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W’Sens is the newest chip off the block of the burgeoning empire of the Pourçel twins/Olivier Château combination from Le Jardin des Sens in Montpelier. Having achieved three-star Michelin status in 1998, our intrepid heroes are forging ahead with a series of satellite restaurants throughout the world (Tokyo, Paris, Bankok and Barcelona) and this London venture is the latest to arrive on the scene. Is this going to compete with the The Square, Pont de la Tour, Tom Aitkens, etc.? Well, we went to see.
It opened just before Christmas 2004 to a flurry of mediocre reviews – they were not really ready – staff were not fully trained, but in keeping with perceived company policy, they wanted to cash in on the Christmas trade. Well, that didn’t really work and when we visited the restaurant for lunch in early January 2005 it was pretty empty. But we are not here to comment on the company’s commercial policies, but to give our general assessment of the place and on the whole, it has come out pretty well.
Whilst the Pourçel twins have been over to London to supervise the cuisine, the cooking is in the capable hands of Christophe Langrée*, a Breton who ran his own Michelin-starred restaurant in St. Malo, before making his first working trip to London.
* Note, M. Langrée has now gone! Updated review on the new chef's work - as soon as we can.
It opened just before Christmas 2004 to a flurry of mediocre reviews – they were not really ready – staff were not fully trained, but in keeping with perceived company policy, they wanted to cash in on the Christmas trade. Well, that didn’t really work and when we visited the restaurant for lunch in early January 2005 it was pretty empty. But we are not here to comment on the company’s commercial policies, but to give our general assessment of the place and on the whole, it has come out pretty well.
Whilst the Pourçel twins have been over to London to supervise the cuisine, the cooking is in the capable hands of Christophe Langrée*, a Breton who ran his own Michelin-starred restaurant in St. Malo, before making his first working trip to London.
* Note, M. Langrée has now gone! Updated review on the new chef's work - as soon as we can.
...A number of Pourçel-inspired dishes, albeit with slight modification, from Le Jardin des Sens are present on the menu such as the pan-fried foie gras, gingerbread crisp, muscat syrup and apple compôte spiced with passion fruit; and the roast fillet of turbot with a Venere black rice risotto, emulsion of butter and a Parmesan crisp, to name but two. Generally though, the cuisine seems a little more relaxed and less intense that its mentor in Montpelier.
Sonia went for three starters for her meal (as is her wont) – a mixed green lettuce with exotic leaves, courgette and tomato emulsion; a trio of artichokes and oranges served hot, cold and iced; and a crab and chilli accras, in a spiced vierge sauce. They were all good and well presented, and do reflect the modern tendency to mix too many flavours together. In this case it worked, just, but there is always a risk in doing this, which you can see from some of our reports on other restaurants.
The set lunch menu at £20 for two courses and £25 for three is good value and the choice of two starters and two main courses is reasonable, but having no choice for the dessert makes it more interesting to go for the two course option and, for an extra £2.25, choose from all the à la carte desserts. My gazpacho of seasonal fruits, herb infusion, iced to a granita, and warm pineapple financier was excellent.
Sonia went for three starters for her meal (as is her wont) – a mixed green lettuce with exotic leaves, courgette and tomato emulsion; a trio of artichokes and oranges served hot, cold and iced; and a crab and chilli accras, in a spiced vierge sauce. They were all good and well presented, and do reflect the modern tendency to mix too many flavours together. In this case it worked, just, but there is always a risk in doing this, which you can see from some of our reports on other restaurants.
The set lunch menu at £20 for two courses and £25 for three is good value and the choice of two starters and two main courses is reasonable, but having no choice for the dessert makes it more interesting to go for the two course option and, for an extra £2.25, choose from all the à la carte desserts. My gazpacho of seasonal fruits, herb infusion, iced to a granita, and warm pineapple financier was excellent.
