Dinner at Hedone. This is my third visit and I am still enjoying the food and experience but the meal tonight was good but did not blow me away. However, that is not necessarily what I am now looking from this restaurant. It’s becoming more like a local eatery to me now rather than a destination ‘blow your mind’ restaurant. The service is intensely personal (if Mikael likes you) with the chef remembering the dishes he cooked for you last week or even (as in my case) 5 months ago, and ensuring that no dishes are repeated. No mean feat when he has regular diners here that eat once a week. On my second visit, he remembered me I think because we had chatted about the industry and discovered that we have some mutual friends, and so he made me go through my iPhone to hunt down the pictures I took of my first meal (including the wine) so as to ensure he could offer new dishes and wines. His wine knowledge is immense and I find myself praying that as he introduces, pours and describes each wine in great depth, he won’t ask me any wine questions as I am certain I would make a fool of myself. Both the restaurant and the chef Mikael Jonsson are very divisive and discussed a lot. In my opinion this can only be a good thing. He has a very direct and honest personality which I know some people find hard. He is not afraid to tell you what he thinks and if he thinks you are talking nonsense about his food then he will have no time for you at all. But, on the other hand, if he sees you as someone who is coming back because you enjoy and appreciate good food and wine, and a restaurant that can provide that, then you have struck gold. It can get expensive, this meal was the ‘Carte Blanche’ menu at £135 and a prestige wine tasting at £195, but ended up being close to £500 with add ons (truffle dishes and a cheese plate instead of composed cheese course).
This did irk me slightly, as I think the very idea of a carte blanche menu is that the chef should be unleashing all the bells and whistles rather than saying that actually you are only getting the bells and that the whistles are an extra seventy quid. The truffles I guess I can accept that, but there should certainly be a choice of being able to have the cheese plate included in the price if you would prefer that to the composed plate.
It is fairly hard to spend £500 in any London restaurant including the 3*s unless you decide to push it on the wine. So to spend that amount at a 1* out in Chiswick might seem crazy to some. However, the way I look at it is that next time I go back I can have the 7 courses with the regular pairing and escape for half that, but I don’t know a lot (if any) restaurants at this level or any level really that will treat me so well on a regular basis. So that is why I will go back again and again.
It’s still my #1 recommendation in London. But.....not for everyone.