Hibiscus, London, UK

My friend L. wanted to go to Hibiscus. As she could not make it for lunch, we had to pass on the 3-course lunch menu at £33.50, and booked a table for two for dinner. I found the pricing quite surprising. The 4-course (plus appetizer and pre-dessert) costs £85, while it costs £80 to have three A la carte courses. A no brainer, but then, why not go all-in and have the surprise 7-course tasting menu?

We were offered some fried balls of cheese and mushrooms as an appetizer. They were rich and creamy, and looked very cute wrapped in the white napkins like little babies.

First, we had a hibiscus and apple soda. It was too sweet and not exactly what I would have expected as an amuse-bouche.

Hibiscus and apple soda

Our first course was a raw mackerel with strawberries and wasabi. The combination of the oily fish with the freshness of the strawberries worked very well.

Cornish mackerel with red and green strawberries and wasabi

The second starter was a perfectly slow-cooked egg, in a delicious asparagus velouté with a little hint of coconut.

Slow cooked Benton egg with asparagus and coconut velouté

We had many broad beans in our menu, as they are in season. Our vegetarian raviolo had a filling of mint and spring onions and was topped with broad beans. Mint gave the dish an oriental flavour, and a pleasant freshness.

Spring onion and mint raviolo with broad beans

Our fish dish was a black bream stuffed with morilles, on a bed of morilles and broad beans. The fish was nicely cooked but the dish was too salty, which prevented us from fully appreciating it.

Black bream stuffed with morilles and lime

The next dish was surprising. Winkles with black pudding. I guessed winkles are what we call "bigorneaux" in French, and the description of winkles as "sea snails" confirmed my guess. I liked this interesting combination of "crunchy" winkles with soft black pudding, a very earthy surf and turf. But my friend L. was put off by the thought of these little sea snails swimming in her velouté.

Winkles and black pudding

Our meat dish was original as well. We had a very tender rabbit, which is a rare treat in the UK as I have understood that many British people do not eat rabbit. It came with chorizo and a clam, and broad beans, again.

Rabbit from Norfolk stuffed with chorizo and clam

A cheese platter to share.

Cheese platter

Shame on me. I jumped on the pre-dessert so quickly that I forgot to take a picture. It was a lovely verrine of English strawberries, celeriac jelly and Szechuan pepper cream.

Our waitress asked us to guess what ingredients were used in the dessert. We thought of asparagus and cauliflower and it was indeed a tart with white asparagus cream and candied black olives. It was a nice surprise to the palate but the white asparagus cream was quite rich and maybe not the best way to finish a 7-course meal. I would have preferred a lighter and more refreshing pudding.

White asparagus tart with candied black olives (served with a goat cheese ice cream)

We had some petit-fours with our mint tea. The smoked fudge had an amazing smoky flavour, and it felt like eating a sweet smoked ham.

Petits fours

I expected Claude Bosi's food to be a very classic French cuisine and I was nicely surprised by his inventive cooking. Except the fish that was too salty, all our dishes were well cooked and seasoned, which is not very surprising for a 2 Michelin stars restaurant anyway. Food was original and service considerate. I thought first that Hibiscus was quite pricey because of the A la carte prices, but compared to other Michelin restaurants in London or Paris, the tasting menu is not that expensive.

Sometimes, Hibiscus organises wine tasting parties, with a 6-course menu chosen by Claude Bosi at £150.

Cost: £100 for the 7-course surprise tasting menu