Being old and twenty or thirty years out of touch with words and phrases younger, infinitely trendier people use to express themselves, I have no idea whether the word ‘cool’ is still usable without eliciting derisory laughs and scoffing (though I suppose it is quite acceptable to use it to mean moderately or mildly cold) but the word is that which sprang to mind on my recent visit to Atelier in Newhall Square, as I lounged in a comfortable armchair near the serving counter where The Wilderness’s exceptional Head Chef, Marius Gedminas, was preparing sushi and where the restaurant’s sommelier, nay, célébrité (it seems to have more import in French somehow), Sonal Clare, was presiding over the list of cocktails and wines and venturing forth to tempt the punters, most half my age and many looking very of the moment - cool, in fact in a 2020s sort of way - to sip a cocktail or put his choice of wines to the test.
If my knowledge of now speak is effectively non-existent then my knowledge of Japanese food barely rises to the next level up. Of course I’ve had it and it’s ingredients are barely avoidable in these present times where virtually no British chef is not making use of yuzu or wagyu or miso ad infinitum but I have not immersed myself in Japanese food nor have I been able to adjust myself to sake, which was all the rage not that long ago. Equally I have not trailed off up the dreary Bristol Street to Gaijin Sushi, loved by Jay Rayner, though I’ve often told myself I should. Some streets just require a lot of backbone to trail along but, after the Atelier evening, I’m one step on the journey now.
Atelier is lovely. Yes, and it reeks of cool. Robert Wood who started it up with Alex Claridge seems to have moved on, perhaps his cocktails were a little extreme and accompanying food always seemed to be the missing element. Now, Atelier was host to a two evening extravanganza of less arcane cocktails, classics with a twist, a selection of impressive but nicely priced wines and Gedminas’ remarkable sushi selection. Marius told me that while he had not been to Japan he had had opportunity to work with a chef practiced in the area and he had clearly absorbed the art as his food was exceptionally delicious.
I took advice from Gedminas on my choices for the evening. First off, an eight piece platter of uramaki rolls which seemed a safe place to start. I had KFC (the humour of The Wilderness carried over to Atelier) - fried soft shell crab with yuzu, mango, old soy and the crunch of nashi pear. These were delicious, absolutely so, and looked good as well. Then, two pieces of nigiri - my choice was salmon, aviar and wasabi. Again a hit, a palpable hit. On to sashimi; I was not yet ready for raw fish - a career in medicine had taught me a lot about parasitic disease related to raw fish ingestion (silly, I know but sometimes you take time to pass some barriers) but I was quite ready to opt for the A5 Kagoshima Wagyu and sublime it was, especially when paired with a glass of Sonal Clare’s recommended Burgaud Morgan Côte de Py 2021, brisk with cherry. I managed to consume, with great relish, two of the three slices of the prime Wagyu rolled up with soy and wasabi before photographing it but given the butter soft tenderness and the flavour I expect I can be forgiven for my impatience to enjoy it.
It was the end but just time for Sonal’s twist on a Sidecar with yuzu in there somewhere. A perfect end.
The following evening to the Oyster Club, sister restaurant to Adam’s, where, unusually for a Sunday evening visit, I opted to eschew the generously-sized roast Chateaubriand with all the trimmings and instead chose a magnificent Dover sole served à la Meurnière - the brown butter, lemon and parsley sauce and capers were all the fish needed and ever will be. However the fish was possibly slightly over, though not tragically so, but at £45 precision might be expected though I thoroughly enjoyed the joyous meatiness of it. I also had a rather small bowl of fine buttery mash which at £5.50 was good but all its money. For dessert I had chai panna cotta which was excellent in flavour and consistency but very let down by the accompanying coconut sorbet in which the flavour of coconut was indiscernible. For a heady £10 I would have expected the dish to deliver what it promised.
At the time Adam’s was taking on a new Head Chef (see previous Blog), so too was The Oyster Club as its Head Chef, Rosanna Moseley, who left to have a baby, was replaced by Stuart Langdell, who after leaving the army, had worked as demi chef de partie at Simpsons, then at the Pear Tree Inn in Wiltshire, then in 2015 to 2016 as sous chef at the Cross in Kenilworth under Adam Bennett. He was subsequently Head Chef at the Duncombe Arms in Derbyshire.
