Murano

After a hectic past few weeks, I’m finally away for the holidays. Yay! A foot of snow has just dumped down on the northeast US, and now that I’m no longer traveling, it’s lovely to see the blanket of white outside.

Just before I left London, I tried the £25 lunch menu at Angela Hartnett’s Murano, and it ticked all the boxes: great service, lovely linens/china, and flashes of creativity on the understandably-limited menu - all at a fantabulous price.

The restaurant is still offering a decadent white truffle tasting menu (a £65 supplement for every white truffle course you add to your meal), and our waiter carried over a box of the precious fungus so we could have a peek and sniff (those are free). It’s heady stuff, that white truffle. We got our little taste of the good life in the fresh-out-of-the fryer white truffle arancini that arrived while we browsed the menu options.

And as if the creamy-crispy arancini weren’t pre-starter enough, after we placed our order, a generous pile of salumi arrived. I’d love to know who Murano’s supplier is, because I could have eaten that prosciutto all day. For vegetarians, there was a smoked aubergine puree dip that was creamy, sweet and nutty - a delish topping for the fresh, varied breads in our bread basket, but no match for the beauties of cured meat.
grilled mackerel tart with confit lemon green olive vinaigrette

My starter of grilled mackerel tart was meaty and moist without any of the stinky fishiness that ruins mackerel’s popularity. And the sharp sweetness of the tomato-red “tart crust” added flavor and taste contrast. I enjoyed my starter immensely.

Roasted guinea fowl was juicy, but nothing too memorable, especially compared to the guinea fowl I had at Petershan Nurseries. On the other hand, the cost of the guinea fowl alone at Petersham approximated that of our entire lunch menu at Murano . . . .

The stonebass was beautifully pan fried so that its skin turned into crackling while the white, flaky meat stayed moist, but the treats hidden in the sauce basquaise were the highlight. Chorizo makes everything good. Murano knows how to source, no question.

The palate-cleansers were so fun - we couldn’t help smiling at the colors and flavors. Rich and creamy banana; refreshing and light basil; tart black currant were my faves, but polishing off all of the sorbets was no problem.

Dessert options were pretty unimaginative. Then again, it may be no more than a dressed-up brownie, but it was still worth the calories.

I loved the petit fours - chocolate truffles, fruit tuiles and fresh, warm hunks of panettone. I’m still thinking of that panettone - its eggy texture and sweet tartness of candied citrus, balanced with plump sweet raisins. Nothing like those monsters that come in pretty boxes at this time of year.

What a steal for £25. Considering how much I loved all the goodies that came in between our courses, I’m guessing I’d love a full-on meal at Murano. To do in 2009, then.

An's profile     Other reviews by An     An likes    

The room is a considerable improvement over the rather stark decor that Zen Central had. The cream walls have a tasteful pattern painted on, the lighting is carefully judged, and there is a brown patterned carpet. The menu is very appealing, £55 for three courses, with plenty of dishes that sound tasty. The wine list has excellent growers but is heavily marked up (69% gross profit before counting the service charge is actually very high). Examples are Alin 2003 at £95 for a wine that retails at around £30, Chateau Musar 1999 £68 for a wine you can buy in the shops at around £15, Ata Rangi Pinot Noir £85 for a wine costing less than £19 retail if you look. The 19 page list features particularly well chosen growers, and given the limited storage space available is impressive in its scope. Vintage Tunina 2005 is an example of the strong Italian section of the list, a wine that retails at around £28. Bread is a choice of foccacia, plain white and carta da musica (4/10). A smoked aubergine puree offered with this was seriously smoky (2/10).

Nibbles appear as deep fried balls of mushroom risotto, with a nicely crisped coating and a pleasant filling (5/10). I began with Parmesan risotto made with carnaroli rice, rocket pesto and roasted pine nuts. The texture was very good, the rice having absorbed the stock well, the pesto adding some flavour but not overwhelming the dish (6/10). This was better than a pleasant but rather simplistic pressed rabbit mosaic that was crying out for a chutney, and a rather odd dish of grilled foie gras and sweet and sour tomatoes. However a Cromer crab ravioli had excellent pasta, pleasant baby leeks, a meat jus and a rather tiny blob of celeriac puree (5/10).

My Gressingham duck breast was nicely pink, served on a confit of duck leg and potato cakes, but I missed the advertised mustard fruits, though an unadvertised layer of spinach worked well (5/10). Roasted turbot was a fine piece of fish, with pearl barley, summer vegetables and a smoked ham stock that was salty even for us salt lovers. Grilled Cornish red mullet had a base of very good peas and mint and a white grape vinaigrette. Rack of Welsh lamb was served with a tortelloni of the shoulder, grilled courgettes and cooking juices.

The cheeses are supplied by La Fromagerie, but we skipped these tonight. Dessert included a very enjoyable zabaglione with figs (5/10), while my fellow diners tried frozen panna cotta with black cherry compote and grated pistachio, as well as excellent English strawberries with white balsamic jelly and mascarpone sorbet (though they did not need a pointless pouring of dry ice over them, a waste of the special effects budget in my view). An apricot soufflé was very well executed, rising perkily out of its dish, served with Amaretto de Saronno ice cream. A sort of post dessert of assorted ice creams was an odd mix, with classics like strawberry, pear and blood orange sharing a plate with basil, a quite sharp blackcurrant, banana ice cream and a thoroughly unpleasant combination of chocolate with black olive (El Bulli has a lot to answer for). Coffee was excellent (7/10) served with some good tuiles and a few chocolates, as well as an excellent little tiramisu with frozen coffee.

Service was very capable. One irritation was found by one of my companions, who was offered a glass of champagne while waiting and would have appreciated having it pointed out that the “blanc de blanc” was actually £25 a glass. We mentioned this, and while the sommelier seemed concerned and appeared to hint of some form of reparation occurring when the bill arrived, the glass was charged in full when it did. I don’t think the price in itself was absurd, but for those not working for hedge funds it would have been nice if the price had been clearly spelled out.

Overall, this was a very pleasant meal. Nothing was badly cooked, the menu was appealing, and there were plenty of enjoyable dishes. Yet somehow the meal never lifted itself above 5/10 level, which is consistent with my previous Angela Hartnett experiences. For £116 a head I feel that a higher level of culinary experience can be had, even in Mayfair.

Andy's profile     Other reviews by Andy     Andy likes