Restaurants

See all winners in the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2008

WINNER, ‘BEST NEW RESTAURANT’, TIME OUT EATING & DRINKING AWARDS 2008
L'Autre Pied
This sister restaurant to the fabled Pied à Terre made its debut in autumn 2007, with talented chef Marcus Eaves at the helm. Eaves, a one-time Gordon Ramsay Scholarship winner, is an alumnus of Pied à Terre and also worked at Hibiscus before Mr and Mrs Bosi, who run the restaurant, made the move from Ludlow to London. That sort of pedigree demands attention, especially when prices are set at a level that suggests diffusion range rather than haute couture (they’ve snuck up a bit since opening last year, though).

The cooking shows a welcome tendency towards simplification – accomplished and precise with imaginative yet well-considered flavour combinations. The food looks stunning, too. A translucent poached egg sat upon a vibrant green bed of crushed peas and broad beans, and the flavours were brought together by a smoked butter emulsion. Best end of lamb and boned, rolled breast of lamb evoked the Med with oven-dried tomatoes, a sticky black-olive jus and a side of (slightly over-salted) soft polenta. An inspired pud of strawberry crumble, served in a martini glass and topped with a quenelle each of strawberry and basil ice-creams, tasted of English summer in a glass. Vegetarians are out of luck, unless on a dessert-only diet – there were no meat-free dishes at all on our return visit.

The surroundings have a vaguely oriental feel, with cloisonné-like screens, dark wood and loosely packed tables. The Euro-centric wine list has some good bottles, but unless you know your producers very well, you’ll be left in the dark – there are no tasting notes or style
designations (though by-the-glass offerings are excellent). Eaves has evidently hit his stride; this is currently one of the best places to dine in the capital.
L’Autre Pied, 7 Blandford St, W1U 3DB (020 7486 9696/ www.lautrepied.co.uk). Bond St tube.
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RUNNERS-UP
Hix Oyster & Chop House
The menu at chef and food writer Mark Hix’s new venture is a roll-call for local, seasonal British produce, the farmers and growers duly name-checked. A Scottish granny would have approved our starter, ‘Hix cure’ smoked salmon – a medium cure with just the right amount of subtle smokiness, served unadorned. Grilled cod, cooked on the bone until opalescent and still moist, was simply served with sea purslane, a wild saltmarsh plant with a briny seafront flavour. Not so successful was the wonderfully Dickensian-sounding beef and oyster pie. Its burnished crust, which held a single oyster, was hard and the filling was overcooked to the point of drying out. Service, though willing, can still be very clumsy even months after opening, giving a sense of amateurishness to an otherwise professional operation.
Hix Oyster & Chop House, 35-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross St, EC1M 6BN (020 7017 1930/www.hixoysterandchophouse.com). Farringdon tube/rail.

Hibiscus
Having made the move from Ludlow in Shropshire to Mayfair, Claude and Claire Bosi have continued to gain plaudits at their small, intimate venue. Claude is a kitchen magician; he experiments with texture and flavour in ways that challenge and excite, but (thankfully) stop short of making diners feel they’re taking part in a weird science experiment. We experienced a fizzy cucumber and melon concoction as an amuse-bouche, a sharp-tasting lime ‘gel’ that livened up an inspired pudding of beurre noisette parfait, and a purée of pea and ginger served with a rosy-pink, crisp-skinned and intensely flavoured piece of Goosnargh duck breast. Inevitably, not every flavour combination succeeded; we weren’t convinced by mixing tiny sharp-sweet wild strawberries with wasabi and honey sauce to go with a starter of mackerel tartare. A meal here doesn’t certainly come cheap, but it’s bound to be memorable.
Hibiscus, 29 Maddox St, W1S 2PA (020 7629 2999/ www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk). Oxford Circus tube.

Dehesa
Sister to the acclaimed Salt Yard in Fitzrovia, Dehesa is a bijoux place serving up top-rank Spanish-Italian tapas. Expect bicultural bites such as jamón iberico, hand-sliced from a leg on display, plus a range of cheeses from the bar snacks and charcuterie. A sweet-and-savoury Italianate tapas of duck breast was served with mustard fruits, and whole baby courgettes, flowers intact, were stuffed with cheese before being deep-fried and drizzled with honey. Salt cod croquetas were the best we’ve found in London, let down only by the accompanying romesco sauce, which was disappointingly thin. Eight sherries are served by the glass and the wines are an eclectic selection from lesser-known regions of Italy and Spain. Service is keen and well-informed, helping to make Dehesa is a deservedly busy spot.
Dehesa, 25 Ganton St, W1F 9BP (020 7494 4170/www.dehesa.co.uk) Oxford Circus tube.

Hereford Road
Chef Tom Pemberton is a protégé of Fergus Henderson, of St John and St John Bread and Wine, a leading light of contemporary British ‘nose-to-tail’ eating. The influence is clear, from the deep-fried calf’s brain starter to the use of laverbread and piccalilli elsewhere. Cockles with cider and lovage was an inspired take on moules marinière, but with an aroma and flavour that was true Brit. Grilled venison and beetroot came – like the rest of the dishes here – plain but perfectly cooked. We would have preferred our duck livers a bit more rare in the centre, but the generous portion of green beans in a tarragon-mustard dressing was a great foil for the livers’ rich flavour. Desserts such as Eton mess and raspberry ripple seem designed to appeal to diners’ inner child but the wines are strictly for grown-ups, with a succinct, Franco-centric list. The room is suitably sparse and there’s no music; just the contented chatter of appreciative diners.
Hereford Road , 3 Hereford Rd, W2 4AB (020 7727 1144/ www.herefordroad.org) Bayswater or Royal Oak tube.

See all winners in the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2008