It’s the humble fish finger’s 60th Birthday! Who knew that this kiddie favourite has been around for that long. The team at One-O-One have designed a Birthday menu just to celebrate this anniversary.
If you have not heard, One-O-One is a the best fish restaurant in London that you have probably never heard of. It is so named because it is housed in the Park Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge. The dining room is decorated in muted tones, widely spaced tables and is a calm atmosphere. The night we were there, the restaurant was quite busy but the biggest thrill of the evening was when a sports legend turned up. Pele was in town for one of his charitable events and he was dining a few tables away from us. It seems he is a regular guest at the hotel and restaurant.
Before you write it off as another bland hotel restaurant, you need to taste the food and meet the talented Chef Pascal behind its menu. It will surprise you. You might not have heard of Chef Pascal as he is not on tele and does not have to do personal promotions but he had a great CV, hailing from a 2 star restaurant in Brussels.
After being blown away by his Game menu at the bar previously, I was really looking forward to seeing what clever combinations he put together for the Fish Finger Menu. He did not disappoint as we had several fish and seafood courses and each one was inventive, beautifully presented and very well executed. With this menu, you can choose to have the wine matching menu too. We started off with a crisp Chablis, selected to match the fish dishes.
The taste of the sea starts when they bring you their sublime seaweed butter. With deep umami flavour, it’s just total indulgence to spread on warm crusty bread. It was not easy to refrain from eating all the bread just to finish this butter.
As a little hint of what’s to come, this little amuse bouche was the lightest prawn toast that is better than that of any London dim sum restaurants. More please.
The first of the many courses, a Yellowfin tuna tartare with oyster and caviar and seaweed potato mash. As you can see, it is pretty as a picture, served on a piece of slate like a piece of art. I did especially like the succulent sea vegetables that were studded on the tuna like little jewels. Fresh and zingy flavours and beautifully plated. Delightful.
The Eclair of lobster boudin is genius, not really a meaty sausage texture but more a mousse but so highly flavoured. I like the idea of serving it in an eclair as the pastry added a nice texture contrast. This dish was further enhanced scallops with summer truffle, creamed leek and the Sauce Cardinal is the most sublime sauce and possibly the best new discovery ever.
A glass of French Sauvignon was selected to match with the other main fish courses.
The next dish had a bit of an Asian influence, the Salmon Bon Bons. Salmon wrapped in crispy pastry and fried. In the picture you can see a little pipette of soya sauce which is drizzled over the salmon cigar. With this is a smear of wasabi mushy peas, a stunning medley of flavours.
As I love fish and chips, I was most looking forward to this course. The lightly battered Royal king crab and cod had just the right amount of crispiness, served with crispy chips and saffron aioli. I didn’t like the saffron aioli too much but other than that, it was just perfect.
Finally, the last course. eclair of pineapple, coconut and vanilla chantilly with a rum pina colada sorbet. Loved the pineapple and the sorbet and that by itself would have been a great dessert. I thought that another eclair on the menu was unnecessary and it didn’t add to the fruit. This was probably the least favourite of all the courses.
A glass of Monbazillac did wonders to end a very memorable meal.
One-O-One in Knightsbrige does fish really well. The cooking is inventive and the dishes are so beautifully presented. The dining room might seem a bit bland but the service was charming. The charming Romanian waiter was highly knowledgeable about all the dishes, their composition and the wines. Our waitress had just been promoted from the Bar to the Restaurant and she couldn’t have been more helpful, even helping us to take the embarrassing fan picture with Pele. It seems unjust that they are overlooked as one of London’s better fish restaurants, being in a hotel. Do try it for yourself and join their fan club.
One-One Restaurant
Park Tower Hotel
101 Knightsbridge,
London SW1X 7RN
020 7290 7101
EatCookExplore was a guest of One-O-One Restaurant
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