Arbutus

Annabel had the most exciting idea to get some foodies together to talk about food at Arbutus the other day, and I'm not sure I've received a more exciting invitation in recent times. She's just started an externship at Innocent Smoothies, and wanted to get us together to brainstorm some new product ideas. Somehow, I managed to get slightly evangelical about puddings, even though I don't really eat them as such and would probably never buy them. But that is by the by, we had such a good time we are now trying to make it a monthly fest.

I had only been to Arbutus once before, quite a long time ago now, and I remember it being quite unmemorable. But this time round I was charmed by the very good service. I'd forgotten that they do all their wines by the carafe, and not only that, we were able to try quite a few of the wines before we 'committed' to a carafe, which takes good service just a little too far.

The food was a lot more offally than I had remembered, and unfortunately I was in a bit of a full and bloated mood to really want to go for it. For example, I really wanted to try the 'pieds et pacquets', which was an intriguing sounding lamb's tripe and trotter mix, but needed something light. Not that my starter of smoked eel with chicken wings was exactly light. The chicken wings were BONELESS, the most genius idea I have ever heard:

Annabel had the squid and mackerel 'burger' with razor clams, very interesting combination, more about texture for me than anything:

We also tried the braised pig's head, which I suspect was what I had last time I was here. I have no idea what they add to their purees to make them so starchy that they sit on the plate in such perfect forms:

I was distinctively boring in my choice of main, going for the bouillabaisse. I can't fault it, but at £19.95 a portion, it was also a little dull. And as much as I know it's not traditional, I am always a bit miffed when fish soup comes without shellfish:

We also tried the Atlantic cod:

But the main that provoked the most ooohs and aaahs was the lamb breast. As Charlie correctly noted, breasts need careful loving, and this was a very loved piece of meat indeed. Very tender, fall apart soft:

I had to skip out on dessert, but some interesting things like cold chocolate fondant with salted caramel and quince clafoutis made me regret leaving.

Overall, much more impressed with this place than last time, but I am a little dismayed by the prices nevertheless. All mains were at the £15-20 mark, standard for this type of establishment, yes, but not when they are using a lot of cheaper cuts and so much offal. Also, marks off for the bar not having any idea what a French martini was, and also for the bathrooms, falling apart to such an extent that the toilet seat was almost on the floor. The naughty booby pictures don't quite make up for that.