Cutler & Co

5th December 2011

Due to the Christmas season, my 58th restaurant and final 2 hat restaurant changed it's normal opening times and was open on a Monday. I decided to take advantage of this extra day of business and head out for dinner to Cutler & Co. Evidently other people decided it would be a good idea to as the restaurant was pretty packed, including 4 men who rocked up about 830 from the L.A. Galaxy including Robbie Keane and David Beckham.

After an initial wait for my table in the bar, i was ushered into a cool and hip dining room with wooden tables, modern lighting and bare walls. After being seated i was offered the drinks list and the menu. The drinks list was reasonably long and offered a full bar with a mix of wine, beer and cocktails and spirits. The wait staff explained the various different elements of the menu, including the degustation menu and the option to have a selection of entrees.

I decided against the degustation menu, as there was a cheese course and a couple of the options didn't seem to grab me. Instead i went for the normal 3 course option. However before any of the courses were presented i was offered a choice of bread between sourdough and rye. I went with sourdough which was served warm and was crunch on the outside and soft on the inside. It was served with pink salt and a rich creamy and light and fluffy butter.

The first course was an entree of Wood grilled crayfish with Serrano ham draped over the top with a watercress puree and tiny cubes of cold apple gel. Great contrasts of flavours, texture and beautifully cooked and presented. Crayfish was perfectly cooked, soft and tender and complemented by the ham.

We then had a free appetiser of ocean trout en croute. A crisp bread with a beautiful piece of ocean trout topped with a a horseradish cream, caviar and pickled onion. A little too much horseradish cream was the tiniest bit overpowering but everything else was perfect.

On to the main course, was a dish of slow cooked chicken breast that was dense, moist and shaped into rectangle blocks. Two blocks of chicken breasts covered with very crisp pancetta combined with pine nuts and a cream cheese blob.
Combined with a mini cook pot of peas, lettuce and carrot in a rich jus with a nice foam on top. The rich and warm soup of vegetables was delicious. It worked great as a separate dish but wasn't an amazing complement to the main dish which was also outstanding on its own.

However the desert was a piece of pure magic. A pool of salted caramel, two layers of chocolate filled with a vanilla parfait and topped off with chocolate ice cream. Decadent full of flavour and just a sensational dish.

After desert, when i requested the bill it came with a little petit fours of chocolate fudge with a few crumbs of black salt embedded in it. Not a normal combination but it worked magnificently and the contrast between the sweet and salty flavours was great.

Overall the food was both superbly executed and surprisingly big on portions. Somehow flirted between technical mastery and homely cooking and was presented with flair and style. Service was great and the room was too cool for school but everything about the evening was theatre but with substance to back it up. Quality from start to finish and well worthy of the 2 hats and a place in my top 10.