Bytes: 4084 X-Wren-Trace: eHZTe3pjJG4lNWpseiVgdmBiY2FqUi9he3V2O3xtISNyMGcuLXgyLS05IyEheDc4 Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 02:40:58 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.0.2.18 X-Complaints-To: [email removed] X-Trace: WReNphoon3 965642167 10.0.2.18 (Mon, 07 Aug 2000 02:56:07 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 02:56:07 PDT Xref: usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu uk.food+drink.restaurants:3163 There are a few restaurant reviews here, so I guess it's OK to post another one. On Friday night, my girlfriend and I ate at Roussillon, based on the review in the time out guide. The place itself is tucked away in a quiet street behind Victoria Coach station. Inside, it is very proper. That's probably the best way of putting it - immaculate linen and everything very white and clean. The staff are all French, but they don't make you feel inferior in any way (which they do in many places). They are helpful without being over bearing. I'm not an expert on wine, but they seemed to have an extensive list, at a range of prices (house wines start at about £14). However, the overwhelming reason for going to this place is the food. Which is out of this world. Unusually for a french chef, vegetables are his passion. They feature prominently on the (rather pompous) menu. The various sections of the menu are themed - garden, land and sea. And the little touches are a joy. While we were looking at the menu, we were brought some amuses bouches (or amuses guelles; I've heard people use both terms, and I don't know which is the politer). Some tiny sausage roll type things, but rather than sausage they had some intriguing vegetable based filling, and some exquisitely carved raw veg with a mustardy dipping sauce. After we had ordered, we were brought some tiny bowls of chilled broad bean soup. The beans tasted as if they had been picked that afternoon - delicious. And then the starters arrived. My partner had melon with a beef and pepper jelly (having been keen to keep room for dessert), and I had a something of vegetables with a truffle dressing. Basically it was a number of vegetables, with truffle shavings on top, and a balsamic dressing drizzled over the lot. It would not be an understatement to say that this is one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life. Absolutely incredible. For main, I had honey glazed duck served with spicy vegetables. The duck was tender and nicely pink in the middle, and tasted wonderful. My partner had minted lamb, which was fabulous. Served on a much of some kind of vegetables with a kind of mash. It was potatoes, olive oil and parsley. After the mains, we were then brough sorbet - peach, wild strawberry and mint. This was unbelievable. Then onto the desserts. My partner had sauteed summer fruits with vanilla ice cream. I had 'apricot tart for bitter chocolate lovers' - a lovely apricot tart with the bitterest chocolate sauce imaginable. Wonderful. The cheese board also looked very inviting (but the lure of chocolate proved too much for me!) Then with our coffee we were brought some sweet nibbles - fondants, truffles and the like. After all that, we were left feeling deliciously sated, rather than sick (I don't want to get too grim, but often if you eat everything you're given you do just feel sick). It was a wonderful, wonderful meal. The website says that they have a michelin star, and they deserve it. Everything we had was delicious, but the stand out were the vegetables. Everything tasted incredibly fresh and the cooking always allowed the true flavours to come out. Those flavours were complemented beautifully by the dressings, the sauces and the other flavours on the plate, but never overwhelmed. It was not cheap - over £100 for two (with the 2nd cheapest wine) but it was worth every penny. Another thing that was very nice was the way that the whole place made us feel welcome, even though everyone else in the place was either a) incredibly rich, b) INCREDIBLY posh, or c) both. So, if anyone else is interested: Roussillon 16 St Barnabas Street London SW1W 8PB tel 020 7730 5550 or www.roussillon.co.uk (although it's out of date - the menus we had were different from those on the site) ----------------------------------------------------------- Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com Article 3175 of uk.food+drink.restaurants:
London, United Kingdom