Also took a glass of Force Majeure, £10.50.
Of course the very first thing to arrive is an amuse of blue cheese mouse on an airy cracker draped with flowers. We are firmly in Simon Rogan territory. How you feel about that will very much affect your affection for Fera.
Nothing much else can stand in the way of you loving it. The room is sublime. The service almost perfect (see: dessert). So: do we like the forage and flowers cuisine?
Yep, well enough.
And that's a surprise. I could care less for Noma-esque venues ordinarily and I'm borderline on Nordic cuisine. But Fera is an exception. Stout bread with properly salted Cumbrian butter helps soften my scepticism before smoked salmon arrives on a plate dribbled with sauces (no sauce spoon!) and smattered with tiny leaves, imperceptible mushrooms and mysterious powders. Not a good sign. But it tastes so good. Like the very best sashimi. Suddenly I'm ignoring the twee aesthetic and scooping sauce up with stout bread.
Then comes the cutlery for the main course. I'm in love. Studio William. Total class.
My chicken comes from Preston I'm told. I wonder if that sounds exotic to a southerner? It is delicious, and extremely well plated. However where on earth is the sauce spoon? And I'm guessing there will be no more bread as my side plate and butter were taken away with the first course... Small things though compared to the fact that not only is the chicken very good but these are perhaps the best carrots I've ever tasted.
Dessert: I quickly choose chocolate, with chamomile ice cream and put down my menu. Almost ten minutes goes by before my waiter comes to take an order, during which time it's impossible to catch his gaze. Ultimately another waiter pauses significantly behind my shoulder until his colleague notices I've been forgotten. A small blip on otherwise fine service. Whether because of this or not as I rise to go I'm intercepted and offered a kitchen tour. It's like they know my weaknesses. I'm won over as I'm shown the leaves being grown and the induction run that means the kitchen is never very hot to work in. A terrific touch of service.
There's a surprise pre-dessert of dehydrated honey cake and peach. Nice!
Again, dessert is lovely to look at (and rather petit). Cake crumbs, a smear of apricot, delicious ice cream and chocolate mouse rather reminiscent of a Gu pot (yes I know there's only
So much you can do with this dish). I liked it. I'd have like it twice in fact, or a more generously portioned once...
Finally mignardises of beer jelly and beetroot meringue, which I liked more than the dessert. The jelly comes with one tiny final foraged leaf...
Fera is about on par with similar London restaurants; it's nicer than Texture (but more expensive too) and a little below The Ledbury. It certainly does deserve its Michelin star.
If you want to try the farm and forage style without a trip to Copenhagen Fera is absolutely worth a go: I really couldn't fault it within its own terms. However if you ask me for a straight choice between this and London's other hotel bound venues I'd pick the slightly cheaper Mediterranean vibe of Rivea at the Bulgari or the slightly more expensive classic French of Helene Darroze at the Connaught. Not sorry to have been this once though and I might well be back before I close the book on my opinion.
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