Twitter Summary Review: Excellent quality tasting dishes in stylish setting. If you've a sweet tooth go for two desserts!
Full review:
Gordon Ramsay has had a hard time of it lately, but the shining light in his culinary empire is meant to be Maze, which has continued to draw plaudits from critics and the public alike. Maze is run by Jason Atherton and has one Michelin star. It has an interesting concept and the menu is made up of a series of ‘small plates’ of beautiful sounding food and you are encouraged to order between four and six dishes.
I
went along with my girlfriend for lunch on a Saturday and we quickly
decided to ditch the reasonably priced lunch and tasting menus for
the a la carte.
Maze is a lovely room. It is spacious, light, modern and informal. Service was friendly and attentive throughout, although the waiters kept spilling water when pouring and then not cleaning it up which annoyed me.
We went for three savoury dishes each and two desserts and can honestly say the quality was superb throughout.
My first dish was a beautifully cooked piece of cod that was accompanied with prawns, a cockle with cheese topping and a lobster bisque. The cod was delicate and melted in the mouth and was a lovely light dish to start the meal.
Secondly I went for hake wrapped in parma ham. I found it a bit dry and it could have done with a bit more of the intense pimento puree (it was meant to also contain chorizo, but I couldn't taste it) that it was served with. It was still above average though.
My favourite savoury dish was a melt in the mouth bit of pork belly. Again it was perfectly cooked. It wasn't overly fatty for pork belly and the rich, sticky, intense marinade reminded me of the best bits that are normally left in the roasting tin after cooking a joint. Lovely. It came with some really good pork crackling and a small piece of pig's head with a blob of apple sauce on that was probably not needed, but I really enjoyed anyway!
I have to admit to a bit of food envy at my girlfriends dishes. I decided we wouldn't go for the same dishes and gave her the first pick of savoury dishes.
She generously allowed me a taste of them and the undoubted highlight was the lamb dish. A perfectly cooked (medium rare) lamb cutlet that came with a side of Shepherd's pie. The mash on the pie was perfect - smooth and creamy with an obscene amount of butter in it and the mince underneath was equally good. A really fantastic dish and one we'll both have if we go back.
Maze also works well for those with a sweet tooth and we decided to treat ourselves to two desserts each. Again, they were excellent.
First for me was the chocolate delice with olive oil ice-cream & honey gelatine. The delice itself was very good and the dark chocolate on the top came with a dash of salt that really brought out the flavours. The ice-cream was ok, but I couldn't really taste the olive oil and the honey wasn't as intense as I hoped.
My second dessert was wonderful. Buttermilk pannacotta, strawberry jelly and granite, a shortbread biscuit and a pipette of caramel. The pannacotta was beautifully milky and the accompanying strawberry went perfectly with it. The shot of caramel was equally good (though I would have liked a touch more) and the biscuit added a bit of crunch. Overall it was a beautifully balanced dessert and one that I will look back on with much fondness!
The
girlfriend was equally impressed with her desserts. She loved her
deconstructed peanut butter sandwich and wanted to lick the plate to
get the last of the cherry sauce off the plate!
The lemon meringue pie was equally good, although she felt that the basil sorbet didn't really add anything.
Overall,
Maze impressed me greatly. The concept of trying a number of small
plates really worked and for the quality of ingredients and cooking
we felt the £9-12.50 price tag for the savoury dishes and £7.50 for
desserts was well worth it. From other reviews I'd read I thought
the dishes might be quite small, but I thought the portions were good
and we certainly felt full after the five courses.
The Maze concept does mean you don't get any of the amuse bouches or canapes that you might expect at a high end restaurant, but I think it's worth the sacrifice for trying a number of dishes. I definitely want to go back and can't wait to find an excuse to do so.
