Frog, London
This was another year of Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately, “daddy” abandoned me for another appointment, however, I thought he had an equally nice evening. The location is precisely at the central London, Convent Garden. We were walking from China Town where we parked cars, while enjoying the busy Christmas Eve when people are either rushing home or finding their dinner places. The restaurant, Frog, inside is small probably like many restaurants in this area. Despite the space between tables being narrow, it gave a nice vibe.
Menu
The first five items in the menu were all canapés. I will ignore as often in my post, because they are usually nice but not memorable. The ‘Cucumber tea’ was the actual first dish. It was cool, fresh and simple-looking. The tea or soup was made from cucumber, and certainly some herbs. The chef drizzled some, if I remember, olive oil to contrast the fresh cucumber taste. Similarly, the small apple cubes in the tea added some strong texture and sweetness.
I like the idea to make something common available such as cucumbers and apples fun and delightful. I could still identify those ingredients but also was surprised by how they could taste differently than usual expectation from supermarkets.
Cucumber tea
Although I prefer ‘tough’ bread, for example, commonly sour dough, I want to particularly mention the brioche. It presented beautifully, first of all. Compared other place, the brioche skin was hard and crispy; it was very handy to tear the bread into small pieces and hold them and spear the butter on top. The skin was crunchy and, as one would expect, the inside was very soft and tasty even without butter.
However, I think they must be eaten immediately, because they tasted less consistent as they cooled down. I guessed that the reason why many restaurants choose hard bread rather soft one or serve small brioches as a bite/plate rather than keeping them until main courses. Yet nevertheless this was such lovely brioche for Christmas Eve.
Parker house bread and butter
The name of ‘Caramelised onion’ was mysterious. It turned out a ravioli. The green base and the black grill pattern on the ravioli looked very appealing. I was surprised there was no meat, if I recall, because the filling was a mix of onion and cheese. I expected a fluid filling when the waiter introduced the plate, but in fact it was quite solid and fulfilling. Although it probably sounds strange, I found the cheese was towards the dry and bitter side which paired well with the sweetness from the onion. Separately, the soup had strong fruity and onion flavour.
Caramelised onion
The main dish was pigeon for the night. I loved the look and also the taste! The plate greatly emphasised two slices of pigeon. The beetroot and truffle side and two large dots of sauce looked attractive but did not overtake the attention. Such visual presentation was a great and subtle work to balance variety and emphasis. I personally often got lost in the main dish presentation styles in many restaurants.
The flavour was also excellent. Pigeon was extremely tender, with liquid sauce to enhance the meat itself. The black truffle sauce and red beetroot sauce added earthy tone, and sweet and fruity tone to the meat. Both were lovely but did not overwhelm the meat flavour; this was a great skill to prepare a red meat dish or any meat. The side is beetroot topped with beetroot and truffle slice. The beetroot base was juicy and fruity. The light sweet and bitter flavours balanced well with the pigeon meat. If I had to complain, the truffle was slightly too strong for beetroot light flavour even the truffle here was already of very light and dry tone.
Pigeon, beetroot and truffle
This was a great Christmas Eve dinner. The restaurant felt cozy yet in a very posh style. The menu was short though it is common in many restaurants in London. I was surprised but also not surprised it was two-star restaurant: all the dishes were looked simple but actually thoughtful, while the losing star is probably on pushing the boundary of food. Nevertheless, this is probably the first European/western restaurant I will recommend in greater London area.
🐼 Score: 4/5
