Dabbous - May 2012

Dabbous only opened in February 2012 and apparently has become the hottest restaurant in London! It has become impossible to book a table! Obviously, if one is desperate to eat there, one can always turn up every evening and stand in the bar just in case a cancellation comes up! But it takes some determination!
It was thanks to me that we got a table booked at Dabbous on Saturday 19th May 2012!!! But my hubby would argue that it was thanks to him for showing me a review of Dabbous on the Evening Standard! Anyway, the review was published on 2nd February 2012 and I made a reservation on 20th February 2012 for Saturday 19th May 2012! It was hard to make a reservation then, now it's totally impossible.
My hubby and I were very much looking forward to our meal at Dabbous since we read such great reviews.
The restaurant is on the ground floor and there is also a bar in the basement. The restaurant has only 36 seats, that is probably the reason why it is difficult to get a table.
The waiter brought us the menu and explained to us that the portions were on the small side. So if we were to go A La Carte, he advised that we chose between 5 to 7 courses per person. However he recommended us to go for the Tasting Menu. Before going to the restaurant my hubby and I had a look at the menu on their website and we had already decided to go for the Tasting Menu since it was probably our first and last time dining there...as we don't think we'll be lucky enough  get a table there again.
The Tasting Menu consists of 7 courses at £49. There is also an optional cheese course with £9 supplement.

Dabbous Tasting Menu on Saturday 19th May 2012

They gave us some green olives which were quite nice but nothing special so far.

Green olives

Then, they brought us some bread freshly baked on the day! The paper bag containing the bread has the date stamped on it!

Bag of bread home baked on the day

The bread was warm as if it had just been baked for us! The sourdough bread contained various seeds & nuts including poppy seeds, pine nuts, walnuts. It had also a bit of bacon. The bread was very moreish. The bread came with some whipped salty butter.

Bread

Then our first course arrived: Peas with mint. What Dabbous managed to do with the simple peas and mint was fantastic. The guy has definitely a very refine palate. This dish was extremely good.

Peas with mint

The second course: Mixed alliums in a chilled pine infusion was also very good. It was a light  & refreshing dish and the taste was very refine. The taste is hard to describe as it is not something we had before.

Mixed alliums in a chilled pine infusion

The third course was: Coddled free range hen egg with woodland mushrooms and smoked butter. This dish was amazingly good! I wouldn't mind having an egg like this every morning for my breakfast! The taste was just so wonderful. 

Coddled free range hen egg with woodland mushrooms and smoked butter

 The fish course was Grilled halibut, iodized sour cream, beetroot & watercress stems. The fish was cooked to perfection and the iodized sour cream worked very well with it. 

Grilled halibut, iodized sour cream, beetroot & watercress stems 

The meat course was Barbecued Iberico pork, savory acorn praline, turnip tops, homemade apple vinegar. The Iberico pork itself was very tasty as expected from Iberico pork but I couldn't really get the barbecue taste. The praline sauce was very strong in flavour, it went well with the pork. It would have been nice to have a bigger portion of vegetables in relation to the piece of meat...but posh food doesn't seem to come with a lot of vegetables nowadays!

Barbecued Iberico pork, savory acorn praline, turnip tops, homemade apple vinegar

 We chose to have the cheese course as an additional course. The plate contained four different cheeses from the British Islands including a goat cheese (at the top) and a blue cheese (at the bottom). It is an excellent idea of the restaurant to introduce British cheeses to the customers. The baked apple was very nice, it was almost like the apple in a tarte tatin without the pastry! The cheese course was enjoyable. My hubby who doesn't like blue cheese in general enjoyed the blue cheese! It's probably to due the fact that he doesn't get to eat cheese that often due to his cholesterol!

Artisanal cheese from the British Isles, baked apple and toasted sourdough

The toasted sourdough that came with the cheeses was very nice. It's nice to have toasted bread rather than biscuits.

Toasted sourdough

The first dessert was Iced lovage. This was very refreshing and a good palate cleanser before the main dessert.

Iced lovage

The second dessert was Chocolate ganache, basil moss, sheep's milk ice cream. The dessert was simply sensational in terms of taste and texture. Each element on the plate worked very well together, the combination was very clever. It was nice to end the meal with such a nice and tasty dessert.

Chocolate ganache, basil moss, sheep's milk ice cream

We had a fantastic meal at Dabbous. The service was fairly efficient except I had to ask three times to three different waiters for some tap water before I got some. The waiters were all young and friendly. The atmosphere is quite relax. The only little criticism I have about this place is that the music was too loud. It felt almost like being in a noisy bar/nightclub rather than a restaurant.  

The bill came to £129 plus 12.5% service charge . We enjoyed our experience at Dabbous very much but it is unlikely that we will return not because we don't want to but it seems just impossible to get a table! Upon writing this, apparently accordingly to an article in the Evening Standard (published on 25th May 2012) for a lunch slot one has to wait until September 2012, for a dinner slot until January 2013, for a weekend dinner slot until February 2013!!

Upon leaving the restaurant, one waiter said to us "hope to see you soon!". We told him that we'd love to but it seems impossible to get a table...so he smiled. Ah well... I feel lucky that I had the opportunity to try this restaurant at least once!

Dabbous

39 Whitfield street

London W1T 2SF

020 7323 1544

http://dabbous.co.uk/