The present chef-patron is Bryan Webb who arrived nearly ten years ago and has been a partner for the last six years. The restaurant was recently redecorated in an unfussy style that suits its old fashioned shopfront with typical curved glass either side of the central front door. There is a second dining room and a little bar downstairs where there are rather cosy and private alcoves for retiring or amorous diners.
We visited on a Monday night, thinking it would be quiet, but such is this restaurant's reputation, particlularly with the locals, that it was nearly full. The two menus are handwritten daily in both a legible and characterful fist: there is a prix fixée table d'hote menu, three courses for 29.50, four for 34.00. All the prix fixée dishes can be found on the a la carte menu, where each one is priced separately. It looked as though the portions may have been a teeny weeny bit smaller on the prix fixée menu, but not very noticeably so.
The carte has a number of additional dishes including more luxurious ones like a starter of Potatoe pancake with sauted foie gras and plum chutney 14.50. In fact the fixée is very good value, as you can quite easily knock up its price of 29.50 on the first two courses alone. Except for some partridge, all the dishes we tried were available on both menus, so I have given the a la carte price for each dish.
The emphasis is on good quality fresh country ingredients, so there is game in season, very fresh fish and home made chutneys and pickles that are used to garnish some of the dishes. We began with an amuse gueule of Welsh salt cured duck with pickled fruits. This is actually one of the starters on both menus, (8.50). It reflects Bryan's Welsh roots. Top quality Welsh duck breasts are home cured, then poached ever so gently. The result is finely sliced moist pink slices, deliciously set off by the fruit pickle, this is a real treat!
A warm salad of pigeon breasts (9.00) with artichokes and beans was well prepared and presented, but suffered a little from being juxtaposed so close to the exceptional duck. Griddled scallops (12.50) were sweet and tasty and very much enhanced by a carefully prepared vegetable relish with plenty of basil; rocket was plentifully sprinkled around the plate.
For our main courses, we tried some roast sea bass on tagliatelle with a crab sauce (17.50). The fish was well cooked with searing lines across it, the sauce was delicious, but the effect of the dish, om its white plate, was a little pale and wan. This was only a small setback, and did not really detract from the enjoyment of its fresh flavours.
The grey leg partridge does seem to be that much more succulent than its easier to rear red legged French cousin. I baulked at paying grey leg partridge prices the other day at our excellent local Game Larder in Chessington, Surrey. But I regretted it later! At Hilaire it it was most probably Bryan's vastly more expert cooking of the partidge (17.50) that left my red legs in the shade! His accompanying home made spiced cherries were lovely, but I found his bread sauce, although authentic enough with its flavouring of cloves lacked that certain rough home made texture. Perhaps chefs feel that their versions of these home made staples need to have that extra touch of smooth sophistication.
Puddings roll out at 5.50. The St Emilion au Chocolat was a spirited concoction, served in a cocotte dish. Pear Charlotte was little bland, but its blueberry compote again showed off this chef's skill at cooking and preserving fruit. The sorbetti were particularly good, no trace of syropy confection, just good honest natural flavours.
We drank some nice house white wines by the glass: a crisp Valgrand Blanc at 3.00, an Alsace Pinot Blanc at 3.75, and a rather oaky Sonoma Chardonnay for 4.25. The matching Sonoma Cabernet Sauvigon was a more nicely balanced wine, but we thought 4.25 a glass was a tiny bit steep. Having said that, the wine list itself is varied and interesting, with rarities such as Welschriesling 1993 from the Styrian Family Skoff, one of my very favourite Austrian winemakers. The list is sensibly categorised not in regions, but in wine styles, e.g: Fragrant, fruity and Aromatic, Fine full bodied whites, Light(ish) reds. Actually, there is a section on Red Bordeaux, and there are some real treasures in the Mature Reds if your pocket is deep enough!
The service, under the direction of the charming and experienced Bernard Esseul was deft and friendly and there seemed to be quite an army of waiters for a relatively small restaurant. All in all this is a serious place to eat, where the chef takes great pride in his work, and can be quite innovative without going over the top. And good, competent cooking that makes intelligent and interesting use of well chosen produce is much to be preferred to over elaboration.
Hilaire, 68 Old Brompton Road, London SW7
Tel 020 7584 8993
Lunch: 12.15 - 2.30pm except Saturday and Sunday
Pre and post theatre dinners: 6.30 - 7.30pm and after 10.00pm, last orders
11.30pm, except Sundays. Main dinners: 7.30 - 10.00pm
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