My second visit to Nathan Outlaw’s London establishment and again proved what a charming venue it is with very fresh cooking. The amuse bouche was the same as it was from last year but as these fried fish bites with herb mayonnaise are lovely, that was not a problem at all. Two different menus were sampled on this occasion with the set menu and the a la carte. The set menu on this occasion included the steak tartare and gunard with a lovely paprika creamed sauce; the a la carte menu choices I had were the seaweed & cider cured salmon (from Scotland) with horseraddish yoghurt and then the mullet with red peppers & olives, saffron and shellfish sauce.
I tried all dishes and both wines that were chosen and the short version is that it was all refined and well done with sauces that were beautifully done on the mains. If there was a top prize, I honestly thought that it would need to go to the steak tartare on pure flavour with the decorative dijon mustard add ons and attention to detail to the herbs. The salmon starter was as tender and succulent as you can get, but I did feel that there could have been more chutney to assist the rather large swirl of horseraddish yoghurt which I found quite bland; I honestly did not get much of the horseraddish coming through. The fish main were both lovingly done, that was obvious and I did enjoy the sauces very much with both fish being beautifully fresh.
I tried all dishes and both wines that were chosen and the short version is that it was all refined and well done with sauces that were beautifully done on the mains. If there was a top prize, I honestly thought that it would need to go to the steak tartare on pure flavour with the decorative dijon mustard add ons and attention to detail to the herbs. The salmon starter was as tender and succulent as you can get, but I did feel that there could have been more chutney to assist the rather large swirl of horseraddish yoghurt which I found quite bland; I honestly did not get much of the horseraddish coming through. The fish main were both lovingly done, that was obvious and I did enjoy the sauces very much with both fish being beautifully fresh.
These were lovely dishes no question, but my main observation is that the difference in flavours, enjoyment and quality were basically the same for the set menu and a la carte, but the latter was over twice the price (at time of writing set menu was £22 for 2 / £27 for 3 courses and the a la carte was £55 for 3 courses). Therefore at double the price there was only a very marginal uplift in overall return with the size of the meat portions on the a la carte being the most noticeable difference and hence this visit proved that the venue’s main strength is still in the set menu and it is a gem for that reason, being so flavoursome. I will therefore be opting for the set menu whenever I go here unless anything looks outstanding on the a la carte and has to be done.
A lovely meal in summary, and the occasion itself being the most memorable and charming had in a very long time, coated in attentive service.
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