Unalome is a welcome new addition to the Michelin starred family scene, having opened its doors in June 2021 and gaining its star in 2022. The restaurant’s head chef, Graham, previously worked in Singapore, and his international experience comes through in his dishes.  As a member of the Luxury Restaurant Guide, this is included for a complimentary glass of sparkling wine for diners and their guests (applicable days) which is always nice to enjoy as was the case here.

Canapés of beetroot meringue with goat’s cheese had a good balance of sweetness of the meringue and the tanginess of the cheese. The cheese gougere with truffle was equally impressive, with a lovely texture and gentle truffle flavour.

The steamed brioche buns with venison yuzu gel and chilli were another canapé highlight, offering a unique twist on traditional bao buns. The mackerel crudo with beetroot, horseradish, and oscietra caviar was a refreshing and flavourful seafood dish. Always lovely to have snacks that have had a lot of effort in the preparation for these.

Moving on to the dishes, the Jerusalem artichoke with wild garlic emulsion and parmesan foam was a vegetarian standout. The cured sea bream with fermented kohlrabi was also a very enjoyable and well-executed dish.

For meat lovers, the lamb with burnt aubergine purée, pickled cucumber, mint yoghurt, mint sauce, and barbecued leeks was a little saucy but the combination of flavors worked really well. The stonebass with prawn farci, saffron potato, langoustine bisque, and herb emulsion was another standout dish with a lovely balance of flavours.

To end the meal, the set lemon cream with vanilla ice cream and earl grey was a light and refreshing dessert, while the caramelised white chocolate parfait with Alphonso mango purée, marshmallow citrus ice cream, and almond tuile was a more decadent and indulgent option.

Both myself and my guest enjoyed these dishes and overall, Unalome is a restaurant worth visiting for its style of cooking and well-executed dishes, as well as its attentive service and inviting atmosphere.

Food Grade: 80%

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%

There were two choices on the menu: a 6-course tasting menu at £65 or a 9-course tasting menu at £90.  Owing to the journey I opted for the full tasting menu but declined on drink purely as I had a lot of work to be done on the way back, but the drinks menu was reasonable and nicely judged with numerous world offerings but not too much to bamboozle.  It was also nice to see the fabled Salon champagne on the menu for far less than twice the wholesale price in one case which is, in restaurant terms not hugely common.

An offering of mini pea tartlet with pea and mint oil, bergamot, horseradish, ricotta cheese, Feuille de Brick pastry was an enjoyable start- very light pastry and good mint flavouring (the pea not having as much).  Next bite was a cheese gougere made with Winchester cheese which was also good followed by a delightful bit size piece of lamb belly with parsley Emulsion.  All of these put me in a good mood and immediately calmed my trepidation of making the journey for the meal.  Homemade sourdough baguette with wild allium butter and chicken fat butter with chicken skin bits were both absolutely lovely and I now knew I was in good hands at the bread and butter alone.  I’ve often said and thought you can get a very good feel for the quality line of a restaurant based on how much attention to detail goes into the things that most might overlook and think of as not as important such as butter.  But if you think about it, these are the very opening impressions and it just goes to show ultimately how important they are.

The first course was dressed brown crab made with Exmoor caviar, garden herbs, grew strawberries turbot roe, Isle of White tomatoes using half cooked, half raw and within the consommé.  This dish was fatty but light, silky and smokey overall with lovely fresh herbs kicking in.  Each mouthful produced a change in primary flavours with the acidity from tomatoes coming through well at the end.

Roast Isle of Skye langoustine, pork lardo, powder from the langoustine’s head, citrus bisque, ponzu onion and lemon purée was served with claw meat.  This had a wonderful clarified citrus consommé with bits of grapefruit beneath the creamy espuma.  My observation is that the langoustine was initially a little drowned by all of this, but once the bisque was drained in the mouth, it was coated with a good combination for the langoustine which had very good texture.

Hen of the woods mushroom was next with black garlic, brioche, Madeira gel, summer truffles brushed with cep mushroom butter, cep purée, king oyster mushroom, filo pastry, truffle velouté and lemon gel dots on top.  Quite a mouthful to describe! The velouté itself was absolutely gorgeous, silky rich and a level of truffle aroma that was pitched well and had decent pastry texture.  A readily enjoyable hit of umami.

Turbot came from a 5.6kg fish caught off the Orkney Islands (landed at Scrabster, taken to Perth and then to Glasgow); this is a medium – good-sized turbot and represents good value for money based on the portion size and more importantly was very good quality, cooked beautifully.  In a new one for myself, the turbot had fish stuffing inside made with nibbed almonds and I thought this was a great touch, the richness of the stuffing being a good compliment to the gentle turbot and not overwhelming at the same time.  Herbs and smoky charred lettuce came with a consommé made from the turbot bones, squid and salmon skin with a bergamot gel.  There was a glorious smokiness to this and whilst I had reservations about seeing bergamot in this dush, the citrus punch from this was actually matched well. The consommé had good depth and this was a very good dish.

Saddle of Roe deer from the South Scottish border of Kelso was cultivated as long as possible pre-cooking by being bathed in spiced salt beetroot and came with a potato and rosemary emulsion and sautéed foie gras.  The meat was beautifully tender and with good judgement of the spiced salt.  The fatty emulsion and fried foie gras (also good) had good relief from the two very good friends of game dishes, blackberry and beetroot.  I thought this was very well done.

The first dessert was a super strawberry and cream dish made with milk from Seahills farm outside of Arbroath and Katy Rogers crème fraiche (north coast) using only owned British Friesian cattle.  The dessert sat on a basil sponge with a mint and strawberry consommé that was so clear and strong (using approx. 5kg of strawberries for the consommé) reminded me of my first strawberry soup at Arzak, San Sebastian. This was absolutely tip-top and if the organisers of Wimbledon are looking for a strawberry and cream dessert to make their clients happy in their corporate boxes, I believe I have found it.

Coconut espuma and pina colada sorbet with pineapple crémeux came with a mango salad and lemon gel.  Again, there wasn’t much to not like on this and was a lovely celebration of pina colada in a dessert, decorated with a very pretty, honeycomb biscuit cover.  Who wouldn’t want that? Coffee came from a Tin Donkey coffee (the owner naming the company after the ‘sweep up’ vehicle that follows at the rear of the Tour de France), a local Glaswegian artisan coffee company.  Petit fours included a salted caramel and custard tartlet petit fours which were totally delicate and with a nicely thinned chocolate coating around the salted caramel – very good finish.

There was an additional cheese cross-over course as the pre-dessert and although I was tempted, I actually didn’t want to risk being too full and uncomfortable as that would have left me less happy.  Based on this menu, I have no doubt it would be good to do but I had experienced enough of Lorna McKnee’s offering to know that I was indeed in the hands of a skilled chef.  In summary, there was very little to not like here and this is what I would say is a rock-solid 1 Michelin starred restaurant.  It is in the upper echelons of the Michelin starred family in my opinion and I am genuinely pleased to have made the trip.

Food Grade: 83%

First to be served was Scottish crab and seaweed emulsion with crab paprika, avruga caviar.  This had a very light pastry and nicely done.  Chicken skin crisps were light, crunchy and had lovely emulsion aspects too.  Haddock with parsley and celeriac emulsions had a wonderfully smokey feel and were well cooked with a gorgeous crunch on the crisp.  

Lobster tempura was delightful – it had a far harder crunch than actual tempura, compared to when having in Japan, but extremely nice.  You are always going to lose some of the lobster when deep-fried, but this was still sweet and the miso glaze was lovely and sharp on top with lobster mayonnaise.   

Sourdough with 4-year-old yeast with goats butter and green onion oil was a creative offering and a pleasure.  Tartare of Dairy Cow Dashi had a lovely flavour running through, with great richness from the emulsion and a brilliant decision of toasted brioche inside – this had just the right crunch and one of the best tartares I have had.  Bravo Condita.

Jerusalem artichoke, reduction, Garla cheese, gnocchi was plain, very enjoyable. After the perfectly done gnocchi, the artichoke itself was the stand out star with its chopped thyme and mustard cress underneath.  There was just the right amount of pickle in mushrooms to accompany reduction. Next came a beautifully tender partridge. A minor hick-up, unfortunately, was a bone being in the parfait but these things can happen and thankfully caught in time(!). Burnside farm was the supplier for the game. 

Suffolk fermented apple, originally known as ‘Bygone’ was a lovely combination all round with good acidity and sharpness of the gelatine bringing all together.  A plum dessert sprayed with white chocolate was ok but, the wine gum pieces were a bit too chewy and welded the teeth together – my personal preference is to not have this.  An absolutely glorious pear dessert with mascarpone ice cream, spices, cinnamon, and almond cream finished off the meal very well. Guatemala El Douranzo Coffee from Glasgow (Gren Lyon) was served.  

There was a lot of heart went into the making of this menu and I couldn’t enjoy any of the wine list as the lockdown laws permitted dining inside restaurants but no alcohol to be served.  This didn’t seem to stop someone who chose to sit opposite me in a cafe before the meal open his second bottle of port at 10 am which was a new one for me.  Unfortunately, just a little fizzy tea for me and water to accompany an otherwise impressive meal, save for a couple of blipped moments.

Food Grade: 72%

I hope the quickest way to reach Loch Bay from London is the route I took which was a flight from Heathrow to Inverness, pick up a pre-booked hire car (do this in advance to avoid absolutely horrendous on the day booking prices) and then drive roughly three and a half hours Westwards towards the coast.  Eventually, you come to the small hamlet of Waternish where Air B & B and Booking.com options are few and scarce and you are far better off booking through the official Visit and B & B website of Waternish as was recommended to me.  All accommodation options are within an approximate 15 minute walk of each other and I booked one close to the Loch – I didn’t know where it was in relation to the target venue, but turned out when I got there that it was actually 30 metres away(!), as the Stein Inn is literally that close and where I was holed up for the night.

A very warm welcome was extended by the two, knowledgeable and friendly front of house and floor staff.  Champagne with sloe gin was a fairy hard-hitting start to the proceedings, but was also entirely welcome after the journey and in the beautiful setting at night that is was.  Nibbles arrived in the form of mackerel and crowdie paté (nicely seasoned) with fried herring and mussels with oat coating served with lemon mayonnaise (the mussels were particularly good) which was a good way to start.  The white French crusty (dense) bread and oatmeal scone (also quite heavy) was what I used for the mackerel and crowdie paté and all in, this was enjoyable.  I opted for the 5 course tasting menu which, for £65 showed very good value for money.  Moreover, it was very good of the kitchen and staff to oblige a couple of preference changes on request.

The soup and a sandwich came as a squid & shell fish broth white crab & almode cheddar in sandwich.  The fish broth itself had a satisfying flavour, but I was surprised that the toastie was burnt and served; the latter didn’t make for enjoyable eating at the end, but the main part was a pleasant addition for the broth.  I’ve had intolerances to shell fish and molluscs in the past which is why most times I either avoid or do small doses, but whilst here, next to the very Loch the shell fish have come from (in most cases the same day), it would have been a crime not to have had this.  I was glad I did as the shell fish broth had a satisfyingly  flavour.

The prawns and monkfish with apple and mace butter & potato scone was probably the highlight of the meal.  The Mace butter and citrus from the apple complimented each other well.  Although monkfish isn’t my favourite white fish as has a tough texture, the prawns were absolutely sweet and succulent and the fat from the potato scone along with soft crunch of the diced apples made this all come together nicely.  A good dish I thought.

Pot roast partridge with confit leg choucroute and spiced bacon sour croate had a satisfying pickled feel of the partridge and whilst it was a shame to get some bone in amongst the meat, the spiced bacon remoulade was delicious and worked well.  Sadly, I couldn’t enjoy it as a whole as I was continuing to be on bone watch and inspect every forkful after the second mouthful with a small element of bone.

Next up was hake and prawn with fennel, local cress & Bay shrimp sauce which, whilst the hake was well done, it is was not my favourite dish as it simply didn’t create many emotions as a whole.  Thankfully, it did have a pleasantly deep fish sauce to accompany the main component as a result.  So, I’m a fan of simplicity and ingredients that have been sourced very well, but even with the constraints of the kitchen being the size it is, I was genuinely hoping for a little more from this dish.

The soufflé was spiced and an original take using a Clootie dumpling flavour as the foundation and was a lovely touch for Christmas being around the corner.  Clootie is a traditional Scottish variant of Christmas pudding using a wet cloth to aid squeezing out the essence of dried fruits and spices.  This soufflé was perfectly cooked, akin to a sponge cake soufflé in texture and served with a custard ice cream tantamount to clotted vanilla cream.  The cinnamon and apple flavours throughout were lovely and this was extremely good to have.  Petit fours likewise had a festive twist and the spices in the mini mince pies were soft and very pleasant.

I definitely enjoyed my visit to Loch Bay, not least to chat with the fishermen sorting out their creels from the Bay itself the next morning and eating in the charming setting that it was.  However, it’s likewise hard for me to place it in the Michelin starred category based on the meal I had, but I understand the constraints of the size of the kitchen and the staff couldn’t have been more accommodating.  Whereas some things did not go the way I would have liked on my meal, I would be surprised if this was the norm and one cannot argue with the a la carte price for £39 in the evening.  If I am nearby in the future, I will book again as I have a feeling there is more here than meets the first eye.

First impressions were of warm, welcoming service and we were escorted to the Annex for drinks and canapés.  Once at the chef’s table it was abundant that the experience the restaurant staff wanted us to have for the evening was nothing but the best that can be provided and we were all invited to take a wonder among the kitchen and ask any of the chefs anything from time to time if we fancied.  It was evident we were in good hands.

The heather smoked and salted whipped butters were a particularly nice way to enjoy our breads which were well done.  The Raw and cooked langoustine with butter milk with pickled carrot had a wonderful langoustine emulsion to go with the dish and the elements held themselves together well.  The crab was utterly fresh and a pleasant originality with the pickled fennel.

The scallops and the halibut were both pleasing enough in their own ways but the dissapointing episode on this occasion was that there was an insect crawling around one of the halbut dishes which had to be sent back for replacement.  This can happen to anyone and it was dealt with as quickly as possible but it obviously lowers the stakes of the overall product as more attention to detail was required.

Two other dishes stand out for me on this occasion and they were the beef which was absolutely superb with a lovely combination from the cheese and garlic emulsion – this really was an inventive, light and powerful dish that deserves a lot of credit.  The same can be said for the strawberry dessert which was similarly good for creative flare, colour and flavours although the one aspect that brought that dessert down was the sticky nature of the strawberry gel that held the mousse together – if that was less so, it would have been a very strong dish.

Ultimately this was a well done meal and I can see how this has been of interest to many for so long with its inventive twists, lovely, rustic dim-lit and wooden charm on the inside.  It is hard to get explosions of flavour for every course but this was a valiant effort in trying to strive for that.  Two last miscellaneous things stand out from here: 1) the seats of the chef’s table could do with a change – as grand as they are with thick, wooden beams and looking as if they had been taken straight from a medieval castle, the back is completely straight meaning that they don’t really cater for much comfort, and 2) I loved the fact that the staff were so welcoming to us being able to approach anyone at any time to ask questions over the food – I put this to the test for a couple of minutes and was lovely to chat about the qualities of various fish with the head chef who was accommodating.  Overall this was an enjoyable meal all round and even nicer for the occasion that it was.

The entrance to The Albannach leads straight in to an attractive looking conservatory to peruse the menu and have snacks prior to the meal.  For my visit, the snacks were Spiney (a type of langoustine which was good but not as sweet as that served in Umu), Iberico ham with grapefruit on toast (lovely crunch from toast, good quality iberico ham and kick from the grapefruit) and a quail’s egg with caviar on puff which came across under-seasoned and a touch bland.

Home-made bread came with black olive and thyme and as normal sour dough breads.  I found the latter very doughy and so much so it was almost still wet; this was not good.  There was better flavour from the black olive bread which was very good and the butter was very well done.

The lobster was beautifully soft and unspoilt, save for a glaze of butter (which enhanced it) and the garden salad gave it freshness, but was  unfortunate to have a piece of shell in my first mouthful of lobster which marred the experience.  Pan fried Guinea Fowl with roasted shallot, caraway croft cabbage, organic Scottish cider sauce was absolutely juicy, with lovely sweet cider sauce and hints of liquorice. Very pleasant, rich sauce and was essentially a nice dish.

Wild mushroom tart with salty fingers had a lovely crunch to the salty fingers, powerful mushroom flavour, simple and was almost on its way to the Sportsman level of ingredient restraint but not as victorious.  Next came the butter poached wild halibut, sea purslane, charred fennel which showed fish as fresh as they come and was perfectly succulent.  The asparagus however, was a bit of a mission to simply cut through at that thickness, especially with a blunt fish knife.  However, the absolute star was the champagne sauce with a lovely delayed kick.  When all was combined, the sauce seemed to disappear so this dish could have done with more here to keep bringing it together.  I have no doubt that this dish could have been elevated with more sauce on offer in a mini boat on the side and peeled asparagus.

Westray wife Orkney, and Taleggio cheeses (Italian) were served with home-made oat cake. Good portion control here and both were pleasant but somewhat plain.  One thing that stood out for me was the fact that both cheeses were on top of each other was surprising as this means that the flavours become mixed and would have been better if they were served with space between them.

After a few ups and downs through the meal, the hot citrus soufflé with butter chocolate ice-cream was a triumph and a lovely to have.  Brambles (blackberries) gave a nicely balanced sharpness to a perfectly cooked soufflé, light to the core.  The bitter chocolate was wonderful (not too powerful but had depth as well with a twist of acid from the blackberries done to just the right level).

Whilst I appreciate this is a husband and wife team working passionately with presumably more expensive utility overheads than other parts of the land, I felt the lack of any menu prices until the end and the steep costs of the accommodation almost gave an impression that the diner should be feel lucky to be there.  It was also a hefty initial wait at the start.  I arrived early, but it was just over an hour after my booking time that I was actually sat at the table with my first course which is not what one expects at a Michelin starred restaurant, particularly for one with only one / no choice menu.

Service from the front of house became more estranged as the evening went along and it reminded me of my first enquiry I made just before Christmas in 2016, where the owner was audibly frustrated at my phone call to make a booking as it interrupted her holiday chores; something that might not be too out of place in an episode of Fawlty Towers.

There were some nice food moments at The Albannach and there is quality to be had here, particularly with the fresh produce, but nothing that stood out as a must for me to sprint back to.  I thought long and hard about the food grade for here and the 65 mark was as high as I could go based on all other restaurants to date and taking in to account the highs and lows of each course of this visit.

Owing to the one-man band inside the kitchen the menu is understandably very much an a la carte affair here with two-three choices of each of the starter, main and dessert courses.  Canapés came in the form of bacon and mushroom mini-tarts which were simple, and pleasing.  Although I would personally go with a less crumbly and thinner crust for the tartlet, it was filled with a highly pleasant and creamy filling.

Grilled hand dived Wester Ross Scallops on a mildly spiced chana dal was my chosen starter.  This was good news to me on another note as recently I have had the ‘all clear’ from the doc to be able to eat scallops and other crustaceans after a period of intolerance.  I found these ones beautifully sweet and in no danger of not having enough on this plate.  I wasn’t hugely keen on the curry sauce to go with the scallops in comparison however – not that it was bad, but as opposed to a subtle potatoey quality of the sauce I believe these required a more luxurious and rich sauce either in the form of an exciting drizzle or decadent emulsion.  This chana dal seem to contrast and not work with the juicy, sweet scallop which, was a pleasure to behold again.

On being presented with the parmesan tart, I must admit, I wasn’t particularly blown away by the presentation with its micro rockette salad.  However, this was until I felt the knife cut through the perfectly soft and thin pastry at the edge and see the strings of cheese stretch as I pulled away the first bite.  Alarm bells were ringing at how good the texture was here and after eating, I absolutely understood the bigger picture here.  This was without doubt the softest, lightest and most perfectly balanced cheese tart I have ever tasted and crucially wasn’t so light as per soufflé but thick enough without being too heavy.  It was perfectly balanced in flavour and truly lovely.  The pepper coulis was subtle in comparison but it was good to have its textural, sauce element as the perfect adult version of ketchup blob as a side dip.

Grilled fillet of wild North Sea halibut on crushed potatoes, peas and a warm tartare sauce was next and was indeed immaculate fish which was perfectly plump, sweet, juicy.  The warmed tartare sauce was runnier than I expected but still very pleasing in creaminess and lemony sharpness at the same time whilst being interesting with its addition of mint as well.  I loved the buttered and crushed potato base and the only thing I thought detracted the dish a little was the large and chunky asparagus.  Clearly these were there for this purpose of providing the crunch of texture and a bit of bitter, but slightly smaller pieces or less of them would have been my personal choice at this point.  A pleasant dish none the less.

The salted caramel ice cream here was undeniably good and I liked the salted caramel tiule that it came with a long with the crunchy and dark, other components as well.  I was reassured with having no food envy of any other tables that I could catch sight of for dessert.  I foolishly didn’t ask the head chef afterwards what the secret of the petit four fillings were as these were absolutely superb as hard cream fillings and some of the best chocolate petit fours I have had.

So I would describe the food at Braidwoods as unfussy, uncomplicated  and homely with some superb ingredients, the handling of which, I believe the Michelin guide have always enjoyed the most over the years.

This was already a highlight from the moment the first canapé of opening beetroot macaroon with horseradish cream was served.  The wafer-like texture of the macaroon with carefully pitched beetroot flavour with creamy softness of the horseraddish sauce was simply a winner and actually reminded me of that served at The Fat Duck.  This was followed by a cep veloute which was sweetened with soy sauce and was superb.  Breads opted for were the mini baguettes which although weren’t anything to sing about were done well in being not too overloaded with flour and having the perfect stretch.

The duck with red cabbage had such a soft texture with a lovely and sweet chutney to accompany.  The veal tartare was luxurious and good to see its brioche croutons, foie gras, truffle, veal and delicately pickled sweet potato as an original take.  However, although it was nicely designed, I felt the other elements slightly overshadowed the actual veal which was difficult to trace.

The ementhal soufflé was, in no finer words, the asbolute dog’s nuts! This was frankly even nicer than the signature version at Le Gavroche as this was even lighter but with the real essence of cheese in a punchy way.  I enjoyed Michel Roux’s version very much, but as his sits on top of a bed of double cream, you do feel somewhat that doing a marathon before a Gavroche visit is in order.

The warm salmon with warmed butter foam, unripened grape jus with tapioca and seewed on top was nothing short of happiness on a plate.  With the parsnip purée, this produced a delightfully, salmony, smokey, luxurious thing in which the salmon just FELL apart.  The beef with cheese, bone marrow and shiraz from South Africa (a cinsault-grenache  blend in its last vintage) was a lovely, original and medium bodied wine to go with the beef – not too many tannins either which is exactly what I was looking for.  I must say as well that the jus here was excusite and in its simplicity, there really wasn’t much to say against this dish in anyway.

Both chocolate and lemon desserts were utterly superb.  I genuinely couldn’t get enough of these and my endorphin levels were going through the roof by this stage at the whole show just didn’t seem to falter.  The lemon especially was not only wonderfully fressh and citric but was delighted that the honeycomb was nicely done as well as is one of my favourite things – it almost slightly gooey in the centre and was sweet with no bitter after taste as well.  The lemon grass sorbet was frankly a stroke of genius and it rounded off the meal to a very high standard.

This for me is an example of where everything is right in the world.  Although there are more visually striking dishes and breads available in other 1 and 2 star venues, I would rather have this type of cooking on any occasion over elaborate trickery as the flavours were simply that good.  Martin Wishart’s food comfortably enters the 2 Michelin starred field for me irrespecive of AA Rosettes and I do hope this becomes a reality one day.  In terms of the purpose of eating out, when it has this sort of impact on your mouth and senses and overall happiness, is there any other purpse to fulfil?