On friday last, the eve of my thirty-somethingth birthday, Sarah took me to Konstam's restaurant in Kings Cross, to both celebrate my rapid descent into middle age and to check out this rather unique eaterie on the border of London's West End.
Konstam's prides itself on a principle of sourcing most of the ingredients it uses, not within a hundred mile radius, but within the M25, so we have long planned to go there and see what dishes they are creating.
Sarah chose from the menu a recently shot Amersham pigeon with locally grown beetroot, stuffed cabbage with a swede and potato mash and a tarte tatin drizzled with lavender cream, though not all at the same time. She washed it down with a Kent rose that was, by all accounts, delicious and cheeky, fruity and summery, like drinking the darling Buds of May.
My experience felt a little less balmy but was, none-the-less, a rattle bag of taste sensations that delighted, frighted and ignited in equal measure.
The delight was obviously the tarte tatin, made with local apples, local flour and locally grown lavender for the sauce. Alas, the manager, when challenged, could not accurately pin-point the source of the sugar, but it could have been Silver Spoon! He was certainly very interested to hear that Silver Spoon grows all of its sugar beet in East Anglia, slightly outside the M25 but very much within one hundred miles and most definitely English!
The ignite was on my tongue from the gorgeous leek and spinach soup. It just tasted so fresh and creamy, like a big, fresh, creamy thing on a spoon!
The fright, alas, was the main dish, a locally reared chicken that was just a little too bland, a little too fatty for me. But the highs out-weighed the lows and it was a fascinating experience that I would recommend to anyone interested in local foods. I certainly didn't feel we missed out from not eating at a more conventional, less ingredient-challenged restaurant somewhere else in town.
As I write this blog, I am thinking about chocolate.
Konstam's prides itself on a principle of sourcing most of the ingredients it uses, not within a hundred mile radius, but within the M25, so we have long planned to go there and see what dishes they are creating.
Sarah chose from the menu a recently shot Amersham pigeon with locally grown beetroot, stuffed cabbage with a swede and potato mash and a tarte tatin drizzled with lavender cream, though not all at the same time. She washed it down with a Kent rose that was, by all accounts, delicious and cheeky, fruity and summery, like drinking the darling Buds of May.
My experience felt a little less balmy but was, none-the-less, a rattle bag of taste sensations that delighted, frighted and ignited in equal measure.
The delight was obviously the tarte tatin, made with local apples, local flour and locally grown lavender for the sauce. Alas, the manager, when challenged, could not accurately pin-point the source of the sugar, but it could have been Silver Spoon! He was certainly very interested to hear that Silver Spoon grows all of its sugar beet in East Anglia, slightly outside the M25 but very much within one hundred miles and most definitely English!
The ignite was on my tongue from the gorgeous leek and spinach soup. It just tasted so fresh and creamy, like a big, fresh, creamy thing on a spoon!
The fright, alas, was the main dish, a locally reared chicken that was just a little too bland, a little too fatty for me. But the highs out-weighed the lows and it was a fascinating experience that I would recommend to anyone interested in local foods. I certainly didn't feel we missed out from not eating at a more conventional, less ingredient-challenged restaurant somewhere else in town.
As I write this blog, I am thinking about chocolate.
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