Picture, Marylebone, restaurant review: A tried and tested team execute mark two
The minimalist industrial chic interiors ensure the food takes centre stage at one of London’s best-value restaurants
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Your support makes all the difference.In an unassuming location on Marylebone’s New Cavendish Street, which is known more for its chic village atmosphere and one-off shops than its restaurants, is the latest venture from former Wild Honey and Arbutus group chefs, Alan Christie and Colin Kelly, following in the footsteps of its sister restaurant of the same name on Great Portland Street.
Aesthetically, the interior isn’t much. The L-shaped room features grey walls and exposed concrete in a bid for minimal industrial chic. Highlights are the mid-century dark wooden furniture – pretty much seen everywhere at the moment – and the dark brass hanging pendant lights above the bar, likewise. The grey recycled paper menus are printed with today’s date in an old library stamp as a reminder that the menu changes weekly.
But the unpretentious earthly and neutral décor – or slightly bleak – doesn’t detract from a relaxed ambience, which improves when the evening draws in and the internal lights are softly lowered. And best of all, the scarcity of soft furnishings doesn’t leave diners shouting to one another, as the acoustics create nothing less of a soothing low buzz.
What the décor may lack is made up for by the competent and modest hospitality, led by smiley and charming Tom Slegg, also of Wild Honey and Arbutus restaurants. Really, the minimal surroundings let the main event shine – the food.
The a la carte menu features three dishes in as many sections; Tom suggests diners would choose one from each section, priced between £9 and £12. The first section is all vegetarian with goats' curd, tomatoes and celery shoots, and caramelised onion ravioli with peas, lettuce and pecorino, followed by a selection of fish such as cod, corn, chorizo, Paris brown mushrooms and the last section is – you guessed it – meat, covering the three staples, including Daphne’s lamb neck, sweetbreads, ricotta, tomato and anchovy. Sides of fries or little gem lettuce are available for £3.50 each.
I chose the well-crafted six-course tasting menu, which takes a dish from each of the a la carte sections. It is a steal at £40 per head, minus the accompanying wine flight which bumps it up to £70. My designated driver – and dining guest – opted for greengage lemonade made with fresh plums that was fantastically fruity with a fizzy tang, while I sipped on a carafe of white Hungarian dry wine that had fruity hints of grapefruit which I’m now Googling to get hold of a bottle (or two).
As neither overly daring nor too simple, the food sits comfortably in the modern European category, with Middle Eastern influences. Beginning with beef bites, the square lumps of slow-cooked beef cheek were coated in a crisp and light batter sitting in a garlic mayonnaise and brushed with a touch of chilli sauce, at just a pound a pop were a perfect suggestion and better than the slightly too dense bread rolls that were served.
The only negative of the six courses was the second dish – charred spiced cauliflower, peas, shallots and capers, which as I write this now, I could happily eat. But it just didn’t meet the level of every other course, either in presentation, texture or matched flavours. The chilled summer vegetable soup was like biting into fresh peas from the garden in a glorious liquid form – even though it was sipped – while the third course of lightly smoked pork was more like a succulent and slow-cooked terrine that delicately fell apart, accompanied by thinly sliced roast baby carrots on top of smeared greengage puree which was the best of the courses. The stone bass was surrounded by a well-matched combination of strong green olives sliced, charlotte potatoes and green beans and the 28-day-aged skirt of beef, expertly cooked, with an accompanying silky red wine sauce textured with a generous sprinkling of rich bone marrow crumbs, and finished up the main dishes.
Instead of choosing between the sweet and cheese course, we opted for both. Three cheeses can be added on for £9 or two for £7.50. We chose the creamy blue Beauvale and a very ripe Tunworth camembert which, at first both looked very small compared to my usual chunks of cheese which admittedly are far too large, and came with a bitter chutney and toast. And finally the dark chocolate mousse, which looked more like a scoop of chocolate ice cream, was decadent and accompanied with salt caramel crumble.
The whole picture is a well-executed and unfussy formula resulting in a place to visit again and again, especially considering two tasting menus, a half bottle of wine and non-alcoholic drink came to about £110.
Food: ****
Ambience: ***
Service: ****
Picture, 19 New Cavendish Road, London W1G 9TZ; 02079350058; Mon-Sat 12pm-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm
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