L'Autre Pied

A rather fun & crunchy experience

Located in Marylebone just a few blocks behind one my  favourite gallery The Wallace Collection, the Michelin starred L'Auture Pied is sitting along side another Michelin restaurant Trishna and the high profile Roganic on the same street. I didn't really know what to expect when I booked the place, as it is one of the lower profile Michelin restaurant in London and not many bloggers or food critics has written about the restaurant lately. So off I went to see what L'Autre Pied has to offer and it turned out to be pretty enjoyable.

We went for the tasting meal at £49, which was a special offer, and this has to one the best value deal for a Michelin restaurant! Before the meal starts we had some very tasty canapés and bread, the black olive and Parmesan roll has to be best bread I had in 2013 so far, the richness of the cheese and the unique taste of the olive really shine through. It was a perfect match and as usual I had a bit more than I should but the roll was just really well made, as good as the bacon roll at The Ledbury!

 black olive and Parmesan roll

A lovely Amuse Bouche was followed, a creamy cheese mousse with a sea bream and nutty salad on the side, never expected nut to go so well with seafood and it really opened a new dimension of texture. But the real star of the evening was the first course: Ceviche of hand dived scallops, black quinoa, crme fraiches, radishes, fennel and dill. This was a stunning dish, the raw scallops was so sweet and refreshing, while the bitterness of the fennel and distinctive taste of the dill really lifted up the cream fraiches which was very light unlike the usual ones. The radishes gave the dish a touch of fruitiness while the black quinoa really delivered a sour and nutty taste on top to complete an outstanding plate of seafood dish, this ceviche in fact was far superior than the one I had at Lima.

Amuse Bouche

Ceviche of hand dived scallops

Next: Squid Linguini, gremolata, smoked anchovies, pine nuts and dried grapes. This was a fun dish with the squid chopped in to the shape of linguine. Tender and smooth, the squid was top quality but I found it just a tiny bit too salty. The gremolata was packed with Mediterranean herbal flavours, the smoked anchovies added a bold and rich meaty flavour to the dish then the dried grapes balanced it out with the sweet and fruity taste. Again a nutty taste was added using the pine nuts to add a oily and crunchy taste to the finish.

Squid Linguini

This was followed by grapaudine beetroot with St Tola goat's cheese, balsamic and grated belper knolle. This was brilliant vegetarian dish, the sweet and earthy taste of the beetroot was a perfect match with the light and creamy goat cheese. The belper knolle played the crunchy role this time around, the intense flavours of spices combining with the balsamic delivered an explosive taste of richness to the dish, quality.

Grapaudine beetroot

The meat course was the kid goat with glazed aubergine, ras el hannout, wild garlic and sambal. Really enjoy how the chef exploring flavours around the world to create something so unique and refine. The aubergine was cooked to perfection, ras el hanout, sambal plus the garlic gave it a very authentic taste to the goat with the well balanced spices. The kid goat wasn't as tender as I expected to be but really has a nice meaty and moist flavours went really well with the spices and sweetness of the aubergine.

Kid goat with glazed aubergine

To finish off the meal we had two desserts with the first one a sorbet with cream and again using nuts to top it off. It was refreshing and acted as a very good palate cleaner. The 2nd dessert: Pineapple carpaccio with coconut, yoghurt and lime. Very tropical flavours using sweet and sour taste of the fruits. While it was enjoyable, I felt like the desserts was the weakest dishes of the evening as unlike the other dishes, it lacks a bit of imagination to push the desserts to the next level.

Pre dessert

Pineapple carpaccio

It was a very good dinner overall, L'Autre Pied delivered a very interesting experiences using flavours from all over the world to create bold, unexpected combination and ambitious taste which worked brilliantly especially for the seafood courses. It was a lovely meal and totally justifies the money I was paying for, plus service was warm and very professional. This is a place well worth going if you are seeking something fresh and refine in an elegant way. 

Food 3.5/5

Head chef: 
Andy Mcfadden

What I paid: 
£77 per head with 2 glasses of wine

Average cost without drinks and services :
£27.50 lunch menu
£75 tasting menu


5-7 Blandford St, London, W1U 3DB

www.lautrepied.co.uk