Menuwatch: Albannach

07 April 2005 by
Menuwatch: Albannach

If you took away the ubiquitous Aberdeen Angus Steakhouses - which isn't likely to happen as long as there are US tourists in London - there wouldn't be even a trace of Scotland left in the capital's restaurants. It's not as if those ventures can claim much in the way of Scottish heritage anyway, apart from an association with the finest beef cow in the world. It seems that while we have every other cuisine on the planet, we haven't welcomed Scottish.

This is all very strange considering Scotland has one of the finest natural stocks of food in the world. Maybe it's because London chefs are the keenest of culinary magpies and have already plundered that particular
larder for their own French-influenced modern British ends. Or maybe it's because Sassenachs have just never really warmed to haggis.

Well, now we have our chance, thanks to Albannach (built, ironically, on the site of a former AA Steakhouse) which not only has Scottish salmon, beef from the Buccleuch estate (worth the visit alone) and venison from the borders, but also Arbroath smokies, cullen skink and cranachan, possibly the most incredibly filling yet moreish pudding ever. On Burns night earlier this year it also had the most expensive haggis ever made, injected as it was with a £12,000 bottle of whisky.

"Scotland has the best ingredients in the UK, but it's not appreciated," says 32-year-old Glasgow-born head chef John Paul McLachan, who has worked for Gordon Ramsay at Amaryllis and with Martin Wishart. "I'm trying to put us on the map in London."

Ingredients like the Arbroath smokies - one of the most recent foods in the UK to be given European protected status - are transformed from their workaday haddock status into something more befitting the restaurant's Trafalgar Square address. "I take the flesh off the smokies and make sure there aren't any bones," says McLachan. "I then confit potatoes in duck fat - then make an emulsion with chicken stock, butter and herbs to make it all stick together with the smokies. It's fancy fish and chips."

Certainly McLachan has a formal style of presentation, which he says he learnt from Ramsay: "It's about attention to detail - that's what Gordon taught me." Also to help keep up the balance of luxury on the list of six starters there's a terrine of foie gras. "I love foie gras, and this being Trafalgar Square you know that a lot of people will buy it," says McLachan.

Certainly this is no themed basement dive in Bloomsbury. The smart mezzanine-level restaurant overlooks a spacious and demure bar area. The only hints of Scottish identity besides the menu - and the list of more than 100 malt whiskies - are a striking chandelier knitted from antlers and more antler lamps fencing the room. There's also a breathtaking stag sculpture in the warren-like basement, which owners Niall Barnes and Dan Sullam are hoping will attract a slightly younger, after-work crowd. "We don't just want high-flying types," stresses McLachan.

The restaurant serves two courses for £25 at night and three for £30, dropping down slightly at lunch with individually priced items. Average spend is just under £50. There's also a lighter bar menu downstairs.

On the mains, the Buccleuch fillet stands out, hung for 22 days to give a very dark meat and almost tender enough to eat without a knife. McLachan seals it in vegetable oil then adds butter and some garlic and rosemary. After cooking it rests for 10 minutes. More French-inspired dishes include a thyme-poached supreme of guinea fowl with slow-roasted lentils de Puy, asparagus and truffle sauce.

Puddings include rum panna cotta with caramelised rhubarb and sabayon gratin or a Scotch tarte tatin, but the one to plump for is cranachan. This traditional Scottish pudding, which could easily hold its chin up high as a breakfast, is made by layering double cream, oatmeal, heather honey, vanilla, whisky and plenty of winter berries in a tall glass - and has you feverishly scraping your way to the bottom. It could be all the welcome Londoners need.

Albannach, 66 Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DS. Tel: 020 7930 0066.

BOXHEAD: menus of the quarter

BOXTEXT: The three winning menus for the November 2004 to February 2005 quarter are La Riviera restaurant, Glenmoriston Town House hotel, Inverness; Right on the Green, Tunbridge Wells, Kent; and the Farm, Fulham, London. All three go through to the shortlist for the 2005 Menu of the Year Catey sponsored by Quorn.

What's on the menu
Two courses for £25, three courses for £30

  • Hand-caught roasted scallops with fennel purée
  • Ravioli of wild mushroom, roasted cèpes with borlotti bean cappuccino
  • Salad of asparagus, pickled artichokes and quails' eggs
  • Spiced Skye monkfish tail, mussel and saffron vegetable broth
  • Pan-fried Scottish salmon, confit Savoy cabbage, baby leeks, garden herb cream sauce
  • Braised loin of venison, pommes purée, caramelised shallots, game jus
  • Anis parfait, raspberry coulis, raspberry sorbet
  • Selection of Scottish farmhouse cheeses, quince jelly and Arran oaties

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 07 April 2005

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