3rd visit; lunch 03 November 2017

Another hospital appointment in London, so another nice lunch!  I was en route to my first consultation with a Professor of Gastroenterology at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, to investigate the pains I get whenever I eat and drink a moderate volume. A bit of a draw-back for a restaurant blogger!  My plan was to have a good meal, to fill myself up, so that I would be in pain when I saw the doctor.  And whilst one would expect a food blogger to try new and different restaurants, I decided it would be more enjoyable to return to somewhere I was very fond of, where I knew I would enjoy anything on the menu, and so, for the third time in six months, I booked a table at Bibendum. South Kensington underground is five minutes walk from the restaurant and just a handful of stops from Paddington, on the Circle Line.

At 12 noon I was the first diner to be seated in the bright and airy dining room, which was looking its very best with the autumn sunshine beaming though the beautiful ‘Michelin man’ stained glass windows.  The Maitre d’ had welcomed me back, which is good customer recognition, but then, to my delight, chef Bosi came to my table in his whites to say “hello again” and have a short chat.  That’s one of the special things I’ve found with Bibendum; the team are very warm, friendly and welcoming, despite being very much ‘fine dining’ and having two Michelin stars. And of course I congratulated chef Bosi on the award of those stars just a month ago.  They’re thoroughly deserved.

With this being my third review of Bibendum I shall try to be less detailed than before.  I began with a glass of Champagne Franck Pascal, at the suggestion of the sommelier, when I told him I wanted a champagne with small bubbles. It was £22/glass, tasted very pleasant, but it’s bubbles were a bit big for me; although I wanted to get full, I didn’t want to be full of gas! I was brought some ‘salt and vinegar roasted cashew nuts’ to nibble on with my aperitif. These nuts are so tasty!  Next came the signature baby olive tree, with a silver spoon beneath it holding what appeared to be a green olive. Placed on my tongue and pressed against the roof of my mouth, the delicate but crisp outside gave way to a bright and very refreshing burst of apple and horseradish flavoured liquid.  Lovely. I think I preferred it to the black olives with provencal flavoured centre versions I’d had last time.  Unlike last time, the olive tree was removed when I had eaten the ‘olive’.  The final appetiser was presented in a hen’s egg shell: chopped mushrooms (duxelles) covered with a coconut cream and curry powder.  My bouche felt very amused! 10/10

And then came crisp toasted sourdough with fermented butter. The butter actually tastes like cheese, which, technically, it is.  I love it.

 

For my starter I had chosen smoked sturgeon, oscietra caviar, onion and duck jelly, which on the menu is simply called ‘Duck Jelly’.   It tasted a little different from last time, I think because an onion bavarois was now on the base of the dish, rather than more sturgeon.  Every element individually tasted delicious, and when combined they were sublime.  Just look at this picture, how delicately and intricately the plate has been dressed, by a chef (Claude Bosi) who has enormous hands!

From my dining table I could observe the glass-doored kitchen and see chef Bosi working on the pass, and watched as he very carefully placed small items on the plates with tweezers.

This is an expensive starter (£39), compared to the others on the menu, but it’s well worth it for a very memorable dish! 10/10 

For my main course I decided to be ‘daring’ and order something I’ve never had before; tripe. Tripe has never been something to whet my appetite, and I basically regard it as food for one’s pet dog. But I reckoned that a top chef like Claude Bosi would treat it well and create something appealing with it. On the menu it was called ‘My Mum’s Tripe and Cuttlefish Gratin, with pig’s ear and ham cake’, which could be enough to put any conservative diner off.  But not those who like offal, cheaper cuts and simple ‘country food’. 

The tripe had been slow cooked for four hours, then very finely sliced, mixed with small pieces of soft cuttlefish and a rich tomato based sauce.  It was served in a lidded gratin dish, straight from the oven; the waiter theatrically removing the lid once the side dishes were in place.  When he did so a delicious and comforting aroma rose up before me, and I was relieved not to see swathes of creped and wrinkled white stomach lining in front of me!

The ‘pig’s ear and ham cake’ on one of the side dishes was quite unusual, but very good. It really looked like a piece of cake, but pan frying had made it hold together, not crumble apart. Beautifully flavoured on its own, it tasted great with the gratin, and although the two combined were quite rich, the side plate of parsley and herb salad cut through that richness and really refreshed the palate.  The three plates combined to provide a delicious, rustic French luncheon. 10/10

As is sometimes my way, I chose to have another starter, rather than a dessert (to reduce my sugar intake) and I went for the special of Foie Gras with liquorice, pear and yuzu. Having just last week cooked some Foie at home, and once again been challenged by the best way to cook this gift from the Gods, I asked the maitre d’ if it would be possible for me to watch it being cooked by the professionals; but it wasn’t; though I did get the chance to ask chef Bosi after my meal, and he told me it’s cooked sous vide and very lightly pan fried prior to serving.  I told him it was amazing that the finished dish isn’t at all greasy, and he modestly told me it was down to the quality of the product he sources.  So the foie was perfect, dusted with liquorice powder, sitting atop a sticky liquorice drizzle and accompanied by poached pear, pear and also yuzu purees.  The yuzu tasted very fresh and zingy.  A very good dish! 10/10

Time was running against me, so I ordered a double espresso and the bill at the same time and asked if they could put any petit fours in a box for me, to take away, which they did.  The coffee was good and strong without being too bitter, and rounded off a superb lunch.  I had asked the charming sommelier to suggest wines by the glass to accompany my meal. The champagne I began with lasted through the starter, then I had an Austrian Blaufrankisch by Karl Schnabel with the tripe (£16) and a very good Australian Pinot Noir by Yabby Lake (£20) with the foie. I would never have chosen a red wine with foie, but it worked really well with the liquorice elements.

Overall my meal for one cost £183.06, but with my overall score being 10/10 (the first maximum I’ve given in London), the great warm and friendly service and the delightful ambience of the old Michelin building, I definitely felt I had received good value for money. (especially so, after having to spend considerably more ten days earlier in France for my 2 star meals.)

2nd visit; lunch 02 August 2017

I returned to Bibendum for lunch just a couple of weeks after my superb first visit, this time with my partner, Mr. A. Once again it was a lunch arranged to follow a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital, just five minutes walk away.  On this occasion, Mr. Bosi was not working in the kitchen.  It was a cloudy day, so the restaurant’s beautiful stained glass window designs didn’t cast their soothing colours across the dining room.  But the room was still lovely, clean and calm, which I welcomed, having just been given some worrying news at hospital.  With my mind in a bit of a whirl I didn’t write notes or scores on this visit, and this review is done some days later, from memory and the photos I took.  I’m lucky this restaurant is able to serve up memorable dishes!

In preparation for my hospital procedures I had had nothing to eat at all (just water) for fifty hours prior to placing that olive shaped amuse bouche of olive gel encased ratatouille which is served along with a miniature decorative olive tree which stays on the table throughout the meal. Wow, those flavours of southern France certainly amused my starved mouth!  And then came the lovely bread selection with fermented butter, to start addressing my hunger pains.

For my starter I couldn’t resist the foie gras dish I had last time. Once again it was delicious and amazingly non-greasy; I’m so in awe with how they can transform rich, fatty liver into a clean, light summery dish.
Mr. A went for what is clearly the stand-out starter, very modestly called ‘Duck Jelly’. It’s actually a dish of smoked sturgeon slices covered by a duck gelee, with with further cubes of sturgeon forming a circle on top and a generous portion of caviar in the centre, surrounded by very pretty garnitures.  From my small tasting I thought it was amazing, and I’ll be going for it next time, even though it’s £39 a pop.

Mr. A went for the ‘Anjou pigeon satay style’ for his main, which I had had last time. I went for the rabbit dish which had all of the desirable parts of the rabbit, including very pretty french trimmed racks, loin and legs in a rich (madeira?) jus, some vegetables and sweet langoustine tails. It was a lovely, charming, well-portioned main course.

Last time I chose an additional starter instead of a sweet dessert; this time I ordered the cheese selection. And what a lovely selection of French cheeses it was, combining cow, goat and sheep examples, soft and hard, with a blue and an epoisse providing the flavour kicks.  As is the case with my stomach problems, I became full to the point of pain, so I had to stop eating and drinking and they put my remaining cheeses in a small box to take away and enjoy at home.
Mr. A had a mint chocolate mille feuille, which was light, attractively plated and palate cleansing.

Service was once again excellently professional and discreet. The total bill for three courses for 2 people, with five glasses of wine, mineral water and service came to £259.31, which I regarded as very fair value for money.  I will be back soon, when I’m next up in London.  Overall 9/10 and still what I would describe as a 3 Michelin star standard meal.

 

1st visit; lunch 14 June 2017

I’ve never been to Ludlow, and I only once ate at Hibiscus in Mayair and didn’t like it!  I had eaten from the set lunch menu, which I usually find to be a good introduction to the kitchen’s skills, although in a cheaper format. But that didn’t happen that day; it was very average food indeed.  Claude Bosi is a very well respected chef  so I knew that I had to give his food another go sometime (earlier this week (June 17) he had been given the “chefs chef of the year” award at the UK’s National Restaurant Awards dinner). When I read that he was taking over at Bibendum, in the iconic Michelin House in South Kensington, I realised it would be very handy for one of my London lunches, in between tests at the Royal Marsden Hospital which is five minutes walk away.

14 June was a beautifully sunny summer’s day in London; a lovely temperature in the twenties (seventies in old money) and not too humid. Even the District Line tube was reasonably comfortable. And I didn’t have to wait very long for my CT scan and blood tests at hospital, so I was in a happy sunny mood as I arrived at Bibendum for my 1pm reservation.  The beautiful early 20th Century building looked magnificent in the bright sunshine, with its tiles and stained glass windows, and the ground floor oyster bar area was pretty busy and buzzy.  The layout has changed since I was last at Bibendum and it took me a moment to find how to get up to the main first floor restaurant. The dining room was not busy (it filled up later) and I was escorted to a good table near a corner, with a commanding view of the dining room and good sight of the large sliding glass doors which led to the kitchen. I declined an offer of an aperitif and just asked for sparkling water. A carafe of filtered and carbonated chilled tap water was brought to me, along with a small bowl of roasted cashew and ground nuts, dusted white with a vinegar infused salt.  They were utterly delicious and very moreish!  Brought at the same time was a pretty little olive tree in a white terracotta bowl. Along side it was a silver spoon holding what looked like a black olive.  But actually it was an olive gel sphere which burst with a robust provencal ratatouille when I pressed it onto the roof of my mouth with my tongue.  9/10 The olive tree stayed on the table throughout the service and looked attractive – it was an imaginative twist on the usual table flowers.

I could see that today, unlike at my lunch at Hibiscus, I was being teated to some great technical skills from chefs who understood how to balance and enhance flavours, so to take best advantage of the situation I made my mind up to eat A la Carte, rather than from the lunch menu (although it did look very good).  I had just a couple of questions about some dishes on the menu, and who better to ask than the man himself: Claude Bosi came to introduce himself to me at my table!  What a treat, what an honour, what a big guy he is, what big hands!

The Amuse bouche was a white eggshell containing fresh pea, pea puree, curry powder and a light coconut foam. It was spot on: fresh, summery, and light, with a very sophisticated balance of flavours. 9/10

Bread came in the form of two slices each of white and brown sourdough, accompanied by a hemisphere of butter which was so orange in colour it resembled an egg yolk. The bread was tasty and firm and the butter tasted as if it had had a cheese added to it. I was later told it was a “cultured butter”; very interesting.

I drank wines by the glass, following the suggestions of the sommelier, each of which turned out to be very different to what I’m used to, and very pleasant indeed. Tricot Escargot 15 was an unfiltered biodynamic Chardonnay at £11. It’s fresh green flavours were a surprising choice to go with my starter of foie gras, but they worked together very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Adour Foie Gras a la Grecque’ was a decent sized tranch of foie which had been marinated in vegetable stock and topped with a cauliflower and coriander cous cous. I think purple broccoli flowers were also involved, to give the crust a purple colour.  I’m guessing the foie was then cooked in the oven. Guess is all I can do, because this was cooking to a much higher standard than I can manage!  I’m a massive fan of foie gras and this dish was possibly the very best I’ve ever eaten. The flavours were light, balanced and very fragrant and there wasn’t a trace of grease or fat around the liver. This was a bright summer dish which welcomed the fresh chardonnay. Excellent at £19! 9/10

My main course was ‘Anjou pigeon “satay style”’ at £39. Two breasts laid around a delicious mound of girolles fricassee, a quenelle of peanut sauce, pigeon leg and heart wrapped in a red cabbage leaf, fresh almonds and a rich jus.  The pigeon was cooked longer than is fashionable these days; at least ‘medium’. It was a touch tough to cut (I think due to the skin), but it was tender in the mouth. There was a subtle spark of chilli, and a hint of lemongrass, which really made things taste ‘exotic’.  Despite the pigeon being cooked longer than I would have asked for, this was a very good dish, with expertly balanced flavours. 9/10.

I drank a glass of Schnabel Hochegg, an interesting Austrian red which was lightly acidic and had late musty notes, at £15.50/glass. 9/10

At this point my taste buds were well and truly excited and I was eager to eat more of this kitchen’s reportoire, but being type 2 diabetic I decided to skip the wonderful looking dessert menu, and instead order another starter!  First I took a comfort break and popped into the kitchen en route to thank the brigade for the great cooking so far, and to take a picture. The kitchen is quite large and very clam, but focussed. Chef Bosi was on the pass, meticulously checking every dish that went to the dining room. Despite his focus he was kind and friendly enough to find a few words for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The starter-dessert I had chosen was ’smoked white asparagus with candied almonds and “hibiscus chantilly”’. I didn’t know if the chantilly was flavoured with hibiscus, or if it was a Hibiscus Restaurant classic, or both. It turned out to be the most beautiful and most delicious quenelle of light pinkness, sitting between two big fat spears of white asparagus, the stems of which had been rolled in a charcoal-like powder and covered in tiny pieces of candied fresh almonds which looked like broken pieces of polo mints!  It was a really lovely dish; I’ll remember that hibiscus cream for a long time! 10/10

With my starter-dessert I was recommended a glass of Surin from Allion, for £9. It was very pleasant and supported the asparagus well. 7.5/10

A double espresso came along with an aerated chocolate egg sitting on a bed of cocoa beans, within a ceramic coco pod, a square of a lovely smoked fudge which wasn’t too sweet for me, and a small bowl of fresh cherries. I thought the latter was a lovely touch for those who don’t want to eat too much refined sugar, and evidence of a confident kitchen which is happy to send out a product which doesn’t require any ‘cooking’, on its own flavour merits.

Bibendum has a bright and pleasing dining room. The magnificent Michelin Man stained glass windows added terrific colour to the otherwise white walls and light blue-come-grey chairs, banquettes and carpet.  The total bill including service was £134.44, which, to me, represented very good value, because I thought this was the best lunch I’ve had in London for some time.
Overall score 9/10.

We’ll see if this restaurant makes it into the next Michelin Guide for the UK, published this autumn, despite only recently opening. If I were one of the inspectors I would say Claude Bosi at Bibendum is easily worthy of 2 stars, but I would happily award it 3 stars, based on the chef skills which went into my meal, and on my experiences of other 3 star Michelin restaurants in London and overseas.  I was so excited by my lunch that I was worried that my good mood and the nice weather made me more biased to giving a good review. So I slept on it for a couple of days before writing this piece.  I can’t wait to go back!