Tuesday 8 December 2009

One more off the list – La Trompette: Chiswick, Monday 1st December 2009

It’s always good to fulfil an ambition, no matter how simple it might be. I’d been hearing about La Trompette even before I started working in west London, and a colleague and I had been speculating about eating there for a good few years. Unfortunately, since the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star back in 2008, reservations became markedly more exclusive, and the prices shot up. And then the current economic crisis happened.

I assume it was in light of this that La Trompette's prices dropped as steeply as they did. Suddenly, a la carte dining was downright cheap, for the reputation of the place at least, so my friend and I decided we had to take the plunge and book a table.

There’s something about uber-modern restaurants that makes you feel like you’re dining in a scene from The Matrix. The sharp and polished edges of the place are intimidating yet elegant. I suppose that’s what makes high-end eating the edgy experience that it can sometimes be. Now, that sounds kind of uncomfortable, and sometimes it can be so, but La Trompette have nicely bridged the gap by lighting the restaurant impeccably. Small differences are often what set a restaurant apart from its competitors.

However, the most important difference is always going to be the food. For as much as experience counts, it doesn’t really matter how nice a place is if you’re struggling through average fare. Knowing that this place had a Michelin star, I went in dead against simply fawning over the food because it was reputedly great. I refused to think it was good just because it was supposed to be…

When I looked down the starters list, I was convinced they knew I was coming. I ate foie gras and chicken liver parfait (so that’s the two ultimate pate-style starters in one) to start with a slab of brioche. It was heavenly. My companion ate a very flavoursome quail pastry crescent with dressing inside. Okay, La Trompette, you win this round…

If things started well, they remained at more or less the same level for the remainder of the meal. Main courses were great, beginning with a very hearty and stunningly rich daube of beef (traditionally a casserole, though this was less stewy and more pronounced) with all the right dressings. Even parsnip puree couldn’t dampen this one. I went for the venison, which – although it incurred a supplementary cost – was a fine, fine piece of meat. Cooked rare enough, sliced thickly and laid atop a bed of creamed mash with black pudding and truffled jus… I want another one of these, right now. The small problem with this dish was that the artichokes the menu promised did not arrive. They replaced these with spinach, which to me is like trading in a Rolls Royce for a Skoda when it comes to garnishes. However, I ate and enjoyed it. Damn, they’re good…

Having thoroughly proved they deserve their Michelin star at this point (even their mistakes were delicious!), La Trompette dished up a couple of feisty desserts to see us off. A black forest ice cream concoction was well-received across the table from me, and I went for a pear and almond tart with crème fraiche and some butterscotch sauce. I was apprehensive about this, since I don’t really care for almonds and I’m not a huge fan of pears. The tart was delicious: rich, spongy, buttery and ultimately a very satisfying way to commemorate the first day of advent.

In conclusion, La Trompette is worth checking out for three reasons. And they can be broken down in terms of the courses too, which fits nicely… They do classics well (starter). They can pull it out of the hat when it doesn’t quite go right (main). They can impress with unknown quantities (dessert). If you fancy some excellent modern French food; don’t think, just go.

La Trompette

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