Sunday, May 18, 2014

Petrus Restaurant Lunch

One of my younger sisters gave me  as a Christmas 2013 present, a lunch  voucher tor two at the  Petrus restaurant which is situated in one of the tiny but very attractive side streets between Knightsbridge and Victoria. For one reason or another I was only able to use her gift yesterday so it felt more like a birthday present than a Christmas one.

 In fact finding the restaurant  proved to be quite difficult. The  District Line underground was closed at Wimbledon for mainenance work so  we took an SWTrain to Waterloo when I realised too late that Waterloo station is not served by the Piccadilly Line.  Having eventually reached Knightsbridge  the failure by Google maps to provide sufficient information such as the names of nearby roads soon became obvious though  with the help of a diplomatic policeman (this is London's main embassy centre) and a Saturday morning post man making deliveries, we  found the Petrus venue in time.

 A lovely well hidden but equally well healed part of Town fascinating to walk around though mrs maytrees found the hours walk just slightly tiring.

Petrus itself was fantastic. Although the restaurant architecture  is modern and therefore to my slightly  old fashioned eye, rather different from  what I was expecting the staff and the cuisine were really good.

I chose:
Cheltenham beetroot terrine
with buttermilk, horseradish and shaved fennel

followed by

Roast fillet of Cornish cod
puy lentils, cauliflower, mussels and pancetta

with for pudding

Salted caramel doughnuts with crème anglaise, apple
compote
tonka bean and cinnamon sugar

Mrs maytrees chose a different first course

Shetland island salmon lightly smoked,
pumpernickel, soft boiled egg, watercress and salad cream

But otherwise our selections were the same. We also opted for an half bottle of 2012 Sancerre which was ideal.

The staff served us both with an amuse bouche to start  with and whet the pallate. Simply delicious. My beetroot terrine was a treat and we both loved the cod. The  tastes  of everything on our plates were  unusual and delicious. Cod for example, I have like most people, tried many times before not least in the old fashioned British take away fish and chips  style but  this was completely different, delicate and delicious.

Our pudding course was not only lovely but fun in the way it was  served in a three tier building of  bowls and then amusing to eat as one dipped  the tiny home made doughnuts  into the tonka bean and cinnamon sugar.

Usually I enjoy a coffee or two at home  on  Saturday mornings .Coffee at the end of a meal is not normally worth a mention when talking of meals out but having to take the train to  London meant that time was short so coffee at home was dispensed with yesterday. The Petrus cappucino was  simply  hot and delicious - I'd guess the best coffee I have tasted for a long time and that includes many coffees in France Italy and even Seattle (Seattle Coffee House of course).

As we were leaving mrs maytrees was given a little box containing a chocolate sponge which she enjoyed this morning.

A lovely thought and delicious meal.

 As for the journey back mrs maytrees insisted no more walking, so buses to Vauxhall and SWTrain to Wimbledon meant that our   journey home was  rather quicker than the travel out had been.





2 comments:

  1. Very interesting, Jerry. The lentils were probably a reference to Le Puy, a town in the Massif Central and an important waystage on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella.

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    1. This sounds like a really lovely treat out. And I'm interested to learn that cod CAN be so good, having been too thoroughly put off by the miseries of school Fridays - boiled haunch of, shudder. The rest of the menu sounds wonderful, as does the setting and also service.

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