SITEMAP  |  PRIVACY STATEMENT & COOKIES  |  Site problem? Tell us.

reserve

food

menu

wine

info

maps

press

album

careers

earlier press coverage

I am not going to make a fuss about this, but January 29 was my birthday. When I say that I am not going to make a fuss, I mean that I am not going to make a fuss now. But I wanted to make a fuss then. The trouble was, there was no one left to make a fuss with, aside from my daughter, Lois. My wife was away. My friends were away. The dogs were away. Thank heavens Lois was there to take me out.

I had been meaning to visit Le Champignon Sauvage for some time. I kind of kept avoiding the issue. It has two Michelin stars. It has an 8 rating in the Good Food Guide. It has four rosettes in the AA Guide. It has been there for 17 years. What could I possibly say about it that hasn't been said before? And yet, and yet, it is a good thing to give old-stagers the once-over every now and then, to see if they are as good as they are cracked up to be. And it was my birthday, and I deserved a treat. Well, I wanted a treat, at any rate.

And it was a treat. It began as we slithered from the icy street into the cosy warmth of Helen Everitt-Matthias's smile. It continued as we sat down at our table at one end of the small dining room, and ended only when we bounced out again, full and happy, into the slush and ice at the end of dinner.

Le Champignon Sauvage is small to the point of being very small. It seats 28 people. It has not been decorated with the Changing Rooms mentality or modern design sensibilities in mind. The walls are cluttered with interesting paintings. The curtains at the end of the room are swagged and ornate. The colours are rich and full. It is like being welcomed into the front parlour of some houseproud family. It has that sense of unassuming warm-heartedness and personality.

Lois was in one of her more adventurous gastronomic moods. "I'll have the terrine of roasted chicken, shiitake mushrooms and leeks," she declared boldly. "And then I will have the roast lamb with sweetbreads and artichokes with powdered orange. Although you may have to help me with the sweetbreads." So I thought I would have roasted fillet of cod with pear and turnip and a light velouté of chestnuts followed by breast of veal with snails and nettles.

It was obvious from these and other dishes on the menu - for example, fillet of red mullet with duck confit, beetroot and dandelion salad; and fillet of brill, white onion fondant and smoked eel cream - that, while the chef David Everitt-Matthias might be deeply imbued with the methods and doctrines of French haute cuisine, his cooking is not that of a man whose culinary curiosity is set in aspic. Indeed, to jump ahead a course or two, a tiny, delectable pre-dessert of rose geranium cream with damson also contained an unheralded sprinkling of space dust that popped like fire crackers in our mouths, causing us to laugh out loud with pleasure and me to reminisce about Heston Blumenthal's use of the same ingredient in a heart-stopping chocolate pud.

So, while the building blocks of each dish may be treated with the respect that comes from classic technique, the other ingredients - sauces, stuffings, supporting players, vegetables - bring a thoughtful freshness to the dishes. Nor is the kitchen afraid of flavour, or richness, come to that. There is a generosity of both, a certain forthrightness as well as a layering of tastes, such as in Lois's terrine, which pitched chicken against shiitake mushroom. It says a good deal for the chicken that it held its own against the fungus, which has a powerful, enveloping flavour.

Indeed, much of Everitt-Matthias's food is really quite hearty. The breast of lamb was a hugely hunky number, rich, soft and tender enough to eat with gums alone. The combination of snails and nettle purée gave it a boisterous, rustic edge, and all the elements were held in place by a ding-dong, oak-brown reduction that had a balanced power, but that didn't glue together my lips.

The lamb and the cod dishes were of a higher order of delicacy, even though the chestnut velouté with the cod would never get the thumbs up from Dr Atkins. It was very smooth and refined, as a velouté is supposed to be, with the turnip and pear bringing out the reticent chestnut with their respective earthiness and fruitiness, in the same way that the powdered orange lifted the lamb dish, adding a breath of citrus oil in the way orange peel does to a daube Provençale.

Yes, we did have puddings, too: a light prune and burdock mousse with toasted almond ice cream for me, and for her a marjolaine of praline and truffle with Tonka bean ice cream (whatever that might be). Both were as yummy as they were sweet. And, yes, we did get a bill - for £100.50, which included £18.50 on a couple of glasses of house wines, a brace of lime and lemonades, and waters. I haven't spent that little on my birthday for a couple of decades.

Press enquiries…
Cuff Communications

Hélène Whyle
m: 07980 836866

Hotel, Restaurant, Chef PR and more.