagship ESPA Life at Corinthia, a spa housed across four floors, with a hair salon by Daniel Galvin. The hotel boasts the largest room sizes in London, original restored Victorian columns, and tall windows. Cutting-edge technology in rooms and meeting rooms allow for recording, mixing and broadcasting from dedicated media rooms. Corinthia London is the ninth of Corinthia Hotels’ collection of five-star hotels founded by the Pisani family of Malta.

Corinthia Hotel London – Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2BD Tel – 020-7930 8181

from Fine Dining Guide

Vineyard Newbury: Michael Caines MBE, Guest Chef (November 2018)

 

On 21st November The Vineyard Hotel in Berkshire will host an exclusive cook off between Executive Chef Robby Jenks and one of the UK’s most celebrated chefs, Michael Caines MBE.

 

As Michael’s former protégé at the award winning Gidleigh Park Hotel, Robby and Michael will express their culinary talents, which will no doubt be a passionate battle between old friends.

 

Priced £229 per person for seven courses paired with one wine per course. 

from Fine Dining Guide

Slow Food Birmingham: Hampton Manor (2018)

from Fine Dining Guide

Newsletter: fine dining guide October 2018

Much to report after a busy 2018.  The site maintained a focus on restaurant reviews supplemented with feature articles, interviews and broad guide coverage.  The iTunes podcast series remains – as always the links are to the written transcripts, you may find the podcast series on iTunes by typing “Restaurant Dining (UK)” into the main iTunes store search box.

fine-dining-guide continues to have a YouTube Channel for which the site commissioned and uploaded a professional piece on The Waterside Inn featuring Michel Roux Snr.

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: The three social networking platforms continue to deliver good traffic to the site but also offer a shift to providing focus for photo logs, video logs along with a general news feed.  Indeed more and more unique content is appearing on these platforms as they offer a digital web presence for ‘fine dining guide’ in their own right – Facebook has over 2180 likes, Twitter enjoys over 7,190 followers and Instagram 665 followers. Each may be found using the handle @finediningguide.

Facebook and Twitter have progressively introduced more detailed analytical data about the performance of entries/tweets as well as the overall page/feed.  This proves very useful in tracking which information is considered most valuable to an audience and tailoring entries accordingly.

Apart from the analytics developments, two other aspects of note regarding Social Media:-

1) The new ‘Moments‘ feature in Twitter allows groups of tweets to be brought together under a common heading – these may be a collection of your own or other people’s tweets.  For example, fine dining guide used this feature to produce a ‘Guides Season 2017′ Moment and a “Memories of The Waterside Inn’ Moment.  This allows people to follow a kind of story about activity in a neatly top and and tailed way.  Instagram have introduced a similar-ish cut down version called ‘Story’

2) The length of video supported and editing facilities both on Twitter and Instagram have improved to rival Facebook as platforms of choice for multi-media.  Facebook itself is rivaling YouTube as a stand out video platform. fine dining guide has produced a number of one minute videos which have garnered a deal of success across the three platforms along with the longer videos found on YouTube.

Restaurant/Hotel Reviews: Reviews by Daniel Darwood have included numerous visits to venues from Edinburgh to the Lake District as well as around London and the home counties…  (See Reviews)

Guides: The 2019 GB Guide season took place during September 2018 (as applicable to fine-dining-guide). The ‘gold standard’ of Michelin Guide GB&I 2017 was eagerly anticipated with some buzz about the possibility of a new Michelin three star in GB&I.  In the event, one restaurant – The Raby Hunt – was promoted to two stars. The Fat Duck regained three stars after a one year hiatus, but otherwise no other new two or three star restaurants were awarded. Click on the map below to visit google maps and Telegraph Travel’s mapping of all Michelin Stars awarded in GB&I 2017.

L’Enclume retained the lofty 10/10 in The Waitrose Good Food Guide 2017 and was joined by Restaurant Nathan Outlaw (10/10). These followed in the illustrious footsteps of Chez Nico, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and The Fat Duck in achieving maximum marks. There were some new 5 AA Rosettes gained in the AA Restaurant Guide 2017 which included Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Casamia Restaurant, Restaurant Story and Pollen Street Social.  The new 4 AA Rosettes were; The Whitebrook, Winteringham Fields, Number One The Balmoral, Hampton Manor, Paul Ainsworth at No 6 as well as The good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year – Orwells near Henley-on-Thames.  The year has seen a state of flux at The AA as Simon Numphud moved onto pastures new and his successor Peter Laigaard Jensen left after just four months in the lead role. Giovanna Grossi, a Hotel Services Group Area Manager at The AA, who was leaving after 17 years with the company was subsequently offered the opportunity to return in a newly created part-time role.

While still awaiting the January review of awards by the AA but with all three main guides for 2017 published, fine dining guide have updated the ‘Top 100’ feature that lists top restaurants in London, Scotland and Wales based on a formula applied to leading guides to give an FDG score per restaurant.  There is an associated Top 25 Restaurant in Britain 2017 feature.

Opinion/News: In the modern age the typical restaurant is becoming more and more relaxed, accessible and informal – but more than this – a form of social meeting place where you happen to have something to eat.  This trend is affecting every level of the industry, to the point where restaurants toward the top end are having to introduce more and more value add to the customer to keep the business running successfully.  This may be the chef coming out to introduce dishes with the occasional dry ice flourish (as with Matt Worswick at Pennyhill Park) or installing courses in a botanical gin room, a larder and a cellar as part of the tasting menu journey (in plan at Stovells) or the whole journey-instead-of-a-menu set up at The Fat Duck!

The idea of a top chef running a restaurant as a vent for his creativity in a menu-led, formal, temple of gastronomy is all but over.  Indeed, good old fashioned world class food, service and hospitality all now take on different meanings.  The long standing ‘service un-matched’ of The Waterside Inn was actually – from the club effect warmth of welcome to the theatrical service and hospitality – years ahead of its time in delivering a particular type of value add to the food offering.  So even the perceived ‘traditional’ in this case was actually prescient of the future needs of customers’ requirements.  Interviewing the iconic chef’s chef Phil Howard brought this train of thought to mind – the difference between his and Tom Aikens’ set up at the same venue is one eye opener and the difference between Elystan Street and The Square opens the other.  Phil Howard’s situation is somewhat different, as his new venture is in a completely different neighbourhood to his last, bringing with it a completely different set of needs. The observation of the social meeting place (with value-add to the customer) trend remains the same.

Not sure if it was fine dining guide’s imagination but the three Gudies – Michelin, Waitrose Good Food Guide and AA Restaurant Guide – all launched to more hoopla than usual.  While The Good Food Guide had a fairly low key lunch in London, they published a rumoured 100,000 copies and their press release went exceptionally hot on launch day. The AA awarded no less than four new 5 Rosette restaurants and Michelin produced a live launch event that was broadcast simultaneously over the web.  Michelin teamed up with sponsors for two new awards as well as a team of sponsors for the launch event.  Presumably this commercial move was initiated to protect the resources at Michelin in the digital age (during the move from print media) and thereby defend their quality, integrity and leadership position. This year at least, it appeared to work well and a strong turn out of chefs came to support the Michelin launch process.  We await with interest the actions of the guides to maintain their positions in the ever more dynamic world of top end restaurants and their demanding customer bases.

Until next time Happy Eating!

from Fine Dining Guide