Petrichor, The Cavendish Hotel, 81 Jermyn Street, London SW1 6JF www.thecavendish-london.co.uk
Starters arrived; Dorset scallops and asparagus ‘a la Janice”. The scallops were perfectly cooked with great texture, they were sweet and delicate, with a slightly salty caramelisation on the outside from their searing, these were served sat on top of a bed of ham hock and black beans and some delicately flavoured jus, a delightful dish. The asparagus was nicely al dente and having been tossed in butter it was served with a lightly poached duck egg, a good tarragon sauce and some tasty onion bread. I’m not sure what part of the presentation makes it ‘Janice’ style, or indeed who she is, but this was another lovely dish.
We allowed ourselves a little time before choosing desserts, we had to. But having chosen they came, the gooseberry jelly had some wobble and had nice sweet gooseberry flavour, as you might think. This was served with some tart gooseberry compote and a delightful poppy seed tuille, it made for a refreshing finish to the meal. I was drawn to the ‘Modern peanut butter cheesecake’ simply because it was an intriguing creation. The creamy peanut flavoured cheesecake was served with a disk of chocolate jelly on top, sandwiching some whole peanuts to it and there was a good nutty/oaty crisp biscuit on the side. It was indeed every bit as interesting as I had thought it might be, I certainly enjoyed it, clearing my plate entirely.
Wines at Petrichor start at just under the £20 mark, those we chose were at the lower end of the range and we were very happy with them. Service was attentive; the staff were engaging and knowledgeable about the menu. Petrichore is rightly proud of its sustainability credentials, it’s a member of the Sustainable Restaurants Association (SRA) where they are rated as three star sustainability champions. This means that they will be hitting many of the criteria that the SRA identify in 14 areas of sustainability. Petrichor’s menu sets out clearly the provenance of where the main ingredients are sourced, so you know exactly where it comes from and you can see that most of their produce is sourced in this country. I would say that we found the dishes generous, to say the least. Having said that, is it a bad thing? No. The food at Petrichor was excellent and the atmosphere was sedate and charming. Could we detect the scent of rain on earth after a dry spell while there? I’m not sure we would recognise it, but we did very much enjoy our meal there.
If you would like to know more about sustainable restaurant issues go to the SRA site through the link above. You might also like to read my article on the SRA.