Top 10 restaurants of 2013 (part II)

The Five Fields

Part two of my top 10 restaurants of 2013 round up kicks off with this Chelsea hidden gem. Named after the 18th century term for the expanse of land taking in Chelsea, Pimlico and Belgravia punctuated by five large meadows used by duelists to settle disputes, The Five Fields is headed up by the jovial sounding Taylor Bonnyman, who grows large number of the restaurants' ingredients, including vegetables and herbs, in a garden in East Sussex. With a focus on modern British cooking using seasonal ingredients, there's a sense of occasion when you walk into The Five Fields' tiny dining room. Seating 40 and offering two tasting menus, the restaurant runs just one dinner service per night. 

Bonnyman is sweet on the idea of temperature and texture play, treating his dishes like works of edible theatre that aim to surprise and delight. After many an amuse bouche, the feast began in earnest with signature starter Rock Pool; an elaborate performance of four acts: oyster tartare, crab, langoustine and squid, served in futuristic vessels, which made them seem like the edible findings of some space mission. 

"Foie Gras" meanwhile, paid homage to Heston Blumenthal's indecently delicious Meat Fruit dish at Dinner. A tiny glistening globe topped with gold leaf, the outer shield was beetroot in colour and cherry in taste, housing a creamy dome of foie given added interest by an edible garden of flowers and dolls house-sized veg in a charming ensemble that wouldn't look out of place at the Chelsea Flower Show. 

Brasserie Chavot

Revered French chef Eric Chavot is the latest to saunter onto the brasserie bandwagon in London with his eponymous Brasserie Chavot housed within The Westbury hotel in Mayfair where the focus is firmly on rustic, regional French dishes – signature dish snails Bourguignon is given top billing. The long, elegant space is prettified with glinting chandeliers, soaring Corinthian columns and blood red banquettes that give the brasserie a decidedly French feel. Serving up classic French fare in classy, convivial surroundings, Chavot has done what Heston Blumenthal did before him at Dinner – created a destination restaurant independent of the hotel it inhabits. 

Brasserie Chavot serves what I deem to be the best steak tartare in London. Neatly spooned into a clear dish, a soft boiled duck egg rested suggestively on top, its sunshine yellow yolk spewing onto the raw meat beneath, which was vivifying in its freshness and enlivened by the addition of aerating mustard and salty capers flecked throughout into a creamy and indulgent ensemble so satisfying, I was tempted to order a Le Creuset full of the stuff and call it a night. Craving a little bit on the side, no visit to Chavot is complete without experiencing the French fries, if only for the way they are served; lovingly wrapped in the pages of Le Figaro. 

Hawksmoor Air Street 

Hawksmoor Air Street purports to serve the best lobsters in London – a bold claim for a steakhouse chain that has hung its reputation on its well hung beef. The assertion comes due to a collaboration with fish maestro Mitch Tonks of The Seahorse in Dartmouth. Air Street is a behemoth, and yet somehow, the long and winding space is intimate. 

The ceiling is low, the floor parquet and the volume loud. Framing the emerald green booths are stunning semicircular Art Deco windows that both usher in the light and happily distort the view out onto Regent Street, their centres glinting with jade glass. There's a sense of grandeur about the space; I can imaging Poirot playing with his moustache and plotting his next move in one of the emerald booths.

I begin drooling in anticipation at the sight of my Dartmouth lobster's plump pink pincers and the accompanying butter boat. Trying the flesh naked at first to get the measure of it unadorned, reader, it was a thing of beauty. The meat was of such heavenly texture and rich flavour it reaffirmed my love of lobster, which had, until that point, diminished into a mere flicker of interest. When paired with the molten butter sauce it entered a new level of divinity. Juicy, sweet and soft, it was like munching on an angel's forearm.

A tough act to follow, my 300g fillet steak put in a fine performance, its charred flesh glistening with promise and boasting an indecently pink interior. With the smoky memory of charcoal lingering, the flesh was salty, juicy and tender. Sullying its purity felt criminal, but I decided to hold a taste off with generously filled boats of anchovy and Stilton hollandaise; the former triumphed. It's indescribably good – Guardian critic Jay Rayner has talked of his desire to while away an afternoon in a hotel room with a boat of it and a consenting adult.

Launceston Place  

Launceston Place in Kensington is best known for being Princess Diana's favourite restaurant. Tuked away in a pretty townhouse on a quiet side street far from the madding crown, its easy to see why it would have appealed to Diana. Its sprawling setting is all secret staircases and cosy connecting rooms. There's something very homely about the space, as if you're dining at a wealthy aunt's house rather than a Michelin-starred restaurant, an accolade gained last year mere months after head chef Tim Allen began steering the ship.

Specialising in refined French cuisine with a British twist, plates at Launceston Place show exquisite attention to detail. My starter; hen's egg with girolles, peas, Pata Negra lardo and duck fat toast was an elaborate dish full of twists and turns both in appearance and taste, from the gossamer-thin, melt-in-the-mouth lardo to the pleasing crunch of the soldier-shaped duck fat toast balancing on the hen's egg like a seesaw, via the earthy girolles swimming in a pea purée pond.

The main event – veal three ways, served as an ode to the calf from which it came. All three pieces of the puzzle arrived glistening, as if freshly varnished. Each of the trio has its charm and showed off the flavour arc veal can achieve, from the silky and tender sweetbread, which was just the right side of rich, to the perfectly pink, juicy loin through to the deeply-flavoured cheek, the shards of which fell onto the fork without a fight. 

The Pig 

Befitting of an establishment with a porcine name, staff at The Pig in Hampshire sport pale pink shirts. Opening in a 17th century hunting lodge in the heart of the New Forest National Park in 2011, The Pig takes local to another level. The hotel's 70-cover, vine-clad restaurant hogs the limelight at The Pig. Filled with mismatched furniture and cutlery, the Victorian greenhouse serves as a stage for Dorset-born head chef James Golding, who, wherever he can, uses ingredients grown in the hotel's walled back garden. The menu changes hourly depending on what Golding unearthed from the garden that morning. 

Among the dishes on the menu during my visit in early may were "Brock eggs", Golding's take on Scotch eggs made using local Brockenhurst quail eggs; crispy pork belly and spiced honey; home smoked salmon (smoked with a blend of local honey, white pepper, lemon, sea salt and oak); garden fritters and smoked chili mayo; fennel roasted filled of Hampshire pork; New Forest pigeon and roast beetroot salad; and roast rump of Hampshire lamb. 

Desserts meanwhile, include local cheeses and Bramley apple Eve's pudding with caramel sauce. At breakfast, guests can choose from seven kinds of egg from the different breeds of chicken kept on the farm, including a pale blue variety laid by the hotel's Cream Legbar hens. 

Top 10 restaurants of 2013 (part I)

If 2012 was the year of the steakhouse in London, 2013 will be remembered as the year of the brasserie, with seasoned French chef Eric Chavot scooping a Michelin star mere months after opening his eponymous Brasserie Chavot in Mayfair and Bethnal Green-born father of five Keith McNally upping sticks from New York to open the hotly anticipated London outpost of his hugely successful and oft star-studded brasserie Balthazar in Covent Garden, where diners have been going wild for his lobster and truffle risotto. 

Last year also saw London strengthen its claim as the culinary capital of the world. In addition to McNally, two other top international names opened their first London outposts in 2013: self-styled "Demon Chef" Alvin Leung and father-and-daughter duo Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, but more of them later. Despite finally emerging from five years of recession, the capital continued to embrace the casual dining movement, with "no choice" restaurants like Tramshed in Shoreditch and Burger & Lobster thriving – it's just opened its fifth site on the fifth floor of Harvey Nichols, proving that casual and chic needn't be mutually exclusive.

With the pace of new openings in the capital at an all-time high, Londoners were spoilt for choice for exciting new places to explore last year. A few high profile openings like Restaurant Story, Gymkhana and Berners Tavern remain on my wish list, but, as has become customary, read on for my top 10 restaurants of 2013. Unsurprisingly, eight of them are in London, one in the wilds of the English countryside and one in Paris. I've listed them in alphabetical order. Bon appétit!

L'Abeille

Named in honour of Napoleon's favourite emblem (the bee), the 40-cover, two Michelin-starred L'Abellie at the jaw-droppingly beautiful Shangri-La hotel in Paris, is small in size but lofty in ambition. Decorated in hushed grey tones with splashes of yellow adding flashes of life, the space is so small and welcoming it feels like you're dining in a rich relative's front room overlooking a flower-filled landscape garden in full bloom. Head chef Philippe Labbé's signature attention to detail is evident in every dish, from amuse bouche to teddy bear-shaped petit fours. His cooking is playful, marrying flavours as if plucking names from a hat, like langoustine and raspberry, that shouldn't work but do, creating a vivid edible experience. 

Highlights of a magnificent meal at L'Abeille during an idyllic stay at the hotel last September, included the aforementioned langoustine tartare with verbena oil, fresh raspberries and raspberry vinegar. The sweetness of the plump, juicy scampi was offset wonderfully by the sharpness of the raspberries and the citrus tang of the lemon verbena, the flavours pirouetting across the palate like one of Degas' ballerinas. Labbé's legendary mille-feuille meanwhile, was the stuff of childhood dreams. Shaped like a stretched out accordion and topped with edible gold, the pastry tasted like a freshly toasted waffle. 

Ametsa with Arzak Instruction 

Last April, father-and-daughter duo Juan Mari and Elena Arzak opened their first franchise outside of Spain – Ametsa, a sister site to the three Michelin-starred Arzak in San Sebastian, at The Halkin hotel in Belgravia. Thousands of spice-filled test tubes hang precariously from the ceiling like some frantic experiment to preserve the sands of time. Rooted in the traditions of New Basque cuisine, Ametsa, which means "dream" in Basque, prides itself on working with locally sourced ingredients, and, in homage to Arzak, dishes are modern in execution, offering diners painterly plates brightened by the use of edible flowers. 

A night in its clutches takes you on a dizzying journey of tastes and textures, from crispy scorpion fishcakes encased in an intricately-weaved pastry nest, to king prawns and sunshine yellow sweet corn nestled beneath a mad mass of fried noodles that looks like Juan Mari's overactive brain on a plate. A tiny portion of pink pigeon meanwhile, was poetic in its perfection and served with silver stones that exploded in the mouth, coating it with balsamic vinegar. Each dish on the tasting menu is paired with a different Spanish wine taking in saline Sherries from the south and steely whites from the rain-soaked north.

Bo London 

Self-styled "Demon Chef" Alvin Leung landed in London in no uncertain terms last year via his envelope-pushing Bo London in Mayfair, which scooped a Michelin star soon after opening. A sister to his two Michelin-starred Bo Innovation in Hong Kong, a night at Bo takes diners down the rabbit hole with edible theatrics served around the framework of two main tasting menus; the 14-course chef's special and slightly more modest 12-course "Ode to Great Britain" menu, which tips its hat to Brixton-born Leung's homeland. This is food that commands a Buddhist monk's concentration levels. 

My memorable meal at Bo early last year had many a highlight, from the morbid sounding Dead Garden formed from emulsified avocado and green onion in a soil bed of powdered morels punctuated by sprouting stalks of enoki, to Bed & Breakfast (pictured) crafted from a smoked quail egg wrapped in a crispy taro next crowned with a generous dollop of oscietra caviar and glinting flecks of gold leaf. 

A canapé fit for Catherine the Great, what it lacked in size it made up for in flavour, exploding in the mouth in a thrilling burst of salty caviar, gooey yolk and crispy nest. "Cloud" meanwhile, poked fun at the dismal British weather, formed of tiny squares of mackerel hidden under a grey cloud of black sesame, ponzu and ginger served atop a silver bowl billowing with rose-scented dry ice.

Coya 

A cavernous temple to tiraditos and anticuchos brightening up the desolate end of Piccadilly near Hyde Park Corner, Arjun Waney's Coya flies the flag for Peru along with the now Michelin-starred Lima London and Martin Morales' Ceviche in Soho. The 100-seater restaurant is cleverly partitioned to give the illusion of intimacy. Mustard velvet chairs and mint green shutters bring warmth to dove grey stone walls, one of which is framed by a giant purple door that appears like a gateway to some ancient Incan kingdom. 

Focused around sharing plates, among the highlights of my plentiful Peruvian feast were moreish chicken wings smothered in spiced salt and tamarind glaze and crispy prawns in a piquant aji limo dipping sauce. Swimming in an orange aji limo sea dotted with sprigs of coriander, shimmering scallops (pictured) were cut into paper-thin, pearl white slithers.

The apogee of the meal came in the form of a simple sea bream ceviche, the fish cut into lime-drenched cubes and floating in a tiger's milk broth with amarillo chili, crispy corn and coriander. A beautifully balanced composition, from the fiery chili to the cooling lime, meaty bream and textured corn, it was like showering under a lime juice waterfall while munching on a mouthful of chili. 

Duck & Waffle

Housed on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, on arrival at Duck & Waffle, a doorman ushers you into a Willy Wonka-like great glass elevator that whizzes you up at giddying speed, forcing London's concrete labyrinth to unfold in front of you like a pop-up book. Everything from St Paul's to Tower Bridge is brought into sharp focus in the most heart-stopping and life-affirming way. Once inside, floor-to-ceiling windows make the view the star of the show. Open 24/7, the British and modern European menu devised by heavily inked head chef Daniel Doherty focuses around sharing plates including the likes of crispy pig's ears with a spicy barbeque coating recalling bacon Frazzles.

Dishes are comforting and decadent. A giant, sugar-coated spicy ox cheek doughnut looks like an ostrich Scotch egg, its paprika-laced russet shell revealing a fluffy interior generously stuffed with tender beef cheek. Doherty is not shy of bold flavours that whack you around the chops with punchy combinations, such as those found in his signature Duck & Waffle dish featuring a fried duck egg balancing sunny side up on top of a hefty, crispy-skinned confit duck leg perched on a pair of fluffy waffles. Served with mustard maple syrup, it's ideal for assuaging killer hangovers at breakfast time. 

Part two of my top 10 restaurants of 2013 round up to follow later this week...

Video interview with Sam Neill

Back in September, I was lucky enough to interview irreverent actor Sam Neill about his vineyard venture – Two Paddocks in Central Otago, New Zealand, his love of 'heartbreaking' Pinot Noir, the similarities between filmmaking and winemaking, and drinking La Tâche on a desert island with Stephen Fry. Below are the edited highlights of the interview, filmed in the petting room of Quo Vadis in Soho.

It's hip to be square

Proving it’s hip to be square, California wine producer Truett-Hurst has launched a wine range housed in square bottles. Dubbed California Square, the trio’s packaging was designed by the irreverent Kevin Shaw of forward thinking drinks packaging design firm Stranger & Stranger.

The design’s square shape, retro graphics and screen printed label hark back to old spirits bottles. The three-strong range comprises a 2012 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, a 2012 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2012 Paso Robles red blend made from Petite Sirah, Syrah, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and Merlot.

Each of the wines were made by Truett-Hurst’s chief winemaker, Virginia Marie Lambrix. Based in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, Lambrix is hoping consumers will reuse the quirky bottles as vases, candle holders and olive oil containers. "Introducing alternative packaging onto the market is tricky – the wine inside has to over deliver and create a memorable impression for the consumer,” she said.

California Square made its debut last month at the 65th Annual Emmy Awards attended by the likes of Sex and the City star, Chris Noth, who played Mr Big in the HBO show. The wines have an RRP of US$19.99 and have gone on sale on TotalWine.com.

Scratch and sniff wine book proves an Amazon hit

In what looks set to be the ideal stocking filler for amateur wine lovers, Master Sommelier Richard Betts has released a scratch and sniff wine book that aims to make wine easier to understand for novices. Nearly five years in the making, the first run of The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton, has sold out on Amazon.

“People are hungry to be included in this conversation,” Betts told the Daily Camera, admitting that wine is sometimes viewed as the domain of “fusty old guys.” The book features 16 different scents found in red and white wine, divided up into three key aroma categories: fruit, wood and earth. At the back of the tome is a fold out aroma wheel, which breaks down wines by grape, region and style.

Scratch and sniff circles help the reader to distinguish between red and black fruit aromas in red wines and stone fruit versus more exotic fruit in white wines. The tome also explains concepts such as terroir and the use of oak, and explores more unusual smells found in wine from butter and flowers to grass and bacon.

US-born Betts came up with the idea while on a ski trip with a friend in which wine played a key role. Turning the book from an idea into a reality took four-and-a-half years, with Betts finally finding a publisher in Ohio willing to take a punt on it.

Wine for cats launched in Japan

In news that will tickle pussy lovers pink, Japanese pet food maker B&H Lives has launched a wine for cats. Nyan Nyan Nouveau (“Meow Nouveau”) doesn’t contain any alcohol and is made with the juice of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It also contains traces of catnip and vitamin C.

The wine was created after requests from pet owners for a drink their furry friends can enjoy on special occasions like Christmas and birthdays. The name is a hat-tip to Beaujolais Nouveau, released the third Thursday in November, as Japan is the world’s second largest consumer of the wine after Germany. 

In addition to Nyan Nyan Nouveau, the company also produces Wan Wan Beer (Woof Woof Beer) for dogs. Nyan Nyan Nouveau costs 399 yen (£2.50) for a 180ml bottle. Bottles are closed with a red screwcap and feature a cartoon black cat head on  the label. Miaow!

Zaha Hadid has designs on wine

In an interesting marriage of wine and design, Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid has designed a bespoke wine bottle for Austrian producer Leo Hillinger. The limited-edition was created by the architect for Hillinger’s Icon Hill 2009, of which just 999 bottles were made.

Known for her curvaceous structures, the bottle’s elongated form is inspired by the shape of a drop of wine. "A continuous spatial curve was projected onto the bottle's surface, defining areas for the concave indentation and suggesting the waves created when droplets break a liquid's surface,” Hadid said on her website.

The concave indentation and the bottle's surface have the same curvature, enabling a set of bottles to interlock. A dimple in the base meanwhile, provides a thumb hold for pouring. Both the bottle and its packaging seem to take cues from the world of fragrance.

While this is Hadid’s first wine bottle design, it’s not her wine world debut ­– in 2006 she completed a five-year design project for a wine shop and tasting room for renowned Rioja producer López de Heredia. Last year, Hadid was made a Dame for her services to architecture.