We were fortunate enough to dine at Pidgin once again the day before Valentine's Day and once again it was a delightful experience.
If you don't know about Pidgin then it's a tiny restaurant in Wilton Way, Hackney. It has perhaps 20 to 24 covers, a microscopic kitchen open to view from the street and it servers a 4 course tasting menu which changes weekly. It has (or at least had) a Michelin Star which I believe was well deserved. However, the head chef changed and I understand that this can affect your star. Regardless, it continues to produce fascinating food. So, on to our meal...
Pidgin bread and brown butter is always a delight. Today was a potato sourdough, well textured with a sublime crust, the brown butter is to die for.
An amuse bouche arrived. This looked a little like a chocolate truffle and exploded in your mouth with a variety of sensations. Apparently it contained beef, turnip and prune!
Our starter was squid. Strips of tender squid which had been poached in pig fat, served with monksbeard (a new one on me) and a delicious sauce of celery and "squid offal". Heavenly.
Next came a sliver of tardivo. This is a bit like radicchio, a bitter leaf which had been barbecued, glazed with sour cherries and finished with a hazelnut and fish sauce bagna cauda and brown butter crumble. It was sensational, the flavours changing from the leafy end to the stem.
The chicken based main came in 2 parts. The first was the leg, sesame crusted and umami glazed. This was a bit underwhelming, the least favourite part of the meal but hey, sometimes things might appeal differently to others.
The main "main" was the breast of a wood roasted chicken. This was beautifully tender and moist with a hint of wood smoke. It was served with the most amazingly tiny truffled pomme dauphin, carefully arranged around a black bean liver pafait. A truffled sauce finished it to perfection. It was served with calcot, the first time I have seen them outside of Catalonia!
Our pudding again came in 2 parts. First a tiny bowl of what initially tasted like barbecued pineapple but was in fact apple with a hint of something frozen, delicious. Then came a Greek mountain tea panna cotta with mandarin and crystallised corn flakes. The panna cotta had a subtle yet sublime flavour, the crystallised corn flakes were sheer genius!
We chose the wine pairing once again but were a bit disappointed with both the quality and quantity. In my opinion, who ever is responsible for the wine is a bit too keen on odd-ball products from unusual places. It would be good to see more focus on classic wines or even dare I say it wines from classic countries. Rarely have I found a wine from the likes of South America, Australia, California etc. with the depth and subtlety achieved by so many French or Italian wines.
Well done Pidgin, we'll be back soon.
P.S. I found a very unfortunate review on Sh*tAdvisor (you know who I mean). They ate there the day before us and commented about a bland menu. Well, I know we are all different but the only aspect of the meal I could call anywhere close to "bland" was the chicken leg. I think their taste buds must have been off that day.
P.P.S. Sorry, no pictures...