Lanes
Restaurant - in the City
Clifford
Mould checked out this newish City
slicker
If
you're interested in bloodstock and
the rearing of competition horses,
you look at their bloodlines. At Lanes
Restaurant in the City, both the
management and the NZ born chef Hayden
Smith are out of Quo Vadis by Marco
Pierre White. I'm sure Marco would
relish the analogy between himself
and a top stallion, for his progeny
are running successful restaurants
all round the capital and beyond.
A word of warning: don't muddle this
Lanes with the Lanes Restaurant at
the Four Seasons on Park Lane. The
latter is one of the best of London's
new generation of contemporary hotel
dining rooms. For our many overseas
readers, we should explain that "the
City" refers specifically to
the old "square mile",
the centre of finance, as opposed
to the "West End",
where most restaurants and theatres
are located.
Lanes
in the City has a comfortable bar
area with the obligatory deep leather
sofas - you half expect to find the
cast of Friends chilling out over
a Tequila, or sipping one of a whole
raft of different vodkas, or nibbling
on the attractive selection of bar
food to keep the wolf from the door.
We made ourselves comfortable in
the restaurant, where simple white
napery contrasted with the old photographs
of metropolitan life.
As
modern menus go there's a fair range
to choose from, with seven Starters,
or ten if you count pasta dishes
of which two were in fact risotto.
My friend went for the smoked goose
breast, which was presented like
a carpaccio with a balsamic reduction
and nicely roasted vegetables, but
with rather too oily salad leaves. I
liked the sound of Bouillabaisse
with Cod Ravioli, but decided to
put the Risotto of Cod Brandade to
the test. I'm glad I did - the risotto
was as good as it gets, with creamy
but slightly crunchy rice and delicious
flakes of not too salty cod providing
the necessary variance in texture.
From
the mains we had a choice of salmon,
halibut, snapper, trout, or scallops
and prawns. The early May weather
being more reminiscent of November,
we decided on meat, sadly rejecting
braised pork belly, seared rib-eye
and roast duck in favour of lamb
and guinea fowl. The lamb came in
two mighty pieces that might well
have defeated lesser mortals, but
not my policeman guest who had spent
the day not pounding the City streets,
but lecturing at City University
about fraud - plus ça change!
The lamb came on a caponata of
caramelised root vegetables, and
the meat was perfectly cooked with
a delicious stuffing. Similarly advanced
meat preparation skills had been
applied to the Guinea Fowl which
had been expertly boned out and stuffed
with a mousseline of itself and mushrooms.
The flavours of the funghi and the
truffled sauce lubricating the bed
of tagliatelli and purple broccoli
were intense. These two dishes were
both satisfying and interesting,
showing off the kitchen brigade's
expertise to great advantage.
Puddings nearly defeated us, but when
they arrived, appetite revived and we
cleaned our plates. A caramelised banana
crème brulée arrived with the fruit and
the custard wisely separated on the plate
and had my friend in ecstasy. The quince
crumble intrigued me. Where had the quinces
come from? This aromatic relative of
the pear is in season from early Autumn.
Well never mind, this was a triumph and
like all such dishes I rushed home to
try it out. Hayden told me to bake off
the crumble in a tray on its own, that
way you avoid soggy crumble - his was
almost like crushed biscuits. The whole
thing came in a filo case and the soft
fruit with its very particular flavour
was quite memorable. If you can't find
quinces, use apples mingled with some
finely sliced
dried apricots.
We drank a bottle of one of my favourite Beaujolais
wines, the Morgon from Domaine Jean Descombes. On the short but well chosen
list you could find Mad Fish from Margaret River, both Semillon Sauvignon
and Pinot Noir; Stump Jump White d’Arenberg; and Tignanello as well as Champagne,
Port and dessert wines. The service was first rate - having the owners working
on front of house makes a real difference to the motivation of the staff.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the
City was a bit of a gastronomic desert. The mad rush of taxis to the West
End before lunch is now a thing of the past, and Lanes is yet another manifestation
of a welcome trend. Lunchtime is their busiest time, so expect no promotional
menus then, but instead try the supper menu, 2 courses for £15, or three
for £20.50, with all dishes except one stolen from the a la carte menu.
Clifford
Mould May 2004
The cost
of our meal: £105.36 including G&Ts before, the bottle of Morgon
at £22.50, three courses each from the carte, two espresso coffees and
12.5% service.
Lanes
is open Monday to Friday for lunch (12noon to 3pm) and dinner (5.30pm – 10pm).
The bar is open 12noon – 11pm. Private
events can be held in the Board Room by arrangement, and the whole venue
is a popular location for private parties on Saturdays when a late licence
is available until 2am.
Lanes Restaurant & Bar, East
India House, 109-117 Middlesex Street, London E1
Tel: 020 7247 5050.
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