I visited this restaurant last night with my friend tabor who bought a voucher which gave us champagne, canapés and 3 courses for £20.
The food tasted lovely with some really interesting and indeed unusual flavours but this is easily the smallest meal I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
I realise of course that presentation of food is important. Many people eat with their eyes so taking time to consider how food should be laid out and what it should be presented in is of some importance. However, it is the food itself that should take centre stage and one important function of a meal out is that it should replace a meal you might have at home or somewhere else. As you are eating out, you might well try something different but when all is said and done you are going out to eat so the food should at least provide the average eater with a decent meal. I’d be surprised if we got more than 150 grammes of food for the whole meal at this restaurant. It was a pitiful portion of food served in a pretentious way. The restaurant was visually I am told pleasing but minimalist.
When we first got to this restaurant, we were the only ones in but by the time we left there were 2 other tables. At this stage service was still friendly but somewhat slow. This was not helped, particularly for my friend, by the inadequate heating. There was only a portable oil heater.
Below is a section taken from the About part of the website. Feel the bullshit! There’s nothing here about being full or satisfied or any such thing.
Here at Ink we’ve stripped everything back, focusing on simplicity and pure aesthetics.
We combine the beauty of nature, with distinct flavours and rich textures, sourcing fresh produce locally within the East End of London.
Headed by Chef Martyn Meid, Ink was established in April 2014.
Originating from a small port town, Martyn has mastered the craft of Nordic cuisine, having a unique approach to curing, pickling and smoking meat and
fish.
The menu is developed along with the season, Martyn’s uses of ingredients create exceptional dishes both in taste and presentation.
Celebrating the true beauty of ingredients Martyn manipulates them to create enticing dishes found on the menu, including 148h salted cod topped with
tomato textures, in which he dehydrates and smokes the tomatoes, served alongside confit potatoes drizzled with lemon oil.
The true concept of Ink lies in the definition, each dish has an artistic element to it, Martyns philosophy in his approach to each dish is to connect
people with space, plate and emotion.
After leaving this restaurant I went for a full 2 course Thai meal and I told the staff at Ink that despite some really interesting food, the portions were insultingly small.
There are some audioboos (or audio booms as they are now called). To hear them visit http://www.audioboom.co.uk/mcbird
First then the canapés. We got a tasting spoon with 1 piece of what they called leek ash which is leek burned to a crisp with some salt added (or that is what it tasted like). I’d rather call burnt leek something other than leek ash if possible. It was about half a centimetre square.
The one mushroom was one of those with a long stem and a tiny head. I don’t know what they are called but just having one is pathetic. This was such a small amount of food that bringing it out at all felt like an insult, a bit like forcing a prisoner to take food by licking up the crumbs off the table mat of a prison officer!
Next came the starter. I opted for the cured venison described on the menu as Cured Venison with Beetroot textures and Cranberries. There were 3 tiny strips of dried cured venison which was tasty and salty. Beetroot of various kinds was served including pickled and shredded and there were 3 cranberries. Again, this was tasty but tiny. The price for this on the menu was £10. I only hope you get a little more for the starter at that price.
Next came the main which was little bigger than a decent sized starter. I’d guess there was a couple of ounces of salted cod with various vegetables. The menu description is:
148h Salted Cod With Tomato Textures, Confit Potatoes, Tomato Oil and Leak Ash
This tomato textures seems to mean smoked tomato, dehydrated tomato and oil from the tomato. The confit potatoes were mixed with herbs such as thyme and cooked in butter but they were just whole baby potatoes and there were only 2 of them. I can again only hope that if you go for the a la carte menu you get more food. This main dish actually cost £16.50.
The pudding, Salted Chocolate, was the most interesting of the lot. It was very thick and slightly rough textured chocolate mousse with salt and bits of pork crackling ground up in it. This sounds wrong but I assure you it actually worked. There were only about 2 teaspoons of this pudding. My friend thought this was enough as it was certainly very rich and chocolaty, but I’d have liked a much bigger portion.
Drinks are very expensive but not absolutely stratospheric, though nearly so!. House wine costs£18 a bottle. Beer is £3.50 for 330 ml bottle and jack Daniels is £8 a shot. It doesn’t say whether this is a 25 mil glass or a 50 mill glass.
In conclusion, food tasted lovely but the portions were insultingly small and I only hope that those on a la cart get bigger portions. Despite offering some interesting food, this restaurant is very pretentious. I’d stay well away unless you have plenty of money and you feel you need to be seen eating something but don’t really want to eat. Despite reasonable service, I can’t give this restaurant more than 2 out of 5. It’s expensive, but with decent sized portions I’d give the restaurant a 6 for trying something different though some of the language is vague and as I say, pretentious!!!
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