Sole Stuffed with Salmon and Cabbage
by Everett Hutt
June 12, 2006
THE WATERSIDE INN
Ferry Road
Bray
Berkshire SL6 2AT
United Kingdom
+44-(0)16-2862-0691
The Fat Duck. Who familiar with world-class dining has not heard of this restaurant? Voted Best Restaurant in the World in 2005 by over 600 food critics, the cuisine of Heston Blumenthal is reputed to be stunning.
My friends and I were planning a festive weekend in London and The Fat Duck was first on our list for dinner. But alas, it was not to be, for despite 30 minutes of speed dialing on three phones, I was unable to get a reservation. The Fat Duck is so popular that you must reserve precisely two months in advance to the day at 11:00 am. I played my part, but the phone companies let me down! When I finally got through, the reservations staff at The Fat Duck was very sympathetic to their credit.
So I went to my “fallback,” which has to be the best “fallback” I have ever had: The Waterside Inn. In what is seemingly a wonderful quirk of fate, but obviously is a clustering of culinary greats, The Waterside Inn is only 100 yards down the road from The Fat Duck. Both are nestled in the small English village of Bray-on-Thames, a wealthy suburb of London. Both are also in old buildings that have been lovingly restored.
That is where the similarities end, however. While The Fat Duck’s Heston Blumenthal is a self-taught chef, the chef-owner of The Waterside Inn is as close to cooking aristocracy as you can get. The story of Michel Roux and his brother Albert is well known. The brothers came to London in 1971 and founded La Gavroche, still one of the city’s best restaurants. Two years later they opened up their “countryside” address. Together, they transformed the culinary scene in London and Great Britain, with Michel eventually taking over full control of The Waterside Inn. Flash forward some 30 odd years and the brothers have retired. Alain, Michel’s son, runs The Waterside Inn, but one has the feeling that his father’s spirit still dominates.
The Waterside Inn feels like France. Waiters wear traditional black tie attire while treading softly across plush carpets. Most are French or speak it perfectly. The table is set with the best French crystal and china, with fresh flowers; the room is a symphony of muted beige tone. Upon being seated, we were immediately offered a selection of champagnes. We chose a bottle of Henriot 1995 Brut. It had a light straw color with a subtle nose of honey and apples. It was perfect for an aperitif while enjoying a pleasing view over the Thames where in summer you can moor your yacht if you are so fortunate. The menu, of course, is very French — at least at first glance — but with a number of surprising twists.
Indeed, despite being at one table, my friends and I experienced two very different dinners in parallel. Half the table, myself included, chose from more classic French offerings. The other half went for a more adventurous route. They made the better choice, for while Alain Roux can certainly do the classics as well as anyone at this level of the game, it seems that he has caught wind of Blumenthal’s modern creativity and stepped into his own. The results are more than promising.
The “classic” choices were a study in how to cook traditional haut French cuisine. My starter of foie gras chaud was accompanied by white beans, mushrooms and a citrus sauce. The latter two items perfectly balanced the richness of the foie gras and the starch of the beans. The fish course was a lobster, perfectly cooked, with baby vegetables. The only off-note was the pinch too much of ginger that overpowered the lobster. There was a return to form, however, with the perfectly cooked Scottish beef accompanied by a brilliant garlic puree. I was purring along in a lovely Rolls Royce.
My friends, however, were zooming away in an Aston Martin Vanquish. Their starter was a stunning granny smith cream soup. The richness of the cream was wonderfully offset by the tartness of the apples. A single piece of black truffle added just the right punch. The fish course was also a triumph: sole stuffed with salmon and cabbage. Sole is often a challenge: bland if cooked simply, yet so delicate that it is hard to season. The smoked salmon and cabbage paste stuffing added the perfect flavor to bring out the best of the sole’s flakiness. To conclude, the duck with pineapple was, if not quite as original, at least a step towards fusion-Asian cuisine.
One can see the same subtle creativity running through the wine list at The Waterside Inn. The list is almost entirely made up of French wines and, given the clientele, there is an impressive list of trophy wines. Yet our sommelier was able to guide us to lovely, lesser known (and lower priced) wines. For our starter and fish course, we had a Puligny Montrachet 1998 from a young producer, M. Carillon. For a simple Burgundy “village” appellation, this Chardonnay was a wine of extraordinary power and depth. The star of the evening, however, was the Santenay 1er Cru “la Maladière” 2000 from Vincent Girardin. Most Santenay wines from Burgundy are easy-drinking and pleasant wines, accenting Pinot Noir’s light fruity characteristics. This one, however, was an explosion of darker berries with a surprising amount of spice. But mostly it lingered lovingly in the mouth long after it was swallowed.
The end of the meal brought us more together, mixing classic and contemporary. The Rhubarb soufflé had that rich yet light balance in a classic soufflé but was tinged with just the right amount of tartness from the rhubarb to make it more intriguing. It was a perfect statement of what Alain Roux is trying to achieve at The Waterside Inn.
As the night faded into cognac and cigars for the men, and a lovely eau-de-vie framboise sauvage for the ladies, my friends and I compared our meal with other dinners at Michelin three stars. Like most restaurants of this quality, one’s memories and reactions are not only about the food, but also about the wine, the service, the ambiance and the mood. The Waterside Inn falls squarely in the middle of the pack. It lacked the daring for food and wine of a Pierre Gagnaire, the perfect tradition of a Taillevent, the sleek ambiance of an Arpège or the light hearted mood of a Ledoyen. But it struck a balance between all of these and nothing was glaringly wrong. Of course, in reality it is splitting hairs for me to say that it fell in the middle of anything, since the overall quality at this level of restaurants is so high that only a real grinch would not have a wonderful evening.
Everett Hutt has lived in Paris for over eight years. When not working on his day job in Marketing, he spends his time enjoying all that Paris and France have to offer in the way of great wine and food.
