Last Wednesday saw me undertake a most unexpected journey. Nor do I refer to the dread commute to central London, nor the erroneous 1 mile trek that Google maps sent me on down Euston Road. Last Wednesday Head Chef Rees Smith at the Golden Arrow restaurant, Pullman Hotel, London St Pancras, took me on a journey to furthest dusky Africa.
I approached this event, organised by international events company Lime & Tonic, with more than a mere frisson of excitement. Has there ever been an event more gloriously titled than the ‘Meat Safari’? In my book, probably not. And when these meats are exotic, unusual ones such as Kangaroo and Crocodile? Ever more and ever more intriguing.
Seated at the Chef’s Table before the open plan kitchen and in the company of Chef Rees talking us through each course, dinner was served. First up; a ceviche of crocodile with lemon and lime, red chilli, coriander leaves and mirin. This defied expectations. I had expected the meat of the Tyrannosauric, hoary old crocodile to be robust, akin to beef or venison, bloody and meaty, fitting its carnivorous diet. The delicate, translucent white flesh, prettily served, completely took me by surprise. Texturally and aesthetically similar to scallops, the crocodile meat tasted somewhat like chicken and with subtle notes perhaps of seafood. Honestly, if this had been given to me without seeing the menu, I would have thought it was a scallop ceviche. Altogether, tasty, classic, elegant flavours: yum. All served with a rather nice Australian Cape Mentelle Margaret River, Semillon Sauvignon.
I approached this event, organised by international events company Lime & Tonic, with more than a mere frisson of excitement. Has there ever been an event more gloriously titled than the ‘Meat Safari’? In my book, probably not. And when these meats are exotic, unusual ones such as Kangaroo and Crocodile? Ever more and ever more intriguing.
Seated at the Chef’s Table before the open plan kitchen and in the company of Chef Rees talking us through each course, dinner was served. First up; a ceviche of crocodile with lemon and lime, red chilli, coriander leaves and mirin. This defied expectations. I had expected the meat of the Tyrannosauric, hoary old crocodile to be robust, akin to beef or venison, bloody and meaty, fitting its carnivorous diet. The delicate, translucent white flesh, prettily served, completely took me by surprise. Texturally and aesthetically similar to scallops, the crocodile meat tasted somewhat like chicken and with subtle notes perhaps of seafood. Honestly, if this had been given to me without seeing the menu, I would have thought it was a scallop ceviche. Altogether, tasty, classic, elegant flavours: yum. All served with a rather nice Australian Cape Mentelle Margaret River, Semillon Sauvignon.
Next we followed the wine and crossed over to Australia, to hunt, shoot and cook that most beloved of animals, the kangaroo. Sorry, Skippy, the gig’s up, hop in my belly. Chef Rees served this simply; its loin marinated and grilled medium rare, together with some fabulous triple cooked chips, confit tomatoes and a Béarnaise sauce. Kangaroo is great, very similar to beef and massively lean with only around 2% fat. Unfortunately this gives it the tendency to dry out, without the inherent lubrication of marbling fat running through it. Chef avoided this by serving it at a medium rare, although I would probably have taken it further to a rare or even just a seared bleu. It was good – I’d certainly eat it again, although for me, it doesn’t beat beef. It just doesn’t possess the natural depth of flavour bred in our cud chewing, mooing friends. It was slightly gamey, but not really enough to be particularly unusual beyond its provenance.
However, where this course did dazzle me was in its condiments. Chef had served it with a selection of salts; wood smoked and celery, and mustards; English, French, wholegrain and an absolutely marvellous ‘grape must’ mustard. What a discovery. I urge you all to rush out and acquire it immediately. Purple in colour, fruity and rounded with almost a port flavour and with a back twang of mustard – fabulous and I have a more than strong suspicion that it will be fabulous with game birds.
We finished on a delicate dessert of rose petals tea jelly, vanilla panna cotta and cranberry shortbread biscuits. Elegant and light, hats off Chef.
While I’m not sure that I ate anything that wouldn’t have been better in its more familiar form, scallops and beef, everything I did eat was tasty and interesting. What the evening has left me with is a desire to return to the Golden Arrow and see the cooking behind the exotic meats and foreign imports. Every plate contained the traces of classic flavours and combinations; I’d like to see how those traces translate to local ingredients, ingredients the combinations were designed for.
This Meat Safari shall not long be present in the Golden Arrow restaurant and is a temporary experience offered by the kitchen at the Chef’s Table. A huge bonus is the presence of Chef Rees at the table – hearing about the cuts and combinations from the veritable horse’s mouth is a great touch and made the evening tremendously engaging. And so, if you fancy taking a walk of a slightly wilder nature and joining the Meat Safari, do contact them through Lime & Tonic and get yourself on-board.
100-110 Euston Road, London NW1 2AJ
020 7666 9000
http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-5309-pullman-london-st-pancras/restaurant.shtml
www.limeandtonic.com/london/
This Meat Safari shall not long be present in the Golden Arrow restaurant and is a temporary experience offered by the kitchen at the Chef’s Table. A huge bonus is the presence of Chef Rees at the table – hearing about the cuts and combinations from the veritable horse’s mouth is a great touch and made the evening tremendously engaging. And so, if you fancy taking a walk of a slightly wilder nature and joining the Meat Safari, do contact them through Lime & Tonic and get yourself on-board.
100-110 Euston Road, London NW1 2AJ
020 7666 9000
http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-5309-pullman-london-st-pancras/restaurant.shtml
www.limeandtonic.com/london/
