I had seen an article on Amethyst online and thought it would be a place I would like to try. I hadn’t heard anything about it, and none of my London friends (chefs and diners) had mentioned anything either. It’s a pretty new place, so it was fairly easy for me to work it into an upcoming trip to London, especially on a weeknight. The restaurant is located in the southeast area of Mayfair very near Piccadilly Circus. They offer nightly tasting menus – a standard one and a longer one with an additional course and upgraded ingredients. They also serve lunch. The name comes from the long communal dining table in the restaurant that has an amethyst stone inlay that runs through the middle. All the seating angles face the open kitchen at the front.
They offer two wine pairing options, a Classic and a Prestige. Additionally, there are wines offered by the glass which include all the wines offered as beverage pairings, as well as some additional choices. I thought it was great that they offered all of the pairings by the glass – normally, if I saw a specific wine on a listing that I really wanted to try, I would have to ask if it is served by the glass (It’s usually not a problem, but sometimes restaurants don’t do it because they don’t have a price set or they may not have enough of it to offer as a by-the-glass option). But, at this restaurant, all the wines were available by the glass.
I selected the above Meursault, which turned out to be the perfect wine to have with the first part of the menu for me. I think the opportunity to have such a nice glass helped me to improve my wine ordering skills, especially as it related to ordering a Meursault when it’s offered (i.e., it shouldn’t be too young, so I shouldn’t always order it just because it’s offered).
The experience began with a trio of bites: Celeriac tart (spiced) with gochujang, ssamjang, chestnuts; French toast croquette, truffle, vacche rosse cheese sauce (creamy and very warm); and Briouat (Moroccan sweet or savory puff pastry) with almonds, hispi cabbage, and Baharat honey (on the sweet side).
The next dish was scallops tartare, caviar, cured duck, and muscat grapes. This was served chilled and had a slight sweetness to it that turned into a savory salt profile as I worked through the dish. The corn provided a nice texture, and the flavors changed with each bite taken.
This was identified as a signature dish of the chef. It featured salmon marinated in rose petal water and yuzu. Next to it was foie gras marinated with Armagnac, along with Piedmont hazelnuts and apples.
The next course was some very warm Mahlab bread. The dipping mixture included pickled walnut oil, smoked fig leaf oil, and Japanese kabocha squash. This was an especially tasty course.
For the full write-up, click here.
Adventures in Molecular Cuisine 