Once the premises of Gordon Ramsay, Aubergine has for many years had at the helm William Drabble. What follows are notes from my most recent meal. The dining room has a skylight at the back and makes good use of mirrors to create a sense of space in what is not a large dining room, which at capacity could seat around 50 covers. Three courses were £68 for dinner, with a tasting menu at £85, but there was a set lunch for £29 with a selection for four choices of starters and main courses.
The extensive wine was strong in France but also has some well-selected suppliers from elsewhere, though mark-ups are far from generous. Guigal Hermitage 1988 is listed at a chunky £145 for a wine that costs perhaps £35 retail. Egon Muller Kanta Riesling 2006 is £45 for a wine you can buy in a shop for around £17.
At the top end, the very fine Vega Sicilia Unico 1995 has a price to match: £520 compared to a shop price of around £210. Breads are made from scratch and consist of a selection of rolls: white, brown, sesame, dill, black olive, rosemary and a walnut and raisin usually served with the cheese. I am a great proponent of restaurants making their own bread, but found these pleasant but oddly unexciting (5/10).
An amuse-bouche of “terrine” of beetroot appeared to be just some pickled beetroot slices, topped with a blob of sour cream, and a rather tasteless drizzle of chive sauce, presumably mainly to add colour. The beetroot was quite acidic, and for me simply uninteresting (2/10).
My starter was a set of scallops or to be precise (this being London, four thin slices of scallop) on a puree of mushrooms. The scallops were correctly cooked, and the mushroom puree was well-seasoned though I suspect it was not made with the costliest of mushrooms and so had merely pleasant flavour, and presentation was simple (4/10).
My main course of John Dory was cooked well, though its layer of parsley on top had surprisingly little taste for such a distinctive herb, and for me the fish left on its own would have been better. A bed of spinach was fine, as was a thin red wine sauce, but the cream of mushrooms were just button mushrooms, which are never going to excite (5/10).
My companion’s dishes were of a similar or lesser standard, with carelessness showing through with a coarse hair appearing in her otherwise fairly tasty poor cheek dish; I think this was a hair from the pig that had not been properly removed in preparation.
For dessert, poached cherries with soufflé beignet were pleasant, though the temperature of the elements of the dish was oddly variable, served with a nice almond ice cream (5/10). Coffee was good, served with capable petit fours such as a nice mini lemon tart and a moist financier (6/10 for the petit fours).
As with the last visit, I felt slightly let down given this is a restaurant with a Michelin star. Some dishes are borderline one-star level, but others are clearly not, and given the price tag this is a problem. Service was pleasant, though our waitress seemed essentially unable to speak any English at all.
Review by Andy Hayler
The extensive wine was strong in France but also has some well-selected suppliers from elsewhere, though mark-ups are far from generous. Guigal Hermitage 1988 is listed at a chunky £145 for a wine that costs perhaps £35 retail. Egon Muller Kanta Riesling 2006 is £45 for a wine you can buy in a shop for around £17.
At the top end, the very fine Vega Sicilia Unico 1995 has a price to match: £520 compared to a shop price of around £210. Breads are made from scratch and consist of a selection of rolls: white, brown, sesame, dill, black olive, rosemary and a walnut and raisin usually served with the cheese. I am a great proponent of restaurants making their own bread, but found these pleasant but oddly unexciting (5/10).
An amuse-bouche of “terrine” of beetroot appeared to be just some pickled beetroot slices, topped with a blob of sour cream, and a rather tasteless drizzle of chive sauce, presumably mainly to add colour. The beetroot was quite acidic, and for me simply uninteresting (2/10).
My starter was a set of scallops or to be precise (this being London, four thin slices of scallop) on a puree of mushrooms. The scallops were correctly cooked, and the mushroom puree was well-seasoned though I suspect it was not made with the costliest of mushrooms and so had merely pleasant flavour, and presentation was simple (4/10).
My main course of John Dory was cooked well, though its layer of parsley on top had surprisingly little taste for such a distinctive herb, and for me the fish left on its own would have been better. A bed of spinach was fine, as was a thin red wine sauce, but the cream of mushrooms were just button mushrooms, which are never going to excite (5/10).
My companion’s dishes were of a similar or lesser standard, with carelessness showing through with a coarse hair appearing in her otherwise fairly tasty poor cheek dish; I think this was a hair from the pig that had not been properly removed in preparation.
For dessert, poached cherries with soufflé beignet were pleasant, though the temperature of the elements of the dish was oddly variable, served with a nice almond ice cream (5/10). Coffee was good, served with capable petit fours such as a nice mini lemon tart and a moist financier (6/10 for the petit fours).
As with the last visit, I felt slightly let down given this is a restaurant with a Michelin star. Some dishes are borderline one-star level, but others are clearly not, and given the price tag this is a problem. Service was pleasant, though our waitress seemed essentially unable to speak any English at all.
Review by Andy Hayler
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