Restaurants

In the last week I have feasted on four whole beasts. Two pigs and two lambs, to be precise. In the UK the idea of big roasts is associated with Tudor banquets or debauched Hogarthian merrymaking, but it’s a contemporary phenomenon in other food cultures. Whole beasts are served at Chinese New Year, for example, as it’s considered unlucky to serve parts of an animal or fish, and most Middle Eastern restaurants can rustle up a whole lamb to order. Now, thanks to the Fergus Henderson school of nose-to-tail eating, the practice is making a comeback in our native cuisine, with restaurants across the capital offering the opportunity for carnivorous group gorging. Feature continues

First port of call is The Club Bar and Dining in Soho. If you order whole suckling pig, then you are encouraged to visit in a group of ten. There’s something gloriously primal about the prospect of tearing into an animal together: and no doubt there’s a thesis to be written about the kind of party spirit this provokes. Though we haven’t hunted it ourselves, there’s a definite feeling of occasion when the pig is brought out – a fine beast, glistening golden brown with a glaze brought about by the liberal application of hot oil halfway through cooking time (four hours, on a low heat).

Pig out at The Club Bar and Dining in Soho

Seeing it in its entirety is a little shocking, because it does bring home the reality of what we’re doing – ‘It’s Babe!’ crys one conscience-stricken party member. Once it’s carved, however, it’s impossible to deny that the meat is sublime – tender strands that you pull with your fork rather than cut, with a subtle flavour that speaks of the animal’s youth. At the Club Bar and Dining it’s possible to leaven this meat feast with pommes dauphinoises and wilted spinach as side orders, or the vegetables roasted alongside the pig.

The short trip to Mayfair is also a journey across continents, for Fakhreldine on Piccadilly is the embodiment of modern Middle Eastern glamour. With floor to ceiling windows giving great views of Green Park, the Lebanese restaurant is slickly decorated, and there’s a large bar and sunken lounge area for backgammon, cocktails and canapés. Here it’s possible to bring as many as 13 people to dine at the long, black-lacquered tables. And once more the star of the show is the animal, this time a lamb, perched proudly atop a bed of two different rices – saffron and ‘white rice’ (which has been cooked in the delicately spiced lamb stock) both liberally studded with juicy raisins and golden pine nuts.

Head chef Youssef Harb reveals that the lamb has been roasted for an hour on a bed of onions, garlic, carrots, celery, cumin, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, then covered in foil to steam for a further three hours, which accounts for its tenderness and the delicate infusion of flavours. For those who are not felled by the protein overload, there are platters of sweetmeats, exotic fruit, and fruit sorbets to follow. There’s a strong sense of Middle Eastern hospitality at Fakhreldine, added to by the live band and belly dancer (who perform every Friday night).

Lamb with rice at Fakhreldine

My culinary journey further east to sample a Chinese suckling pig leads down some interesting avenues. ‘My dad used to cook whole animals all the time – people would bring him birds and beasts that they’d shot,’ says one restaurateur who wishes to remain anonymous. ‘Then one day somebody left a fox outside in a box, so he got into trouble and had to stop it.’ Those pesky health and safety people/animal rights lunatics, eh?

For anyone looking for more legitimately sourced animals, there is a factory in Deptford that roasts suckling pigs to order, and Fi Woo Cash & Carry in Greenwich takes deliveries every Saturday morning. Most of the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown will roast a suckling pig if given enough notice, but my quest led me to Royal China on Baker Street, better known for its dim sum.

As with all the meals, the presentation of the animal is theatrical – though with more unusual innovations than before. The pig is cut into cubes, with its head at the end of the platter and red lights flashing in its eye sockets. A red chilli pepper approximates its tail. The accompaniments are thick, pillowy pancakes and plum sauce. Chinese food is partly about texture, and the brittle crunch of the crackling, giving way to the mellow ooze of fat and soft, floury pancake is done perfectly. Just in case this isn’t enough theatre, a whole lobster is also served – a combination, explains the maitre’d, that’s traditional at big Chinese celebrations.

Feast your eyes and your stomach

For the final meal I return to Europe by going Hellenic. Memories of a barbecue on a deserted beach in the Aegean have inspired me to find a place where I can eat a whole kid (of the goat variety – this is not a first for cannibalism at Time Out). The majority of restaurants are more amused than helpful, but the affable Minos of Retsina in Belsize Park is on the phone to his supplier in Wales straight away. Sadly, the news is not good. ‘It’s exactly the wrong time of year for goats,’ he reports. ‘They have just been born, but unlike lambs, goats have little fat on them, so they are just too small to roast – they’d shrivel away to nothing in the oven. In a month or two they’d be perfect.’ I ask Minos if he can do me a whole lamb instead. Retsina combines contemporary styling with old-fashioned Greek hospitality – and the food is great. The spit-roasted lamb is falling off the bone. It’s served with roast potatoes pungent with garlic and oregano, and the accompanying steamed spring vegetables make a nice contrast to the richness of the meat.

The four meals have been very different, but each has been a joy. Sharing an animal creates a sense of camaraderie that makes for very enjoyable dining experience, and slow cooking produces unbeatably unctuous meat. And it needn’t break the bank. Yes, a whole beast may cost a couple of hundred pounds, but divided by ten it’s easily affordable. So, next time you have something to celebrate, consider getting a group of friends together and go the whole hog.

Belly dancing at Fakhreldine

Best nose-to-tail eating
The Club Bar and Dining
Warm-ups Grilled sardines on toast with salsa verde (£6); chilled poached salmon salad with cucumber and watercress (£5)
Wine Macon Rouge 2005 (£23)
Desserts Warm chocolate brownie with ice cream (£5); fresh strawberries with chantilly cream (£5)
The pig (£230) serves 10-12
The Club Bar and Dining, 21 Warwick St, W1B 5NF (020 7734 1002).

Fakhreldine
Warm-ups Platters of hot and cold mezze – houmous, baba ganoush, falafel, warak enab (stuffed vine leaves), kibbe mekliyeh (deep-fried lamb parcels), makanek (homemade Lebanese sausages), fatayer (deep-fried spinach parcels)
Wine Kesraya Les Bretechs 2005 (£23)
Desserts Fruit platter, sorbet and baklava
The lamb (price on application, but in the region of £250-280) serves 12-14; an older animal (mutton) could serve 25-30.
Fakhreldine, 85 Piccadilly, W1J 7NE (020 7493 3424).

Retsina
Warm-ups Pitta with taramasalata, tzatziki and houmous (£3.80); deep-fried baby squid (£3.95); marinated octopus (£6.80)
Wine Hatzimichanis cabernet sauvignon 2004 (£26)
Desserts Baklava (£3)
The lamb (around £200) serves 8-10
Retsina, 3 Regent’s Park Rd, NW1 8UY (020 7431 5855).

Royal China
Warm-ups Deep-fried baby squid with chilli and spicy salt (£5.80); prawn and sesame toasts (£6)
Wine Fleurie 2004 (£29)
Desserts Fresh-fruit platter – mango, melon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries (£4 pp)
The pig (£150) serves 4-6
Royal China, 40-42 Baker St, W1U 7AJ (020 7487 4688).