I’ve been hearing about Michelin starred Medlar for ages.
It’s tucked away down King’s Road and I must’ve unknowingly passed it a thousand times. It’s the kind of place I casually put on my bucket list somewhere near the bottom with no real sense of urgency, but enough enticement to feel the need to get around to it.
Ya know whadda mean? 

Well, I finally decided to take a date to lunch, a very reasonably priced set menu of 3 courses for £27.
We arrived to a partially full dining room, which grew into a buzzing atmosphere throughout the afternoon.
The interior is elegant without being fussy. The grey walls are decorated by eccentrically busy artwork and obscure light fixtures. The banquettes are a vibrant green with artfully distressed mirrors overhead. Although we were sat in the front dining room, a trip to the bathroom meant passing through the restaurant. There’s a middle section of intimate booths filled with businessmen conducting deals and a naturally lit back room from the skylight overhead decorated by walls painted with the restaurant’s namesake. 

Considering the menu aims to serve seasonal ingredients from the British Aisles and Europe, we were not short for choice. I battled back and forth between the dishes, ensuring there was no overlap in ordering so I’d get a taste of whatever my date decided on.

We placed our order and a bread basket arrived with the choice of sourdough and brown bread. This disappeared far too quickly for me to get a snap, but there’s plenty of other food porn for you to feast your eyes upon.
Having finished round two of the bread basket, I was pleased when our starters arrived.
I cannot say no to bread. 

He ordered the beetroot soup with smoked eel, crème fraîche, croutons, orange zest and cornered garlic flowers. Rich, comforting and delicious. The kind of dish you want to spoon into your mouth whilst curled up on a leather chair by the fireplace.  I went for the thinly sliced veal with tonnato dressing, green beans, pickled shimeji and salted almonds. Inventive flavour combinations with the pickled shimeji mushrooms adding an incredibly balanced, sweet tang to the dish.

For our main course, he ordered rump of lamb with crisp croquettes, asparagus, pied bleu, carrot purée and pommel fondant. This was a lot of food. It was all well cooked, but had more than the necessary amount of ingredients on the plate.

I ordered the gilt-head bream with palourde clams, speck, jersey royals, fresh peas and a nettle and parsley sauce. The dish was beautifully cooked and had great ingredients, but unfortunately, the sauce only tasted of butter. I would’ve loved a citrusy kick rather than a pool of butter. C’est la vie.
For dessert, we shared poached rhubarb with Prosecco and Kaffir lime jelly, mandarin sorbet and pistachios. This one makes your eyes squint and lips purse, in a good way.
I bet your mouth just watered thinking about it.

The cocoa nib panna cotta with Pedro Ximénez, honeycomb and stem ginger biscotti was a tiny bit of a let down, only because I am obsessed with panna cotta. You may have seen my panna cotta recipe here, of which I devoured all by myself. The flavours of Medlar’s panna cotta were good, but the springy, jelly texture that I so enjoy with a panna cotta was instead more of a creamy mousse. There are worse mixups in the dessert world, and it was still very tasty, but I wanted the spring in my step mouth.

I think I’ve told you before, but I’ll tell you again.
I love a petit four.

We nibbled away on lime marshmallows and rich chocolate truffles with Pedro Ximénez as we planned adventures for the rest of our day. 

A new Whole Foods has recently opened in Fulham and seeing as I frequent the store as a home sickness cure, I had to check it out.
The store is lovely, filled with friendly staff and my favourite, samples!

Oh and look what I found!
Isn’t romanesco the coolest looking thing you’ve ever seen?

We then popped into my new favourite store, Nisbets. Have you been here? It’s like kitchen heaven. I skipped down the aisles finding miniature copper pots, darling serving dishes, dream knives and this bad boy. I reckon I could whisk you off your feet with this one!

This was a day of foodie adventure.
5 House Points to anyone that can tell me what a medlar is?
Oh, you’re looking it up on Google…
I guess I’ll give you a couple points for being resourceful. Whilst you’re there, check out Medlar and their well-priced lunch menu, which is available Monday – Friday. Or if you’re in the mood for a more intimate affair, they serve 3 courses for dinner, as well.

Have you had any foodie finds lately? Leave a comment or tweet me here. I’d love to hear about your adventures!