Readers may recall my visit to Agnes Bakery earlier in the year which had achieved a phenomenal amount of hype for its' baked goods that quite a few people got up at the crack of dawn for. Since then, it has closed and the original restaurant by Ben Williamson has finally launched and it was immediately booked out for months. We were very fortunate to get a booking for four last Saturday lunch.
It took us a bit to find the door as there was minimal signage and the original bakery door was closed. Inside, the restaurant was far more dim and moody, I really liked the open plan kitchen where we could peer in and watch the chefs at work.
The drinks menu spanned multiple pages and they had a very extensive wine list. In comparison the food menu was a lot shorter, combining snacks, small dishes, large dishes, sides and desserts in one page. It didn't take too long for us to decide what we wanted.
Starting off with drinks we had some wine and a mocktail. The wine was well received and the mocktail was curiously salty, a first for my companion.
Kicking off with the food was the snack sized dishes. This was the Sardine Sandwich with white n’duja and white strawberry. Biting into it, the bread was wonderfully fluffy and squishy but what really struck me was the extreme saltiness of the sardine. Even with the added condiments in the sandwich, there was no masking the salty stringy fish.
Our other snack sized dish was the Scarlet Prawn Doughnuts with vinegar, sour herbs. As my companion eloquently put it, this was essentially a prawn takoyaki. The dough was light and chewy with a crisp exterior and ample amount of prawns inside, but when compared to Takoyaki, the price for a single piece was definitely steep.
Moving onto small plates, the Bluefin tuna with grilled fennel and horseradish was the dish I was most looking forward to. Having seen a photo of it online from another foodie, I was expecting some very fatty tuna, but unfortunately ours was not. It was lightly smoked and well seasoned but didn't have the melt in your mouth texture that I was expecting from my friend's experience.
Next up was the Beef tartare with smoked chestnut, mushroom, almond and turnip. It didn't have the normal flavour profile that I am used to with pickles and capers, but I did really enjoy the lighter flavours of this dish,, highlighting the freshness of the beef, coupled with the added crunchy of the chestnut and turnip.
Our favourite of the evening was the Octopus with black lemon, almond and garlic shoots. Although the garlic flavour wasn't overly strong, the octopus was very tender and I liked how the yoghurt sauce went with the burnt charcoal flavours of the octopus.
From the main dishes this was the Aged Duck with candied kumquats and bread sauce. Like the sardine sandwich, the duck was also extremely salty with a moderately crispy skin but it had a very firm flesh. By contrast the kumquat was very sweet and complimented the duck well.
Our other main was the Lamb Neck with ancho mole, pickles and flatbread. The lamb itself was quite chewy and firm, not very tender. It was also very salty. The sauces managed to reduce this a bit and the flatbread was soft and dense, but the pickles turned out to be even more salty. It took a lot of water to wash this down.
Finishing off, we had two basque cheesecakes to share. This was highly inconsistent as one was cooked completely through whilst the other had a fairly runny centre. The flavours were still on point though with the light saltiness of cheese and the decadent creaminess, but I would have liked both to have had the infamous liquid centre. Overall, for what it was, I would not be in a rush to return.
Taste: 6/10
Value: 5/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment