292. Wilderness 2023 New Menu Hits New Heights.

 

  2023. The Wilderness has just reopened after its Christmas break. There’s a new menu for the start of the year. The music’s playing. Head Chef Marius Gedminas and his team are on fire (not literally, obviously). The front of house is welcoming and up for it. It’s obvious instantly to anyone why The Wilderness is one of the top ten most exciting restaurants in Britain, if the Good Food Guide is to believed (which it should be) and if anything on this particular evening, it could well be the most exciting restaurant of all and you don’t have to stuff yourself with 20+ courses to convince yourself that that is the case.

  Some of the names of the dishes on the menu are a little obscure - Fish Me Not, Art is Our Saviour, Soft Serve and Amnesia - your guess is as good as mine but rather than being annoying these little obfuscations make anticipation of the thrill of the meal all the greater - you don’t really know what’s coming but whatever it is it will be surprising and exciting, even thrilling, almost certainly delicious, sometimes ironic, doubtlessly clever and inventive, possibly a little cheeky, impeccably presented, colourful, generous and a few steps ahead of where most other restaurants have gone before. And this is just how the meal turned out.

  After three pretty and dainty amuses gueules - a line-up of beetroot and duck liver parfait and the hit of cheese, on to the starter, or perhaps a starter with plump mussels as the centre piece, a Thai green curry velouté and an espuma elegantly crowning the dish. Then on to what is now a regular component of the menu - a carrot fantasia updated so that it can now be called Carrot 2023. So very pretty and so delicious - carrot courses are frequently encountered on tasting menus and are rarely worth the effort put into preparing them, after it is just carrot, but there are so many Wilderness elements of delight in this dish that Carrot 2023 makes the year a vintage carrot course year where carrots give pleasure instead of just being there.

  The courses come out at a sensible pace and next there is a gorgeous chicken broth if I may call it that with seaweed lying on it like the diamonds in the crown jewels with egg yolk making a satisfying contribution. Sublime seared smoked duck brings us to the main course - delicious in both flavour and texture - and with it the wildest, most luxurious Peshwari naan ever encountered by man - stuffed with coconut and foie gras and bringing all the originality and wit that one expects to meet at The wilderness.

  Next comes ‘Art is Our Saviour’. Beautiful in appearance, supremely well cooked pollock happily overwhelmed by caviar. Artful in every way.

  Desserts with non-explanatory names arrive - light and tasty - and finally petit fours, one in the shape of a vanilla pod, a chocolate case filled with vanilla ice cream, and a yuzu-flavoured jelly as the final refreshing bite of the meal. 

  Every dish was spot on. Visually spectacular and faultless in textures and flavours. The Wilderness seems to have reached new heights as 2023 ignites. If there isn’t a star for it this year then the Michelin Guide isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. What? Oh yes, I forgot, it isn’t printed on any paper at all now is it?

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞