Dabbous Lunch

By Nick Palmer - BWI Private Client Advisor

Earlier this week I was lucky enough to join a couple of clients for lunch at Dabbous, the new venture of ex-Manoir aux Quat’Saisons & Texture chef Ollie Dabbous that opened to rave reviews at the beginning of 2012. A year on, reservations continue to be tough to secure (ours was booked last August!) although I am told tables often become available on a weekday evening if you are happy to enjoy a few drinks at their excellent downstairs bar and bide your time.  Food is presented in tasting format size so whilst an a la carte menu is available, the recommended 6 or so dishes per person quickly adds up and it makes sense to go for the tasting menu. The wines were supplied by the various attendees.

We started with a bottle of 1995 Spatlese Scharzhofberger from the mighty Egon Müller. This is beginning to lose its youthful spine of acidity but remains impeccably balanced, with crushed rocks and pure pear fruit evolving into richer tropical fruit, toast and a wax notes as it spent time in the glass. This went well with the opening dish of avocado with roasted pistachio nuts served in a light lemon soup. A simple but delicious dish with the pistachios adding real punch and enhancing  the richness of the avocado. This was followed by a course of endive leaves dressed with gingerbread, bergamot and mint. Fragrant and refreshing with little crunchy hits of sugary ginger, the broad endive leaves were not the easiest of things to eat and this was underwhelming.

With richer courses to follow the reds were then poured. Anne Gros’ Echézeaux Grand Cru 1997 is drinking wonderfully now with delicate berry fruit and a savoury developed notes of spice and earth.  Following this was Chave’s 1988 Hermitage, a wine that sounds like a huge step up in power and density but is actually rather Burgundian in style at this stage of its life with developed fruit and a slight farmyard tone. I was told previous bottles had a touch more vitality and richness, so this was possibly not showing its best.

The next dish was added to our menu on request and is one the restaurant has become well know for: coddled egg served in its shell with woodland mushrooms and smoke butter. This was luscious and comforting with real depth of flavour and is well worth trying. More mushrooms following in the form of the simply titled ‘mash and gravy’, a bowl of silken mash potato under shavings of black truffle with a mushroom gravy. Incredibly rich and indulgent and utterly delicious. Barbeque halibut with mustard and molasses and a dill pickle was delicate and refreshing with the fish well cooked and the mustard mayonnaise-like cream piquant and bright.  Iberico pork belly with fennel and a mango salsa also worked well with the fruit not too sweet and with a zesty acidity that cut through the crackling without overpowering the dish.

Two pudding dishes started with blood orange (segments, juice and jelly) with marjoram and olive oil. This was delicious, serving as both a refresher and very enjoyable course in its own right and I could still taste the fruit and herbs when I left the restaurant. This was followed by a barley flour sponge serve on a vanilla ice cream. The sponge was crisp and caramelised on the outside with a light, airy centre and worked well with the whipped cream-like ice cream. 

A good meal with great wines however (the egg and potato dishes aside) it was not the culinary experience that the hype had promised. Dabbous is very good indeed but perhaps not the game changer many critics have called it. If you can get a table, go with an open mind and enjoy the good cooking and creative combinations and it won’t disappoint.