Pearl
Restaurant & Bar, 252 High
Holborn, London WC1
Clifford Mould enjoyed some superlative cooking with fine wines
 It's
amazing the range of fine old buildings
that have recently been converted
into rather grand restaurants. There
have been banking halls, libraries
and even court rooms. Pearl Restaurant occupies
part of the old Pearl Assurance's
headquarters in Holborn, a paragon
of Edwardian architectural splendour
that was designed to make a visible
and tangible statement of the company's
probity and standing. The room is
lofty and airy, the moulded ceilings
supported by marble columns, but
it has been sympathetically modernised
to great effect with literally millions
of suspended pearls to create room
dividers and to adorn modernist chandeliers.
The
head chef is Jun Tanaka, who happens
to be Japanese, but has worked
for over ten years in some of London's
top restaurants, seven of them Michelin
starred. I'm always intrigued by
the way many Japanese can get right
inside our culture and then excel
in its execution. One has only to
think of great Japanese classical
musicians: conductors, pianists,
violinists, for instance. Or in the
literary field, with authors such
as Kasuo Ishiguro, who in The
Remains of the Day teased out
the essences of the English class
system and its obsessive reticences.
If there is a Japanese accent in
Jun Tanaka's cooking, it is as muted
as the Japanese accent in his speech.
I
went along with a friend at midday,
when there is a pretty comprehensive
lunch menu, two courses for £23.50,
three for £26.50.
After a substantial amuse of a trio of little pâtés, we began with a
well made raviolo of confit duck in a consommé also of duck, the whole
thing topped off with seared foie gras. This was a particularly satisfying
dish, both visually and on the palate. The filling of the raviolo reminded
me a little of dim-sum, and the Marco Polo legacy of an earlier culinary diaspora
sprang to mind. The crispy pig's trotter was a masterpiece of expert cuisine:
the trotter was first boned out, then stuffed, then rolled into a sausage,
then cut into segments, finally coated in fluffy breadcrumbs and sautéed. It
came with celeriac remoulade and little cubes of caramelised veal tongue, looking
like lardons. I really enjoyed this dish!
 Meanwhile
the avuncular wine director Michael
Davis, an American whose enthusiasm
has a sophisticated focus, was plying
his wares. He has a high tech nitrogen
system for keeping open bottles fresh,
so that he can offer some really
interesting wines by the glass -
yes, even Pichon-Longueville! Each
of us had something different to
eat, so each of us had a different
wine to drink, carefully chosen to
complement our food. With the trotter,
Yalumba's "Tri-Centenary Vines" Grenache,
and with the duck a slightly grippier
Gigondas from the Chateau du Trignon.
We
were in bullish mood, so two substantial
dishes on the lunch menu were chosen.
I ordered the rabbit paella with
gratinated king prawns etc. I always
think it's tempting fate to put traditional
dishes like paella on a menu, because
if you do clever things with them,
there will always be some even more
clever bastard who'll moan that it
isn't the way it should be. So here
goes: the rice was nice, but too
much like a risotto. For me, paella
rice should have congealed into a
sticky mass that is scraped off the
bottom of the pan, which makes it
go all caramelised and shiny. Having
said that, this version scored ten
out of ten for presentation, and
it tasted delicious - the rabbit
was tender and tasty, the prawns
were coated in a delicate green salsa
and the risotto was pretty good too!
It's paella, Jim, but not as we know
it!
The
braised oxtail "bourguignon" looked
amazing - just like one of those
fillet steaks sitting on the plate
like a top hat. Again, it had been
boned and rolled, and sat on confit
red cabbage, (one of my favourites).
This was another exuberant display
of culinary expertise that more importantly
shows a respect for the beast, in
that the most tender care is lavished
on what might be considered the least
important part, the tail. With
the paella came an excellent choice
of Pinot Noir from New Zealand, a
thoroughbred from the Ata Rangi stable.
Penfold's weightier Bin 389 Shiraz-Cabernet
did justice to the oxtail without ruining
the rest of the day for my guest.
Head
pastry chef Ben Knell is quite an
artist, creating exceptionally pretty
dessert dishes. Nevertheless with
great gusto, my guest tore into his
lovely gingerbread semi-freddo decorated
with rhubarb foam and I lost no time
in wrecking a delicious espresso
coffee parfait which came teamed
up with a perfect square of intensely
flavoured lemon tart. The pastry
was a bit soft, but the brûlée topping
was as crisp and thin as cat ice.
This
was a really marvellous lunch and
I can't wait to return to try the
full a la carte menu which costs £39
for two courses, £45 for three. There's
also the six course tasting menu,
priced at £55.00. Sommelier Michael
Davis will I'm sure rise spectacularly
to the challenge of matching wines
to each course. Details of Pearl's
menus and wine lists can be found
on their website, see link below.
Clifford
Mould, March 2006
Dine
Online Highly Recommended
Pearl
Restaurant, 252 High Holborn, London
WC1V 7EN
Tel: 020 7829 7000
Web http://www.pearl-restaurant.com
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