Name: Pieds Nus
Where: 19 Blandford St, London
W1U 3DG, www.piedsnus.co.uk
Cost: Small plates (to be shared)
range from £2.50 to £12.95, desserts from £1.50 to £8.95.
About: Pieds Nus is the pop-up
restaurant opened in late 2013 just off Marylebone High Street by David Moore,
owner of Michelin starred restaurants Pied à Terre and L'Autre Pied.
I visited it for the first time in October 2013 with a friend soon after it opened, and enjoyed it so much I hurried back for a second visit last week.
Pieds Nus has a laid-back
and casual feel about it, the décor is unpretentious but tasteful, with subdued
lighting creating a restful atmosphere. The idea behind Pieds Nus is to provide
food reflecting David Moore’s culinary background in a less formal set-up. The
menu is divided into 2 appetizers, 3 vegetable dishes, 3 fish and 4 meat dishes,
all intended for sharing.
The head chef is Ed Dutton, who
worked with David Moore at Pied à Terre on Charlotte St for two years, and was
head chef at Tom Aikens Restaurant.
Interestingly, the temperatures
used for cooking the fish and meat dishes are stated against each item on the
menu, 42°C for the confit salmon or 82.2°C for the spiced lamb neck for example
(nothing being cooked over 100°C) indicating great care and thought for the
ingredients used.
What We Ate: Faced with a small
but tantalising menu, and feeling somewhat indecisive, we opted to try the
whole lot save for the desserts.
We started with a glass of bubbly
and a couple of appetizers - the moradas
cornicabra olives (2.50) and a platter of thinly cut Iberian ham (Paleta
Iberica D.O. Bellota Reserva £10.95), made from top grade, acorn-fed Iberian
pigs. The slivers were extremely fine and marbled, with a magnificent texture
and flavour.
To accompany our appetizers and
most of our small eats, we also had a basket of warm and freshly baked breads
(£4.50) including bacon and onion brioche, black onion seed flat bread, and
milk loaf, which were fantastic with a serving of humus.
Our first vegetable dish was the
pickled, raw and charred vegetables with celeriac oil and truffle (£9.50), which
was beautiful in its presentation, and had a joyous extravagance of crunchy,
crisp and creamy textures.
Baby artichoke, wild mushrooms
and pine nuts (£7.50) was also very good, with the artichokes sliced in half
and charred, and partnered with a medley of wild mushrooms.
The slow cooked duck egg with
riced potato and Belper Knolle cheese (£6.50) was probably my favourite of the
vegetable dishes - light and airy, but richly flavoured with cheese and truffle
shavings, all brought together by a lightly cooked and still very runny duck egg
yolk.
Alas the scallop dish was not
available on the night we were there, but we didn’t do too badly ordering the
seared yellow fin tuna with pepper and black olive (£12.00) instead. The tuna
was wonderfully fresh and tender, and served as perfect, pepper encrusted discs
on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes, black olives and chives.
The confit salmon, gently poached
in a water bath at 42°C, was luscious and meltingly tender served with deep-fried
shavings of cauliflower and pink grapefruit (£8.50). The cucumber
"noodles" were a refreshing addition providing also a surprising
texture.
The meat options started on an
excellent note with the beef tartare with smoked eel (£11.95). I am sucker for
good steak tartare, but this took the classic into new territory with the beef
hand chopped, the raw egg yolk replaced by tiny crispy quail eggs, and a streak
of wasabi cream to bring a touch of heat.
Next was the 62°C poached rose
veal with celeriac choucroute and truffle (£12.95). This was my favourite of
all the meat dishes; the veal was tender and delicately flavoured with truffle
shavings.
The 12-hour 98°C slow cooked pig
belly with potato and carrot (£11.95) was very good too, with a perfectly crisp
and crunchy skin, flavoursome meat and delicate curls of poached and pureed
carrot.
Finally came the spiced lamb neck
with aubergine and couscous (£11.95). The lamb was delicate, flavoured but not
overwhelmed by the Maghreb spices (cumin, cinnamon, paprika and saffron), and
served with a glossy aubergine sauce.
By the time dessert came, we had
little room left, but shared a magnificent dessert of banana Financier with
maple syrup and banana ice cream (£6.50). This was outstandingly good,
beautifully presented with the ice cream sitting on a sweetly crunchy base, and
a perfect crisp but almost vanishingly thin layer of caramel on banana slices.
We then had a couple of small
doughnuts (£1.50 each), which were light and crispy, with a generous dusting of
sugar and cinnamon.
What We Drank: The wine list is
well thought out and very reasonably priced with entry level wines starting
from £19.50 and other excellent choices below the £30 mark (including a Rias
Baixas Albariño for £25.50). We had a glass of sparkling Pinot Noir 2012 from
Cordillera, Miguel Torres, Chile (£5.50 per glass or £25 per bottle) with our
appetizers, which was a good aperitif.
With our main meal, we shared a
bottle of Montlouis sur Loire 2012, from Clos du Breuil, F Chidaine (£42). This
was a lovely dry Chenin Blanc from Touraine in the Loire valley, with tart
green apple flavours and excellent minerality.
It stood up well to the range of flavours in our meal.
We also had a couple of glasses
of 2008 Rioja Reserva Bodegas Ostatu (£8 per glass or £39 per bottle) with the
spiced lamb neck. This had blackberry and vanilla notes, and great intensity
and depth of flavour.
All wines were selected by Arina
Graham, the restaurant manager, and were excellent choices in our opinion.
Likes: Great cooking by Ed Dutton,
very good and well price wine list, casual but tasteful restaurant in the heart of plush
Marylebone. Excellent service and the best banana dessert I have tried (Banana
Financiers), worth crossing the City for!
Dislikes: None.
Verdict: An excellent pop-up
restaurant in Marylebone, with a well-priced, small but delicious menu and a
great wine list. Hurry to get there
because it is scheduled to close in April 2014!
