• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Petrus

April 12, 2010 15 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Amuse Bouche of onion velouté
Crab and salmon cannelloni
with baby gem lettuce sauce

Pressed rabbit and foie gras mosaic
with carrot chutney and a hazelnut salad
Pan-fried sea trout with sweetcorn,
wild mushrooms and sorrel sauce


Chocolate sphere
with milk ice cream and honeycomb

Marinated pineapple
with coconut pannacotta (perfect), lime and chilli syrup

Roasted fennel crème brûlée
with Alphonso mango

This is the first time I’ve eaten a properly Michelin star type meal. Another reviewer was bored by it but I wasn’t. It may be old hat, perfectly cooked modern Franco-British food, gorgeous amuse-bouches, accomplished and smooth service, neither too obsequious, nor too cocky… if so, that’s a hat I’m happy to continue wearing.

In our little rival set up to #poshlunchclub, Patrick Carpenter, astrologer Bethea Jenner and my former sous-chef Angie Ma, just in from Hong Kong for a couple of days, met up for a midday lunch, à la francaise. We were going for the set menu: £25 for 3 courses.
We sat on a banquette, waiting to be seated, I had a glass of prosecco at £9.50. The waitress poured, half way, and then stopped. I looked at her. She was unperturbed. That was it. I got chatting to the Maitre d’ Jean Phillipe Susilovic about our last set meal at River Café and summoned up the courage to ask:

“Why only half a glass?”

Unoffended he demonstrated that it was in fact exactly 125ml but the glasses were large.

“Sorry” I said.

“No problem at all” he replied “you want to know, you ask, that’s fine. I like directness”.

He offered to hang up my charity shop cardigan…

“S’Ok” I said “I’ll shove it in my bag”.

He smiled.

“You can see I’m not used to posh restaurants can’t you?” I laughed.

We had two little cornets of popcorn, one flavoured with paprika, the other with lemon and butter. I love savoury popcorn so that got my vote.
Sitting down, we were first served an amuse-bouche of onion velouté in the most delicate white bone china. Delicious. Brown sourdough and warm white bread were brought, fanned out on a plate. A roundel of butter at room temperature was placed stealthily on the table.
We started to relax. This was going to be the equivalent of a holiday, a weekend away, a proper treat. Even when I asked for the sommelier…

“What would Madame like?”

“A glass of your cheapest white please”

He didn’t bat an eyelid. Patrick looked askance at me.

“Why did you ask for the sommelier?”

“I didn’t know who to ask for the wine. Have I committed a faux pas?” I know Patrick is dead posh about wine, being a bit of an expert. “We are doing the cheap deal and I want to see what their £5.50 house white is like”.

It was fine, light and fruity.

Next up was my choice of crab and salmon cannelloni, fresh and vital.
My main course was the trout, crispy skin skyward, with wild mushrooms and sweet corn nestling underneath. This was accompanied by small silver dishes of broccoli with lemon zest and potato slices with rosemary sprigs. Everything was good. Nothing was mediocre.
The servers danced around us, whisking off lids, flashing silver and white, unfolding napkins with a theatrical flourish, clothed in starched precise suits. A variety of little jugs appeared in clean masculine hands, offset by glinting cufflinks, pouring sauces around whatever we had ordered: a clear consommé, a fresh green herb sauce, a lemon butter slick. Stoic footmen stood back in the shadows, holding trays, as if we were being protected by the Queen’s Guard. You felt like you were royal. You felt so cossetted, so cared for, that if say, I’d asked for a bit of a neck massage, they probably would have obliged.
Our excitement and pleasure must have been audible; the table next to us cooed over…

“It’s so lovely here isn’t it?”

“Ooh yes“we squealed in unison.

“Have you tried the Petrus, it’s only £49,500”

The maitre d’, hearing this, came over with the bottle. It was empty, somebody ordered it last Friday.

“Who?” I asked.

“I’m afraid I can’t say” he twinkled.

Imagine getting the 25 quid set lunch and ordering a fifty grand bottle of wine with it!
Desserts on the set menu were à la carte: just before dessert, we were given a silver dish with four doll size icecream cones, filled with mascarpone and lemon.
I ordered the chocolate sphere with honeycomb. When it arrived it looked rather forbidding.
Again appeared another little jug, Jean-Phillipe coughed slightly to gain attention, and eyebrow raised, poured chocolate sauce onto the sphere and…it melted showing the icecream and honeycomb underneath. It was magical! We were all gasping.
Even as we thought we had finished…chocolates appeared. A hand carved wooden box with tiny sections for mini chocolate bars, a dish of powdery chocolate almonds, and another spectacular effect, were we on a film set? a silver dish flowing with dry ice revealed four white chocolate cold lollies on a stick.
At the end we were taken down to meet the chefs, one of them unfeasibly young. Now I know why Gordon Ramsay and his restaurants are feted.
Petrus £25 set lunch
1 Kinnerton Street SW1X 8EA
Tel: 020 7592 1609
Tube: Knightsbridge

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « Spring dinner in pictures
Next Post: Paulie and the chocolate factory »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Manne

    April 12, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    Lovely review, and thanks for getting down detailed names of all the dishes. I was too happy just eating and cooing fr remembering tat. 😉

    Reply
  2. James

    April 12, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    Aaaah. Now I wish I hadn't looked. Looks so good.

    Was thinking on the way back just now how the food is a loss leader in comparison to the wine. But £49,500? Helps their wage bill.

    Reply
  3. holland2312

    April 12, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    Thank you so much for this great review. It's the first photographic review I've found! I've eaten at a couple of "Michelin star type restaurants", all GR's, and this looks fantastic and no doubt it will get it's award soon. I am hoping to go there next month, and wondered what exactly you get for £25, because as yet I am not sure whether to go cheap, or break my wallet and go for the £55 a la carte. However, it seems like you get your money's worth! Very helpful, thanks.

    Reply
  4. Laura Nickoll

    April 12, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    Insanely jealous, what a lovely way to spend Monday lunch! Definitely worth the money, by the looks of it. What was the star dish? Hibiscus lunch menu on your horizon, I hope. It's certainly on mine. £29.50 for three courses, and the menu is very tempting.

    Reply
  5. theundergroundrestaurant

    April 13, 2010 at 7:24 am

    Manne, James and Holland: it was so good!

    Laura; yes lets book it.I'll ask Patrick to book it. let me know your email address.
    For me mondays and tuesdays are always best really.

    Reply
  6. Bored

    April 13, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    Why rival the #poshlunchclub? Why not come up with your own idea?

    Reply
  7. theundergroundrestaurant

    April 13, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Not rivalling…joining in. Just as others have joined in by doing their own supperclubs.
    I invited Niamh! I credited her idea in the last post on River café.
    Can only one person go to set lunches? Can only one person invite others?
    Such a good idea that yes, I'm copying…well done Niamh….
    I'm sure she's absolutely fine with this….I'm only teasing by saying 'our little rival set up'…we are not rivals at all.
    She does what she does brilliantly. We all have our own take on this restaurants…
    My own motivation actually is to improve and inspire my own cooking by eating at the masters….

    Reply
  8. Kavey

    April 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    Not sure who "Bored" is (so bored of anonymous commenters) but posh lunch club is hardly an innovation and am sure Niamh wouldn't claim it as such. I did similar throughout January and March with my husband, as we took a 3 month sabbatical from work – each week we came into London and, for the most part, chose restaurants that offered a great deal on their weekday set lunch menu – often these are such great bargains! And I've certainly read of other bloggers doing same!

    MML would love to join Patrick and yourself going forward but am committed to being at client site Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and that's up in Watford. If you are able to hold any of these on a Thursday (I know you'll be busy with the supperclub on a Friday), do let me know if I can come along.

    xxx

    Reply
  9. theundergroundrestaurant

    April 13, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    Hi Kavey …thursdays are always a bit hard for me but if we have one then I'll let you know.
    What a shame you can't make it early week!

    Reply
  10. Patrick Carpenter

    April 14, 2010 at 12:04 am

    Nice write up Kirsten though I didn't know I was 'dead posh' about wine, just fussy! Hibiscus sounds good (though I suspect more frou frou than Pétrus) and I know that La Trompette in Chiswick is excellent and especially good value at lunch. I hope more people can join us on these outings

    Reply
  11. The Ample Cook

    April 14, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    Really enjoyed reading this and seeing photos of the food.

    Well done you for asking for their cheapest wine. Why not? I quite frankly would do the same.

    I just have to make a comment re the bottle of Petrus. I know everyone is entitled to spend their money any way they wish. But I'm afaid I do find spending nearly 50k on a bottle of wine incredibly obscene.

    Reply
  12. Laura Nickoll

    April 14, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    Fab. Email: [email protected].

    Reply
  13. Kavey

    April 14, 2010 at 9:47 pm

    La Trompette is lovely… and Glasshouse sister restaurant also very nice though like La Trompette better…
    Mmmmmmm!

    Reply
  14. Natasha

    April 22, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    Oh gosh, that chocolate sphere looked just amazing, the way it melted, I may have to go just for that – the £25 lunch deal sounds such good value.

    Lovely photos.

    Reply
  15. Pat

    May 5, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Thanks for your very good review. I completely agree…never get bored with classic Anglo-French. I had the Chef's menu and the food was very well executed. Have you been to Pied A Terre? It wasn't bad too.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover