Pied a Terre — Restaurant in London

Looking back, the carpet at the entrance to the dining room was perhaps a sign that all would not be well on our trip to Pied a Terre. It gave off a slight smell reminiscent of an old pub and was slightly tacky underfoot - unexpected for a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Even when we were seated at a large table - the only thing generous during the night - there was a strange tension in the air. Despite the lack lustre welcome I remained hopeful that Pied a Terre hadn’t lost its passion given how long it’s held that star for.

We started our tasting menu journey with the tiniest trio of largely unremarkable snacks - the best of which was a smaller-than-bite-sized portion of smoked sardine.

This was followed by a pleasant and pretty cauliflower and trout mousse dish. “How was it?” Asks our assigned front of house (FOH) person. “Fine. It could have done with a touch of citrus,” I reply. “I’ll tell the chef,” he says.

My least favourite dish followed. It’s hard to get a dish that’s mainly potato right though not impossible (Restaurant Story a few years back A+). Where to begin with this one - grainy yet gluey, overworked mash served cold with a salted cod skordalia (which I couldn’t taste), one ring of crispy shallot, garlic, dill and caviar. I couldn’t manage more than the one chilly teaspoonful - it was that unpleasant.

As if sensing my discomfort our FOH guy asks: “How was it?” “Not for me,” I say. “I’ll tell the chef,” he replies with a frown.

The asparagus and crayfish that came next was okay but under seasoned and lukewarm. “Yeh nice,” I tell the FOH. I’m starting to feel under pressure.

Our fourth course - red mullet on top of a firm mousse, courgette flower stuffed with mousse and one morel stuffed with the same mousse served with a harissa sauce without a hint of heat.

I feel FOH’s presence looming: “How was it?” “Ok though wasn’t expecting the same mousse in the fish, courgette and mushroom.” His eyes, face and voice light up: “Ahhh well chef tried it with 3 different mousses and it didn’t work. So if he’s gonna do 3 mousses they’re gonna be the same.” “Ok,” I say hesitating… “But why do you need three mousses? A perfectly cooked piece of red mullet already has flavour.” He blinks and looks a bit crestfallen…”I’ll tell the chef.”

Up next the main - assiete of rabbit, thankfully perfectly cooked and tender, with carrot, sea buckthorn and a cep reduction. “Are you just saying it’s ‘nice’ cos you’re worried about me telling the chef? asks FOH. “Errrm. It was nice…could have been warmer,” I grimace.

The palette cleansers/pre desserts were pretty tasty especially the cherries with melon and mint sorbet and to my surprise - the best course was yet to come.

I dislike strawberries so the millefeuille was out for me. My vegan substitute - a chocolate mousse with a balsamic beetroot sorbet was outstanding.

Our weary FOH: “How was it?” “Truly delicious. That sorbet is phenomenal.” “Great. I’ll tell the chef.”

He looked so happy I didn’t have the heart to add the mousse needed to be a touch sweeter to counteract the near painful sourness of the sorbet.

Pied a Terre - pretty food but ultimately a soulless experience. It’s not a returner for me though glad to have ticked it...

In short, I expected more from a michelin star restaurant. I had previously been to a superb fine dining restaurant in London, and thought I'd opt for a michelin one given my previous experience was phenomenal. I was let down thoroughly. Here are my reasons why:

Upon first walking in, I was pleased with the setting, the decor is lovely, a little small but that didn't bother me. The hostess was nice enough, but once we took our seats, it all went downhill.

Staff were not attentive enough. Busy or not, this is unacceptable. I've had better service elsewhere that doesn't have a michelin star. We were often left waiting for long periods of time, our drinks order was not taken in a timely manner. We needed a few extra minutes to order, but we were left waiting for around 15 minutes before someone finally came over to our table. They didn't explain the menu well enough - communication is key and they often didn't speak up enough or enunciate.

After taking our menu order, our drinks didn't even arrive alongside our meal. We had to chase them up for it.

We then had a different server altogether, and this repeatedly kept changing throughout the course of the meal. The next one seemed quite inexperienced/shy/under-confident. She also wasn't enthusiastic, barely cracked a smile. It was just awkward. The first round of canapes was underwhelming. The concept of picking out a tiny radish from some olive soil was not really interesting - I don't know what they're going for here. If it's to do with food from the earth or the garden, then why wasn't this concept carried throughout the meal?

After a long wait again, a different server(!) took away the used plates and made a right mess by dropping crumbs everywhere. I thought there is meant to be eloquence and care in restaurants like this?

Between meals, we saw one lady carrying wine glasses, BY HAND, to a table that they were resetting. As far as I know, clean glasses should be taken via a tray and then set down. In fine dining at least. I was confused.

Understandably, some michelin restaurants serve considerably smaller portions than usual, which can be expected, but it was actually really pretentious. For the price we paid, the food was just underwhelming. I even forgot what most of it was. And dessert 1 was just one spoonful.

Why do all the servers wear entirely different outfits? Bright red shoes, white trainers, jeans, smart, casual, smart-casual. There was no coordination at all. It was like a game of "which server will we get next?"

The ambience I just didn't get. What is the owner going for? It's like they're trying to achieve some sort of elegance, but it's all let down by the service. It's all terribly disjointed.

I also don't understand why I was asked for a special occasion when I made the booking, only to end up with no surprise. It was my fiance's birthday and I expected a surprise dessert of some sort like the table next to ours, but I guess you have to make a special request for that and pay extra? Considering how much customers pay, the least you can do is offer a special dessert with a candle, no? This is very basic in other restaurants where I could pay just £60pp. Ridiculous.

Pied a terre is...

I purchased this meal as a Groupon. 10 course taster menu for 2. I enjoy eating at Michelin starred restaurants and had high hopes of this restaurant, I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. We opted for the wine pairings which was the Decouverte which was £62 per person, if you are having the taster menu then I recommend the wine pairings as the wine were fantastic and are expertly chosen for each course. I often go for the wine pairings when I have the taster menu and the difference with Pied a Terre was the somellier did not tell you what wine it was or where it was from until after the course, this gives you the opportunity to enjoy the wine and guess where its from. The premeal snacks were great, little delicacies which set you up nicely for the meal ahead. The first course was a salad with winter leaves, blue cheese, sugared walnuts, cured ham and figs. The blue cheese although the strongest taste on the plate brought out the best in the accompanying wine. This was followed by a sea bream cerviche. The interesting element here was the smoked almonds which gave the fish a smoky a flavour, this was probably my favourite course. Next we had a carrot veloute with ginger and picked celery and some toasted oats. This was a very nice dish, all of the flavours were equally balanced and it was a very light dish. Our first main course was the sea bass with an XO sauce, personally this was my least favourite dish, it did taste good but I feel that the XO sauce made the dish taste oriental and out of place with the rest of the menu. The second main course was pork cooked 4 ways, by this point I was feeling quite full and was struggling to get through the dish. The pork belly tasted amazing and the sweet potato was very smooth and sweet. We then moved into the desert course the first of which was a cheese course. This was a mature brie with a sherry jelly with a lavoche cracker. Personally I was not a fan of the cracker as it tasted like a raw piece of pasta, but the cheese and jelly were fantastic. The second desert was a macha custard with orange foam and sugar crumb. This was a very light and pleasant desert served with a fantastic wine. The sugar crumb although pleasant, reminded me of the biscuit base of a cheesecake. We ended the meal with a rum baba, which was very moist, the coriander Sorbet was lacking the punch of coriander, I did enjoy the salted clotted cream under the cake and hoped there would be more. After the meal we was invited down to the kitchen where we had the opportunity to talk to the head chef. It was nice to see the kitchen, even though it was towards the end of service, everybody looked busy and it was nice for the chef to find time to speak to us. I have eaten in quite a few Michelin starred restaurants and would recommend this restaurant to anybody who enjoys fine dining. The service is great and the staff are...