ROUX AT THE LANDAU, MARYLEBONE

When the lovely people at The Langham Hotel got in touch and asked if I'd like to come and test out their restaurant Roux at the Landau, I already knew the exact date I wanted to go... last Friday, on our way to Paris. What better way to start a girly weekend in the French capital than a three course meal at the restaurant owned by one of my favourite chefs before we jumped on the Eurostar. Despite the big names in the kitchen and the very grand setting, there's an excellent and affordable lunch menu - 3 courses, half a bottle of wine, coffee and petit fours for £45 - that we tried out.
 
The three course lunch deal gives you three of each course to choose from. A limited but truly mouth-watering menu, it was hard to choose what to have. While we were trying to make up our minds we were brought some lovely little amuse bouche.
 

For starters, I'd been eyeing both the game terrine, chestnut, pear, rosemary brioche and foie gras butter, and the cod brandade and confit, grilled squid, preserved lemon, monk’s beard. Luckily, Lucy wanted the terrine, so I had the cod and squid, knowing I'd get to try some of her terrine too! The cod was perfect - the most delicate of flavours married together in a dish that was just divine. Each element shone through without overpowering the other. The squid was cooked exactly as it should be and was so tender, and the lovely gentle citrus notes from the preserved lemon elevated the whole dish.
 

 
Lucy's starter was also sublime. The terrine was packed full of different cuts of different meats, again, all perfectly cooked, and still so juicy, unlike many dry terrines I've had in the past elsewhere. The only disappointment of her dish was the brioche which I found too dry, maybe even a little stale, though a good dollop butter and it was less noticeable!

Mains were a choice of seabass, crab bisque, Calasparra rice, fennel and lime; roast guinea fowl, Vacherin glazed gnocchi, king cabbage and hazelnut granola; or butter poached pork belly, three corner garlic, pickled mustard seeds and mead. Lucy had the seabass with crab bisque which was good, but it was my main of pork belly, as recommended by the waiter, that was the winner. The pork itself was melt in the mouth, while the sauce had incredible depth of flavour to it and the barley was the ideal grain to mop it all up.

 

I adore rhubarb - I love the flavour and versatility of it as an ingredient, and also the fact that it's in season from January, when little else that's exciting is! So for pudding we shared a selection of the cheeses, and the stem ginger pavlova, poached Yorkshire rhubarb, sherry and rhubarb sorbet, which turned out to be one of the best desserts I've had in a while.

 

 
Roux at the Landau is fine dining at its best. Yes, it's a formal restaurant, with a big name chefs on the door, but the quality of food and standard of service you get for less than £50 a head including booze is ridiculously good. The menu changes almost weekly, so check it out and get yourselves down there for a seriously good lunch.