RESTAURANTS:A new London restaurant sets the benchmark for good value, writes Tom Doorley
PAUL MERRONY IS an Australian chef with a perfect gift for timing. Having been a leading light in Sydney food, he eventually took a change of direction and bravely (and very quietly) opened in London at the end of June. Just in time for the so-called downturn.
But he chose a small caff at the less fashionable end of Tottenham Court Road, in London's own Tin Pan Alley, Denmark Street. This is a place you are much more likely to visit to buy a guitar (Bob Marley, according to legend, got his first one here) than a meal.
I regard this new restaurant as one of the very best things to have happened in central London since you could get a table at The Ivy without booking. But I must issue a warning. The Giaconda Dining Room is not for people whose restaurant experience is incomplete without crisp linen tablecloths, snooty sommeliers and hefty bills. So, its timing is perfect.
At first glance it looks like the kind of place where the only sauce is HP. There's no signage outside (I found it when I smelled the enticing aroma from the cheese van making a delivery), it's tiny (only 30 covers), very dark and the decor is browner than a prime minister's mood.
The prices are astonishing for anyone from here. Big starters cost between a fiver and £6.50 (€8.20), large mains work their way reluctantly up to £13.50 (€17). Occasionally, specials stray a little beyond. Yes, I had to pinch myself.
And the food . . . ah, the food. The dish that sums it all up, for me, was "(almost) boneless pig's trotter" presented in the form of a little crisp cake with a melting interior of silky, gelatinous paw, served with a mustardy egg-mayonnaise and some sharply dressed salad leaves. The raw materials may be cheap, but a great deal of hard work went into creating this little gem. Our other starter was a variation on oeufs en cocotte, two still runny eggs baked in cream with butter, spinach and a little tarragon, all scooped up with good, crusty bread.
Actually, there was a kind of egg theme running through our choices. Ham hock hash (yes, just as simple as it sounds, the meat mixed with spud and fried) had a softly fried egg on top, and a perfect green salad on the side. My duck confit was twice the size of the usual portion, and impeccably seasoned. I could have eaten the melting flesh, which was encased in uniformly crisp skin, with a spoon. It came with a hearty stew of butterbeans with chorizo.
We finished with dense iced nougat and zingy fresh raspberries, and a couple of very grown-up espressos.
This place is recession-proof. The premises are on the wrong side of the tracks (or, more correctly, Shaftesbury Avenue), there's no goose foie gras or truffles, there's a cheese of the day rather than a cheese board, you get a carafe of free, fizzy filtered water instead of the usual Malvern or Badoit, one wine glass fits all (including champagne) and there are no tablecloths.
The food is not what we tend to think of as Australian. No lemongrass meets lamingtons here; Merrony originally trained under the Roux brothers. But the attitude is utterly down-to-earth in a way that could only come from Down Under. Service is friendly and accommodating rather than deferential and formal.
My only worry is that Paul Merrony's cooking will become so popular that he will be lured away to a higher-rent location. He and his tiny team, in their minute kitchen, must be working at a rate that even the toughest could not endure for long. And they are just making a living rather than a fortune.
So, carpe diem. If you book your flights carefully online, you can go there for lunch for less than you might end up paying for a run-of-the-mill night out in Dublin or Cork. Bear in mind that this restaurant opens for lunch, and dinner, from Monday to Friday, demonstrating that it's aimed at the natives, who tend to desert the capital at the weekends - and that the team needs a rest. Our bill came to £77.25 (€97.50), including a bottle of Philiponnat Champagne. The Giaconda bit must refer to the knowing smile.
THE SMART MONEY
My pig's trotter with egg mayonnaise may be a starter but, with some bread, a glass of white wine and an espresso to follow, it would make a heavenly lunch for £13.25 (€16.70), including a cover charge of £1 (€1.26), but not service.
WINE CHOICE
This short-list kicks off with Gascon white and red at £3.75 (€4.74) a glass - and the value-for-money theme persists.
Biscuity Philipponat Grande Reserve Champagne is £32 (€40.48), while ultra-stylish Ruinart Blanc des Blancs is £46 (€58.19). There's tart Domaine de la Mirande Picpoul de Pinet at £20 (€25.30); ripe, oaky Tour des Gendres Cuvée des Conti is £22 (€ 27.83) from Bergerac; Domaine du Monteillet's luscious Condrieu at £36 (€45.54) and Remoissenet's Meursault 1er cru Poruzots is £50 (€62.95). Among the reds, Mas de Fondrèche Côtes du Ventoux at £21 (€26.57) is a favourite. Domaine Cros Marcillac Lo Sang del Pais is £21 (€26.57) and just gorgeous. Pittacum Bierzo at £24 (€30.36) is dense, dark and spicy. Domaine Hereztyn Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2004 is true iron fist in velvet glove stuff.