Friday 16 July 2010

Zetter's couldn't be better

Greeted in charming and friendly style by a very handsome waiter, Ti and I sit down to cocktails in comfortable armchairs upholstered in classy French textiles. The dining room is light and airy, it already seems to exude a kind of quiet confidence. Su and To arrive and pretty soon we are installed at our table where a most charming waitress is taking us through the menu; she describes the ingredients so vividly that you can almost taste them as she speaks. My "revised" Lyonnaise salad is a melange of crispily fried batons of piggy bits on a bed of leaves with a red wine vinaigrette; a very fine starter and a very superior combination of textures and flavours. However, the quail and pistachio dodine with spinach and egg yolk raviolo which follows can only be described as a paragon of excellent cuisine; every mouthful was a treat. Part of the bird breast has been removed and turned into a kind of delicious nut based stuffing which complements the rest of the meat perfectly. The raviolo provides a delicate and wafer-thin little pouch for its spinach based stuffing. Pudding is a disappointment; I plump for the yogurt mouse with passion fruit and ginger Lamington. It's the latter element which bewitches me; it's an Australian thing the Lamington and it brings back happy memories of Oz. But this Lamington just doesn't deliver; it's neither very gingery nor that light and the mousse is a bit dull. I need more intensity. Happily, Su invites me to share some of her chocolate tartlet which is pretty fantastic. It goes down a treat with the glorious Monbazillac. Throughout the meal, the open kitchen is humming quietly in the distance. This is a restaurant that knows what it's doing; mixing the classic French with the novel to excellent effect. Lovely food in a fine surroundings.
9/10

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