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Point Revolving Restaurant, Wrest Point Hotel

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Ferran Adria's El Bulli restaurant in Spain has, for three consecutive years, been acclaimed as the world's best. His molecular-gastronomic style of warm gels, emulsions, bubbles, savoury ice-creams, liquid parfaits, fruit and vegetable crumbs, confettis and caviars have come to define cutting edge, contemporary food. Luke Stepsys, the Point's young chef, is one of the more mature interpreters of the Ferran style, unlike many others foregoing such sure-fire ingredients as foie gras, caviar and truffles, to deconstruct the classics and present their elements in eye-and-palate-popping, reconstructed form.

Caponata with fish, for example, is as old as Sicily itself. But I doubt the two have been more artfully combined and presented, or tasted better than here. Likewise, Stepsys' re-interpretation of an oxtail pot au feu, which surprises and delights in its meticulously crafted intricacy and juxtaposition of flavour and form. A silky sliver of ocean trout is accompanied by jellied beetroot essence rolled cannelloni-style and filled with goat cheese and a frozen tube of cucumber sorbet. Sous-vide duck might come with a liquorice “meringue” and an orange, date and pumpkin seed salad - the salad alone is worth a visit. Frozen yoghurt with candied fennel and mandarin linguini presents as a technically stunning, palate-cleansing dessert. And so it goes, in the familiar entree, main and dessert a la carte menu or, with prior advice, in a however-many-courses-you'd-like degustation menu.

Graeme Phillips, June 2008