Eleven Madison Park

Trying to pick a fine dining restaurant in New York City is a fun task. We sifted through names like Daniel's (2 Michelin stars), the Gramercy Tavern (who have a way with pig!), Gilt (2 Michelin stars) and Jean Georges. We were tempted by quite a few before we finally decided on Eleven Madison Park. Our reasons were: our New York friends had never been there, another reliable New York foodie had and raved, it has a great art deco interior and the New York Times had given it its very elusive four star rating. Michelin, in its wisdom, hasn't yet given Madison Park a star and this is a sore point among many food loving New Yorkers. We decided to trust the local point of view and see what a four star New York Times restaurant is like. Since we ate there Daniel Humm has been awarded the James Bear Foundation Best Chef in New York and Eleven Madison has snuck in to the San Pellegrino top 50 restaurants list at number 50 (mind you Daniel's is number 8 - next time perhaps!)

No doubt the restaurant ought to have been fully booked on the evening we decided to attend. We had had to book two months in advance, and when we tried to change our reservation to fit in some extra guests were only given the option of coming at a much earlier time. In the end we walked into an almost empty restaurant, and our party of six had shrunk to four thanks to an enthusiastic blizzard that had virtually brought New York to a standstill. Our New York friends weren't discouraged however and, having gone to work in jeans and snow boots, bravely put on dresses and a suit and dress shoes for the journey from Downtown, while we slalomed across to the restaurant with a blasé cabbie with only one or two near death experiences. Suffice to say that we were delighted to settle into our comfortable booth and share a martini to warm up while watching the snow fall through the high windows.

Once the martini went down (well!) we decided that really an eleven course tasting menu complete with matched wines was an eminently sensible way of deciding whether we liked the restaurant or not. In hindsight this was a very silly decision, and led to us feeling very fragile the next day. But we certainly did get to assess the restaurant at the same time!

Daniel Humm, the Swiss chef at Eleven Madison Park, began with some spheres of smoked sturgeon and salmon cream which were (an unacknowledged) homage to Ferran Adria's spherification techniques. The surface of the spheres gave way to the most minute tongue pressure and the inner intense liquid gushed into your mouth in a burst of extremely fishy flavour. We were sold!

The following dishes were less creative - a salad of Heirloom Beets with Chèvre Frais, Nasturtium and Rye Crumble (although the Rye Crumble was a delightful gritty addition to the texture of the salad). A Foie Gras terrine with Golden Pineapple, Pickled Pearl Onions and Rum and Raisin Brioche follwed and revealed the major flaw in Eleven Madison's approach - an overly generous approach to portion size. The brioche was superb. It was also almost a quarter of a loaf in thickness, and with 8 courses to go the thought of eating it all began to seem a little short sighted. Perhaps in Super Size Me America the size portions we would expect from a Michelin starred restaurant in London or Europe might be interpreted as stingy but my European trained stomach began to be apprehensive about the road ahead!

The next dish was a real treat. Titled "Winter in Provence" it consisted of a trio of mousses flavoured with Black Truffles, Chèvre Frais and Potatoes in turn, and Daniel Humm himself came to our table and prepared the mousses for us in a succession of beautiful copper pots. We were charmed and touched by the gesture. It was unfortunate that the waiting staff served some freshly baked mini baguettes (again too many and too filling at this point of the meal) before Humm began his cooking demonstration and served us the dish. This meant that the bread was of course stone cold before we had the accompanying mousses. Luckily this helped me decide to leave the bread alone (thereby reserving a minute amount more stomach space) but it was a very basic service slip up from a fine dining establishment.

The mousses themselves were delightful. Light and frothy in texture with subtle flavourings quite clear to the palate although personally I found the texture all too much the same and would have welcomed them more as an accompaniment to something more textured and with a stronger flavour.

The following courses began to blur together as we became more and more befuddled by too much delicious food and too many accompanying wines. Interesting highlights were the Everglades Frogs' Legs sauteéed with Parsley and Porcini Custard - surprisingly meaty and delicious and not as fishy as the last frogs' legs I had eaten.

There was a superb dish of Milk Fed Veal with Celery Root and Black Truffles which was also a taste sensation and then a reviving palate cleanser "Soda Pop" of tangerine, grapefruit, pomelo and lemon. Dessert was a Milk & Chocolate selection playing with various flavors and textures. It was no doubt very accomplished but I am afraid by that point we were all of us quite finished. By course 8 we had begun asking the staff how many more we had to go and by the soda pop we were all in danger of resembling Mr Creosote of Monty Python fame.

Our final verdict would have to include a comment on the occasionally scatty service (which in an almost empty restaurant was quite an achievement). The food was occasionally sensational but not consistently so - although getting it right in all 11 dishes would be an immense task. It will be interesting to see how Eleven Madison lives up to its latest accolades and whether the staff and chef rise further up the San Pellegrino ladder or slip off the bottom never to be seen again.