A Taste of London

We're back in London and out on the town.  Dinner reservations were made many weeks (months?) ago to get into Kitchen Table - - a tasting menu seating in the kitchen behind the hotdog and champagne place we went a few months ago.

We brought Mr. Dibley with us and sat at a counter that surrounded the open kitchen.

As usual, Mr. Dibley had some advice for the chefs....

The team were often plating the dishes right in front of us which was helpful when I saw that they were going to put pistachios on my duck (NOOOoooo!)  They stopped to talk to us, explain dishes, asked us where we were from, etc.  It was a great night with great food.

Our menu for the evening - 16 courses!! 

 I wish I could remember all the little details of each dish so you'll have to put up with my pedestrian descriptions.  Take my word for it - everything was better than I'm making it sound.  I have pictures of ALMOST all of them.  First up was the oyster with some sort of jellied tomato.  Then smoked salmon on a cracker....

I almost forgot to get the shot of the chicken dish but here is Bill eating it.  Crispy chicken skin on a cracker of sorts but cooked in it's own fat with a bacon relish. (This was one of our favorites!)  A raw scallop with scallop roe on mayonnaise.

 Above we have raw mackerel with cucumbers and dill and the turbot from Cornwall.  Bill loved the turbot.

Below is a shot of me enjoying the spring greens which was a cabbage wedge grilled and topped with a sauce and shaved truffles.

Coming up is the duck - - do you see that one little dish off to the side?  That is my serving sans pistachios.

 Since I'm a duck-aholic this was definitely in my top three.

 Beef. With celeriac.  I can't remember what else but it was cooked with its fat on.  Delish.

 Burrata is a mozzarella cheese.  This was served with gooseberries on top of gooseberry jam and a piece of grilled bread.

 The one course I missed was raspberry.  The chef came around with a tray of frozen berries with oil and basil inside.  We popped it into our mouths before I realized that I didn't get the shot!  That was followed by the blueberry course which I also wolfed down before the camera took a picture of the dregs.  I have no idea what was the green sauce was over the blue berries on yoghurt.

Grilled peach compote.

 They did a great job of giving you time in between courses to rest and drink and talk and digest. We didn't get to talk to our neighbors but the seating arrangement let us watch each other as we ate.

 The strawberry course was also in the top three for me.  Strawberries, vanilla ice cream, caramelized white chocolate!  Heaven.

 They made my little chocolate bon bon without the hazelnut.  Inside was a salted caramel ice cream...evereyone tried to eat it with a spoon but the outside was too hard to break with grace so you had to pick it up in your hands and bite into it.  

The last food course was coffee something - I gave mine to Bill since I hate the taste of coffee.

 We ended the night with tea served in wine glasses.  I'd never think to serve tea in a glass but it looks so elegant.  

The few times we've done tasting menus in the past we start the meal wondering if we will go home hungry and end the night stuffed.  This meal was just right - a little taste of everything but not too much over all.