HAVING dealt last week with one of the current grand
battalions of London restau- rants — the Conran empire — it is refresh- ing to turn to two highly individual chefs, each doing his own thing in different parts of town. Perhaps it is not entirely surprising that both are Irish, for individualism and endearing eccentricity have always been notably Irish characteristics, and certainly both Richard Corrigan at Lindsay House and Jonathon Hayes at Chinon demon- strate a refreshingly idiosyncratic approach to menu-building and cooking, as well as a high degree of culinary skill.
Richard Corrigan has led a somewhat peripatetic existence, having been chef at Bentley's fish restaurant in Swallow Street, the Fulham Road restaurant under Steph- en Bull's ownership, where he developed his penchant for cooking offal, and then at the Hackney dog track, which folded just after he got there, and, most recently, at Searcy's Brasserie in the Barbican Centre, where his short, stimulating menus gave a new dimension to post-performance sup- pers. Now Searcy's have set Corrigan up in a place of his own, and the venue is certain- ly attractive. It is a small 18th-century town house in Romilly Street, Soho, entered by ringing the doorbell There is a small din- ing-room on the ground floor, with a room behind it for drinking and waiting, with walls covered in poetic Irish graffiti, then a larger dining-room on the first floor, with another above for private parties. There is a commendable unfussiness about the decor: furniture is simple and lighting good. The staff are young, friendly and well-informed. I went to Lindsay House on a Saturday soon after it opened, with the keen gourmet and financial analyst David Damant, and the place was already running smoothly so that we could enjoy our leisurely dinner in the first-floor room.
Having ordered our meal and a light but agreeable red Marcannay '85 (n6.50), the first arrival was an amuse-bouche which was actually not a penance to eat: a small cup of langoustine bisque over salt cod, potato and onion, which was delicate yet intense and a perfect overture. The menu is set price: £27.50 for two courses, £34.50 for three at dinner, and £16.50 and £19.50 respectively for lunch — not cheap but worth every penny for cooking of this expertise. For his first course Damant chose a daube of mixed game with quince and figs, in this case a complex, rich and intensely flavoured cold terrine, and I had a delicious salad of lobster, potato, pancetta and herbs, generously served, the combination giving a splendid stimulus to the taste-buds. Next Damant ate a roasted sweetbread, served with watercress, excel- lent pommes purées, and oxtail juices, which he found 'stunningly defined — it had that extra one per cent that marks class'. My choice of sauté of hare with pumpkin and ginger was equally rewarding: succulent, well-hung hare, its flavour com- bining brilliantly with the ginger strands and pumpkin. Damant ended with a poached pear attractively complemented by tamarind and a fine pink grapefruit It's really brilliant, wherever Igo the whole family can come with me.' mousse, and I much enjoyed an excellent fig tart, accompanied by gorgeous ginger- bread ice-cream and tobacco syrup: anoth- er exciting combination of flavours. For £90 this was a distinguished and stimulating meal, and Richard Corrigan at Lindsay House deserves every success. The other gifted Irish chef, Jonathon Hayes, operates rather further from the beaten track. He and his partner Barbara Deane, no mean cook herself, own the small, highly attractive Chinon restaurant in the hinterland of Shepherd's Bush, where their prettily decorated, intimate dining-room, with a raised level at the rear, is set in a small parade of shops. It is hard to find, but, as Michelin says, `vaut le voy- age'. Sensibly perhaps in view of the loca- tion, they do dinners only from Monday to Saturday, and offer a remarkably good- value £15 set menu of three courses as well as an interesting a la carte. I dined there with the beautiful ballerina Bryony Brind, now dance director at the Arts Education Schools in Chiswick. Ballet dancers tend to have huge appetites and Bryony did not disappoint me. She launched into a vast and magnificent pyramid of tempura-fried prawns, accompanied by lemon-raisin chut- ney, a dish as generous as it was tasty, and followed that with a massive and well- flavoured fillet of beef, served rare, with potato slices, spinach and wild mushrooms in a mushroom sauce. In both dishes flavours were clearly defined and the food obviously freshly cooked. Undaunted by what had gone before, Bryony much enjoyed a little dessert of 'cloud pie' — pas- sion fruit, cream and bananas enclosed in meringue — before rising from the table as sylph7like as ever.
I chose the set dinner and found much to enjoy there too. I began with a well-made chicken liver terrine, enclosed in bacon and served with exquisite spiced and marinaded figs, before going on to a splendid pot-roast of English lamb — first-class meat — served with a fine assortment of root vegetables, plus delicious chickpeas. Barbara, who had been serving with her usual sparky charm, confessed at this point that the pot-roast was actually her creation. 'Brava!' was my answer to that. I ended with a superb anise mousse garnished with fresh fruit, though I was hard put to finish it. The meal had been planned with great individualism and cooked with much skill, and with it we enjoyed a fine Crozes Hermitage 1994, sensibly priced at £18.50. As well as the £15 meal, a la carte dishes at Chinon are fairly priced, with starters in the £5 to £9 range, main courses around £15, garnished with vegetables, and desserts at £6 or £7. For cooking of such dis- tinction and strong personality Chinon offers great value. A truly civilised evening.
Lindsay House, 21 Romilly Street, London Wl; Tel: 0171 439 0450. Open all week. Chinon, 23 Richmond Way, London W14; Tel: 0171 602 5968. Dinner only, Monday to Saturday.
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