Magical food flourishes at this genious Greenhouse
IT was the second spoonful of the handdived scallop and oyster tartare that did it. ‘This,’ I said, ‘is not cooking. It’s a kind of magic.’ The food at The Greenhouse is not just sensational but also on such a rarefied plane that people like me, obsessed by food, give up wondering ‘how on earth do they do that’ and just embrace the sensations.
However, I’ve no doubt there are people who will just shovel it all in and stop for chips on the way home. The world is full of tragedy and mystery.
Mickaeal Viljanen and Mark Moriarty are the magicians here. They have two Michelin stars, and there are lot of people, not including me, who care a great deal about such things.
We went for lunch which, at this level, offers serious value at €65 for three courses. The bewitchment started with the amuses bouches, each constructed with geometric precision and perfection. For example, little thin, crisp spheres created from the sugars of Chantenay carrots, filled with a mousse of smoked pike eggs.
This is the definition of we can’t do at home. More little spheres, created out of gossamer light charcoal-coloured crunchiness containing 3 year old Comté cheese with truffle. For me, this was one of the best things ever to touch my tastebuds.
And then there was the little cylinder of raw mackerel, balanced with the citrus kick of yuzu cream, sitting in a meltingly buttery miniature pastry case.
The menu here is written on the basis that to tell all is to be tiresome; dishes are briefly summarised. Take one of our starters ‘Hand Dived Scallop Tartare, Oyster, Elderflower & Jalapeño’, mentioned above. A silky cream sat above morsels of raw seafood, surmounted by little white spheres. I have no idea how this all worked but, my goodness, it did. Magnificently, with an overwhelming sense of freshness, minerality, zing and a collection of sensations way beyond the sum of its stated parts.
‘Foie Gras Royale, Apple, Walnut, Smoked Eel’, was presented in a little round glass vessel, just like a Petri dish. The silky foie gras formed the base layer, topped with tiny cubes of smoked eel and a kind of savoury apple sorbet, eggshaped...a mystery powder, slightly smoky, may have been dehydrated foie gras. Whatever. It was lovely.
‘John Dory, Luberon Asparagus, Wild Garlic, Sorrel, Lemon, Sauce Château Chalon’ was even better, and even prettier, than that sounds.
The dense, rich flesh of the fish, simply steamed and topped with a little caviar, was supported by the buttery sauce, sharpened with a rare wine from the Jura, not unlike a fino sherry. The French asparagus, first of the season, was studded with little squares of confit lemon peel, and the plate was completed with little explosions of wild garlic, brilliantly sharp sorrel and sharp lemon, in the form of silky purées.
‘Roast Anjou Pigeon, Violon Courgette, Artichokem Peas, Marjoram Jus Gras’ featured threeweek aged pigeon and a little tart made from a mousse of its liver.
Sections of courgette (a Provençale variety), artichoke heart, peas, a stuffed morel and a deep, dark jus. Despite the significant hanging time for the pigeon, its gaminess was perfectly judged, just like all the other elements.
Dessert was ‘Amedei Chocolate, Praline, Rosemary, Coffee Sorbet’ was, like every detail of this meal, a thing of beauty, rich, deeply flavoured (in wine terms, it had
“length”), utilising ingredients that all compliment each other.
A selection of cheeses in impeccable condition, included SaintMaure goat, farmhouse Cheddar, mature Gouda and an outstanding hazelnut Tomme. Petits fours were jewel-like, intensely flavoured while avoiding too much sweetness and showed the same obsessional attention to detail as we experienced in every other element in this phenomenal meal. The wasabi and green tea version lives on in memory.
All of this, with mineral water, one aperitif, four glasses of wine and outstanding Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica came to €214, before adding something for service. Considering the work involved, the detail, the genius, the experience, this is remarkably good value.
THE SMART MONEY:
€65 for three courses of this quality is a bargain.
AND ANOTHER THING...
The Greenhouse is the sister restaurant of One Pico which should have a Michelin star but, bizarrely, doesn’t.