A friend of mine once noted that a great meal is like a great book, each course leaving you anticipating what is going to come next. I can’t think of anywhere more apt for this idea than Pied A Terre. This culinary stalwart certainly has quite a story to tell. Opened in December 1991, it was awarded a Michelin star in 1996 and has never really looked back. A cornerstone of Fitzrovia’s culinary hotspot Charlotte Street, Pied a Terre opens with a sense of intrigue and surprise.
We were greeted by Paolo who elegantly guided us past a bristling service area – a brief glimpse into the real success story behind this finely honed enterprise. The bustle quickly subsided as we were seated in the dining area. A new chapter opens up with a sense of calm and tranquillity. Walls adorned with quail skeletons – an intriguing choice of art that pays homage to the restaurant’s past – continued the narrative. This dining experience was clearly going to be anything but ordinary.
It’s essential to start with an aperitif, especially if you need to gird your loins for a French-tasting menu extravaganza such as the one at Pied A Terre, so we had a glass of the citrus-forward but still rich house pour, Champagne Chavost. Made by Fabian Daviaux on his grandfather’s land, the blend is half chardonnay, half Meunier, and all delicious.
Food and Wine at Pied a Terre
Executive Chef Phil Kearsey, who is a new addition to the Pied A Terre community under the renowned restaurateur owner David Moore, insists that the Champagne be drunk alongside the canapés and it did indeed make a great combination. Canapés included a hand-harvested (and so more sustainable) oyster from Carlingford Lough served on the half-shell with caviar, a deboned chicken wing morsel stuffed with scallop and – my personal favourite – a take on dippy eggs with truffle, parmesan and sourdough toast.
It’s worth mentioning in some detail that the Pied A Terre sommelier team of Ciaran and Izzy were quite the highlight of the evening with their easy conversation and excellent knowledge about the wine flight and menu. The Gramercy Cellars 2022 Viognier which was paired with the tomato dish was a masterful choice; the naturally lower acidity allowed the sweet acidity of the British Heirloom Tomatoes to mingle with the black olive crumb and Bloody Mary granita and really made the tomato flavour pop. Another highlight was the marmite butter served with the sourdough roll, which was utterly addictive.
We moved on to another tasty course, which combined a sweet and slightly charred coal-roasted Scottish langoustine with a velvety duck liver mignonette. The langoustine was perched on top of a little nest of La Ratte potatoes with a dried grapefruit crisp on top, with further surprising flavours from basil and pea. The wine was an Alsace Pinot Blanc from La Cabane, Domaine Léon Boesch, which was a really complex and interesting combination of smoky and sweet to compliment the dish.
This was followed by my favourite pairing of the night, a 2021 Sauvignon Bianco from Villa Papiano, whose higher altitude vineyards on the border of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna have produced a herby and dynamic wine named La Tresche in reference to the historic trysts of the Medici era. The wine really invigorated the palate, ready for the morel farci, with creamy polenta and salty chicken skin, jus gras and a second sauce of vin jaune. The richness of the dish created fireworks in the mouth alongside the wine and I raved about it to Chef Phil Kearsey who popped out to see us.
Before we moved on to the main courses, Kearsey explained that each of the dishes he has designed for this menu is inspired by one of the great chefs he has worked under.
The wild turbot, served with a crispy mussel, broad bean, fennel and Riesling was inspired by Michel Roux. This light, fresh dish was a complete contrast to the dish that followed: a tender round of salt lamb saddle, with hearty vegetables like aubergine, courgette and artichoke, with a basil lamb jus. There was a depth to the sauce that was very impressive, once again perfectly matched with the wine, on this occasion a Saint-Joseph Syrah 2021 from Laurent Habrard which was fruity, juicy and peppery all at once.
For the cheese course – though I do still miss the once ubiquitous cheese trolleys of yesterday’s restaurants (yesteraunts?) – we were presented at the table with a delicately arranged semicircle of muscat grapes, celery, celeriac and a hint of truffle. Our server, Emily, brought a round of the Tête de Moines cheese to the table and used a rotating cheese shaver to present us each with a frilly pile of melt-in-the-mouth delicate cheese. The off-sweet Mosel Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett 2020 from Joh Jos Prüm felt slightly effervescent and provided the perfect transition from the cheese to the dessert portion of the meal.
Never to say no to a final wine though, our sweets were accompanied by a late harvest 2019 Tokai (Szamorodni, rather than the usual Puttonyos classification for Tokai wines) by Demeter Zoltán. I’m a sucker for dessert wines and definitely struggled to make this voluptuous and nectar-like glass last for the multiple dessert courses.
The first, a mint sorbet with dark chocolate, blackberry and hazelnut was reminiscent of After Eights (and who can resist those?), was followed by a strawberry soufflé that evoked memories of childhood sweets, accompanied by a shortbread with artfully dotted crème fraîche. Finally, the petit fours were consumed: a mini canelé with dark rum and honey, an orange and cardamom jelly and, my favourite, a lavender macaron with chocolate ganache.
There is a very rare skill in putting together a tasting menu where, like a book you can’t put down, every course leaves you anticipating what is going to come next. The team at Pied A Terre have this skill down to an art – an art that provokes, surprises and much like the skeletal quails that adorn the walls, leaves a lasting impression. I think back to that conversation I had with my friend – she was right, great meals are like great books, and on the evidence of this evening it is easy to see why Pied A Terre continues to be on the bestseller list.
Pied A Terre
34 Charlotte Street
Fitzrovia
London W1T 2NH
United Kingdom
