His presence behind the stove at Isola marks his return to the kitchen
His presence behind the stove at Isola marks his return to the kitchen. All pounds 4m of refurb and two-and-a-half years of sweat for Oliver Peyton sit discreetly next to the venerable Chinese restaurant Mr Chow. I am as much a fan of Mr Peyton’s approach to feeding the capital as I am of Bruno Loubet’s cooking. Together they make, in theory at any rate, a dream team of clear-sighted and unconventional wisdom. Both could be said to enjoy an experiment, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
Two years ago Loubet hung up his apron to become executive chef of the group which includes the Atlantic Bar and Grill, Coast and Mash. Despite its dramatic facade, I had driven past Isola several times without actually noticing it. Situated at Scotch Corner in Knightsbridge, it is in hot competition with the tartans of the great and the good, narrowly upstaged by Kookai’s in-yer-face billboard of a girl having her bikini-line shaved by a lawnmower. In summer, grilled seafood is served Caribbean-style in a cafe on the beach.. Cooking is impressive – complex, modern French with Scottish flavours shining through: wild rabbit and courgette timbale with Bresse pigeon and spring turnips; guinea fowl with artichokes, St Georges mushrooms, and salsify confit. Dinner is pounds 37.50 a head.Priory Bay Hotel, Priory Drive, Seaview, Isle of Wight (01983 613146) Daily lunch and dinner. This smart but family-friendly hotel by the sea was opened last year by the founder of the New Covent Garden Soup Company.
The table d’hote menu is pounds 23 for fairly straightforward food such as Italian charcuterie or smoked salmon and blinis with pesto; clams and moules marinieres with chips, or veal Saltimbocca A la carte is more elaborate for pounds 25- plus. Prices from pounds 14.50 for the two-course lunch, up to pounds 40 for five courses.Isle of Eriska, Ledaig, Argyll (01631 720371) Daily lunch and dinner Closed January. You’re hardly going to drop by on the off-chance for dinner, so you should know that rooms at the five-star, Scots baronial hotel cost from pounds 220 for a double The whole island is given over to guests. Examples are prawns with ginger and spring onion, red snapper with a coconut-milk curry, Mauritian bouillabaisse (expect more bite in the bowl) and grilled fish such as vaqua with creole sauce. Mauritian and mainly seafood, this fuses the island’s diverse influences – Chinese, Indian and French – into creamy sauces, with lively spices, for exotic fish. More a cafe than a full-blown restaurant, it’s populated by Portuguese men there for the beer – Coral from Madeira – and the telly. It provides plain meals in the Portuguese vein, starting with a chourico sausage flaming on a ceramic pig, or chicken soup, moving on to sardines, swordfish or tuna with boiled potatoes – all for less than pounds 12.Offshore, 148 Holland Park Avenue, London W11 (0171-221 6090) Mon-Fri lunch and dinner, Sat dinner.
House wine, for pounds 10.95 a bottle, is Sardinian.
Casa Santana, 44 Golborne Road, London W10 (0181-968 8764) Daily noon- 11pm. In an enclave of Portuguese cafes and restaurants, this one owes its allegiance to Madeira, as a huge poster of the capital, Funchal, illustrates. Escape to an island hideaway, without travelling too far
Assaggi, 39 Chepstow Place, London W2 (0171-792 5501) Mon-Sat lunch and dinner. The bare tables in this boldly coloured room above a pub are highly sought after for Nino Sassu’s cooking. From the carte da musica (paper-thin crispbread) onwards, he gives away his Sardinian origins by sourcing several key ingredients from the island.
Bottarga (grey mullet roe) is another speciality, possibly paired with fennel. Prices are high: at least pounds 30 if you have a main course. He can be contacted at Realfood, 14 Clifton Road, Little Venice, London W9 1SS (0171-266 1162), e-mail: realfood dircon.co.uk. Chillies can be cut to size if they are too thick, while oversized olive cavities can be filled by judicious use of spongy white bread.(Usefully, over-strength chi- llis can mask the acid bite of cheap fizz.)Kevin Gould is a grocer who supplies food for parties. Take the whole jalapeno chillis, or Turkish aci biber or tursu (Turkish hot peppers), or Oriental pickled red birdseye chillis, and drain the preserving liquid away.Push a chilli all the way through each pitted olive, so that a bit of the chilli sticks out of each end of the olive.