Take-away from TFT

 Regular readers will know how taken we are with our local French Restaurant, The French Table.  We'd just managed to squeeze in a visit before lockdown in November.  They had been offering take-aways, but in limited numbers so we weren't able to get anything arranged over Christmas. So as soon as they opened up again this month, I rushed to book us one.

The take-away is their 5-course tasting menu at £42 a head. No delivery, pick it up between 4pm and 5pm, full re-heating instructions included.  Extra bread and petit fours included (as they would be in the restaurant).  It's all very attractively packaged too,  numbered so that courses are clearly identifiable.

The advantage of the take-away is that we can set our own pace. We start with the amuse bouche around 6pm, and don't finish the dessert until 9pm. The amuse is mushroom and chestnut velouté, which arrives in pyramid-shaped pots, and just needs 90 seconds in the microwave. It's lovely, with truffle oil glistening on top, and plenty of chunky pieces of chestnut. 

The first course is terrine of duck, foie gras, and prunes, which comes with fruit and nut bread for toasting.  The green peppercorns give it a fairly hot sensation, and the various elements of the terrine are clearly visible. Full marks, a cut above the usual. .

This is followed by a cold Devon crab roll with leek fondue and samphire, supported by a mango puree and soy dressing. Simply delicious, the roll element being very light, just acting as a vehicle to hold the crab and leek together, and all the other flavours bright and sharp. 

The fish course was, typically, hake as it nearly always is when we've eaten in. It comes with tagliatelle and something called "forkweed", which Wikipedia tells me is algae, and needs just 5 minutes in the oven.  It's the least successful of the courses, being rather salty, though the fish itself is firm. 

The meat course is venison, served sliced, slightly pink with a parsnip purée and a black peppercorn sauce. 8 minutes in the oven. It's served with something called potato darphin, which we'd also never heard of, a sort of French waffle-shaped hash brown, and some pickled vegetables. It all works together perfectly, the venison itself so tender and tasty. 

Dessert is coconut and white chocolate slice with grapefruit.  The balance of sweet and acid is very fresh, and not at all heavy.

We drank Mussel Pot Reserve SB with the early courses and Waxed Bat Cab Sauv led blend with the venison - both from Sunday Times. 

Throughout the distinct flavours have been super, and it has been a very enjoyable meal. I won't comment on the service and ambience (!) - but it did work well as a meal at home.

Pre-lockdown return to TFT

 We had booked into The French Table later in the month for our anniversary, but with the news of the lockdown I rushed to see if we could get in ahead of time. Normally they are closed on Tuesdays, but when I rang they said that exceptionally they would be open, so gleefully I booked us in.

After the usual temperature checks we were shown in to our table. It was pretty busy again, with the upstairs room being used too - others must have had the same sort of idea.  We had suspicions that not all the other tables were from one household, but one can't be sure.  We ordered our usual Viognier at £28 and settled down to choose between the 5-course tasting menu or the a la carte.  We've always done the tasting before, as it is not much more expensive, but this time we opted not to.

That meant I could choose the special starter - a marmite of mussels and cod, with broccoli and celery under a puff pastry top. It looked very impressive - bigger than I expected with beautifully browned pastry. Inside the contents were swimming in a delicious yellow (saffron?) sauce - plentiful and tasty. B chose the crispy tempura prawns and plaice, which was very good - large prawns, plaice full of flavour.  We'd turned down the roasted hispi cabbage with soya and ginger dressing, but it appeared at the table next us, looking very impressive - and collapsing dramatically when attacked. 

After some discussion about the difference between the terrine of rabbit, ham hock and foie gras on the a la carte and the ballotine of the same things on the tasting menu (and why they had different recommended wines), we turned to our mains.  After some dithering, B had chosen the pork belly with salsify, hazelnuts and hazelnut puree. The meat was topped with an intricate and delicate pommes dauphine web, and there was also a pork croquette to accompany it.  She thought it was very good, though the hazelnut puree was a bit redundant.  

I'd gone for the roast lamb, which turned out to be three round slices, glazed with rosemary sauce. It came with spatzle (German egg noodles - I had to look that up), some cavelo nero and a few rather chewy strands of greenery.  Both dishes score very high marks again.  There had been an option of a side order of vegetables which we had declined - at other tables they looked like huge portions. 

I was pretty full, but B pressed on to order a mille-feuille with poached figs and pistachio ice cream. The cream with the mille-feuille was infused with Earl Grey, and the three layers of pastry very crisp and flavourful.

Service was a bit less chatty this time - they were busy and the PPE doesn't make for intimacy. We discussed whether a straight 3-courses was a better option than the tasting (it didn't come with an amuse bouche), and decided there wasn't much to choose between them. Larger portions make the a la carte a more recognisable lunch, but the tastings have always been well judged in their portion sizes too. With 12.5% service and a second bottle of wine, the bill was £136. Not cheap, but we won't be eating out for the next month (at least) so well worth doing.  

Maple Road tapas

Surbiton Farmers' Market re-opened last Saturday, so we went along to check it out. It was fairly busy even at 12, with a new one-way system to help with distancing. We found some interesting stalls, notably one selling game - the Madras wild boar sausages were amazing. Also good were steak and kidney pies from another stall, and the chorizo bread from The French Tarte. 

Right by the exit is Gordon Bennett!, which is open lunchtime at the weekend only, so we took the opportunity to call in.  The waiter recognised my name (from the Track and Trace) as Welsh - he was from Dolgellau - and persuaded us to have a bottle rather than two glasses.  They do a Brunch menu up till 1pm, but then change the menu to a tapas-based one. It looked very interesting so we resolved to come back the following week.

This we duly did. The place was nearly empty, so not having booked wasn't an issue. If this was a typical Saturday crowd, the it's not surprising they don't open for lunch during the week. We were greeted by a very jovial chap, who brought the bottle of Slovenian sauvignon blanc (£22.75) quickly enough. Turned out that he was Nepalese. They recommended 2/3 dishes per person, so we chose 5 altogether, 3 fish and meat.  Our waiter tried to upsell us some fries, but when we resisted persuaded us to have some padron peppers. They are clearly trained in upselling! 

My compatriot brought the food, attractively presented in a variety of dishes - rounded triangle plates, hot-plate, tin bowls and a small kilner jar.  The soft-shell crab with Asian slaw was good, with enough crab flavour breaking through the batter. Prawns (5) wrapped in filo pastry I thought should have had a chilli dipping sauce, but B enjoyed them. The crayfish and avocado escabeche - in the kilner jar - was excellent. On the meat front we had steak bulgogi - slices of steak in a sweet sauce - which was much better than it sounded; and duck croquettes (also 5)with a plum sauce, which were very meaty indeed. Only one of the peppers, out of a large collection, proved to be at all spicy.  

We cleared all the plates, and resisted the waiter's attempt to sell us dessert. The one we fancied was "off" anyway. So we just settled for a second bottle. 

The tables and chairs were an assortment of old wooden furniture, giving the place a rather dark pubby feel - the menu seems a bit surprising for such a place. The only negative point was the background music, which was both a little too loud and an odd mix of poor covers and ambient jazz. 

The bill came to £83. We were pleasantly full, and had enjoyed everything, so that was pretty good value. Clearly going to become a regular weekend haunt, though Surbiton is coming up trumps with its interesting range of options.  

Chinese in Thames Ditton

It's been some time since we've been out for a Chinese meal. There weren't any good places around Purley, and London has been off limits. Now, after spotting it on a few walks, we are to try Han Fu, in Thames Ditton.  We exchanged emails about bookings, and eventually settled on 7.30pm on a Wednesday. It's a bit of a walk so we needed to be sure the weather was OK. 

As we arrive we see there are a couple of Chinese ladies sitting at the window table. It turns out they were there for take-away. Otherwise there are no other customers in the place. We get shown to a nice enough table - surrounded by perspex screens, it surprisingly feels like a very personal space. 

After a little confusion about Cab Sauv vs Sauv Blanc, we get our wine at £18. The young waitress admits she's only been there are couple of weeks. She brings free prawn crackers and chilli sauce.

The menu is interesting with a range of house special dishes. There are the usual staples too.   So we start with pork dumplings and king prawns in salt and pepper. The dumplings are big, gloopy, with a slight peppery tang. The prawns are also large, with a light batter and good chilli sauce. 

For mains we've ordered pepper chicken and dry-pot beef, supported by Singapore noodles. The head waitress checks that we like hot food!  Both dishes come covered in red chillies - but at least they are easily identified and put to one side. The pepper chicken is a bit dry, with (as you'd expect) peppercorns. The dry pot beef, despite its name, is more moist and tender. Both are tasty. The noodles come filled with ample shrimps and chicken pieces. 

There have been no other eat-in customers, though there has been a reasonable stream of people coming in for take-aways.  But we haven't been rushed through our meal - as Chinese places can tend to do - and the two waitresses have joined us for a lively chat at the end. Decor is simple - "Surbiton grey". Portions have been generous, enough for us to have a doggy-bag. I have it for lunch a couple of days later, and it is still very good.  With a second bottle of wine, and a genuine at discretion tip, it comes to £83. Very good indeed. We'll be back. 

Two more places in Surbiton

 We'd got into a routine of Saturday being "curry night" at home, including some very nice ones from Cook!  But this week we decide to try The Gurkha Kitchen at the Ferry, a local pub.  We'd been in for a drink once before, and it seemed like a place full of locals. It's an odd combination of drinkers' pub and tables laid up smartly surrounded by semi-luminous paintings of Nepal. 

This time the proportion of smartly laid-up tables is higher and all of them duly fill up, though the small number of local drinkers are making most of the noise, at least until they move outside.  The house Shiraz at £18 is very reasonable, and they bring complimentary pappadums and pickles. 

The menu is very wide-ranging, with lots of unusual Nepalese dishes. After a little thought, we choose the special platter to share as our starter.  This comprises two large portions of chicken tandoori, some chicken tikka, one tandoori king prawn and lamb sekuwa - grilled lamb pieces.  It's very tasty, and not at all dry as I might have expected. There is a subtle kick to the lamb and to the tikka, and all the chicken has good flavour. 

For mains we have "Everest Lamb", which is in a thick garlic and ginger sauce, and a very attractively presented "Fewa prawn", which four butterflied king prawns in a lobster-shade tomato, yogurt and chilli sauce. Both dishes are very good, though the lamb, despite being "slow-cooked" is a little on the chewy side.  We also order a black dhal (a B favourite), which is a bit disappointing - I even wonder whether they'd given us the ordinary dhal instead - and mushroom rice. 

With a second bottle - most of which we take away - the bill comes to £83 without service charge. Service has been very efficient and as friendly as you can be when masked up. There has been a nice warm vibe to the place, and the dining tables have been full throughout with a second round of diners. Certainly worth another try to experiment with the wide range of unfamiliar dishes.

At the bottom of our road is the Thames Ditton Marina, which is home a new bar/restaurant called Hideaway, a new venture related to No 97 and Cento Uno in Maple Road. It's in a gorgeous location, with a terrace right alongside the river. We'd been a couple of times for drinks, and it's been very pleasant and welcoming. The menu didn't look especially appealing at lunchtime - more brunch than anything - but the evening was more a "small plates", tapas-style option. 

I've emailed and left a voice message to book a table, but no reply as late as 5pm. They are shut on Monday and Tuesday lunchtime, so that's just about understandable. So I ring again and get a rather harassed response - they can't do 7.30 pm but could do 8 pm. They can't guarantee seats on the terrace either - first come first served. It's been a lovely warm day, but we are warned to bring something to wrap up with as it gets cold (here by the river). 

There's no-one seated inside when we arrive, and outside looks pretty full. But we do get shown to a table for 3 outside, though it's not directly overlooking the river and more by the marina. We order the house white Trebbiano at £23 - having been stung by £32 for SB on a previous visit - which arrives promptly. As we mull over the menu, the manager comes out and asks us if we would mind moving as he now has a table for 2 by the river, and he has a group of 3 just arrived. Fine by us. It's a lovely spot as the light fades and ghostly lit boats drift by. 

We order 5 dishes, which are going to be a struggle to fit on the small table. It's not a huge menu, so the decisions aren't too hard - just 12 proper dishes. Garlic prawns was always going to be a choice - this version comes with roasted corn as well as the garlic and chilli, which are quite modestly represented. Crispy cod comes with a tomato sauce slapped across it, and is a bit limp and uninteresting.  The lamb skewer is fine, if a bit small, with the peri chicken livers being the best of the bunch - not heavily sauced as they often are, but with a neat hit of chilli in the peri-peri sauce.  The final selection was courgette fritter which comes, not like Italian zucchini fritti, but in a great wodge of fried, grated vegetable - quite good though. 

The setting remains super, and it doesn't get too cold. We are a bit distracted by a guy alone at the next table who wants to share his problems with us, but eventually he orders food too (burger and chips) and is then distracted. Service is attentive - and we order a couple more glasses to enjoy the view. Total bill is a reasonable £77 (incl 12.5%) , but although the five dishes have been filling enough, the food itself has been a bit disappointing.  As the nights draw in and the weather turns colder, the setting itself will lose its charm, and unless the menu becomes more interesting we may not want to go then.  The tapas menu would be fine for lunch perhaps, otherwise I fear for their prospects. 

 

Back to our favourite French place

We have a second voucher to use at The French Table, so booked a table – though it had to be in three weeks’ time. Arriving at 1.30pm we are shown to the last available table (downstairs, at least, as they now use the upstairs room for ordinary bookings to make up for social distancing) – clearly it remains a very popular local venue.

We order kir, and then decide which menu to go for – 2-course, 3-course or the £35 5-course tasting. There’s not a lot of different choices on the smaller menus, and if you added vegetables or potatoes the 3-course actually costs more than the tasting, so we go for the latter.  We don’t go for the matching wines at £25 a head though.

 Very tasty, warmed bread comes with our bottle of French Viognier (£28 a bottle), and quite promptly the amuse bouche arrives. This is cucumber gazpacho with pickled strawberry.  Very fresh and light, with truffle oil and just a few pieces of crunchy cucumber to give it a bit of a bite. Served in very attractive sloping bowls.

 The first of the five courses is melon with goats cheese in breadcrumbs and crispy Bayonne ham. It also comes with “white balsamic vinegar ice cream”.  It’s a slightly weird combination, the cheese and ham contrasting with the sweeter melon and ice cream – more like two dishes mixed up together.

 This is followed by a terrine of rabbit and ham hock, apparently with foie gras, though this is not readily identifiable. It’s a very good textured dish, supported by fruit and walnut toast.  The fish dish is hake, with olive oil mash, mushrooms, peas and a lobster sauce. Every item is excellent, and even B finishes her mash. The lobster sauce lifts everything without being too heavy.  The fish is a little too salty though.

 The meat course is pork – a small piece of belly in a rich port sauce, and a pulled pork parcel in filo pastry.  This is quite heavy and we are both now struggling to get through everything. This too is quite salty.

 The dessert is much the same as last time - chocolate “moelleux” with blackberries and blackberry ice cream, though this time without the Crunchie honeycomb. Delicious.

 Very friendly and efficient service again, though still a little thrown by the new routines – we’re more than happy to pour our own wine, but they seemed very pained to let us do it! The clientele is far from diverse – only one table seemed younger than us, all white and prosperous looking!  The bill does mount up, with a second bottle of wine and including the kir, water and 12.5% service, it came to £160. But even though I had a few more criticisms this time, it is an excellent and enjoyable lunch and we'll no doubt be back for a special occasion. 

 

 

Another riverside pub

 We are meeting D who lives over in East Molesley, so we agree to go to the Albany, roughly half-way between us, about a half-hour walk. The pub is right on the river, with plenty of outdoor seating, overlooking Hampton Court's back garden. The sun is shining, there are swans and even a great-crested grebe swimming around, as well as a succession of passing boats, kayaks, paddle-boarders and a punt from the Ditton Skiff and Punting club next door. Idyllic.   

We're shown to a table right by the river and, as the waitress clears it, order some Craggy Range SB from Marlborough - fuller flavour than many.  D arrives and we set to ordering our food, though B once again is unlucky in that her choice of steak salad is not available. This despite several other items already having been "redacted". 

D has mushroom on a sourdough crumpet to start. Oyster mushrooms and ordinary ones.  B has scallops - three large ones plus a prawn and crabmeat ball ("bonbon") - excellent. My sticky chipotle chicken is good too, really quite spicy.  

The crab and prawn fishcakes that D has are good too (much better than ones I had recently at Hart's Boatyard - the two menus are very similar) and come, after some debate about a side salad, with skinny fries, some of which get shared with the swans. B opted in the end for pork belly (without the optional scallops), which looks a bit heavy but she enjoys. She doesn't eat the mash though.  I have another spicy dish - prawn and crab linguine (clearly there's no shortage of prawns or crab) with plenty of chilli. Quite a zing and more pasta than I can eat.  

B's quite keen for us to share a "pornstar martini Eton mess", but is unlucky again, as that's "off" too. Nothing much else appeals, so we just move on to our third bottle of wine. 

Our waitress has been cheerful and efficient throughout. With the £30 government discount, the total comes to £134 - we leave a £15 tip.  It's not been haute cuisine, but very enjoyable in a lovely setting. A bit too much of a walk to become a regular perhaps, but certainly we'd be happy to go again.