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Bristol: Les Semailles
I AM well aware that those who live out of London, and prefer to stay out of London, are poorly served by this column. The thing is, most very good restaurants in the country tend to be even more expensive than their London counterparts and have reputations so vaunted that further com- mentary seems hardly justifiable. The dis- covery of a genuine grand restau in the bud is — unsurprisingly — rare.
Les Semailles (Bristol 686456) is just such a thing: a small, thoroughly unpreten- tious room of a restaurant, squashed in the middle of a rather bleak shopping parade, where the cooking is first-rate — not cheap, but not overpriced. There is some- thing very French about the place's unfussy appearance. It's the food that counts. And you can be sure that a none too spectacular-looking restaurant in an under- lit street in the outskirts of Bristol would not survive unless the food was really something. But most people should not need reassuring: after all, Raymond Blanc, in his pre-Manoir days, achieved eminence from a certainly no more prepossessing but in Summer Town.
Rene Gate, chef-proprietor of Les Semailles, who trained with Michel Guerard in France and Raymond Blanc in England, looks set to pick up the kind of accolades his masters have long since been used to receiving. His seasonally changing menu is fairly small — five starters, five main courses and five puddings — but there is not a dud on it. Of the starters, the pomponettes de laitue aux oeufs de caille was probably my favourite, though the poelee de foie de veau aux petites cereales came a close second. Gate has poached the quails' eggs, surrounded each one with a chicken mousseline flavoured with Noilly Prat and curry powder, then added a thin layer of finely sliced butter mushrooms and wrapped them in blanched lettuce leaves, arranging them on a plate dotted with tomato slices and a slightly curried beurre blanc. Main courses gave rich scope for adventurousness — though without loss of credibility.
Gate's approach contains much from the nouvelle cuisine, with its emphasis on contrasting though uncluttered (contrary to popular misconception) flavours, reduc- tions rather than floury or creamy sauces and on artistic presentation, but his food has a robustness that is not altogether orthodox. This is pointed up more in the main courses: succulent noisettes of veni- son arranged round a central scallop mous- seline, with a gorgeously-coloured sauce of reduced fish stock, shallots, mustard seed, raspberry vinegar, beetroot and cream; fillet of beef topped with a crust made out of bone marrow, onion, wholemeal bread- crumbs, Dijon mustard and parsley, served with a red wine sauce thickened with chickens' livers and garnished with a spi- nach gateau and minute apple clafoutis; calves' kidneys baked in a salt crust to prevent them from drying out while cook- ing and, when a point, piled on to a bed of leeks flavoured with parsely and shallots and served with a port sauce with mushrooms and truffle-trimmings; or pan- fried fillet of pork, glazed in honey, sliced and fanned out on a mound of red cabbage that had been soaked in red wine and red wine vinegar then cooked with currants, slices of swede and white vinegar and served with fresh ginger and a caramelised sauce of red wine, coriander (fresh and seed), cinnamon, meat glaze and lemon juice. Not one detail was missed; every plate was a masterpiece — only the pork, I felt, was a bit overscented.
There is a small but well-chosen, well- tended cheeseboard (excellent chevres in particular) and a sumptuous pudding menu. The terrine bicolore — dark bitter chocolate, pale meringue and white choco- late — with its coffee-bean sauce was hard to resist, as was the iced coconut mousse `bathing in' a pineapple sauce. The one mistake, I think, was not to announce their hot orange soufflé earlier so that one could avoid the half-hour wait.
The wine list is mostly on the expensive side, though there's house wine for £5.90 (Sauvignon de Tourraine and Coteaux d'Aix). The 1984 chablis at £10.40 a bottle was wonderful and the 1982 Savigny-les- Beaune (£12.70) delicious too, though I'd have preferred it slightly less chilled.
If you go full whack — three courses, decent wine and dessert wine — expect the bill to be just over £25 a head. Not cheap, but I can't think of anywhere you could eat as well for less, and there's a set lunch, two courses for £7.50, three for £9.50. It's a short taxi ride (or long walk) from British Rail Temple Meads, so try it.
Nigella Lawson
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