Bites: Restaurant Report: Dabbous in London

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 27 Oktober 2012 | 17.35

With the opening of Dabbous in January, London is suddenly smitten with the delicate, sincere, fragile, locavore "cuisine naïve" that's enchanted Paris and many Scandinavian cities for five years or so. It is a big change from the major-production-values tables with lots of theater and taste-bomb dishes recently popular in London.

Though it's located in plummy Fitzrovia, Dabbous, one of the hardest reservations to land in the city right now, slings a decidedly Shoreditch vibe with a postindustrial faux loft décor — metal mesh partitions, bare wood tables, factory lamps — that improbably comes off as charming rather than arch.

The reason doesn't have to do with the decorating, though, but with the terrific atmosphere created by the warmth and professionalism of the young, mostly male staff members, so proudly motivated by the cooking of Ollie Dabbous, the 31-year-old chef who has been lionized by the British food press. (Mr. Dabbous was also just awarded a star in the 2013 Michelin Guide to Great Britain & Ireland.)

Opting for the eight-course tasting menu, dinner on a September Saturday began somewhat surprisingly with green-pea custard garnished with peas in a pod and mint syrup and ice, a dish that was garden-party pretty but as intricately imagined and assembled as a Fabergé egg.

It seemed late in the season for peas in England, and when queried, the waiter said they had come from Rungis, the wholesale food market in Paris, a fact that immediately conveyed the challenge Mr. Dabbous faces in doing the same sort of produce-centric cooking accomplished by such colleagues as David Toutain at L'Agapé Substance in Paris or Jacob Holmstrom and Anton Bjuhr at Gastrologik in Stockholm.

Next up, fine ribbons of celeriac with muscat grapes and crushed hazelnuts in a pool of celeriac bouillon with dots of lemon oil was decidedly autumnal and vaguely Chaucerian. The following course, a still life of a brown hen's egg filled with silky egg and wild mushrooms cooked with salted butter in a nest of straw, was as deeply satisfying to eat as it was to look at. It also brought to mind Mr. Dabbous's résumé: his self-professed mentor is Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, and he has also cooked at the Fat Duck, L'Astrance, Noma, WD-50, Pierre Gagnaire and Mugaritz, among others.

When Mr. Dabbous dares beyond being just an exceptionally good student he is show-stoppingly brilliant. Witness his braised halibut in a satiny beurre blanc-like sauce garnished with sea herbs, including borage that tasted of oysters, and a dessert of fresh milk curds infused with fig-leaf syrup.

Note that you can also taste Mr. Dabbous's cooking through the snacks menu downstairs at Oskar's Bar, run by his business partner, Oskar Kinberg, the Swedish mixologist.

Dabbous, 39 Whitfield Street; (44) 207-323-1544; dabbous.co.uk. The prix fixe menu is £54, or $85 at $1.58 to the pound. A four-course à la carte meal averages £47. 


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