The Condiment Queen

Wild Honey

When I went to Arbutus last year I was pretty impressed. Great food, unpretentious staff (in a pretty pretentious location) and prices that made it both classy and value for money.

Which is probably why Wild Honey had so much hype. After my disappointing visit to Great Queen Street I was prepared for an experience that didn't measure up to the rave reviews I had seen elsewhere.

Luckily I was wrong - sometimes the hype is right.

Set in a wide, deep room with dark pannelled walls, Wild Honey oozes old world class and charm. With comfortable banquettes and chairs it is a room to linger in.

The waitress took awhile to bring our menus over so it gave us some time to eye off our neighbours - and in the end we ordered the same mains as they did - one halibut and one very seasonal monkfish. The starters were very hard to decide between - they all sounded marvellous - iberico ham, warm eel salad with summer vegetables, paté with cherries, stuffed heritage tomatoes.

In the end the eel and the paté won us over and we were not disappointed. Never in my life have I had such a tasty piece of eel that didnt come with terriyaki sauce! Warm, rich and accompanied by simple, lemony, shaved fennel and carrot salad it was unexpectedly lovely. Luckily my friends paté serving was enormous so I was able to sample the rich, buttery goodness cut through by the sweet, sharp cherries. Gorgeous. The only let down (and this is quite a big one) was the bread - which tasted and looked like it had come in a bag from sainsburys - this is a small but important detail, particularly when you are using good quality demi sel butter that is put on the table BEFORE you get your menu so you're anticipating sourdoughy perfection.

The mains were really nice - my monkfish was if anything slightly undercooked and served with lovely beans. The halibut well cooked and accompanied by potatoes smashed in butter (not mashed, smashed) which was truly divine.

I plumed for greengages and nougat ice-cream for dessert, which was certainly big enough to share (plum wise) but one quenelle of that ice cream was a little too little when it tastes so good.

Despite the Mayfair location the staff were warm and efficient and in every other respect unremarkable.

In another respect it fell over a little - and that was in terms of price at £45/head for 2.5 courses and one carafe of wine I felt it was a tiny bit much and while I enjoyed the meal I felt on balance I'd head to back to Great Queen Street first.

Wild Honey
12 George Street
London
W1S 2FB
Website

Mews of Mayfair

I love a good mews. Those canny, tucked away corners of the city that make you feel like a real insider. You would expect Lancashire Court to exude this vibe, but if you come here after work it’s a crowded, heaving mass of wide boys and girls trying to pick up before the bell rings.

Luckily Mews of Mayfair has arrived to bring some sophistication, if not decorum, to this hideaway. The two building conversion with enough floors & spaces to rival megaplex restaurant Smiths of Smithfield manages to be intimate.

The restaurant starts on the first floor decorated with butterfly wallpaper, which leads up to the chefs ‘map’ room at the top which has a window into the kitchen. David Selex, the head chef is using seasonal ingredients and British cooking married with the ‘flavours’ of the empire in a post fusion post modernist way.

The deft hand with the fish made the cherry smoked salmon & homemade piccalilli and the Sea bassed soused in vinegar with caviar the highlights of the first course – the latter looking clearly like a ceviche but with the vinegar, which our over zealous waiter assured us had been flavoured with bonito making it into something very special indeed.

Not everything was perfect. The batter on our courgette flowers with goats curd & truffle dressing was a little heavy and drowned the delicate flowers out but then the Fois gras on a bed of lentils melted like velvet.

The mains were equally flamboyant on the one hand and reassuring on the other - Barnsley lamb chops with roasted tomatoes were pink and simply presented and the roasted Bream on fennel was crispy skinned and perfectly cooked.

The tuna spring roll with Worcester sauce was deemed to be ok but seemed a bit small and the veal sweetbreads that came with the turbot were a bit dry and curiously on a skewer.

Our side order of minty mushy peas was a fantastic accompaniment served in an individual cast iron pot. The heritage tomato salad didn’t need a pesto garnish, although it was flavoursome and refreshing.

After all that wizardry there was no warning that dessert might not be quite as successful. A very nicely flavoured bergamont cream with a softly roasted peach was lovely but it came with what we think were garibaldi biscuits which were a little dry and tasteless and completely unecessary (very post Marcus Waering in Great British Menu). The Chocolate brownie was at £9 very disappointing and far too orangey although its sour cream ice cream was divine.

British food works best when things are simple and understated. The ambitious, well executed food David and his team are creating is worthy of some buzz - The ingredients are all there for a long and healthy tenure.

Mews of Mayfair
10-11 Lancashire Court
New Bond Street
Mayfair
London
W1S 1EY
Reservations 020 7518 9388
Map