500. Return To The Land With Kray Tredwell.

 

  An unlikely collaboration I thought, Kray Tredwell (670 Grams) with Tony Cridland (Land) at Land’s premises in the splendid Great Western Arcade. Intrigued, I was compelled to make a reservation.

  I had visited Land a couple of times before and eaten its food at a collaboration at Simpsons. I still needed to be convinced that vegetarian/vegan was really a satisfactory option for dining out. I had long been convinced that vegetarian food was only interesting if it was spiced up - meat stands on its own two feet, vegetables need the support of the heat of spice. Clearly, however,  those who have chosen the vegetarian style of life find it to be an acceptable option

  In between courses I was able to have a conversation with the couple at the table next to me, one vegetarian, the other strictly vegan, a marriage surviving happily it seemed despite its divided preferences, on where they liked to eat out and what they ate at home (everything now seems to have a vegan facsimile so it appears that preparing meals at home is no problem at all for the vegan/vegetarian household of the twenty first century). The couple had recently dined at Simpsons and found the vegan menu they ate from there to have been excellent. This was their first visit to Land and they were keen to see how the food served there compared with that coming out of Luke Tipping’s kitchen. As was I.

Kray Tredwell at centre, Tony Cridland at right of pictured.

 I started with a pleasing elderflower cocktail and then feeling happy and summery indulged in a glass of Nyetimber rosé. The menu was printed on a tiny scrap of doubtlessly recycled paper and the first two dishes mentioned were amuses gueules which both proved to be immensely enjoyable though one was superior to the other and I correctly identified it as being a product of Kray Tredwell’s creativity and ingenuity and skill.

  Tredwell's amuse bouche rook the form of a crispy charcoal pastry with little popping caviar-like spheres and a pea mousse - this was an exceptional nibble - while Cridland’s potato croquette also with the hit of lemon and similar to an amuse bouche I have been served at Simpsonswas also very enjoyable.

  The first savoury course I again correctly identified as a Land dish (Tredwell’s dishes are generally more refined in appearance while those from Land have a fair degree of rusticity about them) and it was a relatively small piece of barbecued lettuce which had little merit made infinitely more agreeable by a tasty splodge of mildly spicy hot satay with plenty of crunchy peanut texture. I remain to be convinced that the act of smoking a piece of vegetable elevates it to such a degree that it can be considered to be worthy of being served as a ‘course’.

  It was not hard to identify that the next course - a firmly textured piece of tasty celeriac with a gorgeously tasty espuma with a spicy kick to it and served with a toothsome steamed bun and butter - was another Kray Tredwell dish - it was more elegant and more interesting.

  Next, another elegant-looking dish but this time from the Land stable - a thick slice of tomato with a risotto, nicely textured by tapioca and what I would have called a gazpacho, nicely punchily flavoured by tomato and wild garlic. This was delicious though the texture of the tomato itself seemed a little spongy and not entirely to my liking.

 Land provided the pre-dessert. It was pleasant but not palate-cleansing enough to fulfil the duties of a predessert. The dish was centred on pandan which was accompanied by the always pleasing flavour of coconut; all very southeast Asian.

  Again there was more elegance in the presentation of the chocolate dessert and it was, not surprisingly, another product of the 670 Grams kitchen. The dish brought with it the classic combination of the chocolate and cherries, all very Black Forest though sitting on a crisp tuile rather than sponge and with them also almond. A delightful and happily light dessert with the flavour of chocolate that was neither too aggressive nor brutal.

  This meal confirmed my prejudices. Vegetarian, unless prepared by a chef at least one step above ‘merely inventive’, in Kray Tredwell we have such a chef, continues to leave me unfulfilled and unmoved. A lump of scorched lettuce does little for me and it’s clear that my hypothesis that to be successful vegetarian food requires heat and spice is quite correct. My vegetarian dining table neighbours enjoyed their meal although they were a little hesitant to fully endorse it but generally Kray Tredwell’s dishes seemed to have been the more successful ones for them.