Wormwood

I live in West London, in very leafy and very quiet Holland Park. It is beautiful and I am humbled and grateful every day to be so fortunate to be living in such a great neighbourhood. What it does lack is restaurants and bars. We simply just don’t have them. So I find myself often taking a quick cab (or if the weather is giving me the love, I will actually walk…) to Notting Hill. There are a few spots that have now turned into my locals and my loves. But I am always super excited to come across new ones, especially if they are worthy. Wormwood is such a place. First of all the staff is nice. Like, super nice. The hostess slash waitress is the chef’s wife, and she was not only quite beautiful, but knowledgeable about all the dishes, and incredibly friendly and attentive. The Front of house man, Christophe Cavaille, is coming from the 2 Michelin starred Ledbury down the street, and seemed concerned with every detail, watching the room like an elegant eagle. It feels good to be taken care of, but in an informal laid-back kind of way, not of the white table cloth variety. Even at the end of our dinner the chef, Rabah Ourrad, came out to greet us, personally asking us about our salt request (more on that in a moment), which I found really touching. Who does that these days? Plus the design is really cool. Like “I’m a bohemian DJ” cool, which is, in fact, is the chef’s previous form of employment. Apparently he was one of the front runners of bringing Hip Hop to North Africa. Very impressive. He went on to work at Momo, Sketch, and The Ledbury itself. I was particularly loving the skinny little olive tree at the front entrance, enhancing the charm of the place. Everything felt sort of Spanish-Moorish-Ibiza…even the background music playing softly in the background was some sort of vintage-y Spanish tune. The attention to detail with the dishware was quite smart, all eclectic and colourful little plates and cups. Lovely.

The wine list was a bit on the expensive side, but an extremely interesting variety, eclectic and all from smaller producers. There was even one from Portugal, which we tried, and it was in fact very delicious.

Arriving first was our Amuse Bouche. This was plated in a tiny cup with the first layer being a limoncello mousse of some sort, then a layer of lobster mousse, which had a creamy foie gras like texture and was topped with a gentle pimento paprika sauce and a teeny sprinkling of black olive bits. Quite artful indeed. This was simply stunning, totally unusual and almost odd, but worked so well. I also liked how he put the limoncello at the bottom for a lovely clean finish on your palette- quite intelligent in design. This little gem arrived with a really nice selection of breads- all different varieties, and all very crunchy and fresh and interesting. We decided on five different tapas as the menu was mainly divided up into this type of ordering.

We started with the Squid Croquettes. They arrived in these tiny little perfectly round crispy balls that were soft and bursting with black squid ink when you put it into your mouth. It was not only delicious, but also quite sexy. There were cute little squid rings placed sweetly on top of each ball and there was lovely delicate mayonnaise sauce to compliment the heaviness of the ink. It felt and tasted restrained and sophisticated. Also, very inventive and appealing to the eye. My only complaint is that it was quite under seasoned and quite small…and sadly this trend continued…

Next we tried the Scallop Ceviche. This dish was bright and tangy, with crushed seasonal lingon berries creating a jammy limey burst of flavour in your mouth. However, the portion on this dish was disturbingly small, and contained one lonely scallop sliced thin (I know because I recently made a scallop ceviche myself with two and it was barely enough). I loved the flavours and the balance, but I was really shocked about the size.

Next arriving was the Octopus. It was super soft, melting on your tongue- as the way it should be, but somehow in the UK barely ever is. It was paired with a grapefruit potato sauce with tiny flecks of octopus strewn into it. Elegant and delicate and rich simultaneously. Sadly, there was about half a tentacle. I am a small person and I dont eat very much. But I really thought genuinely this was a little silly. And it was such a shame because it was so wonderful.

Next we tried the Lobster Couscous. We asked our server if there were actual bits of lobster in the dish, as we weren’t really all that interested in the couscous. She told us pretty adamantly that there was definitely big chunks of lobster in it. The dish arrived and there were three miniscule pieces of lobster on the dish- barely a teaspoon in size…and a huge mound of soggy couscous (not the fluffy Moorish kind I am used to, perhaps this was a different variety, but certainly not a better one?), which lacked in seasoning and flavour to be frank. There were some almonds for texture, but it was screaming for some herbs and salt in the least. The bisque was a thick creamy velvety lobster soup (great texture), which was also very under seasoned, and also had such a weak taste of lobster; I was confused we had possibly ordered the wrong thing at first. This dish really disappointed us and although has a chance of success, (by maybe adding more protein and less couscous and bisque?) the seasoning here was just non-existent. I understand restrain…but it was taken a little far here…

Then came the Sea Bass…possibly the smallest serving of sea bass I have ever seen? But so delicious! It was accompanied by a variety of cauliflowers, which was simply sublime, both in flavour and on the plate.

(My portion of the Sea bass as we were sharing plates…)

My date was still hungry so we decided we would try the Cod. I have to say, the portion the cod was perfect. My date was extremely pleased. The flavours were, again, very delicate and soft. There was a creamy side of lemon peel and cheese potato, which was superb, and the cod expertly cooked. There beautiful faery wing discs of fried skin (?) enveloping the cod. My one and only complaint? Please, some seasoning…but I was glad we finished with this gorgeous dish.

We skipped dessert, but ordered two espressos as I always do. The espresso came in these really smartly designed clear cups that keeps the coffee very hot whilst your fingers are not. AND the coffee was superb. Very impressed. We even told the chef (we were drinking it when he walked by) and he told us the secret is to grind the beans on the spot and he has a special machine for this very reason- must say two extra points for that machine. Great finish. All the food was impressively delicate beautifully cooked, whilst remaining approachable and extremely interesting. I had a very good experience here and I will come back. Often. I loved the vibe, the beautiful artistic food…the cool chef and his partner…the whole way they are set up. But maybe I’ll just have to ask for some salt on the side and hopefully just hopefully the fish dishes will get a teeny bit bigger… I am really pleased to find a new favourite spot in Notting Hill and I highly recommend you check this out before the crowd on Portobello road here the news…