Pearl by Jun Tanaka

Posted: April 26th, 2010 | Author: Bernie B | Filed under: bernie b ate, bernie b eats out | Tags: bernie b, chicken, dessert, eat out, fish, food, mains, pearl by jun tanaka, restaurant, starter, toptable | 1 Comment »

I went fine dining for dinner. Oooooooo.

Pearl by Jun Tanaka was somewhere where I have wanted to go to, but with my budget eating ideals it was a bit over the budget. My excuse this time? Meeting an old friend I hadn’t seen for ages and Toptable’s deal, at three courses plus a cocktail for £39, it still wasn’t cheap, but more affordable. The place itself is nicely done up, just what you’d expect, do I need to go into detail? Nah, I can’t be bothered. Although I did spend some time wondering how they shone a spotlight onto the middle of the table with no visible lights above until my friend arrived and mentioned she’d seen it at another restaurant and that it was a light under the table. Duh! Let’s get on with the food.

Amuse bouche were four tiny portions of Mackerel, Meat Pie, Tomato & Goats Cheese and a Deep Fried Ball of Mushroom Risotto. They were all delicious, but there was only one of each and so my friend and I had to split these minuscule pieces of food. Surely they could have spared another portion.

Then came the pre-starter starter of Celeriac Foam with Apple Compote, Apple and Walnut Paste. This was particularly good, the sweet Apple working so well with the Celeriac, the bitter with the sweet, the Walnut Paste on the side bringing a lovely nutty burst and it was so light.

Finally we get to what we ordered, our starters. The menu we chose from is a more limited menu, three dishes for each course.   It is made from a combination of the lunch and dinner menus. We decided one of us would do the meat dishes and one the fish, we ain’t no vegetarians, nothing against them. The starter of  Pollock Brandade with Caramelised Squid, Crisp Quail Eggs and Parsley Vinaigrette was yummy. The creamy Pollock with the springy Squid and crispy Quail Eggs, created a mouthful of wonderful textures and flavours.

The other starter I tried was the Lamb Carpaccio with Mint Jelly walnuts, Apple and Olives. Nice and pretty looking, but I think the Lamb itself was overwhelmed by all the other flavours happening around it. Not saying it didn’t taste good, but tasting the meat on it’s own, the lamb was  delicate melt in your mouth yummyness.

Mains! Yeah! Halibut with Chorizo, Caramelised Squid, Red Pepper and Onion Confit and Chick Pea Fritters. There were a lot of similarities of this fish main and the fish starter. The Halibut main is a lot heavier though, big chunk of fish with the Chorizo crust. There were a few chips poking out that were slightly soggy and oily, probably due to the sitting on the foam for a bit too long. Nice but not great.

The Chicken on the other hand, yes more please! A long plate of different parts of chicken each part varying on texture, but all running with the same themes. You start with crispy Chicken mini drumstick, heavy on the morels and peas at this end, middle similar idea, but different cut of meat, juicy meat, crispy skin, the Macaroni so cute, like mini Cannelloni, stuffed with pea puree. You end with succulent breast, that felt like it was steamed, the meat so smooth and juicy, but with the skin crisped up, and in between the skin and meat was some sort of tasty Pesto. Ahhh it was so yummy.

There was the pre-starter starter, and there’s also the pre-dessert dessert of Giant Israeli Cous Cous Pudding and Passionfruit Cream. This was absolutely delicious! I enjoyed it more than my actual dessert and it was a perfect little refresher after our mains. I think I could have eaten a whole bucket of it, the cous cous was cooked like a creamy rice pudding with the sharp Passionfruit cream, and some crunchy crumbled biscuit topping. This is my ideal type of dessert. Have I not told you of my love of tarty creamy stuff? Maybe more of that another time.

After that I don’t think my dessert had a chance unless it was a larger glass of more. There were two options really for dessert as the cheese board came with a £10 supplement and our tummies was getting quite full by this time. I went for the Tiramisu as my friend wasn’t a fan of it. It was nice but nothing special. The sugar cone it was encased in I found too thick and sweet, the Amaretto Ice Cream was good and if you scraped the slate it was presented on, you would get a very strong Coffee syrup hit.

The other dessert, yum yum more please. So many textures and flavours. Although the Hazelnut Parfait Yoghurt Sponge is a Chocolate based dessert, there was so many levels to it. For starters the Parfait itself was creamy yet light, little Chocolate Crispies add a bit of fun to the dessert and contrasts so well with the Parfait. The Hazelnuts and Sauce adding more textures. Then there is the sponge. Here it brings sophistication where the Crispies were fun. It looks like you’re ready to take it to the bath with you, but don’t, because when you bite into it, it is so moist and the acidic taste from the Yoghurt reawakens your tastebuds so that the Chocolate and Hazelnut doesn’t become too rich after a while. You know that feeling you get when something is really good when you first eat it, but then when you eat more be it the flavours are too heavy or rich, you start to enjoy it less, but you carry on eating because you don’t want to waste food and so you finish the portion, but it’s not as enjoyable anymore. Well, I don’t think I could get it with the Cous Cous and Passionfruit Cream or the Hazelnut Parfait and Yoghurt Sponge.

Pearl by Jun Tanaka is supposed to be a French Restaurant, but with the Tiramisu, Risotto, Carpaccio and Macaroni the menu at the moment is much more Italian influence.

I had a lovely time, the staff were helpful, friendly and attentive, but I forgot to check out the toilets. An excuse to go back?

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