Restaurant review: Medlar, 438 Kings Road, Chelsea

I had already given my own speech, and had now come to listen to his boss, who is an acquaintance of mine. 

We chatted, and sooner or later the conversation turned to restaurants – as it often does with me.

He was very quick to suggest that I try a restaurant that his friend had opened not too long ago in Chelsea – called Medlar. 

He raved about it, so I made a mental note to try it. More recently, a young automobile entrepreneur, who is a member of my little informal London weekend dining club, again suggested Medlar, and told me that it had gotten a star.

I truly admit I am a sucker for stars, so we went there for a big Sunday lunch. 

As there were five of us, we did our favourite thing – we ordered almost everything on the menu – and each of us tasted each dish. 

It was a bit of a production, as we had to split the dishes into fifths, so that each of us had essentially a big bite of everything. 

It was also a bit messy, but lots of fun - and the food was fabulous. 

Medlar is an un-fancy, quiet restaurant, way down west on the Kings Road, and on this particular Sunday all the tables were filled – mostly with couples and families having a traditional Sunday lunch. So we did too. 

Because we ate everything – almost – I will have to choose our favourites, or this column will go on forever – so here goes.

For starters, we loved the pickled silver darlings (which are herrings) with marinated tomatoes, tapenade, fennel, sea aster and borage flowers. 

The plate looked truly “darling”, and went perfectly with the Mediterranean tastes of tapenade and tomatoes – and the best thing about it was that it was different. 

I had never seen anything like it on any menu, and I am always looking for innovations as appetizers are where innovation often happens.  
 
More familiar, but just as wonderful, was the fois gras and rabbit terrine, with green beans, cobnuts, prunes and toasted brioche. 

The fois gras was definitely in evidence, rather than a mere hint, as is often the case. We also loved the duck egg tart with red wine sauce, turnip puree, lardons and sautéed duck heart. 

So must many other customers – since the owner proudly told us that this interesting and flavourful combination had been on the menu since the restaurant had opened a few years ago.

Soon enough – having hoovered up all the delicious delicacies that were sitting in the middle of the table to be shared – we went on to the mains.  We should have had five different plates – but I must confess we had even more, because we could not leave out the last offering, so we said it was for an absent friend and ordered the sixth one too. 

Describing only three is going to be difficult.  Usually, I find that main courses are relatively boring and ordinary compared to the creativity that is evidenced in appetizers. 

In fact I sometimes just order two or three appetizers, and skip the main course entirely so as not to waste calories. 

Not so here – the roast monkfish with confit cheek, aubergine caviar, broccoli, anchovy and almond dressing was luscious and lovely to look at as well. 

After this light delicious fish, we were ready for more hearty meat, so we ordered the under blade fillet with cafe de Paris snails, served with triple-cooked chips and béarnaise sauce. 

This was a wonderful steak, thinly sliced and- perfectly rare and yummy, with snails as an unusual and welcome accompaniment. 

The standout, however, was middle white pork fillet and cheek with salsa verde, celeriac puree, baby carrots and wet garlic. 

All of these fabulous, fresh, ingredients made it a most unusual and spectacular dish, and the five of us clearly all voted it our favourite. 

Then, however, came the best part – dessert. As always, I waited with anticipation for a panoply of sensational sins. 

Happily, I was not disappointed.  Although not a huge fan of chocolate on its own, when it is made into a chocolate tart with salted caramel and praline parfait, my love of caramel and the delicious blending of these fabulous tastes made this the winner. 

It was, however, a difficult choice, as the cherry financier with milk ice cream and pine nut butter was a clear, close second.

In all, this was a splendid place for Sunday lunch – we felt very well looked after, never rushed, and the service was excellent, even though the restaurant was full the whole time. 

Obviously lots of the people know a good thing when they see it – or, in this case, “eat it.” 

As an added bonus, remember this was Sunday, and it is very hard to find an interesting place to take guests on Sunday.  From now on Medlar will be a first choice destination.