Yes, I need to be slapped on the wrist, and I do hope Mikael Jonsson will accept my apologies if what I said before had grated in the past, but I gotta say, I’m not in it to run people down. I’m no expert, in fact I know tremendously little about food, but I believe in restaurants doing something about customer feedback, and I try to be honest about what I think.
You may remember I went overboard (see below) when I wrote up the first visit in Sept last year and looking back you know, I still feel the same : I just did not enjoy that meal.
Of course, I’ve always wanted to return because surely all these positive reactions about the restaurant cannot be for nothing. And so I did, the week before Christmas and I have to say that this meal really turned my opinion around. The presentation and portions are still as anaemic as ever, however but the balance of flavours, the textures have certainly improved over time to suggest that there is something unique going on here.
Wonderfully delicate poached oysters with puffs of sweet granny smith apple foam. The tenderest slow cooked angus short rib complimented by an amazing dauphinois mousseline seemingly laced with a sharp blue cheese – I could smell the beef from the other side of the room.
I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say this, but Hedone still feels like the work of an interested home cook, who possesses an excellent palate, has eaten in many exotic restaurants around the world and is obsessed with getting his hands on the best produce possible. And yes, the dishes still feel as if it is slowly feeling its way through the business of hospitality rather than one that has sweated in it for decades. But there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s admirable for someone to able to turn a passion into a living. The result is a mind-bogglingly simple, straightforward control of flavour, and when it all comes together, the food does taste very good.
I still don’t know what it is about Hedone that provokes so much, is it because it is stoic? Too stark and just too serious? Sitting in there is really quite a scary experience. Even scarier when Mikael served up my mains and described the dish in the most serious tones. I sat at the bar and smiled throughout his description hoping he would reciprocate but got nothing. I’ve thought long and hard and maybe it’s just this tenseness it has to release, this air of superiority about it, like it is destined to win glamorous compliments. Thinking of the story of Hedone, it reminds me of The Sportsman, and the difference in my opinion is the feel-good ambiance of the latter.
It is one of those places which you either feel strongly about or shrug your shoulders and wonder what the fuss is. Believe me, I have been on both sides of this fence.
—
From 1st visit in 2011
As you, I came upon Hedone filled with expectation. Fay likes it, Guy loved it, Andy – whose standards are as high as Taipei 101 – gave it a rare 8. So it must be fucking magic right? You’ll read alot of kerfaffle online about the birth of Hedone and its progenitor Swedish chef Mikael Jonsson, a trained chef, but who became a lawyer, before rediscovering his gastronome side with this restaurant. Curiously, I feel an aura of respect, which redoubtable comes across through the work of those food writers who visited Hedone. This is a rare occurrence. You’ll find similar glowing reports across egullet and chowhound too, and at time of writing, I believe this is what has contributed to its rocketing profile up the hypemeter.
I visited for lunch and had to drag Mark along for I promised him that Hedone could very well change his life. Unexpectedly, he was late, blaming the fact that he took the wrong bus. I was obviously flipping about uncomfortably by myself when the eagle eyed waitress saw this, she brought me the daily papers to keep me distracted. Top marks for service then, granted choice was a little wanting in the Telegraph or the Times, I chose the latter.
Proceedings kicked off as expected. A couple of amuse bouches that fit the conceptual, high cooking mould.
I think the first was a cheese sable with grated berries? Can’t remember.
Next, were wafer sandwiched with crab.
Lunch options were straightforward, 3 courses for £30, 4 for £40 and 5 for £50. I went for the five courses, and drank a glass of St Peray (£10).
The room is warm and brown, brick-laden walls and cave-men drawings made for a unique ceiling. It definitely fits with the leafy suburban feel of the Chiswick area. So far so good really.
First Course: Flame grilled Cornish Mackerel, Cauliflower.
Quite literal, a stub of mackerel the size of my middle finger, and what appears to be a few shavings of cauliflower. The fish was incredibly juicy and flaky and was the godsend that was as described by the blogs and critics. Lovely start.
Course Two, Cevennes onion and Pear shavings.
I don’t have anything against French onions…but to serve a few slices of it as a course on it’s own? Cevennes onions may be great, but it’s just onion…? Listen, I’m simpleton alright, I don’t know everything about food, but I am sensible and a little skeptical, to pay £10 for barely cooked onion and barely a slice of pear boggles the mind. Sadly I failed to grasp the subtlety of this dish. I’m sure I was missing something, but I promise you I tried to shake the feeling of the Emperor’s new robes. Was this artistry too refine for my savageness? I wondered how any serious chef could justify a few slices of onion as a real course. Come now, we’re not debating the concept of art, nor are we pushing any ground breaking ideas here. If he was going to force me to appreciate a single ingredient, why couldn’t he have done it with thick shavings of truffle?
It may have been a great onion of mystical provenance, but frankly, I could not tell. It did not help that this course came a quarter of an hour after the first. It was bitterly disappointing after a long wait. I don’t think its pretention, but this course was probably a sign of Mikael’s self confidence, for which I applaud.
Course Three, Scallop sashimi.
The next course was nice, barely cooked scallops. Expectedly, the scallops were sweet, its texture and faint flavours were verging on lychee. Again, this took another 15 minutes to prepare. Yes it was nice, but it was beginning to test my patience. Another tenner for a few dollops of scallop. What madness is this? Are we sitting through a satire of fine dining? I love Japanese food and unlike the onion course before it, I understand that eating raw scallops be it in nigiri format or as sashimi, is one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. I did like this, but not for £10. That’s overpriced.
Our waitress told us the kitchen had some off the menu grouse, which Mark had to try. A breast and a leg, with feathers and claw intact. The dish smelled fabulous. The grouse, Mark remarked, tasted fine, he removed lead shot from it, which I found mildy entertaining – it was real game that was shot afterall. The smoked potatoes with the ethereal richness were as the Internet described, and so was also fine.
But that offal gravy, was – to put lightly – offensive. The gamebird is already strong flavoured, fluidising its offal is probably a risky idea. Of course, we were working on the assumption that the chef did indeed use grouse entrails. I did try a little but unfortunately I couldn’t swallow it. It reminded me of the time I tried Andouillette – a sausage made from tripe – for the first time, but this was a thousand times more potent. It was redolent not of food, but of the time I cleared the drains in my garden at the start of summer. You know the smell of mud and plugged decomposing leaves accumulated over a cold winter, sticky, sickly.
A neighbouring table proclaimed “It tastes like shit. I love it!” Perhaps he genuinely did, but for me, offal gravy was beyond the limits of what my palate is capable of interpreting. So shoot me, I am a simpleton afterall.
The other course four: Leg of Sika Deer, endives, horseradish.
I have fond memories of deer meat, my mum used to love stir frying this stuff with long beans, garlic and oyster sauce. And I liked this just fine. The meat was cooked fine. Juicy and tender, I would describe the flavour as similar to mutton, but just wilder. By now, the barren recipes were getting on my nerves. Meat and single strand of vegetable. I also hated the wonky presentation. It just looked as if no effort had gone into it. Was it a part of the ‘art’ , or was it simply lousy plating? Who knows. Two slices of deer, no larger than my index and middle finger combined – just a tad stingy surely. It was fine, but was hardly going to bring the house down.
Course five, English blueberry tart, vine peach sorbet.
Puddings were very good. The peach sorbet, mint and tea infused, gave an interesting feel, like mouth cleansing solution. I mean that in a good way, it was vibrant.
Finally, Hedone chocolate bar.
The only dish I genuinely thought carried gravitas, and which I really enjoyed. A whippy ganache-like centre, and a sticky (almond?) dacquoise base. The ganache like centre reminded me of the Louis XV. This was an elegant pudding, I like the dusted chocolate, redolent of another legendary dessert, Heston Blummenthal’s blackforest gateau. Sadly though, while it was a good effort, this recipe completely pales in comparison to the precise complexity of the aforementioned puddings.
We paid £123.75 for this meal, that’s roughly £60 per person plus a glass of wine each.
I think there is the potential for something amazing, but I also think there are some extremely disturbing things going on. The meal was a little weird, fetish-like and disjointed. Waiting times in between courses were erratic, and while I thought service was smooth in general, they switch off at times.
The skill in the cooking – or lack of – was much too subtle for me to detect. I can’t tell if he is trying to be very serious, or if he was seriously taking a mickey out of freewheeling homies (like you and I) who like spraying money on food. At times, I genuinely felt like the restaurant was running a parody of ‘fine dining’. If I told the story to a friend it would go like this “I had a fabulous meal, firstly, I had a fish finger no bigger than my middle finger, and that was it. Next, I had a quarter of an onion and that was it. Following that, I had a dollop of sweet raw scallops, and that was it. The experience blew me six ways to heaven.”.
I wouldn’t dare fault Mikael’s expertise in sourcing, and I commend the fact that this stark style of cooking shines a light on and forces the diner to focus on the main ingredient on the plate… by putting only that one ingredient on the plate. The restaurant is in this sense, unique. However, I will say that while great ingredients are essential to crafting great dishes, they remain only one part of that equation. The other bits involve an actual recipe. This is where I fail to comprehend the fuss about it.
We know this kitchen can cook an ingredient well, but this respect for the ingredient is so high that, I felt as if he forcefully neglected to complete the dish, in fear that it may sully its innocence. It is like looking at a pencil sketching of a Vemeer. It is obviously incomplete, you can see the potential shape and form, but until the obviously missing iridescent colours are painstakingly filled in, the Lapis lazuli in this case, the work is incomplete. And how shameful would that be, the painted brushstrokes are what makes the painting what it is, so I beg the question, where was the Lapis lazuli?
With respect, I apologise Chef Jonsson, I just didn’t understand the cooking, it was infuriating sitting through the meal. It may well be that there is something more going on here, but I failed to see the light, I am a mere simpleton, I didn’t get it. Please somebody, consider a thoughtful response, shed some light for me and show me where I am wrong. I really desperately wanted to love Hedone, but right now, I can’t.
The Gist of It
Hedone
£65pp Modern.
301-303 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4HH
Tel: + 44 208 747 0377
Tube: Chiswick Park
Shocked by the onion dish. There’s minimalism and then there’s taking the piss.Was very keen to try this place particularly as Andy Hayler seems to love it so much it’s becoming his local caff. Think I might wait a few more months until it settles down now.
One of your very best reviews, incisive and entertaining.
Many thanks.
kang, excellent review, the produce looks amazing, it shines through in the photos, but yes i agree the dishes seem incomplete and some lacking balance and texture. I really want to go soon. Love it and the restaurant looks amazing- you should get back to us soon at roganic, we have progressed massively i believe. cheers
I would say both the sourcing and execution I have been lucky to experience at Hedone is the best I have experienced in the UK for over 15 years.
Also very impressed with the wine list and service.
Hedone is the antithesis of most “fine dinning” restaurants in the UK – open for only a few months it is already up there with The Sportsman and The Kitchin IMHO.
London Eater, you are one of the reasons I decided to start my own food blog. After moving to London your site became and still is a daily read. And I second Mark’s comment at the end.
I was delighted to read that we share the same opinion on Grouse! I actually spotted you at The Dock Kitchen last night not eating it and wondered why. After trying to eat it myself and reading the above I now know why!
Thank you for all your fabulous reviews and I look forward to the next one.
Karen aka Oregano x
Agree with the comments above, comfortably your best review to date. Honest, informed and insightful and keeping mindful that regardless of the concept, regular diners that appreciate good food also want food that brings enjoyment.
I don’t think you need to be so apologetic, you shouldn’t have to be at those prices – although I understand the respect thing etc. As you say, how good can a few slices of onion be. Just like some modern art, I’ll never be impressed by an unmade bed regardless of the thought behind it or statement being made.
I too was curious post AH’s glowing praises but cancelled my reservation there a few weeks ago on the gut feeling that it might pan out as you experienced. I did feel the same way about Roganic, understood the concept, appreciated the skill, loved a few of the economically sized dishes, didn’t hate it but just didn’t enjoy the overall experience. To my mind Nuno still does it better.
I don’t agree with other reviews that say ingredient led restaurants are the polar opposite of fine dining, to me they are equally exclusive, just in a different way. I often find it amusing that many chefs hark back to the faux pas of nouvelle cuisine when much of todays haute cuisine is almost identical except in price.
Keeping it short – Absolutely hilarious comments; judging from the onions, I think you’ve made a fair challenge. Deer meat looks like leftovers from the previous diners.
Good food, especially when you are eating out in a high end restaurant, does not just mean good ingredients. It is possible to find good ingredients for home cooking, it’s a myth that you can’t (albeit it becomes easier outside of the M25). However what i can’t lend to my own cooking is a sufficiently educated and experienced palate, technical skill and the elan/time to conjure up intriguing taste combinations. That is why I eat out and for the money spent, I expect a treat for the taste buds; top notch ingredients are not a sufficient condition for a great meal, and this over-emphasis on provenance is a big yawn. Compared with elsewhere, I’m afraid this kitchen comes across as amateurish.The food here is pretty joyless. Yes there is an emphasis on quality ingredients but the flavour combinations did nothing to inspire my tastebuds. Put simply, the food is simply not tasty enough!
I’ve been following your blog since inception, but here I feel like I need to comment. Would it be a better experience for you if there was some pork fat or bacon sprinkled over every dish, especially the onions? Fine dining in London is ridiculously overpriced and pretentious (and frequently mediocre at best). This place is not.
P.S. if you don’t like the sound of offal gravy, don’t order it! Likewise for andouilette.
Yeah, it probably might have been, some bacon sprinkled over it and gold dust too. Do you not think serving a couple of slices of onion for £10 is overpriced and pretentious? If you were served this meal, would you have paid £50 for it?
Well, I didn’t order the pigeon dish, as I said, it was Mark who ordered it. I ordered the deer meat. Besides, what is the problem with describing what I thought it tasted of? It is merely a matter of opinion. As for Andouilette, I had never tried it before, I was curious, I wasn’t knocking the dish, and as I found out I didn’t like it. That was the one and only time I tried those sausages. How am I suppose to know what I like/dislike if I never try, and therefore how to know not to order it? Surely this is something everybody experiences.
Besides, why do you feel the need to knock me for voicing my opinion? As I’ve said, I felt the dishes were a little underwhelming given the hefty pricetag.
As you rightly pointed out, ‘fine dining’ in London is overpriced and pretentious. Might Hedone fall into this category as well?
Listen, I tried to like this restaurant dude, I even said I think there’s potential for something amazing, and I did invite someone to convince me otherwise.
What is it that you expect, that it’s always sunshine and rainbows, and sing the praises of everything that goes into my mouth ? Am I not allowed to dislike certain things? At least, give me the opportunity to voice my opinion every once in a while please.
But back to the original point – do you think this meal is worth its price tag? I think value for money is an important factor in eating out, and rightly so, I think if places are overpriced, I would point it out. Try Hedone, and tell me if you think the food is adequately priced.
That onion dish is the sort of thing that reinforces people’s prejudices against fine dining. Surely an amuse bouche should not be larger in size than one of the proper menu courses? How silly.
K, excellent review as always. I agree with the other comments that you’ve gone into this one with perhaps a bit too much focus on respecting the artistry, or simply being polite. After all this is a 50-quid meal, and while I’m all for respecting the hard work of others in their professions, for 50 pounds I better know I’m getting my money’s worth. I probably would have left 20 pounds and walked out at the arrival of the onion dish.
Don’t doubt yourself – even as mere simpletons, we are the consumer, and it is the producer’s job to satisfy us, plain and simple. I cannot honestly see this meal for anything other than the parody of pretentious London fine dining that you seem to be jokingly implying it could be.
I read all the reviews and I have to say the latins were right when they used to say
‘de gustibus no disputandum est’ (something like we agree to disagree, or we are not going to fall out over our taste).
I might be biased as I designed the restaurant (have a look at my website http://www.murainteriors.com) but I actually loved Hedone’s food I thought it was the best food I had in ages in the UK.
I think you are missing the point altogether when you say it seems like a parody of fine dining.
Hedone concentrates on the food rather than anything else. It is not meant to be about cooking skills or seasoning but it presents the food for what it is supposed to taste like, if the ingredients are amazing.
The scallops were just out of this world and the list could be endless.
The price also reflected the quality of what was presented without any pretence and I think this is Hedone altogether… but then again we are all different and that makes London such a unique place…
In case you’re curious our taintsg menu went:Peas (every which way – pure9ed, whole, out of pod, pea oil et.c – very nice).Tomato in it’s own juices with crunchy bits of kalamata olives and basil oil. about as tomato-y as you could getCoddled egg (without quite the nest yours came in)Halibut in ocean herbs (wonderful – highlight dish for me)Iberico pork (though for me the acorn praline was the highlight)Cheeses slightly different ones – presumably to be season, and came with it’s own matched wine a slightly sherry-ish JuranconPeach in it’s own (and I suspect others) juices, lots of vanilla too.Custard cream pie (nom)
I agree with Mura Interiors, and I think the food is adequately priced. It’s refreshing to have a restaurant focused on exceptional ingredients, instead of the generic london fine dining spots where average ingredients are masked by a variety of sauces and rich preparations. That’s just not my kind of food. To answer your question, it’s your blog and as a reader I generally appreciate your opinions, though I don’t always agree. However in this case the review is very unbalanced, focusing excessively on the negatives while deferring to ‘the blogosphere’ for the food you did enjoy. Aren’t you part of the said ‘blogosphere’ and thus partially responsible for hyping up restaurants that others may find just average?
Otherwise I enjoy your blog. Yashin was great.
Yes, of course I am, I’m well aware of I am part of the ecosystem. That’s the way it works, so what? I like something, it gets hyped (assuming people take my word for it) someone else might hate it, we disagree it creates debate, what’s wrong with that? Everybody has their own opinions on what they like and dislike, food is all relative afterall, I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion on something. But let’s not get bogged down with this age old argument, if you like it, great, visit the restaurant, sing its praises, end of story.
See this is the thing about writing reviews, you can never please everybody. If you’re too positive, you get accused of overhyping something. If you veer too close to the negatives, people think you’re out to run someone down. If you’re on the fence, it’s a cop-out.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what I say in reviews, I read up on all the reviews before hand and I exhaust a lot of words to compose a thoughtful remark, be it positive or negative. Sometimes, I disagree with the general opinion, which is the case, and I can live with that.
However, if something grates, it is not easy to remove the emotional response, which is perhaps what you are reacting to. Then again, if it is something I feel strongly against, as you do, I’m not going to back down from making my point.
I did try to be as balanced as I can, pointing out the things I liked, like the mackerel and the chocolate bar, even pointing out that I thought the cooking was good, but just that something was missing. I even acknowledge the great provenance.
But where I disagree with Mura and yourself is that I believe that cooking is the very essence of a restaurant. I would pay money to see how a chef can manage to turn something other than just a great ingredient into something special – what you do to the ingredients are just as important. Recipes are what makes food so great. To numb the creativity for the sake of respecting the ingredient is not wrong, but it’s just something I don’t agree with. This is where I think Hedone perhaps lacks for now , and that is the point I’m trying to make.
If cooking is not the point, why open a restaurant, why not just open a grocery shop specialising in selling the best ingredients to customers?
I’m not going to try to convince you, but let me be clear that I’m not in the business of running people or restaurants down. I love restaurants, I love the excitement of trying different things, I understand that blood, sweat and tears are spent on a daily basis to keep the operation running and I feel terrible everytime I need to write something negative. But I’m not in the business of blindly glorifying food, I shouldn’t have to pander when voicing my opinion on something I paid for.
If you felt offended, I apologise, that was not the intention, so let’s just disagree on this and move on.
As always….fine pics.As for the food ,well its certainly not going to be on my list of places to go.Everything looks as though it was sent out halfway through plating up….and yes , Mark was right in his comment on the onion dish, a total piss take.
Well written up , enjoyed the informative read.
Cheers
Alan ( cumbriafoodie )
I’m 100% with you on this. I don’t see why you need to apologise to NK. It’s not like NK pays to subscribe to your reviews, unlike say a meal where hard currency is parted with – which as far as I am concerned gives you fair cause to opine on it. Perhaps NK could follow some of his/her own advice and not read your reviews if he/she doesn’t like them.
Your review was well considered and balanced. If there are lots of negatives then nothing wrong with duly noting them, you’re entitled to and it’s only your opinion. As you note, you clearly pointed out the positives.
Interesting that NK’s primary gripe is that you were too negative. I hope for consistency that NK has been equally critical of all the other overly glowing blog/paper reviews of Hedone? Surely NK should have an issue with one that focuses almost entirely on the positives…
Product is important but it’s not everything, if it were then any joe blogs should be able to open a restaurant, smear a small teaspoon of top quality caviar across a plate or neatly place a few intricate shavings of pata negra on a board and expect the dining community to get the concept and be in awe.
You lost me when you said Viajante was ingredients driven. In my experience it is the complete opposite of Hedone: all fancy technique that masks mediocre ingredients. Especially their seafood is of not very high quality. Whereas Hedone is all about making top ingrdients shine.
I for one loved the onion dish. But you cannot reasonably claim that it was £10, this was part of a lunch deal, otherwise your mains were also £10.
agree with this. anyone who thinks Viajante is ingredient driven is on crack.
myself, I think Hedone is the best value “fine dining” restaurant in britain. Ingredients of the quality on offer here, cost astronomical prices elsewhere in europe. think of it as a mini-Arpege in Paris.
Thoughts from 2012
Yes, I need to be slapped on the wrist, and I do hope Mikael Jonsson will accept my apologies if what I said before had grated in the past, but I gotta say, I’m not in it to run people down. I’m no expert, in fact I know tremendously little about food, but I believe in restaurants doing something about customer feedback, and I try to be honest about what I think.
You may remember I went overboard (see below) when I wrote up the first visit in Sept last year and looking back you know, I still feel the same : I just did not enjoy that meal.
Of course, I’ve always wanted to return because surely all these positive reactions about the restaurant cannot be for nothing. And so I did, the week before Christmas and I have to say that this meal really turned my opinion around. The presentation and portions are still as anaemic as ever, however but the balance of flavours, the textures have certainly improved over time to suggest that there is something unique going on here.
Wonderfully delicate poached oysters with puffs of sweet granny smith apple foam. The tenderest slow cooked angus short rib complimented by an amazing dauphinois mousseline seemingly laced with a sharp blue cheese – I could smell the beef from the other side of the room.
I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say this, but Hedone still feels like the work of an interested home cook, who possesses an excellent palate, has eaten in many exotic restaurants around the world and is obsessed with getting his hands on the best produce possible. And yes, the dishes still feel as if it is slowly feeling its way through the business of hospitality rather than one that has sweated in it for decades. But there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s admirable for someone to able to turn a passion into a living. The result is a mind-bogglingly simple, straightforward control of flavour, and when it all comes together, the food does taste very good.
I still don’t know what it is about Hedone that provokes so much, is it because it is stoic? Too stark and just too serious? Sitting in there is really quite a scary experience. Even scarier when Mikael served up my mains and described the dish in the most serious tones. I sat at the bar and smiled throughout his description hoping he would reciprocate but got nothing. I’ve thought long and hard and maybe it’s just this tenseness it has to release, this air of superiority about it, like it is destined to win glamorous compliments. Thinking of the story of Hedone, it reminds me of The Sportsman, and the difference in my opinion is the feel-good ambiance of the latter.
It is one of those places which you either feel strongly about or shrug your shoulders and wonder what the fuss is. Believe me, I have been on both sides of this fence.
—
From 1st visit in 2011
As you, I came upon Hedone filled with expectation. Fay likes it, Guy loved it, Andy – whose standards are as high as Taipei 101 – gave it a rare 8. So it must be fucking magic right? You’ll read alot of kerfaffle online about the birth of Hedone and its progenitor Swedish chef Mikael Jonsson, a trained chef, but who became a lawyer, before rediscovering his gastronome side with this restaurant. Curiously, I feel an aura of respect, which redoubtable comes across through the work of those food writers who visited Hedone. This is a rare occurrence. You’ll find similar glowing reports across egullet and chowhound too, and at time of writing, I believe this is what has contributed to its rocketing profile up the hypemeter.
I visited for lunch and had to drag Mark along for I promised him that Hedone could very well change his life. Unexpectedly, he was late, blaming the fact that he took the wrong bus. I was obviously flipping about uncomfortably by myself when the eagle eyed waitress saw this, she brought me the daily papers to keep me distracted. Top marks for service then, granted choice was a little wanting in the Telegraph or the Times, I chose the latter.
Proceedings kicked off as expected. A couple of amuse bouches that fit the conceptual, high cooking mould.
I think the first was a cheese sable with grated berries? Can’t remember.
Next, were wafer sandwiched with crab.
Lunch options were straightforward, 3 courses for £30, 4 for £40 and 5 for £50. I went for the five courses, and drank a glass of St Peray (£10).
The room is warm and brown, brick-laden walls and cave-men drawings made for a unique ceiling. It definitely fits with the leafy suburban feel of the Chiswick area. So far so good really.
First Course: Flame grilled Cornish Mackerel, Cauliflower.
Quite literal, a stub of mackerel the size of my middle finger, and what appears to be a few shavings of cauliflower. The fish was incredibly juicy and flaky and was the godsend that was as described by the blogs and critics. Lovely start.
Course Two, Cevennes onion and Pear shavings.
I don’t have anything against French onions…but to serve a few slices of it as a course on it’s own? Cevennes onions may be great, but it’s just onion…? Listen, I’m simpleton alright, I don’t know everything about food, but I am sensible and a little skeptical, to pay £10 for barely cooked onion and barely a slice of pear boggles the mind. Sadly I failed to grasp the subtlety of this dish. I’m sure I was missing something, but I promise you I tried to shake the feeling of the Emperor’s new robes. Was this artistry too refine for my savageness? I wondered how any serious chef could justify a few slices of onion as a real course. Come now, we’re not debating the concept of art, nor are we pushing any ground breaking ideas here. If he was going to force me to appreciate a single ingredient, why couldn’t he have done it with thick shavings of truffle?
It may have been a great onion of mystical provenance, but frankly, I could not tell. It did not help that this course came a quarter of an hour after the first. It was bitterly disappointing after a long wait. I don’t think its pretention, but this course was probably a sign of Mikael’s self confidence, for which I applaud.
Course Three, Scallop sashimi.
The next course was nice, barely cooked scallops. Expectedly, the scallops were sweet, its texture and faint flavours were verging on lychee. Again, this took another 15 minutes to prepare. Yes it was nice, but it was beginning to test my patience. Another tenner for a few dollops of scallop. What madness is this? Are we sitting through a satire of fine dining? I love Japanese food and unlike the onion course before it, I understand that eating raw scallops be it in nigiri format or as sashimi, is one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. I did like this, but not for £10. That’s overpriced.
Course Four: Grouse, smoked potatoes, offal gravy.
Our waitress told us the kitchen had some off the menu grouse, which Mark had to try. A breast and a leg, with feathers and claw intact. The dish smelled fabulous. The grouse, Mark remarked, tasted fine, he removed lead shot from it, which I found mildy entertaining – it was real game that was shot afterall. The smoked potatoes with the ethereal richness were as the Internet described, and so was also fine.
But that offal gravy, was – to put lightly – offensive. The gamebird is already strong flavoured, fluidising its offal is probably a risky idea. Of course, we were working on the assumption that the chef did indeed use grouse entrails. I did try a little but unfortunately I couldn’t swallow it. It reminded me of the time I tried Andouillette – a sausage made from tripe – for the first time, but this was a thousand times more potent. It was redolent not of food, but of the time I cleared the drains in my garden at the start of summer. You know the smell of mud and plugged decomposing leaves accumulated over a cold winter, sticky, sickly.
A neighbouring table proclaimed “It tastes like shit. I love it!” Perhaps he genuinely did, but for me, offal gravy was beyond the limits of what my palate is capable of interpreting. So shoot me, I am a simpleton afterall.
The other course four: Leg of Sika Deer, endives, horseradish.
I have fond memories of deer meat, my mum used to love stir frying this stuff with long beans, garlic and oyster sauce. And I liked this just fine. The meat was cooked fine. Juicy and tender, I would describe the flavour as similar to mutton, but just wilder. By now, the barren recipes were getting on my nerves. Meat and single strand of vegetable. I also hated the wonky presentation. It just looked as if no effort had gone into it. Was it a part of the ‘art’ , or was it simply lousy plating? Who knows. Two slices of deer, no larger than my index and middle finger combined – just a tad stingy surely. It was fine, but was hardly going to bring the house down.
Course five, English blueberry tart, vine peach sorbet.
Puddings were very good. The peach sorbet, mint and tea infused, gave an interesting feel, like mouth cleansing solution. I mean that in a good way, it was vibrant.
Finally, Hedone chocolate bar.
The only dish I genuinely thought carried gravitas, and which I really enjoyed. A whippy ganache-like centre, and a sticky (almond?) dacquoise base. The ganache like centre reminded me of the Louis XV. This was an elegant pudding, I like the dusted chocolate, redolent of another legendary dessert, Heston Blummenthal’s blackforest gateau. Sadly though, while it was a good effort, this recipe completely pales in comparison to the precise complexity of the aforementioned puddings.
We paid £123.75 for this meal, that’s roughly £60 per person plus a glass of wine each.
I think there is the potential for something amazing, but I also think there are some extremely disturbing things going on. The meal was a little weird, fetish-like and disjointed. Waiting times in between courses were erratic, and while I thought service was smooth in general, they switch off at times.
The skill in the cooking – or lack of – was much too subtle for me to detect. I can’t tell if he is trying to be very serious, or if he was seriously taking a mickey out of freewheeling homies (like you and I) who like spraying money on food. At times, I genuinely felt like the restaurant was running a parody of ‘fine dining’. If I told the story to a friend it would go like this “I had a fabulous meal, firstly, I had a fish finger no bigger than my middle finger, and that was it. Next, I had a quarter of an onion and that was it. Following that, I had a dollop of sweet raw scallops, and that was it. The experience blew me six ways to heaven.”.
I wouldn’t dare fault Mikael’s expertise in sourcing, and I commend the fact that this stark style of cooking shines a light on and forces the diner to focus on the main ingredient on the plate… by putting only that one ingredient on the plate. The restaurant is in this sense, unique. However, I will say that while great ingredients are essential to crafting great dishes, they remain only one part of that equation. The other bits involve an actual recipe. This is where I fail to comprehend the fuss about it.
We know this kitchen can cook an ingredient well, but this respect for the ingredient is so high that, I felt as if he forcefully neglected to complete the dish, in fear that it may sully its innocence. It is like looking at a pencil sketching of a Vemeer. It is obviously incomplete, you can see the potential shape and form, but until the obviously missing iridescent colours are painstakingly filled in, the Lapis lazuli in this case, the work is incomplete. And how shameful would that be, the painted brushstrokes are what makes the painting what it is, so I beg the question, where was the Lapis lazuli?
With respect, I apologise Chef Jonsson, I just didn’t understand the cooking, it was infuriating sitting through the meal. It may well be that there is something more going on here, but I failed to see the light, I am a mere simpleton, I didn’t get it. Please somebody, consider a thoughtful response, shed some light for me and show me where I am wrong. I really desperately wanted to love Hedone, but right now, I can’t.
The Gist of It
Hedone
£65pp Modern.
301-303 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4HH
Tel: + 44 208 747 0377
Tube: Chiswick Park
Hedonistic legends, elsewhere: Timeout London ; Fay Maschler ; Andy Hayler ; Tamarind and Thyme ; Skinny Bib ; Brummie Tummy
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Comments (24)
Shocked by the onion dish. There’s minimalism and then there’s taking the piss.Was very keen to try this place particularly as Andy Hayler seems to love it so much it’s becoming his local caff. Think I might wait a few more months until it settles down now.
One of your very best reviews, incisive and entertaining.
Many thanks.
Mark
Actually, what makes something incisive is the accuracy of the comment.
and I’m not sure that’s the case?
kang, excellent review, the produce looks amazing, it shines through in the photos, but yes i agree the dishes seem incomplete and some lacking balance and texture. I really want to go soon. Love it and the restaurant looks amazing- you should get back to us soon at roganic, we have progressed massively i believe. cheers
I would say both the sourcing and execution I have been lucky to experience at Hedone is the best I have experienced in the UK for over 15 years.
Also very impressed with the wine list and service.
Hedone is the antithesis of most “fine dinning” restaurants in the UK – open for only a few months it is already up there with The Sportsman and The Kitchin IMHO.
London Eater, you are one of the reasons I decided to start my own food blog. After moving to London your site became and still is a daily read. And I second Mark’s comment at the end.
I was delighted to read that we share the same opinion on Grouse! I actually spotted you at The Dock Kitchen last night not eating it and wondered why. After trying to eat it myself and reading the above I now know why!
Thank you for all your fabulous reviews and I look forward to the next one.
Karen aka Oregano x
Kang
Agree with the comments above, comfortably your best review to date. Honest, informed and insightful and keeping mindful that regardless of the concept, regular diners that appreciate good food also want food that brings enjoyment.
I don’t think you need to be so apologetic, you shouldn’t have to be at those prices – although I understand the respect thing etc. As you say, how good can a few slices of onion be. Just like some modern art, I’ll never be impressed by an unmade bed regardless of the thought behind it or statement being made.
I too was curious post AH’s glowing praises but cancelled my reservation there a few weeks ago on the gut feeling that it might pan out as you experienced. I did feel the same way about Roganic, understood the concept, appreciated the skill, loved a few of the economically sized dishes, didn’t hate it but just didn’t enjoy the overall experience. To my mind Nuno still does it better.
I don’t agree with other reviews that say ingredient led restaurants are the polar opposite of fine dining, to me they are equally exclusive, just in a different way. I often find it amusing that many chefs hark back to the faux pas of nouvelle cuisine when much of todays haute cuisine is almost identical except in price.
To borrow from AH, a very good review indeed.
JW
Keeping it short – Absolutely hilarious comments; judging from the onions, I think you’ve made a fair challenge. Deer meat looks like leftovers from the previous diners.
Thanks for saving me the trip to Chiswick;)
Good food, especially when you are eating out in a high end restaurant, does not just mean good ingredients. It is possible to find good ingredients for home cooking, it’s a myth that you can’t (albeit it becomes easier outside of the M25). However what i can’t lend to my own cooking is a sufficiently educated and experienced palate, technical skill and the elan/time to conjure up intriguing taste combinations. That is why I eat out and for the money spent, I expect a treat for the taste buds; top notch ingredients are not a sufficient condition for a great meal, and this over-emphasis on provenance is a big yawn. Compared with elsewhere, I’m afraid this kitchen comes across as amateurish.The food here is pretty joyless. Yes there is an emphasis on quality ingredients but the flavour combinations did nothing to inspire my tastebuds. Put simply, the food is simply not tasty enough!
Hello,
I’ve been following your blog since inception, but here I feel like I need to comment. Would it be a better experience for you if there was some pork fat or bacon sprinkled over every dish, especially the onions? Fine dining in London is ridiculously overpriced and pretentious (and frequently mediocre at best). This place is not.
P.S. if you don’t like the sound of offal gravy, don’t order it! Likewise for andouilette.
NK,
Yeah, it probably might have been, some bacon sprinkled over it and gold dust too. Do you not think serving a couple of slices of onion for £10 is overpriced and pretentious? If you were served this meal, would you have paid £50 for it?
Well, I didn’t order the pigeon dish, as I said, it was Mark who ordered it. I ordered the deer meat. Besides, what is the problem with describing what I thought it tasted of? It is merely a matter of opinion. As for Andouilette, I had never tried it before, I was curious, I wasn’t knocking the dish, and as I found out I didn’t like it. That was the one and only time I tried those sausages. How am I suppose to know what I like/dislike if I never try, and therefore how to know not to order it? Surely this is something everybody experiences.
Besides, why do you feel the need to knock me for voicing my opinion? As I’ve said, I felt the dishes were a little underwhelming given the hefty pricetag.
As you rightly pointed out, ‘fine dining’ in London is overpriced and pretentious. Might Hedone fall into this category as well?
Listen, I tried to like this restaurant dude, I even said I think there’s potential for something amazing, and I did invite someone to convince me otherwise.
What is it that you expect, that it’s always sunshine and rainbows, and sing the praises of everything that goes into my mouth ? Am I not allowed to dislike certain things? At least, give me the opportunity to voice my opinion every once in a while please.
But back to the original point – do you think this meal is worth its price tag? I think value for money is an important factor in eating out, and rightly so, I think if places are overpriced, I would point it out. Try Hedone, and tell me if you think the food is adequately priced.
K.
That onion dish is the sort of thing that reinforces people’s prejudices against fine dining. Surely an amuse bouche should not be larger in size than one of the proper menu courses? How silly.
K, excellent review as always. I agree with the other comments that you’ve gone into this one with perhaps a bit too much focus on respecting the artistry, or simply being polite. After all this is a 50-quid meal, and while I’m all for respecting the hard work of others in their professions, for 50 pounds I better know I’m getting my money’s worth. I probably would have left 20 pounds and walked out at the arrival of the onion dish.
Don’t doubt yourself – even as mere simpletons, we are the consumer, and it is the producer’s job to satisfy us, plain and simple. I cannot honestly see this meal for anything other than the parody of pretentious London fine dining that you seem to be jokingly implying it could be.
Keep up the good work.
M.
I read all the reviews and I have to say the latins were right when they used to say
‘de gustibus no disputandum est’ (something like we agree to disagree, or we are not going to fall out over our taste).
I might be biased as I designed the restaurant (have a look at my website http://www.murainteriors.com) but I actually loved Hedone’s food I thought it was the best food I had in ages in the UK.
I think you are missing the point altogether when you say it seems like a parody of fine dining.
Hedone concentrates on the food rather than anything else. It is not meant to be about cooking skills or seasoning but it presents the food for what it is supposed to taste like, if the ingredients are amazing.
The scallops were just out of this world and the list could be endless.
The price also reflected the quality of what was presented without any pretence and I think this is Hedone altogether… but then again we are all different and that makes London such a unique place…
In case you’re curious our taintsg menu went:Peas (every which way – pure9ed, whole, out of pod, pea oil et.c – very nice).Tomato in it’s own juices with crunchy bits of kalamata olives and basil oil. about as tomato-y as you could getCoddled egg (without quite the nest yours came in)Halibut in ocean herbs (wonderful – highlight dish for me)Iberico pork (though for me the acorn praline was the highlight)Cheeses slightly different ones – presumably to be season, and came with it’s own matched wine a slightly sherry-ish JuranconPeach in it’s own (and I suspect others) juices, lots of vanilla too.Custard cream pie (nom)
Kang,
I agree with Mura Interiors, and I think the food is adequately priced. It’s refreshing to have a restaurant focused on exceptional ingredients, instead of the generic london fine dining spots where average ingredients are masked by a variety of sauces and rich preparations. That’s just not my kind of food. To answer your question, it’s your blog and as a reader I generally appreciate your opinions, though I don’t always agree. However in this case the review is very unbalanced, focusing excessively on the negatives while deferring to ‘the blogosphere’ for the food you did enjoy. Aren’t you part of the said ‘blogosphere’ and thus partially responsible for hyping up restaurants that others may find just average?
Otherwise I enjoy your blog. Yashin was great.
NK,
Yes, of course I am, I’m well aware of I am part of the ecosystem. That’s the way it works, so what? I like something, it gets hyped (assuming people take my word for it) someone else might hate it, we disagree it creates debate, what’s wrong with that? Everybody has their own opinions on what they like and dislike, food is all relative afterall, I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion on something. But let’s not get bogged down with this age old argument, if you like it, great, visit the restaurant, sing its praises, end of story.
See this is the thing about writing reviews, you can never please everybody. If you’re too positive, you get accused of overhyping something. If you veer too close to the negatives, people think you’re out to run someone down. If you’re on the fence, it’s a cop-out.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what I say in reviews, I read up on all the reviews before hand and I exhaust a lot of words to compose a thoughtful remark, be it positive or negative. Sometimes, I disagree with the general opinion, which is the case, and I can live with that.
However, if something grates, it is not easy to remove the emotional response, which is perhaps what you are reacting to. Then again, if it is something I feel strongly against, as you do, I’m not going to back down from making my point.
I did try to be as balanced as I can, pointing out the things I liked, like the mackerel and the chocolate bar, even pointing out that I thought the cooking was good, but just that something was missing. I even acknowledge the great provenance.
But where I disagree with Mura and yourself is that I believe that cooking is the very essence of a restaurant. I would pay money to see how a chef can manage to turn something other than just a great ingredient into something special – what you do to the ingredients are just as important. Recipes are what makes food so great. To numb the creativity for the sake of respecting the ingredient is not wrong, but it’s just something I don’t agree with. This is where I think Hedone perhaps lacks for now , and that is the point I’m trying to make.
If cooking is not the point, why open a restaurant, why not just open a grocery shop specialising in selling the best ingredients to customers?
I’m not going to try to convince you, but let me be clear that I’m not in the business of running people or restaurants down. I love restaurants, I love the excitement of trying different things, I understand that blood, sweat and tears are spent on a daily basis to keep the operation running and I feel terrible everytime I need to write something negative. But I’m not in the business of blindly glorifying food, I shouldn’t have to pander when voicing my opinion on something I paid for.
If you felt offended, I apologise, that was not the intention, so let’s just disagree on this and move on.
K.
As always….fine pics.As for the food ,well its certainly not going to be on my list of places to go.Everything looks as though it was sent out halfway through plating up….and yes , Mark was right in his comment on the onion dish, a total piss take.
Well written up , enjoyed the informative read.
Cheers
Alan ( cumbriafoodie )
This is an excellent review. Totally agree with you. Congrats for this one.
Kang
I’m 100% with you on this. I don’t see why you need to apologise to NK. It’s not like NK pays to subscribe to your reviews, unlike say a meal where hard currency is parted with – which as far as I am concerned gives you fair cause to opine on it. Perhaps NK could follow some of his/her own advice and not read your reviews if he/she doesn’t like them.
Your review was well considered and balanced. If there are lots of negatives then nothing wrong with duly noting them, you’re entitled to and it’s only your opinion. As you note, you clearly pointed out the positives.
Interesting that NK’s primary gripe is that you were too negative. I hope for consistency that NK has been equally critical of all the other overly glowing blog/paper reviews of Hedone? Surely NK should have an issue with one that focuses almost entirely on the positives…
Product is important but it’s not everything, if it were then any joe blogs should be able to open a restaurant, smear a small teaspoon of top quality caviar across a plate or neatly place a few intricate shavings of pata negra on a board and expect the dining community to get the concept and be in awe.
JW
The food looks fabulous, but I agree with Mark in not being convinced by the onion dish, even if the food photography made it look great.
You lost me when you said Viajante was ingredients driven. In my experience it is the complete opposite of Hedone: all fancy technique that masks mediocre ingredients. Especially their seafood is of not very high quality. Whereas Hedone is all about making top ingrdients shine.
I for one loved the onion dish. But you cannot reasonably claim that it was £10, this was part of a lunch deal, otherwise your mains were also £10.
agree with this. anyone who thinks Viajante is ingredient driven is on crack.
myself, I think Hedone is the best value “fine dining” restaurant in britain. Ingredients of the quality on offer here, cost astronomical prices elsewhere in europe. think of it as a mini-Arpege in Paris.
not all produce is created equal.
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His point with the onion was to showcase his love for ingredient, the problem is that he is just an amateurish cook