We went to Grey Gardens on Wednesday. Most people were inside. The patio exposes you to all the sights, sounds, and smells of Kensington market, which can be off-putting for some. Our server recognized us and gave us lovely service, including complimentary glasses of Madeira to end the meal. Food remains great, with lots of interesting combinations of ingredients and flavours; only a couple of minor missteps.
We ordered a bottle of Bernard-Bonin 2018 Meursault Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy - loved the crisp to mineral transition, smelled of melon a little. Remained engaging and complex to the last drop.
- Fresh and light scallops with green strawberry, strawberry vinegar, cucumber, and tiny radishes, all chopped up beautifully under some flowers and many herbs.
- Blue mackerel with serrano, curry oil, chopped snow peas, pickled ramps, fermented pea water, celery, celery leaves - the strong pickle flavour and spice held up to the stronger-flavoured mackerel.
- Venison carpaccio, with stracciatella underneath, very thin green tomato slices over, Asian pear bits, arugula sprouts, and breadcrumbs - smoky meaty flavour, complimented by sour and a touch of fruit. They also comped us their wonderful bread.
- Rich, sweet, and meaty tomato over eggplant purée, Parmesan oil, black olive crumble - salty umami crumble elevated the tomatoes.
- Roasted cauliflower with labneh, za’atar, chickpeas, lemon, mint, parsley - lovely, and a bit of a departure for GG, which usually stays in the territory of Europe + East Asia.
We found out that they do half-portions of pasta, so we got all three and thus could also get the subsequent dishes.
- Gnocchi made with rye, charred corn (sweet and crisp), spinach - very nice.
- Spaghetti with yuzu kosho, tempura mussels, furikake - a little too salty but nicely kicky and lots of citrus.
- Panzotti filled with chicken and shiitake, black garlic, black vinegar, cooked beech mushrooms, and raw sliced cremini mushroom on top - excellent.
- Whole branzino, soubise, garlic scapes, green onions, shallots - perfectly cooked, with crispy skin, light flaky flesh - went well with the sweet onion flavours.
- Pork chop (sliced) with green beans, green peppercorn, chanterelles, and jus - wonderful flavours but a little too salty, and also a little more done than we really preferred.
- Strawberry with sunflower seed, sumac meringue, sunflower sprouts, white chocolate and sunflower seed brittle, sunflower seed semifreddo - light, fruity, not too sweet.
- Corn. roasted peach jam, miso caramel, corn flakes, corn cake, corn ice cream, popcorn - of the various corn desserts we’ve had, this one actually worked.
