What the experts recommend
Restaurant Sat Bains Lenton Lane, Nottingham (0115-986 6566) I cannot understand why Sat Bains has only two Michelin stars, says Tom Parker Bowles in The Mail on Sunday. Every dish we eat at his restaurant is evidence of a “truly great chef with a brilliant brigade, all cooking at the peak of their powers”. And to make it even better, there is no “avant-garde tomfoolery” or guff about “stories” and “journeys” here – just absolute dedication to perfection. An Isle of Skye scallop, lavishly caramelised and yet perfectly pearlescent, is served with wobbling wafers of braised pig’s trotter and lentils, and scented with a “whisper” of garam masala. Sweetbread, gently poached, comes as burnished spheres filled with garlic butter. This is “God’s own version of chicken Kiev” – an astonishing and “gleefully intense” dish on a “cloud” of celeriac puree. And a Maris Peer potato, poached in kombu butter and finished over embers, with tart cream cheese and chives, and a wodge of Danish caviar, has flavours that “don’t just sing, but lustily holler about the earth and the sea”. Ten-course tasting menu is £110; “not cheap, but supersonic value”.
Sorrel 77 South Street, Dorking, Surrey (01306-889414) This “tremendous” restaurant, which opened last year, is housed in a “pretty little building” full of wonky wooden beams and “mind your head” signs, says Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. It was built 300 years ago, when “apparently everyone in England was the height of a garden gnome”. Apart from occasionally having to stoop a bit, I found it hard to fault. The chef is Steve Drake, who held a Michelin star for more than ten years at his previous place in Ripley – and his “special” talent shines through in every mouthful. Standouts on our ninecourse tasting menu included a scallop, smoked cauliflower, cucumber and curry cannelloni that was a “tiny swirling blizzard” of textures and flavours. Excellent salt-baked beetroot was “tangy, tingly, salty and sweet”. Poached monkfish was “lissom” and superb – as were two puddings, one involving dehydrated carrot and ice cream (“tastes much better than it sounds”). “What a brilliant, brilliant meal.” £90 a head for nine courses.
Kettner’s Townhouse 29 Romilly Street, London W1 (020-7734 5650)
Kettner’s has been a beloved Soho stalwart since 1867, so three cheers for Nick Jones (the Soho House boss) for bringing it back to life with such dedication and flair, says Nicholas Lander in the FT. After a two-year refurbishment to restore it to its former glories, Kettner’s reopened in January – complete with champagne bar, piano bar, and a beautifully decorated and furnished main restaurant, with an impressive chandelier providing flattering lighting. Plants dotted around the room and the waiting staff’s uniforms add to the old-fashioned air. Indeed, the “carefully created impression is that everything is just as it was when Kettner’s first opened its doors” a century and a half ago. Chef Jackson Berg’s menu (though “ultramodern”) lives up to the grand setting. We enjoyed fine fish starters of cured sea bream with clementines and purple basil, and thin slices of raw Gigha halibut, followed by deeply satisfying mains of Toulouse sausage with potatoes aligot, and roast Banham chicken with pommes Anna. Welcome back, Kettner’s, we’ve missed you. Starters £8-£13; mains £12-£26.