New(ish) resto - Medlar

For our monthly anniversary dinner, I had originally wanted to go to a new resto in our neck of the woods but was upon ringing for table, was told there would be a 3 week(!) wait (one of the many reasons why dining in London is more chore than pleasure) so based on the recommendation of a food blogger I check into regularly, we decided to try our luck at Medlar instead. According to the aforementioned blogger, this was his new local resto opening of the year and he had liked it so much he had been back twice so I guess I was going with high expectations.

We did have a nice night and enjoyed some well-cooked food; however, I couldn't help but feel the dining room was a little soul-less (we had arrived early, there were 3 other tables but the place still felt like a morgue) and that the food, whilst good, was not exciting.....as though I had seen and eaten it somewhere else (quite likely, since the chef had previously worked at Chez Bruce).

The one surprise of the night was the desserts which on paper, did not look particularly inviting but were actually very good (and this is coming from someone who will look at desserts with EXTRA scrutiny!) Definitely worth a visit but am not sure if I would be hurrying back......I guess with all reviews, mainstream and blogs, you have to take them with a pinch of salt......perhaps even more with the latter?

 Starter of crab raviolo with samphire, brown shrimp, fondue of leeks and bisque sauce - nice and perfectly tasty but in terms of shellfish ravioli, does not hit the heights of the langoustine version at L'Ardoise in Paris or the langoustine plus sweetbreads version at Caprice in HK. 

 Main of under blade fillet with persillade snails, salad, triple cooked chips and béarnaise - would've been prefectly happy if I had just been served steak, chips and béarnaise, not sure how the snails add to the dish. The chips were outstanding, only wish there had been more!

 Macaroon with English raspberries and lemon curd - personally, don't think this menu description conveys just how good this dessert was, stunning to look at, every component perfectly executed no dud sour raspberry either!!

 Chocolate and almond torte with honeycomb ice cream and caramel sauce