Nopi (21-22 Warwick Street, London, London, W1B 5NE) Four of us went for supper at Nopi last night. The food was the usual, exceptional, Ottolenghi standard. One of the sommeliers recommended a delicious Spanish rosé to match our dishes. Whilst we were choosing from the menu, we were served with freshly made babaghanoush and olive oil and bread. The bread was good but personally I would have preferred some flat bread to dip into the oil and aubergine dip. The menu suggests at least 3 dishes per person, but we selected 9 dishes between four of us, and this was plenty. We asked the waiter to recommend a dish from each of the menu sections: vegetable, fish and meat. His choices were undoubtedly the best. From the vegetable section we chose the chargrilled broccolini with skordalia and chilli oil and the roasted delica pumpkin, rainbow chard, manouri tart. The waiter recommended the cauliflower with raisin puree. As a vegetable lover all three dishes were divine, the pastry in the tart and the pumkin was delicious, but the cauliflower exceeded my expectations with its slightly sweet yet spiced flavour. From the fish section we selected the salmon and bulgar wheat, preserved lemon and the chargrilled octopus, salmorejo sauce, morcilla. The waiter recommended the spiced gurnard, wrapped in a banana leaf with mango. The salmon had a slight Thai flavour and was beautifully presented. The octopus was very tasty but we preferred the gurnard as the spiced taste was amazing. From the meat section we chose the Hibiscus and tea smoked quail, cumquat and clementine relish and the Goan masala lamb with celeriac, barberry and green chilli sauce. The waiter recommended the roasted beef sirloin, almonds, spinach and pecorino. All of these dishes were beautifully presented with a wonderful balance of flavours. I loved the quail, but the beef was voted the favourite and came a close second to the gurnard for overall best dish. For dessert we chose the chocolate rum financier with chestnut cream and candied chestnut and the caramel and…
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Link to this review8 December 2011 |