I first heard about Medlar by reading a Food Blog, the blogger raved about the food that was served in that restaurant. The pictures and description of the dishes sounded fantastic; exactly the kind of food I like! I went to check Medlar website to view their full menu and indeed, it looks really interesting. The menu reminds me of the type of food that Magdalen restaurant serves. Then I checked the London Eating website to see what people thought about Medlar. The reviews were excellent, people seem to enjoy the food there so I decided to give it a go.
The restaurant is located on Kings road in Chelsea, not next door to us (unfortunately!!!) but my hubby found that there was a direct bus (No 319) that takes us from Streatham to Chelsea! Very convenient!
Anyway, last Saturday (14th January 2012) we went to Medlar for the first time. Medlar has only Prix Fixe menu: £26 for 3 course lunch, £30 for 3 course weekend lunch and £39.50 for 3 course dinner. The menu offers the choice between 7 starters, 7 main courses and 7 desserts plus cheese. The menu was very exciting to read, there were so many interesting dishes that I wanted to try! Anyway, my hubby and I agreed to order different dishes throughout the meal so that we could share and taste as many dishes as we could in order to have an idea about the food served at Medlar.
For starter, my hubby ordered:
Braised tripe with soft polenta, tomato, fennel, paprika, bacon and gremolata - This dish was very tasty. It was a nice way of serving tripes as tripes can be quite strong.
My starter was:
Crab raviolo with samphire, brown shrimp, fondue of leeks and bisque sauce- This crab raviolo was amazingly well executed and should put Angela Hartnett to shame (especially due to the fact that Murano is an Italian restaurant!). The pasta was thin and it was filled with a lot of crab meat. The samphire, brown shrimp, fondue of leeks and bisque sauce went extremely well together. It was so yummy! I know a friend who would be jealous reading this!
As main course, my hubby ordered:
Red wine braised octopus with roast cod, crisp Indian pastry, borlotti and frisée - This dish was so well executed! The cod was roasted to perfection and the braised octopus were very tasty. This dish was also a delight!
My main course was:
Ox tongue and heart with caramelised endive tart, cepes, wet garlic and sage - This dish was also very memorable! Each element on the plate was perfectly cooked and worked very well together. It was also such a delicous main course!
For dessert, I was very disappointed that the apple tarte tatin wasn't on the menu as I read excellent review about their tarte tatin! But my hubby told me that the positive way to look at it was that we would be able to order two desserts to share, whereas if the tarte tatin was on offer, we both would have had to share the tartin (at it is for two people) and we would miss the opportunity to try different desserts!
For dessert, my hubby ordered:
Chocolate delice with milk ice cream, griottine cherries and pistachios - The chocolate delice is a kind of chocolate gateau. It was served with a milk ice cream and griottine cherries and pictachios. The dessert was good but it didn't blow my socks off.
The dessert I chose was:
Passion fruit tartlet with coconut ice cream and tuile - The tartlet case was very crunchy and the passion fruit cream on the top was very pleasant and not too sharp. It went very well with the coconut ice cream. I found this dessert very refreshing.
At the end of the meal, when we asked for the bill, they offered us some chocolate truffle which was a pleasant surprise.
The service was nice, friendly and efficient. A nice touch about the restaurant is that they let us keep our bread plate until the end of the meal and we could have bread throughout the meal if we wanted. It's always nice to have a bit if bread, especially if we need some bread for the sauce.
The decor of the restaurant was done with very good taste except for the green bench!! Weird choice of colour! The food was so enjoyable that we would certainly come back. We had such an excellent meal at Medlar and I am already looking forward to our next visit! We are also looking forward to introducing this restaurant to some friends who also love their food.
The meal was just under £90 for the two of us, including a carafe of red wine (500ml).
Medlar Restaurant
438 Kings Road
Chelsea SW10 0LJ
020 7349 1900
http://www.medlarrestaurant.co.uk/
