L'Autre Pied

This year, I realised that I have enough relatives in London to have a familial reunion dinner for Chinese New Year. This is a change from previous years where I have either not marked the occasion at all, or had a reunion dinner with a large group of friends. There's nothing wrong with that, but after nearly 10 years living in a country where life doesn't stop to celebrate the new year, it's nice to be able to have a reunion dinner with relatives, as tradition dictates. The Pretty Lady and I invited my sister (whom I christened the Squeaky One in a previous post, but she said she didn't like it, so we'll call her YogaBabe), and the Pretty Lady's cousins, SY and JY.

We didn't bow that far to tradition though - since Chinese New Year is a chance for Chinese restaurants to raise their prices, we thought that it would be silly to pay 40% more for what is the same Chinese food one gets every week in London. We decided instead on L'Autre Pied, sister restaurant of Pied a Terre (you can guess with a name like that), owned by Shane Osborn (the chef) and David Moore. Head chef at L'Autre Pied is Marcus Eaves, who worked at sous chef under Shane Osborn at Pied a Terre.

L'Autre Pied is in the West End, at:

L'Autre Pied
5-7 Blandford Street
London W1U 3DB
020 7486 9696

It took a while for everyone to arrive, as the Jubilee line was acting up. We eventually all got there though, and I handed out angpows (see this post) - all with appropriate amounts. YogaBabe ordered the wine - we settled on a South African Viognier, which was fresh and surprisingly fruity, with lemon and peach notes, but I didn't manage to take detailed notes. Shame - I still haven't got into the habit of seeing everything and anything as a potential subject for a blog post.

I was also a little disappointed not to see amuse-bouches - I know it's meant to be bistro-style, but I felt it was a sign that L'Autre Pied is trading off the reputation of Pied a Terre. I suppose that it's located in hedge fund land, where the clientele will pay for anything as long as it's expensive enough, but it doesn't bode well for the restaurant's philosophy of food. Amuse-bouches are a way for restaurants to show off a chef's creativity, and a way for the chef to hone unperfected ideas in a relatively low risk manner. The ingredients don't need to be expensive, and the chef should relish the chance to show diners what he can do. Maybe it was a busy night.

Anyway, moving on to the food - we all had starters, but I didn't taste all of them. Mine was braised pork belly and pork cheeks with a sesame crust, roasting jus and pak choi. The pork belly and cheeks were braised to melt-in-your-mouth softness, the jus was fragrant with star anise, and the sesame added a nice Chinese flavour to the dish. Perfect way to end the year, really. The Pretty Lady had an impressive smoked eel veloute with smoked olive oil and white beans. I have to say that I couldn't really taste the smoke in the oil, as the eel was smoky enough. Very creamy, sinful, and just the way I like it.

The mains were good as well, although by now I was starting to get the hang of the food - the menu is chockful of purees, mashes, and emulsions, which do allow one to taste the infused flavours without chewing. I also thought that there was also enough solid material around to vary the textures, but I can see that for some it might be a problem. Certainly, in my rump of veal with smoked potato mash and honey glazed roast turnips, there was enough to keep my teeth busy. Again, I wasn't sure of the wisdom of infusing potatoes with smoke, but the tender, slightly pink veal with roasting jus made up for it. The Pretty Lady had roast saddle of lamb with lentils and baby carrots, which was delicious. The tarragon jus went well with the lamb, which was surprising, as I thought both flavours would have overpowered each other. I wonder how they did it. YogaBabe had sea bream with crab tortellini, and shellfish and lemongrass consomme. This was similar to a dish I had at Maze, where they paired halibut with serrano ham consomme, which didn't work. This did though, and I finally saw the point of having seared fish sauced with clear soup - the consomme, if flavoured delicately enough, can infuse the fish with its flavours right on the plate.

Desserts were similarly a blend of emulsions, parfaits and sorbets - I had a pain d'epice emulsion with banana ice cream, which went well with the madeleine it was served with. The most interesting dessert, however, was what SY and JY had - lemongrass panna cotta with blood orange granita. We were divided - I thought it worked, as did the Pretty Lady, but YogaBabe, SY and JY decided it didn't. I did think though, that some chili flakes would have bound the medley of flavours together properly.

All in all, I think that L'Autre Pied is experimenting with textures as a way of enhancing flavours, which is an interesting way to approach customers. The service was very good, although as I mentioned earlier, amuse-bouches and pre-desserts would have been a very appreciated touch. The location does drive up prices, which is understandable, but this place has a little way to go before I feel that the quality of the dining (although good by any standard) justifies the price we paid. I've had more expensive meals, but they were also better meals. Very good food, just no wow factor.

Scores:

11 Feb 2008: TFQ = 26, CS = 20, S = 16, AD = 5, VfM = 4. Total = 71 points.

What does this mean?