Caractere

With every visit this restaurant just seems to go from strength to strength. This continued today with another absolutely fantastic lunch. The food is simply stunning which is matched by great wine recommendations and first class service. I have never said this before but please Michelin Guide UK give this amazing restaurant the recognition it so obviously deserves.

When we arrived on saturday we were given a fabulous welcome from Valentine before she seated us at our table which this time was in the corner to the left as you enter. From here on in our fabulous dining experience began. This started when manager Eugenio came to say hello and said they had made a couple of cocktails for us to try as a welcome back from the team. These were a Sidecar Spritz and a Frangelico Old Fashioned and they were fantastic. We enjoyed these cocktails along with a couple of delightful snacks a Cod Brandade and a Mushroom Tart with Black Truffle.

Next it was time to look at the menu which is a six course tasting menu or a three course lunch menu including a glass of wine. We of course opted for the tasting menu. So once we’d placed our order it was time for assistant manager Antonella to recommend a bottle of wine to pair with the food and I have to say she came up with an absolute beauty. This Vigne Marina Coppi Fausto 2017 was full of citrus on the nose yet slightly mineral on the the palate with a smooth silky finish.

CURIOUS

This was our first course and wow as they were both absolutely delicious. The Red Sicilian Prawn Tartare with tomato ponzu jelly & Kristal caviar was amazing. Then their was my Stuffed Guineafowl Pappardella with mixed wild mushroom & marsala that just blew me away.

SUBTLE

The second course was another amazing version of the ‘Acquerello’ risotto which on this occasion came with seaweed paste , sesame & red port reduction and congrats again for a fabulous dish. For myself I had the signature Celeriac ‘ cacio e pepe’ with extra aged balsamic vinegar and really no more needs to be said.

DELICATE

We moved onto our next course which I personally couldn’t wait for as it was a huge favourite of mine Octopus. This was barbecued and came with red onion , garlic condiment & fried caper leaves that left me in heaven. My wife had the Roast Cornish Cod with mussel stuffed swiss chard and a lightly smoked buerre blanc which she absolutely loved.

ROBUST

Now we moved on to the main course and the continuation of amazing dishes was not stopping here. My wife thoroughly enjoyed the Roast Saddle of Rabbit stuffed with spinach , pickled carrot , taggiasca olives and a fabulous jus. I opted for the Grilled Squab Pigeon with crispy rolled potato , girolles & black truffle. All I can say is that it was the best pigeon dish I’ve ever had. This was paired perfectly with a stunning 2014 Paolo Scavino Barolo.

STRONG

This is the cheese course with a fantastic selection of french cheeses along with one from britain. The cheese came with homemade seed crackers , apple & prune chutney. This was paired with a delightful glass of Silval 1997 Vintage port.

GREEDY

We were now to finish with two fabulous desserts. The Molten Guanaja Chocolate Tart with pecan praline , salted caramel & mascarpone ice cream was a chocolate lovers dream. The other was a heavenly Pear , vanilla , white chocolate and sesame biscuit. These were once again paired beautifully with a selection of three different sweet wines from Italy & France

Just before we finished with tea coffee and petit fours it was nice of owner Emily Roux to come over for a nice chat and hoped we had enjoyed our lunch to which we delightfully said that we had immensely. This brought to an end another fantastic dining experience at Caractere and definitely one we will be revisiting again in the new year. I really would highly recommend a visit to enjoy some of the best food in London along with great wines and excellent service.