Clifford
Mould enjoys a table in the window
at The Tenth
Let me make one
thing clear from the start: Chef
Derek Baker's cooking
is not upstaged by the view
from the panoramic windows of The
Tenth on Kensington High Street.
The advice to actors is always
to avoid appearing with animals
or children. The same might be
said about chefs and views. This
view is definitely one of the very
best in London - an uninterrupted
vista with the trees of Hyde Park
in the foreground leading on to
all the capital's major buildings
spread across a 180 degree panorama.
It may be enough to take your
breath away, but it certainly didn't
remove my appetite for lunch. There's
a fixed price lunch menu, excellent
value at £16.50 for two courses,
or £21.00 for three. There's also
a small a la carte menu of four
starters and five mains which is
a representative selection from
the evening a la carte, with the
same prices which go in bands: £6.00, £7.50
and £10.95 for the starters, and £14.50, £16.50, £19.50
and £21.00 for the mains.
My dining companion and I both
chose one dish each from the fixed
menu and one from the a.l.c. Michael
began with the chicken and tarragon gayette,
a nifty little chicken nugget on
a bed of sautéed pleurots, that
was both tasty and decorative.
From the a.l.c. I had noisettes
of tuna, perfect round steaks looking
like tournedos, wrapped edgeways
with pancetta, and served with
a cauliflower purée, which I reckon
is one of the best things you can
do to a cauliflower. It was very
artfully arranged on the plate,
proving that the macro-view outside
was not the only pretty thing to
look at. (Sorry Michael, you simply
couldn't compete!)
Next we did a rather greedy thing
- having heard that the chef's
signature dish was wild mushroom
soufflé, we ordered one portion
to share between our first and
second courses. It is round and
brown like a bun with an allover
Mediterranean suntan. It comes
with a delicious salad featuring
confit pears, and blobs of truffle
mayonnaise are arranged around
the circumference of the plate.
The word blob does no justice whatsoever
to Chef Baker and his brigade's
decorative achievements.
For my main course I took the
braised beef with herb dumplings
from the fixed price menu. It was
probably a bit hefty for lunch,
(after one and a half starters)
being one per cent comfort food.
I couldn't quite manage all the
meat, (my substantial portion may
have looked beautiful, but
this was not nouvelle cuisine!).
But I really appreciated the light
fluffy dunplings which enabled
me not to waste a drop of the rich
sauce that gave the meat such an
extraordinary dark sheen. I'd like
to come back on a cold winter night
and eat this dish before decamping
to my comfortable Royal Garden
Hotel room to curl up with a book.
Michael had the best end of lamb
from the a.l.c. - a dish that was
a tour de force in both its execution
and its presentation. The lamb
was perfectly cooked, pink but
not too rare inside (lamb needs
a little more cooking than, say,
beef). The accompaniment was a
tall cylinder of mediterranean
vegetables described as a Provencale
vegetable moussaka. That sounds
to me like stretching international
relationships a bit far. I'd have
called it ratatouille but would
still have marvelled at the way
it held together standing to attention
topped off with a little chefs'
hat of duchesse potato.
The service, by the way was excellent;
at this point in the meal we were
left in peace to contemplate the
view and work on a small corner
to fill with a little pudding.
The autumn tatin was nicely caramelised
and had fresh figs in it which
I adore. Michael was ecstatic about
his fudge and praline parfait -
he comes from Dallas Texas, and
although no doubt suffering from
extreme steak withdrawal, has been
most complimentary about London
restaurant dining. The highlight
of his trip was lunch at The Tenth.
That's probably a nice note on
which to finish!
Clifford Mould - September
1999
The Tenth, Royal Garden Hotel,
2-24 Kensington High Street,
London W8 4PT
Tel: 020 7361 1910 Fax: 020 7361
1921
Royal
Garden Website
