Picking a fresh Quince in Mayfair

With some telly time and a couple of pretty decent cookery books under her belt, Silvena Rowe has been talking about opening her own restaurant for several years. At the beginning of August she finally got her wish, as she opened Quince which you’ll find in the “Langan’s” end of  the May Fair Hotel. This is a hotel with a strange aura that combines chav-glossy with expensive and a clientele that provokes reviewers to talk of WAGS and the “bridge and tunnel” crowd. It is brave of such a hotel to take on a restaurant with innovative ideas and it is just as brave for any chef to take on the challenge of working within such a hotel.

Quince’s dining room is a hotel dining room and if you take an early lunch you will be hard on the heels of all the May Fair residents tucking into a Full English. Sure, everything works, the dining room looks O.K., the service is friendly and attentive and there’s an open kitchen so that you can watch the brigade beavering away.

Despite everyone’s efforts (and by that I mean both the Quince PR machine and fellow critics) the food here remains resolutely un-pigeon-holeable.  Before Quince opened my only encounter with Silvena’s cooking was at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador where various elite sakes were teamed with some astonishingly good modern Japanese dishes ranging from sashimi to grilled pork. Ms Rowe is a talented cook, and surprisingly fluent in the grammar of cuisines that are not her own. At Quince the menu meanders from quasi Middle Eastern dishes to grilled meats and fish dishes. Sauces may be inspired by Turkish cooking or North African delicacies. But it is unlikely that anybody insisting on a straight line of provenance will be comfortable here.

Take the dishes on their merits. A starter, well a dip actually, made from lightly smoked aubergine with tahini and pomegranate is implausibly light and a pale cream colour. It’s very subtle and very good. Borek cigars are sound although making them from lamb and spinach rather than cheese means they lean to the dry side. Crispy fried baby squid has a good kick of spice, Aleppo chilli, and the accompanying quince aioli is very good. The lamb chops are very tender. The belly pork, (roast and then cut into cubes before drenching in blueberry and coriander molasses and a second cooking) are crisp outside and juicy within. From the sides the steamed rice pilaff is very fluffy and aromatic. There is one shocking item: “45 day aged Cote de Boeuf –for two 900g- with oregano and black sesame za’atar” This is a huge cow chop, it has been tickled along sous-vide for 90 minutes or so before getting a final blast under the grill. It arrives at table on a board where it is carved with the grain French style. These delicate, pink, slices of meat are very delicious and even better than that when dusted with the “za’atar” salt. Ms Rowe is somewhat obsessed with spice mixes and the kitchen uses a desiccator to turn all manner of fresh herbs into dried. They make mint salt; oregano salt; and cumin salt as well as the magnificent za’atar salt.

The Quince “Supper Club” will be starting this autumn, available at lunch and dinner on the second Thursday of each month (best check, plans are still at fledgling stage) a modest payment of £30 will get you a large mezze starter and then a profusion of skewers and shwarma. It will be a good way to explore the menu, as otherwise you are in for Mayfair prices. Small dishes (£6.50 to £9.50); “Quince” dishes (£8.50 to £21); Grills (£14.50 to £29); Salads (£12.50 to £16.50); Sides (all £4.50). Mayfair prices in Mayfair – what will they think of next?

Quince at The May Fair, Stratton Street, London W1J 8LT (020 7915 3892  www.quincelondon.com)

Silvena Rowe’s Books