Either Fil is psychic (unlikely), or just very well trained (even more unlikely), but it ended up being the venue of my surprise birthday dinner a few weeks ago! For their Friday and Saturday nights, you don't get a menu, you just get to choose the number of courses you want: 4, 6, or 8. We decided to be averagely fat and went for 6 courses. Here they are without any commentary from me:
Amuse bouche
Apple and Carrot Soda
Salad of Devonshire Crab,
Black bream
Cornish Black Bream Stuffed with Morels & Kaffir Lime, New Season Broad Beans & Coffee
Snails
Fricassee of Herefordshire Snails, Turkish Morels, “Vin Jaune” Sauce & Wild Chervil
Squab Pigeon
Roast Squab Pigeon, Tamarillo Confit in Muscovado, New Season Carrot & Passion Fruit Puree,
Selection of British & French Cheeses
From Neal’s Yard and Bernard Antony
Pre dessert
Strawberries and Celeriac with Sichuan Pepper Foam
Winter Garden
Iced Nougat Parfait of Candied Roots, Physalis Coulis
I'm a bit dubious about the World's 50 Best list anyway. I've only been to 6 on the list, and only one of them (lovely Martin of San Sebastian) is the only meal I would say has absolutely blown my mind.
I loved loved the surprise element at Hibiscus, especially as I wouldn't have ordered the best dish of the lot. The stuffed sea bream was a creation of wonder, I could have happily eaten about 5 portions of it. And the other thing I absolutely adored was the so right cheese selection (you can tell I was excited as I didn't even take a picture) - fourme d'ambert, comte, a goatey one and a soft stinky one. I couldn't really have asked for a better place for my birthday.
But obviously, now I have to overanalyse every aspect of my dining experience, there were a few niggly things I have. First, the dining room is really odd, the tables a bit too spaced out almost, and I'm not sure about the minimalist blonde panelling, the room needed more character. I also thought it was weird to have two dishes with morels (the sea bream and the snails) back to back; unfortunately the sea bream dish was so so good, the snails felt like a let down. And finally, I really disliked the dessert. I know I'm not a dessert person, but this was just an odd choice to try and display your dessert talents. Simply not very nice at all!
I loved loved the surprise element at Hibiscus, especially as I wouldn't have ordered the best dish of the lot. The stuffed sea bream was a creation of wonder, I could have happily eaten about 5 portions of it. And the other thing I absolutely adored was the so right cheese selection (you can tell I was excited as I didn't even take a picture) - fourme d'ambert, comte, a goatey one and a soft stinky one. I couldn't really have asked for a better place for my birthday.
But obviously, now I have to overanalyse every aspect of my dining experience, there were a few niggly things I have. First, the dining room is really odd, the tables a bit too spaced out almost, and I'm not sure about the minimalist blonde panelling, the room needed more character. I also thought it was weird to have two dishes with morels (the sea bream and the snails) back to back; unfortunately the sea bream dish was so so good, the snails felt like a let down. And finally, I really disliked the dessert. I know I'm not a dessert person, but this was just an odd choice to try and display your dessert talents. Simply not very nice at all!
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