Bumbles

(Written 22/10/2010. The restaurant no longer exists. Man alive, though, it was a good place to eat!)

I really can't recommend Bumbles too highly, and it seems that others feel the same, because it was well-patronised this lunchtime. Soon, either the foodies will discover it and I'll have to book weeks in advance, or an influential reviewer will write about it, the monied set will adopt the place as their own and it'll become too expensive for the likes of me.

Need I say that Dr Chris was amazed? He'd been a little sceptical when he saw the prices, which look too cheap for what I promised was one of the best restaurants in Town. I was delighted, though, that I was greeted by name by the manageress and one of the waitresses, who chided me for staying away for so long. Indeed, it's been over a year since I was there.

Chris was happy for me to advise him on his starter, and I directed him to the dish I regard as the biggest challenge to the chef's skill of all the starters - ravioli with pea mousse, sauteed mushrooms, air-dried ham and pea foam. There is just one, large, ravioli, but when Chris cut into it he found a whole soft-boiled egg yolk within. The skill required to make the pasta thin enough so that it is cooked just right when the egg yolk reaches "soft-boiled" consistency, let alone loading the raw yolk into the pasta shell and sealing it is remarkable, as Chris acknowledged.

As for me, I had an old favourite, Omelette Arnold Bennet, with smoked haddock and cheese sauce. "Very tasty", Chris said, as I prepared to stab him if his fork came over to my side of the table once more.

A bottle of Bumbles excellent house white had disappeared by the time our plates were cleared - refreshingly dry, from the South of France - so we ordered a bottle of its red companion. Chris wavered in his choice of main course, as I urged him towards the Devonshire lamb rump cooked for four hours, bolognaise, buttered baby potatoes, carrot royale and liquorice sauce, but he finally went for the prime Aberdeen Angus ribeye steak with  cauliflower cheese, button mushrooms and watercress puree, which he pronounced to be excellent.

I chose something I'd not had before, "Coronation" Cornish mackeral with pickled carrot, French beans, curried broth and potted brown shrimps. I was initially surprised to see the skeleton of the mackeral body and tail adorning the dish, but the waiter explained "It's edible. Chef has developed a method of cooking the bones so that they can be eaten too." By golly, he was right! Crunchy, slightly oily, but a very different taste of the sea, and a nice contrast to the fishy fillet. The pickled carrot was an inspired accompaniment, and the shrimps were tiny chewy bullets of flavour. It's a dream of a dish, offering a big range of flavours and textures.

Now, Chris wimped out at the dessert stage, but I know that anything that includes the word "surprise" on the menu will be worth seeing. Accordingly, I chose the pineapple crumble suprise. When presented, all that was on the plate was a heap of crumble with a large ball of chocolate resting on it. Immediately, though, the waiter poured a small jug of hot salted caramel sauce over the chocolate ball, which melted to reveal an interior of pineapple with a scoop of banana icecream topping it. Yes, it was gooey, yes it was yummy, and yes, Chris was astonished.

And now... the bill. For this magnificent exhibition of the chef's art, a simple formula is applied. £19 for two courses, £22.50 for three courses. Same price, lunch or dinner. It's a stone-cold bargain, I tell you. House wine is £12.90 a bottle, which, for an establishment that is but a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace in one direction and Victoria Station in another, is very reasonable.

"Bugger!", Chris said, as we left the place. "Now I'm going to have to find an excuse to eat at Bumbles at least once every time I come back to Britain!" Given that he's one of the owners of The Blue Elephant (best Thai place in London, according the the Evening Standard) and La Porte Des Indes (in the top ten best Indian restaurants in Britain, according to the Curry Club), that's high praise indeed.