A quick word on the restaurant first.  It is located on the the 8th floor of the hotel with a chick bar (also called Brooklands) on the opposite side of the hotel on the same floor which has stunning views of Wellington Arch, Hyde Park and the major sites of London.  Brooklands itself is a reference to the old racetrack for classic cars which the Hotel’s founders have strong, historical connections to.  The decor also proudly showcases the hotel’s connection to Rolls Royce via a huge Concorde overlooking the restaurant (which had Rolls Royce engines).  Whilst a little sterile in feel, the restaurant does have a trump card of its terrace which is open on select, warms days in the summer months and the modern pop music in the main restaurant helps to make the atmosphere non-stuffy.

The head chef is Francisco Dibenedetto who was the head chef of Bibendum (as well as Hibiscus before this) and was provided the opportunity to fly the Bosi flag on this second venture.  The menu follows a very similar modern style to Bibendum in a swish environment has a wine list that I would recommend specifying your budget cap of what you would like to ideally spend on wine with the very capable sommeliers.  The cheapest Sancere by the bottle I could find was £95 which is high, although our Italian sommelier looked after us with alternate suggestions very well.

Our first snack was a punchy tartlet of broadbeans, cured egg, feta cheese and mint that worked very well and had a strong hit of mint.  We were then treated to an absolute array of amuse bouches and canapés.  The crowning glory of these was the chicken amuse bouche.  Two things in this world I absolutely adore – one is coronation chicken and the other is any liver parfait.  Imagine my endorphine levels when I was presented with a chicken liver ice cream (parfait like in texture) sat on a bed of coronation chicken espuma with fabulous Roscoff battered onion topping? Of course, it could have been bad, but this was utterly sensational.  The liver was silky smooth, the coronation chicken a delight and not too overpowering with the finest onion pieces giving the texture and sweeteness that was needed to compliment the richness of this little serving.

All of the other snacks and pieces were super as well – the mushroom, foie gras and potato tuile toast was light, delicate and explosive in mushroom umami.  The delightful Oreo-like Welsh rarebit bite was another winner – thin slices of crunch holding a wonderful béchamel interior that was strong in mustard but not overwhelming, all decorated in Parisian flowers; a sumptuous bite.  Then a haddock custard with pike roe and Granny Smith apple pearls was also a wonderful combination, the apple giving just what the custard and salt needed for balance and everything worked very well altogether.  These was an outstanding start to a meal, probably of the best I have ever had and in fact and is a seriously worthwhile presentation to come back for.

Sourdough bread was Brough in from Coombeshead Farm and came with nicely salted, cultured and non-cultured butters. The two starters were the asparagus and the recommended duck jelly.  The asparagus “Benedict”, came with pickled quail egg yolk and a magnificent hollandaise and beautiful ‘Good Earth Growers Leaves’ and bean salad; the latter adding floral prettiness but more importantly the needed acidity for the rich yolk and hollandaise.  I opted for the marvellous duck jelly with Roscoff onion emulsion filled with Exmoor caviar.  This was outstanding and a delight to have a crinkle cracker to break off in pieces to enjoy it with for textural crunch.

For the mains, I enjoyed turbot from a decently sized 7Kg fish, served with Blackmount (cheese), blanquette sauce with Argan Oil. This was the only aspect of the meal I thought was a tad ‘over’ in that the saltiness from the sauce made with Blackmount cheese and I thought this could be toned down. Thankfully there was a beautifully decorated salad leaf to provide saline relief. However, it was a lovely piece of turbot and good to do a new sauce with it. My dining companion had the absolutely sumptuous Herdwick lamb from the Lake District served with mint and pastrami with a wonderful dill taco.  The lamb had superb flavour and fat rendering and reduction that was one of the very best I have ever come across – I had no choice but to drink the remains of this from the serving dish.

A pre-dessert of lemon granita with fennel ice cream and white fennel seeds proved to be novel and refreshing.  The desserts themselves were a combination of British Cheeses with malted bread with oats and an apple dessert. The apple dessert was entitled “The Best of The British Apples and Wild Meadowsweet” which was an Apple broth inside frozen apple using six kinds of apple including Goldrush, Pink Lady, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Bramley and Cox apple varieties.  These were all used in different forms including ganache, compote and sorbet to great effect. This was clever, refreshing and had a number of textures that ultimately showcased apple brilliantly.  An array of petit fours were then served after with difference coffee which was a very agreeable finish.

The bill came to £300 per person but this was with pre-dining cocktails and champagne and good Sancere through the meal.  It is possible to dine here for around £160 per person incl service with no alcohol or coffee. Either way, this meal had the best canapes of any meal I have ever had and I am already looking forward to having another meal here as I know it the sort of food that will please.

Food Grade: 89%

Canapes included Pissaladière bases with caramelised onion, Jersey royal potato & smoked eel, duck rilerte and rosti bites with turbot and sea urchin tartare which were fabulous.  Confit duck terrines were likewise light and delicate and sumptuous.  As a member of the Luxury Restaurant Guide, I was able to take advantage of the current offer with this restaurant which was a complimentary glass of the house champagne and this was obviously very welcome. For the rest of the meal we enjoyed a bottle of the Chapel Down Kits Katy Bacchus at £68 which was one of the more modest bottles on the wine list and perfectly fresh enough to accompany the meal.

My dining companion and I ordered different dishes from the whole of the lunch menu and tried both meaning that it was good to see and experience the entire lunch menu.  I started with the oak smoked salmon which came with stuffed morel ‘farcie’ (stuffed) served with a wild garlic sabayon which was beautifully done.  The other starter was boudin noir (black pudding), Iberico ham, Andignac foie gras served with a truffled brioche which was frankly fabulous; decadently rich and light at the same time.

My main was wild turbot from a 5kg turbot, served with a cuttlefish jus and Basque chorizo foam.  This was very pretty, perfectly cooked and a complete pleasure.  The other main was Hunter’s chicken served with glazed skin, stuffing and albufera sauce (a daughter sauce of veloute).  The chicken was absolutely succulent with an unctuous sauce and both mains were served with seasonal asparagus on soft cheese and a superbly buttery mash, akin to the fabled Joel Robuchon mashed potato.

The dessert was a rhubarb tart with fromage blanc ice cream and was utterly brilliant.  The sweet cheese ice cream an actual favourite of mine which I have not had in a long time, the tart base lovely and the rhubarb sauce a sweet joy.  House cheeses were also enjoyed which came with sweet wine jelly and truffle honey and these were all very good.  Petit fours were provided at the end of the meal and were all intricate and delicious – as classy an end to the meal as it was throughout. 

This was an impressive meal overall and I thought it entirely worthy of its new accolade of 2 Michelin stars.

Food Grade: 86%

I should firstly mention how stunning the interior design of the restaurant is.  As ever, this has absolutely no sway on the final food grade, but Lalique certainly have adorned the restaurant well.  My guest was very pleased with the design of the Lalique crystal champagne glasses for example and we both thought the Lalique Brut champagne was actually very good indeed and a superb start to the meal which instantly set a good mood.

Canapes served included the red currant and liver on cocoa biscuit, which was a perfect combination of sweet.  A nectarine sorbet followed which as a replacement was very good to have albeit quite sweet rather than tart for an opening canapé. The Nori seaweed tart was stunning – bursting with umami and freshness, with just a hint of kick.  The Tattie Scone, which featured Highland wagyu, black truffle egg yolk and oscietra caviar was delightful. While I felt the scone had a bit more dough than should which was the main taste as opposed to the wagyu, the lovely burst of potato mayonnaise made up for this.

Breads were a mix of malted barley sourdough with House-Cultured Butter; on top of the loaf was a reduction of beer and molasses, smoked burred noisette with honey, highland rapeseed’, apple and bramble vinaigrette.  These were genuinely some of the nicest and most ideally suitable condiments for bread I have had in a very long time.

The Langoustine tartare was impressive as the opening dish, with buttermilk, caviar from the Sturia company, yoghurt, and dashi gel served with a langoustine biscuit made from the shell, called the ‘bisque-it’. The latter was very skilful and with such a strong yet tempered crustacean flavour at the same time and was a dish resembling more a two star restaurant than a one at this stage.

The Sea Bream was another highlight, featuring celery, apple, smoked apple purée, celeriac, and roasted suckling pig jus. While it was a bit denser than when steamed, the aging process before pan-frying made the flesh less juicy in texture but equally delicious. The Lobster Toddy was a unique twist on a classic bisque, served as a toddy with a bisque and barbecue with herb jus, radish. This was superb, plain and simple. The lobster roll and lobster tail were both equally very impressive and a wonderful way to enjoy lobster in ways that make it far more interesting whilst not going over the top at the same time.

Next came a single bite of ravioli called the Foievioli.  On a spoon was a single ravioli filled with albufera suace inside, foie gras, sour quince and truffle on top.  This bit bursted in the mouth and was simply an absolutely stunning piece of cooking and flavour satisfaction and I believe I could have had a conveyer belt of these.  For the main course a juniper smoked Roe deer was served with caramelised onion and roscoff onion purée as the main components.  The venison was done beautifully and was as succulent as they come – I was very impressed with this and the very well done substitute dish of mushroom for my guest who simply does not like venison.  The fact that the kitchen was willing to do this and able in the manner that it did resembled genuine class that is seemingly lost on many restaurants these days that refuse to offer alternatives.  

Pre-dessert was a ‘new take’ on Blood Orange Marshmallow Sour; a blood orange sorbet with saffron Sauternes which was refreshing and pleasant.  The main dessert was a maracaibo mille-feuille, served with green coffee, coconut sorbet and Glenturret Triple Wood, because, why not?! A lovely dessert which was decadent and not too heavy at the same time and basically a complete pleasure.

Food Grade: 86%

Da Terra (meaning “from the ground”) is the brainchild collaboration between Rafael Cagali and Paulo Airaudo.  The former is head chef and leading the pass at Da Terra and the latter runs Michelin starred Amelia in San Sebastian.  The menus at DaTerra are tasting only options, ranging from 5 courses for £65, 8 courses for £98 or 11 courses for £125.  Menus change seasonally and all are ‘blind’ i.e., you choose how many you have time and money enough for, allergies and intolerances are noted and then the meal commences.

The meal began with three snacks. Cod croquettes from the underused head and cheeks of cod came with burnt chive mayonnaise which had a very light bread coating and with the chive mayonnaise were delightful.  Nori tacos came with trout belly and baeri caviar and were another lovely bite using good quality seaweed (the nori) and luxurious filling.  Perhaps the most decadent of all were the potato cannelloni with roe mousse and biancetto (Italian for ‘Whitish’) truffle shavings.  Very thin potato cannelloni were oozing with light roe mousse and these were all a strong opening to any meal.

First course was a Stacciatella Tomato Panzanella which is a traditional Italian dish using leftover bread.   This modern take had a layer of fried sourdough with soft buratta, spec and preserved datterinis (baby tomatoes), fermented tomatoes and basil oil.  A tomato consomme was then poured on top as the finishing touch.  This was a wonderfully fresh modern take on Stacciatella; the tomatoes were extremely sweet, the fried sourdough adding a pleasing crunch with well-portioned buratta and a whilst not the most transparent and clear consomme, it held a lovely flavour.  A very good opening dish. 

Next was a dish simply called, “The Chicken”.  This came with onion purée, black winter truffles, chicken skin, chicken yolk and a chicken liver parfait in an eggshell with homemade brioche to have this spooned on to the brioche.  This was a very pretty dish in presentation and the chicken liver parfait inside the egg, rich, smooth and with deep liver flavour.  The chicken was succulent, well cooked and the chicken feet, egg yolk and onion puree were all a very good match and 

Wild halibut was presented having been cooked over a barbeque for 2 minutes with cabbage cooked with beer vinegar to make hispi sauerkraut and also served with monks beard, chicken crumbs and sea vegetables such as sea beet and scurvygrass. This was a good piece of halibut and the supporting roasted garlic and anchovy sauce was fine and something not had with halibut before as a good change.  This also came with small parcels made with the skin of the halibut filled with a light roe and these were slightly less seasoned than expected which was another pleasant surprise as roe can be hugely salty and these were grand.

Brazilian Feijoada is a national dish of Brazil and is traditional for Brazilian families on the weekends just as a Sunday roast is in the UK. Feijoada is a stew of beef or pork with black bean and this dish was a modern version with a slow-cooked and very tender piece of New Forest pork belly coated with black bean, orange and fried cavolo nero.  The belly of pork was tender with reasonable flavour, the jus made from the pork was fine and the cavolo nero on top was delicate and a very good touch to help cut through the meat and sauce.  The orange pieces were necessary owing to the rich and fatty nature of everything else, but simply not a favourite combination that I have experienced.  What was an absolute treat was the herb bouquet, served on the side in a little vase of water, tied together with a thin piece of lard which was not only visually pleasing but really was what the mouth needed after the heavy nature of the main dish.  An accompanying bowl of Farofa, a form of toasted sweetcorn flour served with bacon, banana and baby teardrop chillies was pleasant to have as a form of Brazilian salad.  This is another classic dish of Brazil and good to experience, served in a crafted, wooden bowl and spoon.

Bread was served as a course in its own right and as part of menu.  This was homemade sourdough and served with grilled bone marrow with sage, in a similar fashion to that served at La Calandre. Two cultured butters accompanied: salted and pink peppercorn butter.  There was also an olive oil from Tuscany, made firm from adding a compound from seaweed that emulsifies the fat within the oil – the latter was probably the most enjoyable of the selection and it was pleasant to be breaking the bread at the table.  Next came a cheese course which was goats cheese (Innes Brick) with quince jelly as a classic combination, akin to South American guava paste and fennel flax (linseed) crisps were provided to spread this on.  The goats cheese was toned down well and the sweet quince did its job of balancing the cheese very well to the airy goats cheese.

The dessert was sorrel ice cream with blackberries and pistachio with 40 year old Acetaia San Giacomo balsamic vinegar giving sharpness. There was good and bad with this dessert.  The thin white chocolate coating to the sorrel was skilful, but it was almost as if all the supporting parts described (the pistachio, the balsamic and blackberries etc) were necessary to help deal with the bitter sorrel ice cream.  Herb ice creams I think are risky for desserts and they can be managed by sharp and sweet additions, but there is another way to deal with this, which is to not use herb ice cream.  No matter how well made or treated a savoury or biter ice cream is, I simply believe traditionally sweet ice cream is more suitable for dessert.

An array of impressive petit fours finished the meal including lego caipirinha cocktail jellies, wonderfully light and fluffy doughnuts with dulce de lech caramel (this was outstanding), truffles with rosemary and very pretty mini bergamot tartlets with a thin pastry.  All of this for £65 on the lower menu and the hard work that has gone into it is not unnoticed and I would say a very worthwhile visit.

There is an imaginative style at De Terra and I’m happy I have now been here.  Of the past three restaurants that have held this site, I feel this could be the one to stay and I hope it does, such is the care in the design of the food and the personality and hospitality of the chef being an obviously positive and leading light for the rest of the staff – that is as clear as daylight.  I can count on one hand the number of Michelin starred restaurants where the head chef has personally attended to tables (this probably being the most prominent) and this adds to an all-round very good experience.  Well done Da Terra and Rafael Cagali.

The lunch menu is offered as 2 courses for £30 or 3 courses for £35, with a 5-course tasting menu at £60 and 7-course tasting menu at £70.  Canapes arrived with a selection of three.  A savoury cookie of strawberry with toasted sesame and madras was fatty with lovely toasted seeds and delicate strawberry.  A potato and tandoori cod roe bite with caviar, chive, garlic flower and garam masala, hint of mustard had a superb fragrance with an element of heat.  Then a cube of cucumber with chaat masala had a very good balance of heat and cool from the cucumber.  Quality openers.

Then a chicken thigh on a skewer came with crispy rice, coriander, chaat masala tandoori paste.  This was fine, not bursting with chicken flavour and a little dry for thigh, but a pleasing offering.  The next course was a North Indian variant of pav bread which was a lamb fat brioche with cumin sauce inside with sliced shallots and cumin, to dip into a chive oil on side lamb soup.  The bread had a decadent and creamy, savoury interior and sticky top which was washed down very well by the spicier lamb curry soup.  A pleasant and original way to have bread for sure.

Softshell crab came from Vietnam where there are clement conditions to make crab abundant and of good flavour (rather like blue crab around the shores of Thailand.  This came with a crabmeat quenelle, Granny Smith apple, crab meat kebab (bottom), raw mango salsa & lovely sweet tomato chutney.  This had a very good mix of spices and mercifully no sludgy overdose of oil from the deep-fry. The kebab crab was strong and the mix of spices from the chaat masala, acidity from the apple matchsticks, crunch from the crab itself and the sweet from the mango made for a very well-orchestrated plate.  I can see how the judges of the Great British Menu made this a finals and winning dish.

A palate cleanser of Hibiscus sorbet with lemon verbena and micro mint herbs poached in nitrogen was wonderfully refreshing.  Normally I don’t prescribe to dishes that are too floral but this was cold (definitely), aromatic without being sickly and generally welcome.

My main chosen was the ‘day boat catch’, a take on dishes commonly found in Kerala (South Indian state) and in this case was a decent cut of cod.  This was served on a portion of spinach, onion & cabbage with spring onion on top, cooked well and with fair flavour.  The langoustine that had been barbequed sat on sea beet and both came with a sensational Alleppey sauce using raw mango, coriander leaf, garlic, onion and coconut – this sauce alone renewed my resolve to visit Kerala as soon as possible, but this was a very good dish all-round in its simplicity and plain good cookery.  I opted for a honey and almond naan that had good texture and basmati rice that had reasonable length, were equally fluffy and actually had a very good crunch of sweet onion as an additional nice touch.  

My dessert was gulab jamun, a traditional solid milk dessert (milk with a binding agent, butter and sugar that has been deep-fried) was pleasing and came with a mandarin gel and milk sorbet.  The latter was more sour than expected and although not hugely pleasant on its own, it was handy at counter-acting the sticky sweetness of the other components as was its point.  An experimental dessert was provided of chocolate ganache (70% cocoa) with a blood orange sorbet, orange gel and sweet potato doughnut.  The chocolate seemed to have quite a hard texture for most ganaches and also seemed to dominate the rest of the pretty add ons and perhaps the quenelle of sorbet could have been larger here, or with chocolate that was toned down a little.  It was ok in general and as an experimental dish I have excluded from the overall grade of this meal.

Finally, an impressive parade of petit fours were produced including dolce de leche salted fudge, a yuzu pate de fruit (essentially a sugar-coated gel), Verona white chocolate mousse tart and a raspberry macaron.  Obvious care had been taken into these and these summed up the detail that is laid on at this restaurant.  The only point I would alert diners to is that if you wish to have a relatively swift lunch, I would not plan on that for an outing here.  This is not necessarily a bad thing and I am probably spoilt from the metropolis of London catering for this in numerous places, but you need to set at least 2 hours aside for the smallest lunch menu as a friendly heads up and this will make sure you don’t miss any onward appointments.

Having said that, this was a cracking Indian meal with a menu showcasing modern twists from Punjab, Lucknow, Kerala, Turkey and Bengal, so a healthy spread of the region.  Aktar Islam was not present on my day of visiting, but his head chef Neil Withers was doing a fine job in his stead during my visit.  I would definitely recommend giving Opheem a try if you enjoy Indian food.

The first thing that struck me here was the first-class service.  Because there is so much average and poor service out there, and specifically I mean non-sincerity displayed or badgering of the guest/diner at the wrong time, interrupting tables badly or reluctance to catch eye contact etc, it is a genuine delight when you are in the hands of real experts.  This was immediately clear to me as the head sommelier welcomed me at the bar and applied no pressure for choices and with a smile retreated and offered help if I needed it – simple and world-class care which reminded me of the pinnacle of this ability shown by Diego Masciaga, formerly of The Waterside Inn.

The menu itself is just one a la carte option with no tasting menu or set lunch options, with prices averaging £18, mains averaging £34 and desserts averaging £14 which, is a fair uplift from the norm, even in the average of Michelin starred venues within London.  The wine list itself is nicely presented and chooses to show wines from around the world in chronological order of wine’s inception on earth, starting with wines Georgian, Armenian and Turkish wines dating back to 7000 BC and followed by the Israelites, Syrians and Lebanese from 4000 BC and so on.  It was nice to see that the UK has been cultivating its own wine just as long as France and other notable European countries developing theirs from 700 BC onwards.  I was in the best of hands sat with Tom ‘Winechap‘ Harrow as my guest for this lunch who steered the selection of our wines by the glass to accompany our dishes.

Bread was from Coombeshead Farm in Devon (a long way to get your bread but was good sourdough with a pleasing level of acidity and crunch from the crust, so worth doing) and homemade butter.  First  starter chosen was a ‘puffini’ and with caviar, sour cream, onion mousse, pea mousse and mirin sabayon (made with rice wine).  Incidentally, ‘puffini’ is a made-up word essentially meaning a form of panini, so to those new to elaborate meus, please don’t be freaked out by things that don’t make any sense – sometimes they genuinely have none!  Although a surprise to me that the pastry was cold, the texture was delicate and enjoyable, with the caviar and tangy sabayon working nicely together with the puffini.

The second starter was veal sweetbreads with king oyster mushrooms, fermented blueberries, blackcurrant sauce and cumin.  The sweetbreads were just right with the subtle crispy exterior and damp inside with good flavour, the acidity and sweetness in the fruits doing their job nicely of balancing the dish.  The whites chosen to go with both of these were a glass of 2017 Artemis Karamolegos Winery, Santorini Assyrtiko, Aidani (Greek) and an orange 2018 Marjan Simcic, Pinot Grigio (Slovenian) which, as you would expect went very well.  It was lovely to see wines from regions other than France and the New World on the list, as rather like clothing labels, one tends to find some really lovely options for a fraction of the price of their famous counterparts, when away from the big-hitting labels.

First main was chicken breast, shallots, turnips and splendid vinegared jus to go with the chicken.  This was a sumptuous dish with simplicity done well.  The other dish was a new dish on the menu: duck breast and confit leg from Devon, with fermented melon, puffed rice, Swiss chard and miso braised cabbage.  The parts on the plate all worked well but the only thing I struggled with slightly was the main part and actually getting through the duck breast.  It was a generous portion and justified the price tag, but ultimately was rubbery in texture and a fraction under how I would prefer – the perfect example of duck for me springs out immediately at Le Champignon Sauvage.  Not a huge biggie, but I would say using thinner slices here and making a touch more cooked including the rendered fat would be a good move (again, I cannot help think of the duck a la presse presentation recently had at The Ritz to expand on my thoughts here).

Red wine by the glass were enjoyed at this point for the mains and these included a very mature 2011 Domaine Tatsis, Goumenissa (from Greece) and a sharper but fruitier 2016 Pendore Kavaklidere, öküzgözü (Turkish) which was just the ticket to go mainly with the duck.

Desserts included an innovative Mille Feuille made with Hakaido (North Japanese) potato.  Layers of caramelised potato, pink peppercorn and white chocolate potato mousse lay within the pastry with a side of sake gelato.  Top marks for originality and was fairly pleasant, but for all the effort, it did not make for any screaming of repeats needed.  Next was a  hazelnut fondant, with white coffee gelato coffee infused with white chocolate and served with hazelnut shavings on top.  The actual lava inside was as lava-like as you would wish and decadent enough, all supported by a coffee ice cream.  Pleasing is the word for both of these desserts.  Coffee supplied by Kiss the Hippo in Richmond was accompanied by a lovely canele each (one of my favourite petit fours), although having a slightly bigger one would have meant less outside crunch to interior nectar ratio.

So that was the food and wine, but I almost forgot – the name of the restaurant itself refers to a triangular or rectangular, wooden kitchen implement to put hot pans on.  Writing this immediately reminds me of my formidable cooking tutor making a special point of shouting out “TRIVET!!!” to any of her students forgetting to do so and endangering the integrity of the huge marble slabs the pots were heading for.  Thankfully, I was free of that here and with a quality lunch all round. It won’t take a doctorate to work out the rough price of this meal based on all of the above, but as this was a treat for my guest, I would rather refrain from having this in the review as a hosting courtesy.

All in all this was very good lunch bar one aspect.  The service and hospitality was superb throughout including our waitress who had also worked at The Fat Duck.  The design of the dishes had clear skill on display and there was obvious ingredient control.  Personally, I would have prefered a couple of tweaks, possibly a different main on reflection and for the price, I would have thought some canapes or amuse bouche wouldn’t be out of the question,  but it is very early days for this restaurant and the meal was enough to have every wish to come back to.  I will definitely be trying out some of the bar snack menu with another non-conventional wine on next visit.

In 2020 the Michelin guide pronounced three 3 Michelin starred restaurants within Osaka (Hajime, Taian and Kashiwaya).  Koryu now slips into the 2 Michelin starred family of which, there are an impressive 15 restaurants of this category in Osaka alone.  This restaurant is run by head chef Shintaro Matsuo who was friendly but could not engage too much with diners owing to the language barrier.  What was a nice touch was his staff members running around the restaurant showing pictures of the fish and produce all were eating on an iPad and explaining where possible.

Before all diners received their appetisers, several large shrimps heads were placed on a grill to gently cook the brains.  Bonito with aubergine and roe sauce was our first bite (the same menu given to all diners at the same time) and this was a pleasurable snack.  Tofu with pinko nuts had a lovely paste with it all.   

The sashimi platter was beautifully presented and included yellowfin with egg yolk, herring, squid with plum sauce, beef noodle, snapper and shrimp and purified saltwater.  The squid was lovely with plum sauce but texturally was quite hard and not as massaged as it was in Mizai (bit hard in comparison) by a long shot.  The tuna with slow-cooked egg yolk, wasabi and soy was one of the rare stunning moments of this though.

The soup contained grouper and matsutake mushrooms (very chewy but with a strong mushroom aroma).  The grouper was juicy and fragrant.   Crab with vinegar jelly, shiitake mushroom and berries was wonderful – a light sweetness to the jelly with beautifully smoked mushroom and very well done.   

Kiki fish (from the gold family with huge eyes) and sea urchin was a disaster.  The skin which you are supposed to eat had the texture of hard cartilage, the fish itself and stock were only traceable and the butternut squash was hardly noticeable. Perhaps this is a Japanese delicacy but I could see another couple of diners shrug away from their serving and not say anything at this dish – really and truly this was not my thing at all and I struggle to see why this would be enjoyable eating for anyone.

Salmon roe with yuzu sorbet and chrysanthemum just didn’t really work very well for me. The slimy texture of the cold roe and cold of the sorbet dish seemed an entirely odd combination.  The shrimp brains that we were invited to suck out of the head were salty and had a reasonable aroma of crustacean.  Slow-cooked Miyazaki beef (from the fabled black wagyu) with fig and soy sauce was as lovely as one can expect.  Porridge and snapper and pickles and Japanese hot tea was regrettably not as memorable regrettably.

Pear flavoured with rum with honey foam, grape and chestnut paste was a lovely collection of fresh fruit to have and strangely the dish was enhanced by the chestnut paste owing to the fruit being not quite at the explosive levels that can be found at say, Kondo, Kitcho or Nanchome Kyoboshi.

So sadly this was not the experience I was hoping for, but the service was very hospitable.  As a diner, you only had to gain eye contact with any of the floor staff and they would practically run over for you in complete concern.  Something that is not really the norm in the UK for example.

A pleasant experience with some very good produce for an authentic Japanese meal, but not one of the best.

Kaiseki cuisine follows a set pattern and Kyoto is the birthplace of this multi-course cuisine of small plates.  The first element is a drink offering “sake-ikken” in honour of the gods and then the hosts which, at Kichisen is a simple soda water which came with a bite of yuzu ice (effectively a sorbet) with edible flowers which was a refreshing start.  Next came a “sakizuke” or appetiser plate of mixed snacks including sea bream, chestnut, sweet potato, fried fish cake, seawater eel, salty fish flakes and fish eggs.

Next in the proceedings is a clear soup called “o-wan”.  As it was late Autumn our soup was a Kyoto butternut soup served within a butternut and a plate sprayed with water to give a feeling of being untouched.  Tampered with after or not this was the silkiest soup I have ever had and was just purity of butternut.  As it was served cold, it had ice flakes placed on top and this may sound simple, but it was a brilliant touch of adding texture to this superb and refreshing soup.

After the o-wan a dashi is served.  Dashi is made from kelp and bonito flakes and an integral stock within Japanese and Kyoto cuisine.  This one was served with sea eel (anago) fish cake.  We were invited to take a deep sniff the dashi first and then two, small pieces of yuzu skin were added which completely changed the aroma of the dashi.  This was a fine dashi with a gentle amount of kelp and the fish cake was delightful to have within it.

After the dashi comes the sashimi or “mukōzuke,” course.  Ours was flat fish, squid and salmon served with wasabi, seaweed jelly and possibly the best version of soy and ponzu sauce you could ask for.  After the initial sashimi, a “nakazara” (middle dish) is served, often including sushi or a steamed dish tuna – ours was toro (medium fatty tuna) served with potato and this was a generous portion and distinctly good quality.  Presentation is often beautiful in Japanese cuisine and if any of the Great British Menu chefs wanted inspiration on this, they could gain a lot in one visit to Japan.  I say this as our chef had personally gone to the nearby Tadasu-no-mori forest that morning to pick some leaves to place in the bird’s nest basket over the toro just for our presentation and to reflect the current season – lovely touch.

The next course in Kaiseki cuisine is the “nimono” (boiled) dish, ours being a potato and shiitake mushroom, yuzu, ginger and pepper soup.  All of these ingredients were carefully portioned and so well balanced.  The following “yakimono” (grilled) dish is a signature dish of Kichisen: a serving of fish is served on top of a wafer thin slice of the largest part of a pineapple and that is placed on top of a volcanically hot stone.  Ours was sea bream served with flying fish eggs and absolutely micro-thin slices green onion on top which was not only delightful, but the steam coming from the thin pineapple slice essentially coated the fish with a beautifully soft touch of pineapple citrus and was a clever piece of theatre.  This was a wonderful and impressive dish.

Kaiseki meals will usually always finish with rice, pickles and vegetables at the end of the savouries as ours did with matsutaka mushrooms within the rice (these were both fine and hard to get excited about as would be the case in most Kasieki meals).  As is customary after savouries, a refreshment, or “kuchi-naoshi” is provided (in the same spirit of a pre-dessert in the West) and ours was a soy and blueberry pudding with persimmon and baby peach, the latter being utterly fresh.  A rice and bean cake and sugar cake was also part of this dessert and was one of the most enjoyable Japanese desserts I have had.

The meal ended with a mashed chesnut that was one of the best manageable versions of chestnut available (it can be very cloying and thick in texture but this was wet, sweet and brilliantly done to avoid this), raspberries and pione grapes followed by the usual end of matcha tea and here, a palette cleansing small bowl of roasted Japanese tea.  This concluded a fine Kaiseki experience and there really was not much to not like.  As a lunch set menu it was reportedly less elaborate than the full tasting menu in the evening, so this is a great option for having an authentic Kyoto meal of Kaiseki courses for a third of the price it will cost you at other 2 or 3 Michelin starred venues in Kyoto.  Kichisen incidentally means ‘you and I’ referring to the diner and the establishment and as it was just myself and my associate at the counter for lunch, it literally was us and them and both were very happy with the outcome.