Should location count in one’s appraisal of a restaurant? The purist* in me wants to say: hell no fool! Just gimme the low down on whether the kitchen and front of house can rock my world, sod the location! Unfortunately, experience (or lack of it) leads me to believe that it’s pretty hard (for me at least) to separate a restaurant’s location from general enjoyment of the place.
Chez Bruce, The Glasshouse, Galvin at Windows; each are obvious examples of London restaurants that are complemented by their location and surroundings. Whether this actually makes these restaurants better than they would be otherwise is a moot point in my mind, as that should come down to food/service/ambience.
But consider the location question from the angle of a professional restaurant critic: which road-weary Michelin inspector is not going to be swayed in his or her review by the charming little station parade at Kew, or the green expanse of park awaiting an after lunch stroll on Wandsworth common? If location can influence in this respect and restaurant with a Michelin-focus should choose its location with great care. This makes the contrasts embodied in Morgan M all the more of an enigma.
The first time we visited this restaurant in July ‘08 I came away struck by what I took at the time to be its obvious vaulting ambition; something that surprised me given its location. A very French, formal and hushed service delivers from the kitchen beautiful, clever, dishes complete with requisite foams, towers, gels. Haute-cuisine done to a very good standard and with a tasting menu that sits behind only Trinity in its value to quality ratio. The only thing holding it back was a lack of atmosphere in the dining room, which was compounded by the slightly stiff waiting staff. Here was a restaurant, I thought (in all my aged wisdom!), reaching for (the) stars.
Coming away from our second visit (not quite enough visits for the-food-blog-restaurant-review-police, sorry) I was no longer convinced I was right before about there being a desire for (Michelin?) recognition running through the core of this restaurant. With a slightly later sitting this time (and a little more ‘buzz’ in the dining room as a result), we experienced a delightful tasting menu designed as a Bordeaux Wine Tasting evening (menu).
While maybe one of the dishes lacked a little something** the rest of the menu was delicious (the Duck with Onion Soubise in particular) and, again, incredibly well presented. My knowledge doesn’t extend to be able to comment correctly on the technical side of the cooking but to my untrained eye, the dishes appeared well executed. More to the point though, the whole experience (including the wine-tasting concept) felt like a restaurant (and chef?) that was taking itself slightly less seriously than before and having a little more fun. Maybe the ambition is simply to produce top-drawer food coupled with classical service and the desire for recognition (stars?) doesn’t feature. It would certainly explain the choice of location…
*actually, the purist in me wants to vomit at the fact that I just wrote the words “one’s appraisal”
**I’m thinking of the Ballontine of Foie Gras in particular – why does this ingredient always have appear on every tasting menu?? – which, whilst accompanied by a lovely Brioche, was unremarkable. Having said this, the maitre d’ was very accommodating in replacing my gorgeous date’s Foie Gras with an alternative tuna dish and took the time to find a decent replacement wine to go with it to boot.
489 Liverpool Road
Islington
London
N7 8NS
02076093560
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