The Lab 2013

Last night, I was very lucky to be at The Lab, a incredible event from the creators of Taste Festivals bringing together the best chefs from around the world to share exciting new ingredients, flavours and techniques. There was a great buzz about the place, perhaps from the moody dim red lighting, but more likely the anticipation of Monday's news: The World's 50 Best Restaurants.

After a warm 'ciao' and hug from Massimo Bottura, I watched Alex Atala as he finished preparing dishes at the AEG Experiment stage. The food looked stunning, with coconut apple and seaweed brought over from Brazil where his restaurant D.O.M. is located, and an oyster fried in brioche crumbs and served in a little Japanese sauce dish with a soy sauce emulsion, tapioca and roe.

I then went on to try a couple of 'The Dishes'. The mackerel tartare was wonderful: beautifully fresh mackerel well seasoned, with a touch of caviar bringing out the flavour, and combined with crispy bread and beetroot made for a treat.

I really liked the Lukas Pfaff's (of Sartoria) asparagus risotto - it was very creamy but had a slight citrus tang cutting through from the mystery ingredient, Bergamot (which my mum guessed!). The quail's egg melting on top also added an interesting dimension to the dish. Unfortunately it wasn't served very warm, so I didn't have long to savour it!

Roasted rice from Kolkata Street Food was perhaps the best, with sevpuri, mung beans, chickpeas, cucumber and spiced with Indian onion, chili, coriander, lime and tamarind, all combined before me and served in a paper cone.

The highlight of the evening, however, had to be taking part in the 'Noma Flavour Test', for which my mum managed to secure only a single ticket (they went in a flash) which she generously gave to me!

Lars Williams, head of research and development at Noma, talked about the excitement of discovering a new flavour combination, comparing it to an artist discovering a new colour and the ways in which Noma is changing, from re-designing their kitchen to be more dynamic to employing a full-time forager. 

We were lead through several ingredients - Danish-grown seaweed which was dried into a thick crunchy crisp tasted distinctively like soy sauce. There was barley, some fermented and used to flavour potato like a sweet sauce, some colonised by mould which released amylase enzymes and could rapidly age cheese. My favourite were woodland ants (not sure if they were alive) which tasted exceptionally sharp and acidic - I'll be looking out for them in the supermarket (... or not!).

Bird of Smithfield

Last night I went to Bird of Smithfield, the new restaurant just a stone's throw from the famous meat market, started by Alan Bird, veteran of The Ivy. On my visit, it was still almost a building site in parts, but despite the odd wire dangling like tentacles from the ceiling, the restaurant was already looking stylish, with armchairs surrounding the bar and interesting paintings around the dining tables on the cosy restaurant floor.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, and although I was tempted by the treacle cured salmon or a fresh salad with goat's cheese, I couldn't resist the Dorset crab which came with fantastic crispy thin slices of bread. The rich mayonnaisey dressing covered delicate crab meat and fresh avocado - I found myself asking for more bread to enjoy every last morsel of this creamy delight! My mum's asparagus were cooked to perfection, with a superb hollandaise.

Mains was a tough decision too, although I was very happy with my slip sole, served with brown shrimp and samphire. The texture of the fish was great, and the intense flavours brought about in combination with the almost earthy shrimp and salty samphire transported me to the coast. With such a rich dish, I struggled to finish the extremely generous portion - one fillet would have sufficed for me! I would have preferred the triple-cooked chips to be much more crispy (admittedly my standards based on Heston's Hind's Head are high), but they were wonderfully fluffy inside.

The chocolate pot, made with Original Beans' Cru Virunga, was a hit, topped with a powerful salted caramel cream, and hiding a little surprise of popping candy.

Having not had trifle for a long time, I was mightily impressed by the rhubarb trifle with 'Bird's Custard': decadent, but refined - I'll be returning to Bird of Smithfield, if just for some more scrumptious desserts!

El Pirata Detapas

Earlier in the week, I had dinner at El Pirata Detapas, a Spanish restaurant with a menu that aims to play with traditional tapas dishes, giving touches of modern flavours and textures.

I was delighted to be presented with some really good olives (they had an almost anchovy-like flavour), given that so often restaurant olives can be disappointing. Despite the obvious contemporary trends running through the menu, I felt compelled towards my favourite tapas and couldn't resist getting the black risotto and the piquillo pepper and idizabal cheese croquetas. The risotto was delicious, with a great consistency, amazing black colour and deep flavour. The croquetas were unfortunately a let-down: inside the crispy case was a strange spongy filling, not the oozing delight that the dish needs.

I particularly liked the seared tuna served with an ajoblanco sauce. The fish was wonderful, very lightly seared so that it was like sashimi, and the ajo blanco had a slightly grainy texture and subtle nutty taste which went very well. We were still licking the plate when the waiter took it away!

Roasted figs that were topped with a cheese foam and served with raspberry vinaigrette were quite tasty, but very sweet. I think that this disguised the cheese too much, making the flavour combination less interesting.

I very much enjoyed the cheese board, with a range of different styles of cheese: from a strong blue which was delicious with the thinly sliced apple, to a lighter and more grassy cheese, and of course the classic, manchego with membrillo - unbeatable.

Their crema catalana was served in two ways, one more traditional and the other more light and fluffy. Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of either - they both had an overwhelming heap of honey which, for me, make the dish rather sickly. I think I would have preferred the real deal, done well.

It was a mix of ups and downs, but I really liked the good dishes, and with very friendly staff and a warm atmosphere, it was an enjoyable evening.

Degò

After a wonderful evening at Curzon Soho, watching the UK premiere of Thérèse Desqueyroux including a Q&A with Audrey Tautou as part of their 'Rendez-Vous With French Cinema', I had a delicious meal at Degò, an Italian restaurant and winebar a matter of minutes from the super-busy Oxford Circus.

The menu was full of traditional dishes and flavours from Italy. I started off with aubergine parmigiana - this version was partially de-constructed  with a beautifully sweet tomato sauce accompanying crispy aubergine interleaved with gooey mozzarella. It was certainly tasty, although a little too oily.

I was very happy with the house-made fettuccine for my mains. The pasta was perfect, just al dente, and with creamy fresh burrata and confit tomatoes was a pleasure to eat. It's a wonderfully simple combo, so I think I'll be trying to emulate it at home!

I finished with some great house-made gelato: peach, raspberry and pear - a refreshing end to a highly enjoyable meal.