6 Iced Oysters: Tomatoes and Ponzu, Ceviche, Caviar and Wasabi
by Mort Hochstein
February 8, 2006
L’ETRANGER
36 Gloucester Rd
London, SW7 4QT
United Kingdom
+44-(0)20-7584-1118
As I type the words “London 2006” at the top of this page, I quiver in pleasure at the thought of my recent trip with my wife, Rollie, and in a bit of horror over the cost of London in this year when the dollar is pitifully weak against the pound. But I bit the bullet because I wanted to get back after several years away.
We stayed at The Capital, our favorite London hotel. A small but very comfortable accommodation in Knightsbridge, we’d visited it a few years back and enjoyed the meals we had there. This time, however, the restaurant was booked solid since just last month Condé Nast Traveller anointed The Capital Restaurant the “Best Hotel for Food” in the UK on their 2006 Gold List, and on top of that, it is the only British hotel dining room to hold two Michelin stars.
Each night as we left the hotel for humble fare somewhere near the theater we were attending, we watched as ‘tout’ London jammed The Capital’s intimate bar, waiting their turn at table. And we observed the last stragglers finish late at night as we returned from the theater. One night, our play for the evening, “As You Desire me,” was scheduled to finish at 9:30 so we reserved dinner at a well-reviewed restaurant, L’Etranger on Gloucester Road in Kensington.
We chose well. L’Etranger attracted a crowd similar to the one at The Capital. At the next table, our neighbors were a show-biz mix of French, southern Californians and Bostonites, and we heard a wide palette of languages from diners at other corners of the room, all making happy noises.
L’Etranger’s interior is minimalist in color and decoration. Gray and black predominate and the eye immediately gets the impression that wine, as well as food, is important here. At one side of the dining room is a glassed-in wine cellar, which contains more than four hundred French offerings as well as a fine selection of international wines, including some good choices from Sonoma and Napa. By London standards, the prices are quite fair, a flute of Taittinger Brut Réserve at £9.50, ’93 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill at £140 (the Brits prefer their champagne old), a ’99 white Hermitage from Jean-Louis Chave also at £140, and from Bordeaux, the ’85 Chateau Latour at £310. Brit critics like the list and the prices, though they still seem high to me when converted to dollars.
Rollie and I skipped the degustation menu — tempting as it was to think of tuna tartare with beluga caviar, yuba tempura with king crab, caramelized black cod with miso (ah, the influence of Nobu, even hotter in London than in New York), Kobe beef fillet with black truffles, tofu yuzu ice cream and a chocolate platter — a good buy at £65.
Instead, I had a half dozen iced oysters with tomatoes and ponzu, ceviche, caviar with wasabi, and Rol had a crisp lettuce salad. The oysters were tangy with enough bite of the sea to do away with the need for any fancy dressings. We continued in the seafood vein with a succulent, moist, full-flavored cut of eel for me and toro sashimi with seaweed salad and ponzu sauce for Rollie. The plates went back clean.
That was more than enough for both of us, so we skipped desserts and ended with strong coffee, black for me, light for Rollie.
Oh yes, our wine was a modest and thoroughly fitting Mercury white. I was sold on our wine experience from the start when our sommelier, Guillaume Glipa, from Bordeaux by way of New York and a half dozen of London’s better restaurants, told me he had worked at Jewel Bako and Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar, a twinned pair of outstanding albeit tiny restaurants in my neighborhood in Manhattan’s East Village. Guillaume — William by any other name — and I swapped Manhattan foodie anecdotes and became friends. You can be sure we’ll be back.
Note: The exchange rate at press time is at £1.73 to US $1.
Also in Continental, Oyster, Seafood
