As with all enthusiasts of a developed interest, there is always one experience considered la crème de la crème and that for me in a food sense, is dining at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester. As Gregg Wallace might say, “dining doesn’t get much better than this”.
The food is everything you’d expect from a 3-Michelin starred French restaurant; rich, classic and gutsy and whilst I couldn’t stomach it too regularly (oh to have that choice), it was the epitome of deluxe dining.
We were welcomed with an appetiser of gruyere and parmesan gougeres, lightly spiced with paprika and pepper which were delightful and highly addictive. This was followed by an amuse bouche of mixed chestnut, apple and goats cheese with a silky butternut squash veloute, poured over the top at last minute.
For starter, my partner and I both opted for Hereford snails; a dish that far overshadowed the other two menu options hence its choice and, well, being a treat, was a novelty dish and therefore a must in my book. Far from the classic escargot bourguignon, these enormous snails were presented minus their shells and cooked in a rich and creamy veloute with wild mushrooms and crispy chicken. Now I am certainly no stranger to delicacies and this dish certainly was delicious, but after snail number 4, I was struggling somewhat to ignore the niggling thought of garden gastropods. But struggle on I did and finished the dish, albeit at snails pace, if you’ll pardon the pun.
For main course, again my partner and I coordinated our menu choices and went for the steamed turbot, which was presented in a perfect cylinder and served simply in a shellfish mariniere, decorated daintily with fine slices of razor clam and pretty little mushrooms that had been carved into flowers. The fish was cooked beautifully, firm but moist and accompanied by a deliciously rich sauce that was so reminiscent of the sea, I could barely believe I was in Mayfair.
Before dessert we were given Alain’s signature mignardise consisting of…
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Hannah Revill .30s, Female, Kent