Enigma
Going by the name alone, it would be fairly easy to get the wrong idea. At a restaurant named Enigma you might be forgiven for expecting a little intrigue - whispered conversations at tables in discreet dark corners and perhaps an inscrutable menu with its share of hidden secrets.
In fact, it's hard to imagine anywhere less mysterious. Enigma wears its heart on its sleeve as an easy-going, upbeat venue with a bright and airy glass-fronted bar and an intimate but relaxed restaurant that serves a familiar, broadly Mediterranean menu. In the summer there is room for about 30 to sit outside - hardly the place for anything clandestine, then.
The title is nothing more than a reference to the neighbouring house that, as the blue plaque on the wall testifies, was the birthplace of Alan Turing, the man who famously cracked the code of the Enigma cipher machine during the Second World War.
The restaurant is situated in the Colonnade townhouse hotel in London's Little Venice, owned by the Eton Group. The Eton Group, you may recall, also owns, among others, Threadneedles, the boutique hotel in the City, which is home to the widely celebrated Bonds restaurant where Tom Ilic offers his take on modern eastern European cooking.
Ilic's executive head chef role also includes overall responsibility for Enigma, but it's Slavko Bogdanovic who is the working head chef. He himself spent a year at Bonds, working under Ilic, and then moved four months ago to head up the Enigma kitchen. His brief was to continue the Mediterranean theme that Enigma began with, and he admits that this was "a bit of a change" from the food he had been used to cooking.
However, with a passion for relatively uncomplicated dishes based on quality ingredients, it's clear that he is enthusiastic about his new project. "We change the menu every six or seven weeks based on what is seasonal and to make sure that we give the customers something new and interesting to try… but there is a balance to be made, because we also want to retain our existing customers, and they have their favourite dishes."
At lunchtime there is a set meal available at just £12.50 for two courses, and a selection of flatbread sandwiches are also on offer in an effort to broaden the appeal. He says that, to date, the reaction from the customers to the new dishes has been "excellent" and that hearty, rustic dishes such as braised lamb with glazed root vegetables and rosemary jus have been exceptionally popular as autumn and winter have come upon us.
"We have game coming on, and the cod [with crushed potatoes and a tomato and caper tapenade] has been selling very well," says Bogdanovic.
The chef likes to "get out and see what's happening elsewhere and at least try to keep up to date", managing, for example, to visit Tom Aikens in its first week of opening. He is very clear, though, as to the market he is trying to crack. "We don't mess about too much with the food. We are trying to offer straightforward flavours that will appeal to a wider range of customers, but we want to do it with a quality that will be something new here - bringing a West-End style of food to this neighbourhood. That's our aim." n
Enigma, The Colonnade, 2 Warrington Crescent, London W9 1ER. Tel: 020 7432 8455
By Simon Wright
Chef's cheat
Sorbets that contain alcohol tend to take a long time to freeze when made in an ice-cream maker. To save time, Slavko Bogdanovic suggests transferring the sorbet to a container as soon as it thickens and finish freezing in the freezer.
What's on the menu
Foie gras terrine with fig marmalade and toasted brioche, £9.75
Ballotine of pigeon with cauliflower gratin, £8.50
Mussel soup with clams and squid, £6.25
Grilled rib-eye steak with chips and b‚arnaise sauce, £13.50
Caramelised endive tatin with walnut and Roquefort salad, £10.25
Pumpkin and sage risotto with rocket and Parmesan, £9.95
Dark chocolate slice with vanilla ice-cream and marsala raisins, £5.95
Chestnut parfait with honey-glazed plums, £5.95
