Grainstore, Granary Square: where veggies take centre stage

If you want to understand where the London restaurant scene is heading you need to go to Grainstore. Sure, the capital is still in thrall to pork, barbecue and street food but Bruno Loubet’s exciting and ambitious new project is a clear pointer to the way things are going.

Loubet’s been around for a while. He was a leading light of the restaurant scene back in the '90s then disappeared to Australia, returning in 2009 to set up Bistro Bruno Loubet in the Zetter which celebrated his French roots. But he’s been nursing the idea of Granary or something like it for some 20 years apparently - a restaurant where vegetables play centre stage and meat and fish are just an accessory.

The menu takes some grasping. Veggies are listed first so it’s easy to skip the fact that there’s a protein element. Main courses are modest in size - it’s all about small plates and sharing. At least that’s how the two of us justified ordering three starters. Four if you count the bread - some oddly disappointing focaccia and flat-tasting dukkah (middle eastern spice dip) which just tasted of nuts and sesame seeds.

Seared asparagus with green gaspacho sauce was a lovely idea though as were courgette, broad bean and prawn felafel (right) though the mojama in the daily special of borlotti beans and charred spring onions was a bit elusive. Early days, early days.

A main of smoky corn and quinoa tamale and properly sticky pork belly is understandably a best seller already but our favourite dish was a beautifully balanced dish of fresh salt cod, sautéed padron peppers, almonds and black olive oil (black tapenade in effect) which made me long to try it at home.

It was also a star pairing with the Roman smoked paprika white wine (yes, you did read that right) which I couldn’t resist ordering from a list of aromatised ‘Greco Roman’ smoked or herb infused wines devised by top mixologist Tony Conigliaro. It was supposed to go with the chilli con veggies which we didn't order but its smoked paprika notes just hit the spot with the cod.

So yes - trend alert! - the drinks are worth paying attention to as well. There are several cocktails which have been paired to individual dishes which are flagged up on the accompanying cocktail list. I also tried the Granary Martini, a fiery concoction of mustard vodka and dry vermouth which was recommended with the felafel but I think went better with the mealy beans but suspect there would be as many views on this as there are vodkas in Congliaro’s back bar. (You’re more likely to get agreement on the fact that £4 is a lot to pay for a small glass ‘hay and grass water. It’s pleasant, but should cost about half that. A French Blonde (grape juice, elderflower cordial, lemongrass and verjus) sounds much more exciting.)

Desserts? Yes, I loved them but suspect that those with a sweeter tooth might not - or opt for the white chocolate rice crispie and dark chocolate mousse instead. We shared a fabulously wobbly goats’ milk panna cotta with spiced candied tomatoes (look out for tomorrow’s match of the week) and strawberry and balsamic ‘jam’ with a spicy hit of horseradish ice cream (right) - neither excessively sweet which is a plus in my book.

There’s so much to take in here - not least the huge and beautiful room with its open plan kitchen - that I feel I need to go back to get a full grip on it. Preferably in a month or so once the kitchen is fully into its stride. But it’s an exciting and genuinely original project which I’m sure will be a game-changer for the London restaurant scene. If you’re remotely interested in where food is heading you should go.

Grainstore is at Granary Square, London N1C 4A, just behind King’s Cross station. Look at the helpful map on the Find Us page of the website. Tel: 020 7324 4466.

I ate at Grainstore as a guest of the restaurant. You should get away with paying about £25-30 a head for food plus drinks and service. There's a 'surprise menu' available in the evening from £35 a head but it needs to be ordered by the whole table.

De Librije, Zwolle - a ‘mini-menu’ that’s an 8 course feast

With Sergio Herman of Oud Sluis announcing he intends to close his restaurant at the end of 2013, Jonnie Boer’s De Librije could be left as the only 3 Michelin-starred restaurant in Holland. So what makes it so special?

First of all the building - a dramatically converted monastery library (de Librije, pronounced ‘leebraya’, means ‘library') in the attractive Dutch town of Zwolle. The soaring, high ceilinged room creates a theatrical background for Boer’s food - not that it needs much supporting theatre.

Dining with one of his collaborators, academic Peter Klosse, we were treated to a spectacular succession of dishes each paired with a matching wine from a new menu concept called a mini menu where you chose four dishes and they offer four others from ingredients that are currently in season - i.e. eight in all (so not so 'mini'. . .). There’s a vegetarian option throughout which looked really appealing - I might even be inclined to go veggie another time.

The meal started, as 3 Michelin-star menus do, with a show-stopping succession of amuses including one I'd read about where a canapé of beef tartare and oyster cream is assembled on your hand. I wasn’t convinced about that one. Nothing about textures suggested it needed to be served like that - it was just rather discomfiting and messy - although, being perverse, I’m perfectly happy to eat caviar served that way.

The others included a fermented tea of red cabbage (wonderful, I’d have liked that as a full course) and lots of delicious crisp-textured bits and pieces including rice puffs topped with cod tongue and crisp chicken skin (above), some seaweedy-style crisps tucked into a fish skeleton and a halibut fin on toast with orange cream and apricot oil.

The bread was also brilliant - warm brioche rolls with bacon dust - and a bread that was proving at the start of the meal which came back freshly baked to the table half way through the meal accompanied by a slightly sour, tangy whipped cream of goats’ butter and Rembrandt grape juice.

The main dishes were so many and varied I unusually didn’t get to try most of my two dining companions’ choices. My own standouts were a blissfully summery dish of oysters with cucumber and lemon verbena (right) - which I suspect was all the better for being served as an alternative to the usual dish which includes foie gras; a brilliantly clever dish of what looked like Wagyu but was in fact well marbled sirloin seared by Boer at the table on a hot stone, dusted with wild mushroom powder and served with bone marrow, lemon geranium sauce and crisp little potato puffs (below). a surprisingly good match with a 2009 Tim Adams Protegé tempranillo) and a sweet Thai green curry - a Thai-spiced tropical fruit salad I made this week’s match of the week.

I also liked my husband’s dish of white asparagus with hollandaise sauce and coffee, a bizarrely successful combination and a more classic dish of beautifully tender, rare pigeon with star anise, kohlrabi and kohlrabi juice (kohlrabi being much more popular in Holland and Germany than it is in the UK) which was served with a 2010 Isole e Olena Chianti Classico.

I was less convinced by a langoustine ceviche with vanilla kombucha - but then I’m not big on vanilla in savoury dishes and another sweet and savoury combination, a broth of tomato, watermelon and sweet, spicy croutons (which failed to hit it off for me with its accompanying pinot noir.) And, cheese fiend though I am, I don’t think I’d have liked the cheese course of epoisses and seared kidney that Klosse chose - an over-rich end to a long meal. There were times I felt Boer, in common with other chefs at this level, was trying that bit too hard to be innovative.

He and his wife Thérèse, though, are rightly seen as leading lights of the Netherlands fine dining scene: the restaurant is no. 57 in the World’s 50 Best top 100 list. They also have a hotel and a 2 star restaurant, Librije’s Zusje) in Zwolle, housed in a former women’s prison, and have written a number of books, published mainly in Dutch. If you’re looking to sample the best of what Holland has to offer in the way of fine dining it’s definitely worth the detour, as Michelin would put it.

But the restaurant was less than half full the midweek lunchtime we were there which suggests that others may share my feeling that this kind of meal is just a bit over the top in terms of both content and quantity for anything other than a special occasion. It could be that prospective punters think it’s impossible to get in or maybe they were down the road at the couple’s 2 star where where you can eat many of the dishes that made De Librije famous for a fair bit less and a two course lunch for just 45€. In these hard times It could be a problem for them.

Restaurant De Librije is at Broerenkerkplein 13-15, 8011 TW Zwolle
+31 (0)38 853 0001 The ‘mini-menu’ we had is 182.50€ (£155/$244)

I ate at De Librije as a guest of the restaurant

You can see an interview with Jonnie and Thérèse of De Librije in this video made by Fine Dining Lovers

Ristorante Cibreo, Florence

If you’re going to go to a restaurant in a tourist city like Florence it certainly helps to go with a couple of Italians. Especially if one of them is a well-known chef* and - better still - has been recommended by one of his mates at one of the poshest local hotels.

That said, there are enough rave reviews among the notoriously pernickety contributors to Tripadvisor to suggest our experience wasn’t a one-off.

Cibreo is one of 3 restaurants run by Fabio Picchi and his family - a restaurant, a no-reservations trattoria and a cafe all around the via dei Macci. It’s all rather confusing because the restaurant looks like a trattoria but the trat apparently has a shorter menu and doesn’t take bookings so you should be able to spot it from the queues outside.

The restaurant menu simply announces what you’ll pay for each course: primi at 20 euros, secondi and contorni at 36€, cheese at 10€ and dolci at 15€. That’s going it a bit for simple Tuscan food but bear with me . . .

What’s on offer that day is explained by one of the staff, who in our case appeared to be Signora P who cosily sat herself down at the table and jotted our order down on a scrappy piece of paper. Then they proceed to ignore the whole process and bring a dizzying number of small plates for us to try (apparently a universal experience not just because we were with a VIP)

There was yoghurt mousse with turmeric, almond paté, the lightest freshest, homemade ricotta, broad beans and pecorino, prosciutto, preserved leeks and artichokes (their own) and a spiky tripe salad with chilli (the first time I’ve taken to tripe). Oh yes, and really good chicken liver crostini which managed to avoid the coarseness and bitterness you so often get with that dish - and some sundried tomato ones.

Then a round of homemade soups and other starters which included a vegetable soup with bottarga, kale soup, fish soup, yellow pepper soup (right) - a signature dish of the restaurant - and my own starter, a light potato flan with a classic ragu (above - which I’d strongly recommend if they have it).

Next, lambs brains with lentils, slow-braised beef cheeks with beets and potato puree, chicken and ricotta meatballs and and an evil-looking but tasty braised dish of squid which went brilliantly well with a bottle of 2006 Rocca di Castagnoli Stielle. And heavenly zolfini beans which apparently cost 25€ a kilo - more than the sausages that accompanied them (I thought this was an exaggeration but found them on this site for 17.58€ for 500g). By this time plates were whizzing round like crazy in one giant food swap.

Then just as we were thinking we couldn’t eat a morsel more a battery of desserts - panna cotta with saba (red wine reduction), cheesecake, a creme caramel spattered Jackson Pollock-style with its sauce (right), another one with coffee syrup and a sinfully rich chocolate tart. And a grappa. My god, we needed that grappa . . .

All this was served with such enthusiasm and good humour it was impossible to resist the extra plates that kept coming but the question is would you have the same experience? It appears from the reviews I’ve read (and some feedback from friends) that you would though some complain about the prices (true, 20€ for a vegetable soup is hard to justify, even in Florence) and slow service. You certainly appear to get better value though possibly not the same experience at the trattoria for quite a bit less.

But I have to confess I loved it. in a world of increasingly uniform restaurants run by accountants rather than families it was a wonderful, life-enhancing evening. Eccentric, charming, faintly bonkers, even. I would definitely go back.

Cibreo is at 8 via del Verrocchio. Tel: 055 234 11 00. Note the restaurant closes from July 25th-September 5th and on Monday.

*Franco Mazzei of L’Anima

I ate at the restaurant as a guest of Eurowines, I think. Actually I'm not sure who paid in the end but it wasn't me.

Does The Kitchin deserve a second Michelin star?

You can’t help feeling that it’s Tom Kitchin’s misfortune to be in Edinburgh. Not because his isn’t proud of his Scottish roots - he obviously is - but because if he were in France I’m sure he’d have two stars rather than one.

Certainly there are plenty of two star dishes on his ‘Land and Sea Surprise’ tasting menu including a shellfish broth of wonderful clarity and umami-rich depth of flavour, a terrine of octopus monkfish liver that cleverly mimicks foie gras and a precisely cooked ‘nose to tail’ dish of lamb including liver, kidney and testicles which has to be the best offal dish I’ve eaten. Was that what Michelin thought was inappropriate for a two star establishment? If not it has no balls.

Other dishes might not have reached such technical heights but were beautifully presented. A delicious ‘amuse’ of jellied chicken consommé, with discs of pressed chicken breast, crunchy apple and crisp bacon that would make a great full-size starter. An imaginative dish of razor clams (known locally as spoots) served with diced vegetables, a judicious touch of chorizo and lemon confit.

Tom’s signature dish of boned and rolled pig’s head and langoustine with a crispy ear salad (maybe the pork had slightly too powerful a flavour for the delicate langoustines if one were inclined to quibble). A dish of cod cheek with fresh Wye asparagus and a blood orange sauce that was bang in season. Dark sticky braised beef with ‘bone marrow’ potatoes (i.e. the ‘bone’ was made out of potato. Clever stuff.)

And two gorgeous desserts - a sharp yet creamy lemon meringue tart with frozen yoghurt and lemon confit and - my choice which I was reluctant to share - a light, airy rhubarb cheesecake with a rhubarb compote and rhubarb sorbet you may spot I’ve made my match of the week this week (with a Cabernet Franc ice wine)

Service too is impeccable even down to a fellow in the corner whose only job seemed to be sorting and polishing the appropriate cutlery for each order. And serving the pre-dessert and cheese. I wonder what his job title was. The cutler? The sorbeteer? The cheese somm?

The wine list too is appropriately wide ranging and expensive though we were treated to the wine pairings - and a couple of beer pairings, including the Kelpie seaweed ale with the Shellfish Rockpool you’ll see in this Vine. It included some adventurous choices such as a sweet Coteaux du Layon with the monkfish liver terrine, a Western Australian riesling with the razor clams and a robust Etna Rosso with the pig’s head and langoustine dish though I felt some of the wines used (a heavily oaked New Zealand chardonnay and commercial New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc didn’t match the quality of the food). I’d order a bottle another time.

What else might Michelin object to? There’s an unglamourous view over a large depot on one side of the restaurant and the room is rather dark - probably better in the evening than the day. There’s the occasional misfiring dish - some overcooked poached monkfish and some really poor bread rolls that tasted as if they’d been reheated - a strange aberration in a restaurant of this quality.

But overall this is lovely, graceful food with a real sense of place made from top class ingredients and presented without excessive artifice by way of foams, smears and blobs. Not cheap but definitely worth the detour. Come on, Michelin - give it the credit it deserves.

The Kitchin is at 78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX - about 15 minutes by bus from the city centre. Tel: 0131 555 1755. The tasting menu we had costs £75 (with matching wines a further £55) - but that would probably still work out cheaper than eating à la carte. There’s also a good value three course set lunch at £26.50 or £36.50 with cheese. The restaurant is closed on Sunday and Monday.

Disclaimer: Tom Kitchin treated us to a number of free dishes and the wine pairings