A recent visit to Alex Claridge's The Wilderness with several friends for a celebratory dinner resulted in us all choosing to have his long and fascinating complete tasting menu with, unusual for me to do, the wine pairing. The menu is depicted here but only gives a vague idea of what was on offer.
Claridge's 3 appetisers were all sublime and made me think someone as clever as Claridge should open an amuse bouche only restaurant - finger food paradise - and would probably do very well from the point of view of attracting customers.
His Big Mac (surely a name likely to upset Macdonald's if the name is ever noticed by them but then again that's probably not going to worry our buccaneer chef) - a lesson in how delicious steak tartare can be - led out the cavalcade of originality and occasionally jaw-dropping dishes. His Tomato, ricotta and elderflower starter sent everyone at the table into raptures and I adored the red Thai scallop though this brought in a parade of dishes some of which had a heat and spiciness to them which was a little too much for some of the party and rather surprising. It seemed rather like 'Claridge does Southern Asia' and not everyone welcomed it.
There were two consecutive oyster dishes reflecting Claridge's apparent wish to not do things in the way that any ordinary chef would. Several of the group found the spicy heat of the 'Crispy oyster, Tabasco, aioli and pork' to be more than they could bear though I thoroughly enjoyed the dish.
Spiciness continued in one of my favourite dishes NAFB (standing for Not another f---ing balti) where tamarind was combined with quail in one of life's more unlikely curries. But on balance perhaps there were just too many dishes with repeating hotness that we might not have opted for with a little foreknowledge.
One of my dining companions pointed out, I think quite rightly, that the Duck and Venison dishes were too similar though there was quite a wide space in the running order between them. Both dishes, by the way, were delicious. The several desserts were perfectly enjoyable and, mercifully, there were no ants in sight.
The wine flight was less satisfactory with the opening spritzer being adventurous but more medicinal than enjoyable.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant, the blackness was perfectly acceptable and gave an edgy ambience to the meal though, given the choice, I might have opted for something a little cosier but I don't think that 'cosy' is something Claridge chooses to do. The music for which The Wilderness has gained a notoriety particularly among some whining Tripadvisors added to the edge of the place but the group was able to converse quite comfortably despite their likely borderline deafness that comes with old age. The music suits the place, the place suits the food and the food suits me.
It is preposterous that The Wilderness has not found a place in this year's Good Food Guide. I can barely wait to see what novelty Claridge has come up with when he opens the new Wilderness in Bennett's Hill at the end of the year. Presumably he has something very interesting lined up for professional critics and food lovers alike (I'm not sure that professional critics are real food lovers).
No comments:
Post a Comment