Pearl

27th April 2011

A glass outside which housed a funky and clean lined space that oozed upmarket class was located on a non descript part of Church street, which showed the confidence of the restaurant to rely on its food and reputation to attract customers rather than being in a prominent area.

Dinner started with a delicious large roll of warm bread sliced in quarters that was accompanied with a beautiful citrus infused oil. It was delicious, although the bread was massive and i didn't even attempt to finish it all.

This was followed by a free warm artichoke and truffle oil soup. Whilst smelling strongly of truffle oil, this warm artichoke flavour was bold and flavourful and delicious with no overpowering truffle taste that the smell would have indicated. A great touch and a great way to start the meal.

For starter i choose the white chicken and spanner crab served with Thai basil and coriander, fresh coconut and peanuts, it has a fresh bold flavour with a little bit of lime bite. Great starter that did well not to overpower the crab and chicken with the bold flavours.

The main course i decided to go with one of the specialities of the restaurant being the red duck curry. Served in small bowls it required assembly yourself, so you could adjust the flavours to your suiting. Along a decent concept given people's different tastes, i prefer when i go out to an expensive restaurant to not have to assemble to meal as if i was at home. However it was made up for by the strong bold flavours and exquisite cooking that i would have struggled to replicate at home. Duck that was perfectly cooked and fell off the bones, cooked in a bold and strongly flavoured sauce that combined well with the duck to extenuate the flavours. Combined with coconut rice, a fried egg, chili (although more than one small chili could have been provided), shallots, mint and a fish sauce, it all combined (very ugly in my case) for an amazingly complex and flavourful dish.

To complete the meal i went for another long term speciality of Pearl, the crispy taro dumplings and added a hot chocolate to complete my meal. The dumplings were 3 separate dumpling covered in a crispy outer shell and contained milk, dark and white chocolate respectively. Covered in a small amount of golf leaf and with a small amount of vanilla custard, the texture was an interesting mix of crisp outer shell combined with the gooey liquid chocolate centre. My only issue with the dish was that the dark chocolate one had a dark chocolate ball in that was a surprise given all the rest were all liquid. Whether this was by design or a slight mistake in the cooking of this one i was unsure.

The hot chocolate was velvety and rich and thoroughly enjoyable and the extra pile of milk and dark chocolate pieces and warm milk allowed you to change the flavour of the hot chocolate was given my love of chocolate and preference for richer hot chocolates was nice. (I guess this could have been said for the main but i feel that there is a difference between making your own main and adjusting the chocolateyness of your Hot Chocolate).

The overall experience of this restaurant (and it was an experience) was amazing. Quality food, bold flavours and differing textures was a great delight and the small little touches (bread and soup and iPad wine menu) made this restaurant a delight. The price was substantial  but the food and service made this cost bearable and worth paying this much for the quality of food and ingredients used. Very worthy of 2 hats and a favourite of mine.