Maze

London, UK – It’s not often in my part-time role as a free-lance traveling gourmand that I stumble into such a wonderful opportunity to 1) Celebrate a friend’s special day with a great meal in a foreign capital, 2) Meet the Michelin Star-rated chef of the selected restaurant in his own kitchen and 3) Have someone else graciously pick up the tab.  But the stars aligned last Friday in London and I was pleased to accept the invitation of my good friends Miles and Karen to join them at Maze in Grosvenor Square to celebrate her birthday.  As a gentleman I cannot reveal any actual age information but I will say that she is still young and looks fabulous.  And Miles is a proper host and an awesome birthday dinner planner.

Maze is part of the Gordon Ramsay stable of restaurants and Jason Atherton is the Chef Patron.  Maze is a tasting menu restaurant where Atherton takes great pains to provide inventive and delicious sharable plates.  Mindful that there were three of us, and we didn’t want to go away hungry, we asked if we could just order the entire Chef’s Menu (instead of the ‘this or that’ approach suggested for two diners) plus a few other choices off the ala carte menu.  We were told straight away that we could do what we wanted…so we did.  And we were well pleased with the result.

Chef Atherton’s dishes are pleasing to the eye and a treat for the taste buds.  The Chef, who has worked at the world famous El Bulli in Spain among other impressive stops in his career, manages to orchestrate flavors, textures, and plating into a culinary symphony.  Plus, on a personal level, he was gracious and humble when we were escorted into his busy Friday night kitchen for the introductions as promised.  The service, from the moment you enter the door, is warm and unobtrusive.  We enjoyed a great meal with uninterrupted conversation in a seamless manner pretty much all evening long.  The knowledgeable and friendly sommelier made a great recommendation for a wine that would cover all bases of our choices: a 2007 Spanish white wine, Mas la Mola, Priorat.  It was an excellent choice as it did go well with everything that came to the table.

This was my second trip to Maze, the first being just after they had opened and was an equally as good of an experience, so I must say that Mr. Atherton and his staff truly deserve their Michelin rating.  Instead of trying to say glowing things about each of the dishes, I will simply list the menu we covered that evening and say that there wasn’t a single loser in the tastings.  If I was to choose just one dish that was superior to the rest, I really couldn’t.  They were all good in their own ways.  But my own two favorites of the evening were the Suffolk pork ‘cheek n belly’ and the Cornish lamb and tongue.  Both were just delightful!

Here are the dishes we enjoyed in order of serving:

• Onion squash soup, puffed wild rice, ewe’s curd, smoked bacon, braised chicken thighs, chestnut powder
• Crab salad, marinated golden beetroot, apple jelly, Bloody Mary sorbet
• Cornish red mullet, cuttlefish, garlic purée, rabbit Bolognese
• Roasted hake in Parma ham, chorizo and pimento purée, squid paint
• Suffolk pork ‘cheek n belly’, spiced pumpkin jam, red cabbage, crispy crackling
• ‘Warm Scottish breakfast’ London-cured salmon, smoked haddock risotto, egg and bacon, horseradish snow
• Irish ox ‘tongue n cheek’, caper raisin and ginger carrots, horseradish pomme purée
• Cornish lamb and tongue, salt marsh mutton shepherd’s pie, spring cabbage and mint jelly
• Apple and blackberry trifle, cider granité and almond financier
• Selection of farmhouse cheeses
• Peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich, tonka bean cream and dehydrated cherries
• Bitter chocolate délice, honey gelatine, honeycomb ice cream

So cheers to Chef Atherton and his staff for a memorable evening of delicious food, best wishes to Karen for many more birthdays and a big thanks to Miles for his thoughtful invitation to share their special evening in the city…and for picking up the tab!

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