The Revolution Starts at Opening Time

Tapas amongst the bright lights and booming music of Westfield

A lot has already been written about Spanish Chef Omar Allibhoy if the Tapas Revolution website is to be believed. He is, apparently the Spanish Jamie Oliver, set to cause a sensation with his fresh cooking and Flamenco personality.
In which case the decision to site his first British venture in the temple of consumption that is Shepherds Bush’s Westfiled Shopping Centre would seem to make sense. Everything here is brash and bright, overtly commercial but guaranteed to have most diners rushing for the exit…if they can find it.

The food is cooked fresh and delivered quickly from behind a curved bar area where the Plancha and meat slicer are located. There is a fine selection of Spanish charcuterie including Jamon Iberico de bellota Gran Reserva, yet from the start you cant miss the fact that you are in a shopping centre and all around you is the din of conspicuous consumption, lost children and shrilling ring tones.

My Calamar a la Plancha were soft and well grilled, though way too heavy on the garlic, Pinchos Morunos were beautiful tender cubes of beef, marinated in paprika and red pepper sauce served on the spike while Esparragos con Manchego combined the saltiness of the cheese with the zing of the asparagus.

Not a lot wrong with the food, its just the wrong place to eat it. Perhaps I was unlucky to have chosen the day of a film premiere with Tom Hanks eliciting squeals before Sophie Ellis-Bextor gave it her best shot beneath the acoustically appalling atrium.

The menu has other appetising items, Pulpo a la Gallega, octopus with potatoes and paprika or Carrilleras, braised pork cheeks in sherry for example, plus a good looking selection of Bocadilos, however the atmosphere is all wrong. Loud and intimidating, despite the quality of food I couldn’t wait to leave never to return.

Not even a very acceptable glass of El Muro Carinera could calm things and with head throbbing I paid the completely extortionate sum of £25 for my 3 small dishes and glass of wine, and left.
Perhaps if Omar can open in a couple of high streets he will have a hit on his hands but in Westfield the Revolution is wasted. 

Pollen Street Social

The buzz around Pollen Street Social has been so acute it has even reached the backwaters of Henley on Thames. So on an excursion to the capital with Mrs HT, that also took in a light lunch at Books for Cooks in Notting Hill, saw us on the off chance wandering into PSS, (as it shall now be known) in the early evening.

As Olive magazine pointed out this month, go early and choose the day of a major sporting final. So thanks to Barcelona and Man Utd we were happily seated in the bar at 5.30 enjoying a couple of cocktails, with a table ready for us when the kitchen opened at 6pm.

PSS is divided into two large oblong rooms. The bar area with comfortable modernist brown leather sofa’s and chairs with stools at the long bar is discreetly decorated with modern artworks against pale walls and a lowish ceiling. The dining room is slightly larger, decorated in similar fashion with dangling futurist globe lighting. The unusual feature is the dessert bar at one end, borrowed from the New York trend. Where, in other restaurants you might find a seafood bar, here you can perch on a stool, stare longingly into the adjacent kitchen, with its huge glass wall and Star Trek like sliding glass door, and engage the dessert chef in conversation about what to have.

Seated happily where Mrs HT could watch all the machinations in the room, service was exemplary, knowledgeable, friendly and at the right level between discreet and familiar. It is this affable service  that makes a visit to PSS such a pleasant experience. The other is of course the cooking of Jason Atherton.

Famously named by Faye Maschler as the best chef in the Gordon Ramsey empire at Maze and with a self financed stint at El Bulli also in the bag, Atherton cooks with intelligence and obvious passion, you can taste it in his unusual but precise dishes. Out straightening chairs in the bar when we first arrived he obviously cares too.

Almost every dish on the menu prompts a question. This is a good thing, not only providing intrigue it allows the waiting staff to raise your desire too with neat descriptions of all the dishes.Sated with information but not yet by food, my starter of Squid with Cauliflower Puree, shards of Cauliflower, Squid ink puffed rice and roast squid juice looked pale and interesting on the plate and was soft and comforting in the mouth, but given some depth and crunch by the rice, which of course isn’t rice at all. The idea of cutting the squid into tiny pieces and serving almost as a risotto is inspired.

The Full English Breakfast bore virtually no resemblance to that served at a greasy spoon, yet tasted exactly how you want it to. An egg poached  for 1 1/2 hours topping earthy mushrooms and roast tomato puree is unctuous but puts a broad grin on the face.

It is possible to have half portions of the main courses and turn the whole menu into a tasting menu we went tradtional though. Ox Cheek, Tongue and Sirloin was good without being exceptional, unlike the Roasted Halibut with a remarkably rich and moreish paella, steeped in ham fat, which was just wonderful.

Our request to sit at the dessert bar was happily accommodated, though I imagine later in the evening it might not be so easy. Watching Atherton at work through the glass was fascinating as was the conversation with the pud chef over the merits of full portions over mini tasters.

None of the descriptions, Ham, Cheese & Herbs, Sangria or PBJ do justice to the micro menu’s selection of light, delicate flavours prepared in front of us. Suffice to say that the ham is made from water melon and the herbs are tiny pieces of candied basil and sage, which the chef kindly told us how to make.
Pollen Street Social has been praised to the hilt since opening, with good reason, it is the most relaxed and entertaining dining room with some of the best food in London and top quality staff to match. Go while it’s still new.

Total cost for 2 Cocktails, 2 Starters, 2 Mains, 3 mini puddings, 1 bottle Chilean Haras de Pirque Cabernet Sauvignon: £153.56 inc service.

Pollen Street Social, 8-10 Pollen Street, London W1S 1NH 020 7290 7600

The Olde Bell Inn, Hurley

A ringing endorsement for robust seasonality

The  interior of an old country inn, that from the outside looks unchanged and unchanging, is the last place I would expect quirky decoration in a dining room. Huge wooden benches with very high backs wrapped in rough blankets held on with leather straps. Glass carriage lamps on the walls, heavy pewter plates, a mixture of antique chairs and heavy oak tables all make for an unexpected charming atmosphere on a warm May evening.

Redecorated by interior designer Ilse Crawford in 2009, who includes Soho House, New York in her portfolio, the dining room is a lot of fun and not the only surprise. The menu is resolutely seasonal, including spring flavours and textures at every turn.  Head Chef, James Ferguson, trained by Ramsey and Hartnett with time spent in the kitchens of Fergus Henderson and Marco Pierre White at L’escargot has crafted a menu quirky enough to match the decor, but not too outré to put off the casual diner.

What it isn't is old fashioned country hotel dining, it is very modern even if the flavours are rooted in the fields, seas and gardens of England. Smoked ham hock terrine with spiced courgette chutney or whole quail , English peas, gem lettuce and mint couldn't shout louder about their terroir if they tried. My starter of fresh channel island crab, rock samphire and cucumber delivered a sweet seaside subtlety in the meat offset by the earthy note in the samphire and held together by the long strips of cucumber.

English asparagus, Ragstone goats cheese and elderflower cream, left the asparagus to do the talking. The cream a delicate mix of the Herefordshire unpasteurised cheese and local elderflower was a little too subtle and too creamy for my philistine palate and while delightful on its own didn’t actually enhance the fresh, zingy asparagus.

A main of saffron braised squid,fennel and grilled truffle potatoes delivered a rich sauce to accompany the delicately spiced and perfectly soft squid. The big surprise were the potatoes, not something you often get to say. Blue, black roughly textured tubers halved and topped with a garlic cream, I hadn’t seen the like since visiting Peru and thoroughly enjoyed the novelty, one I’d like to see more of on menus.

The Tamworth pork cutlet with braised chicory, white beans and smoked bacon packed a much bigger punch, a  right hook compared to the squid’s gentle jab. Its wonderfully hearty bean stew, oozing a saltiness from the bacon would have made a complete meal on its own without the huge pork chop on top. But what a piece of pig, thickly cut, golden on the outside but still moist and full of flavour, it was a piece of meat that genuinely put a smile on my face.

A short list of puddings spoke of seasonality and English comfort classics, treacle tart, orange marmalade sponge or rhubarb pavlova all sounded good but the garden sorrel pannacotta with strawberries from the Olde Bell’s garden was all we chose; that pork really didn’t leave room for much else. Perhaps the sorrel was way too refined for me. While it was a very well executed and creamy pannacotta I just couldn’t detect the flavour. The strawberries were a mixture of tiny intensely flavoured home grown fruits mixed with some larger berries that pretty obviously didn’t come from the garden. They would all have been quite happy on their own with the pannacotta so didn’t need the strawberry syrup which somehow managed to dominate the other flavours.

A minor gripe in an otherwise excellent evening.

Total cost for 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 pudding, 1 bottle Albarino £100.69 inc. 12.5% service

The Olde Bell Inn, High Street, Hurley SL6 5LX 01628 825881

Hidden French Flies the Flag in Henley's Food Wilderness

With such a rich restaurant scene, boasting Michelin stars and creative chefs within 10 miles of the centre of Henley, it is a real suprise that the town itself has such a sorry culinary landscape.

In Bray you can't move for Michelin stars and Heston's gastro pubs. Marlow has the Hand & Flowers and Danesfield House where Adam Simmonds has just won a star. It also has the inspired but under rated Vanilla Pod. In Maidenhead you can visit The Royal Oak, also now boasting a star. Even just outside Henley there are excellent and thoughtful restaurants, Orwells in Shiplake Cross,The Olde Bell and the Black Boys in Hurley, stand out as does Ruchetta in Peppard Common.

Yet in Henley itself there is a series of chains, Hotel du Vin and a couple of independents, that are complacent and/or tired. Hotel du Vin is a perfectly servicable French bistro and does a very good Sunday lunch but always plays it safe. Two Italian's resting on their comfortable laurels in Villa Marina and Antico are competent but dull and expensive to boot. As for the Spanish tapas bar/restaurant La Bodega, all I would say is that it helps to have downed a few drinks first then you won't notice how poor an interpretation of tapas it is, or indeed how much you have somehow spent. Finally in this litany of sorrow I have never forgiven The Little Angel for trying to tell me a sorry pile of shredded lamb in gravy was lamb shank. It wasn't.

Sad then that one of the few places in the town itself that was trying to produce interesting flavours with some wit, the Three Tuns, seems to have closed. Yet the scene is not an unrelenting tide of gastronomic mediocrity filled by Brasserie Gerard's, Strada's, Zizzi's and Cafe Rouge, though God help us we have them all.

There is a little gem somehow concealed opposite Domino's pizza (and how I weep as I write those two words), Le Parisien, offering good quality French classics in a small former cafe flanked by Henley's book shop. Open now for more than six months, the restaurants darke exterior decor and discreet position on Bell Street make it easy to miss, which is perhaps why I haven't eaten there until now. Chef Patron Phillipe Brillant has worked in some top kitchens in his native France and in the UK, including Joel Rubichon, so has a very good classic pedigree. This shows in his simple execution and smart presentation.

As to the food I wasn't there to gorge myself just to have a nice Friday night supper, so I opted for the set menu while my companion chose from the A La Carte. An unexpected touch was the amuse bouch of artichoke and black truffle soup served in small elegant coffe cups. Full of complex flavours the earthy tones of the artichoke ofset by the truffle's richness it was a very pretty way to start the meal.

With only 20 covers that I counted, this is a restaurant that has to work hard to make its money, so on the Friday night that I visited it was disappointing that my partner and I were the only diners. This did lead to a certain amount of guilt on my part for though the maitre d', very French by the way, seemed happy to be there it still felt like something of an intrusion.

I can't imagine this happening in any part of London or even a few miles down the road in Marlow. Perhaps its a problem of marketing because its not a problem with the food, and they did tell us they were fully booked the following night.

Main courses of Confit de Canard and Emince de Boeuf with black peppercorn sauce, both served with saute potatos were good though I found the potatoes lacking crispness and was only happy once I had added extra seasoning to everything. Yet for all that this was still probably the best steak I have eaten in Henley, while the duck disappeared in double quick time.

A plate of four French cheeses followed. I confess to not knowing what they were, apart from a mildish roquefort, despite asking I just couldnt understand the answer from the maitre d' and was too embarrassed to ask more than once! However they were very good and helped us to finish an excellent value bottle of Cote du Rhone Villages.

So a very good French meal, served with class and care and unusual for the town of Henley. I am worried that Le Parisien won't last though. You just can't survive on 2 diners on a Friday night. From a purely selfish point of view please go and eat there and save us from chain food hell and complacency.