10-25 Monsieur Bibendum, I love you!

We ate at Bibendum in 2018 at the recommendation of our friend RJ. It was wonderful. The evening before we had done the ultimate splash-out at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. When I say splash-out, let’s say it was 2 week’s salary for the two of us. Yes, excessive, but worth every penny, if you can believe it. An amazing tasting menu with wine pairing. But as I said, two week’s salary (at least). We decided it was a one off. The next night, we ate at Bibendum expecting a nice meal, but what we got was so much better than that. In fact, it rivalled Alain Ducasse. So now, 5 years later, we’re returning to Bibendum. Part of me said “this is a mistake!” Whenever we’ve returned to a place where we’ve had a stellar experience, the subsequent experience has been disappointing at best. Fingers crossed, we arrived about 5 minutes early for our reservation. We waited in the cocktail lounge and were escorted up at the appropriate time. Upon entering, Bruce thought he recognized the sommellier. We were seated at a table under one of the Bibendum stained glass windows.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Bibendum, he’s the Michelin man. Back when he was invented, he was a “man” made of white tires. Now, historically, this was accurate because originally tires were white. It was only when charcoal was added to the compound to make them stronger, that the color changed to black. But I digress. We were seated at a table underneath one of the two Bibendum stained glass windows. We started our adventure with champagne cocktails and were brought some beautiful gougeres made with Dutch edam. There are three meus available, the 3-course, which is more of an a la carte menu, a five course, and a seven course tasting menu. Whenever we’ve gone to one of these amazing restaurants in the past we’ve splurged on the tasting menu. We hadn’t decided on what we wanted to do, but there’s something about being in the space and all the staff being so solicitous that gets us every time, probably because we can resist anything but temptation. We opted for the tasting menu and the wine pairing (how predictable.)

The beginning, as it’s called was three tiny tasting dishes. A Cornish crab tart, a smoked sardine mousse tart, and garlic soup with apple.

This was followed by the Bibendum egg, a gorgeous mouse of egg, foie gras and ash. Served with a lovely crusty bread to add a bit of texture. I loved the little Bibendum egg cups which are for sale at the restaurant. Oooh, I want one! Sadly, thy're £75 per cup, so I passed. I also loved the butter dish, but that was £110 so it remained in the case.

Next there was a choice of two first courses. I opted for the duck jelly with white onion, smoked sturgeon and caviar, served with light as air puffed mini-pittas. It was a work of art and almost too beautiful to eat but I forced myself. It was accompanied by a Branco Especial MV, Quinta dos Carvalhais.

Bruce had the Cheltenham Beetroot with horseradish, ox tongue and nutmeg oil. This was served with a Spira Xinomavro Solera MV, Ktima Ligas, a Greek wine that was like nothing I’ve ever tasted. As the sommelier said, it’s not one for sitting around sipping on a summer afternoon, but it did pair perfectly with the dish.

Next came Torbay prawns in a toasted rice consommé with crème fraiche sauce and a shrimp cracker, served with a Verdicchio Le Oche 2021, Fattoria San Lorenzo.

Course three was Cornish Seabass with new season citrus and British seafood. This was like no seabass I had ever eaten, so delicate, perfectly cooked and swimming (no pun intended) in a broth with bits of mussels, clams, crab and citrus; served with an AnjouBlanc Les Rouannieres 2021, Clos Galerne.

I could happily have stopped there, but we were committed, so on we went.

Course 4 was Scottish langoustine with fig, foie gras and beef consommé served with O Blanco 2014, Panoramico. It was a tiny circle of perfection.

Next course we had choices, so I had Challans duck with sauce Rouennaise and albufera served with Merlot Brenntal Reserva 2019, Kellerei Kurtatsch.

Bruce had the Ibaiama pork belly with Scottish lobstger, pickled blueberries and black pudding sauce, served with a Monte Rosso Zinfandel Gnarly Vine 2017, Louis M. Martini.

Next came seasonal cheeses with chestnut honey, served with a Beaumes de Venice (missed the details on that one.)

We were then served a palate cleanser of eau de vie de cidre and English apple.

We had two choices for dessert, but neither of us was willing to forego the chocolate souffle, so we both had that. It was served with vanilla ice cream and accompanied by Pedro Ximenez Muy Viejo Solera 1918, Bodega Ximenez-Spinola. (1918!)

As though that weren’t enough, we were then presented with an extra dessert to celebrate our anniversary, a chocolate and orange cake.

By that time I was ready to explode, images of Mr. Creosote dancing in my head, but the chocolate box arrived and we forced ourselves to have one wafer-thin mint. (Not really, I had a hazelnut truffle and Bruce had a cinnamon truffle.

All of the staff were wonderful, attentive without being smothering. Massimo, the assistant sommelier and Turquoise, one of our servers, were exceptional. I'm embarrassed to say that I've forgotten the names of the other amazing servers. We were the first people to arrive and the last to leave. Sadly, there were only three other tables occupied the whole evening, but it was a Wednesday, so not too surprising. We had photos taken with them, bade our farewells and rolled our porcine selves home.