Emily and I have pretty similar food tastes so it's normally a good bet that I'll like restaurants that she does. She's been going on about Picture for some time, so when we needed an early evening feeding before the bar awards recently we hopped on to Bookatable where you can get five courses and a cocktail for £35, which is pretty decent for the quality of cooking.
We settled in to a mostly empty restaurant (that filled up throughout our meal) and enjoyed our welcome cocktail while we checked through the fixed menu to ensure there was nothing on there we didn't eat. Emily switched out a beetroot dish but other than that we were good to go. Warm bread and venison bites (which were a whole £1 each extra and worth every penny and more) kept up going til food proper started.
First up the "dreaded" beetroot which I loved. Earthy, fresh flavours with tangy grated feta a zingy green sauce and bites of pine nuts got things off to a very good start.
Lightly smoked crisp pork with sweet pickled carrots and granny smith apple puree was up next and was a delight. My second favourite course of the four savoury ones. There's something about fatty, slow cooked pork finished in a pan served with pickles that makes me really happy.
Course three was my favourite of the night. Hake brandade, fennel, sea purslane and smoked mackerel was light and delicious. A plate of perfect flavour combinations. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this more than the pork because of the fact that I had to get changed into a tight dress for the bar awards after dinner, or if it just felt like early Spring and the seaside on a plate!
The final savoury course was 28 day aged beef, bone marrow crumb and red wine sauce, with cavolo nero and puy lentils. Utterly delicious, rich and beefy. Another perfectly cooked and presented plate of food and a wonderful end to the meal. I say end... we skipped pudding and shared a cheese plate. But a cheese plate is a cheese plate so this was the real finale.
Picture is a really good restaurant, doing excellent food for the price they charge. As I said, it's a fixed menu that changes regularly so I'm looking forward to another visit when the menu is lighter in Spring. And then maybe again in Summer too....
We settled in to a mostly empty restaurant (that filled up throughout our meal) and enjoyed our welcome cocktail while we checked through the fixed menu to ensure there was nothing on there we didn't eat. Emily switched out a beetroot dish but other than that we were good to go. Warm bread and venison bites (which were a whole £1 each extra and worth every penny and more) kept up going til food proper started.
First up the "dreaded" beetroot which I loved. Earthy, fresh flavours with tangy grated feta a zingy green sauce and bites of pine nuts got things off to a very good start.
Lightly smoked crisp pork with sweet pickled carrots and granny smith apple puree was up next and was a delight. My second favourite course of the four savoury ones. There's something about fatty, slow cooked pork finished in a pan served with pickles that makes me really happy.
Course three was my favourite of the night. Hake brandade, fennel, sea purslane and smoked mackerel was light and delicious. A plate of perfect flavour combinations. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this more than the pork because of the fact that I had to get changed into a tight dress for the bar awards after dinner, or if it just felt like early Spring and the seaside on a plate!
The final savoury course was 28 day aged beef, bone marrow crumb and red wine sauce, with cavolo nero and puy lentils. Utterly delicious, rich and beefy. Another perfectly cooked and presented plate of food and a wonderful end to the meal. I say end... we skipped pudding and shared a cheese plate. But a cheese plate is a cheese plate so this was the real finale.
All of this looks delicious - I'm craving that beetroot dish!
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The beetroot was phenomenal - such a great menu, and brilliant value :)
DeleteRosie xx
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