I used to be a keen viewer of Masterchef: The Professionals, but I rarely watch it nowadays because I can’t stand the false jeopardies created by the annoying VoiceOver lady.  Through my clouded memory there are only two chefs from the TV series that I remember impressing me with their creative, technical and well-presented dishes; Stephen Edwards (the 2013 winner), who runs Etch in Hove; and Adam Handling (2013 finalist).   Adam Handling now runs several restaurants around the country, and just recently I started following him on Instagram and became very impressed with the food he was serving at his flagship restaurant, Frog by Adam Handling, in London’s Covent Garden.  I was mistakenly under the impression Frog had a Michelin star, but it doesn’t, yet on Instagram some of his dishes appeared to be up there with those at 3-star Core in terms of beauty and technical skills, so I really felt it was time to visit and try Frog by Adam Handling.

At the time of booking online I had the choice of a table or counter seating. Mr A and I always like a counter and we were delighted with our marble-topped position directly in front of Brazilian-born Head Chef Cleverson Derio Cordeiro and his brigade.  We were amazed at how calmly and peacefully the team operated together, and how well Chef Derio picked up on the quietest communications from his team.  Adam Handling wasn’t in the restaurant when we visited, but we had very good conversations with Chef Derio throughout service, which was a nice experience.

A small bunch of dried flowers sat upon our napkins, which was reminiscent of what they have at Core.

We each had an aperitif; Mr A a “Negroni Condesa” at £17, me a pineapple flavoured cocktail called Tropical Thunder at £15.50, which I really enjoyed.

We had chosen to go for “Adam’s Tasting Menu” of 8 courses for £125 each, plus the matching wine flight at £80 each.  The first food to be served (all together) was a beautiful-looking selection of 6 snacks each.  These were the same things I’d seen on Instagram, which made me think the beauty and technicality looked equal to some of the dishes at Core.  We had a potato and salmon roe concoction in ceramic eggs sitting in a nest, which was given a dry ice effect; then a very pretty beetroot tartlet; a bric pastry tube of coronation crab; a petal-strewn cod roe “waffle” which had good crispy texture; cheese donuts which were 100% better than last night in our hotel; and finally there was a tartare of wagyu inside a filo cuplet and beautifully covered with flower petals, which had a subtle kick of gaucho spice.  This was a tasty and very pretty start to the meal. 9/10

Bread was served as a ‘course’, with delicious IPA sourdough accompanied by chicken butter with crispy onions, chicken parfait (what a great flavour), and a chicken sauce.  This was a delicious and quite novel way to present bread. 9/10

Next up was a dish named “Red prawn, autumn tomato, English wasabi”, which was light, flavoursome and refreshing. 9/10

The next course brought us some carbs in the form of mushroom agnolotti with a butter sauce, parsley oil and black garlic foam. We paid a supplement to have some shaved truffle on this dish, and on a later one too, for £25 which topped it all off as a very tasty dish. 9/10

Our next plates were a Frog signature dish; “Wagyu lobster” where the Scottish lobster had been marinated in wagyu fat for 48 hours, before being barbecued a la minute!  The kitchen’s confidence in this dish saw no accompaniments or garnish to get in the way of the well-crafted flavours, but IMHO just a little something acidic would have helped balance the richness of the lobster. 8/10

The next dish made use of what was left of the lobster, in what they called a “lobster bolognese” (essentially just chopped), on top which sat some steamed cod, and on top of that was a good portion of Exmoor caviar. Seaweed in the butter sauce made it fresh and zingy, but the caviar lacked as much flavour as I had expected. 8/10

Our ‘main’ course was “balmoral chicken, baby courgette, basil” which was a slice of chicken breast stuffed with haggis and topped with the supplementary shaved truffle we’d earlier agreed to, charred balsamic courgette with some pickled courgette on top, and a smooth basil puree, and finally a chicken jus. The chicken was so soft and tender. 7.5/10

We then had a very good palate cleanser of Marigold sorbet with an elderflower and lemon foam, but which I forgot to photograph. 10/10

Dessert was called “Parsley root, Gianduja, millet” and came as a very prettily presented dish with parsley root ice cream; yuzu gel on the chocolate ensured nothing was too sweet. I liked it. 9/10

We ordered coffees, which were served with four delicious petit fours, my favourite being the rum caneli. 8/10

We left Frog at 16:15 – just under 4 hours since being seated. Clearly that’s too long for most people’s lunch break, but chef was aware that we were there for a relaxing and extended meal, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Ans over that time we had plenty of opportunities to engage with Chef Cleverson on a range of subjects, including the effects recruitment crisis in the hospitality industry at this time.

A great lunch, good seasonal produce, excellent service and pretty good value for money at £574 ‘all in’.  I would be amazed and disappointed for the team at Frog if they don’t win a Michelin star in the next guide, due out in October.  My overall score is 8.5/10