Garden of delights
ALTHOUGH Malcolm Starmer's new menu at Chelsea's recently refurbished English Garden restaurant (acquired by Searcy Corrigan Restaurants in September 1999) features several ingredients linked indelibly with Mediterranean cuisine, he does not want his cooking labelled "Mediterranean-influenced". Nor does he categorise himself as "modern British" or "modern European".
He prefers, instead, to be seen as an individual chef using the ingredients that are at his fingertips in the modern world, choosing rather to call his cooking style "robust".
Certainly, many of the dishes on his à la carte menu and daily changing lunch menu (£19.50 for three courses including a half-bottle of wine) at the 50-seat eaterie exhibit a certain rustic gutsiness. For instance, the popular breast of veal, taleggio (a stringy Italian cheese with "more kick" in it than mozzarella), cäpes and kidney (£16) - a take on the traditional Italian veal, ham and cheese combination - offered as a main course on the evening menu, leaves a burst of flavour on the palate.
This offering also displays Starmer's hallmark of creating dishes using less popular meat cuts. To soften the veal breast, he covers it in a salt cure mix and Madeira, leaves it overnight, then pot roasts it with artichokes and the taleggio before serving the cut with a slice of veal tongue.
Another best-selling dish is baby squid with chorizo, mussels, garlic and parsley, which was recently offered as a midday starter choice. Starmer also sometimesputs it among the six-strong starter choices on the seasonally changing evening menu, depending on availability of produce.
He deliberately keeps the à la carte small (five or six choices at each level) in order to react quickly to what is on the market. "I like to be spontaneous - keep things fresh, keep the quality up - and tweak the menu all the time," he says.
Starmer's constant fiddling with the menu keeps his five-strong brigade on their toes, as does the fact that he often uses the same main ingredient but with different garnishes in dishes on both the lunch and evening menus. For instance, a scallop main choice on the evening menu - roast scallops with salsify and soft herb butter (£15.50) - was transformed on a late January lunch menu into roast scallops served with smoked haddock and cockle chowder.
Popular among the desserts (all £5) is a chocolate fondant, unusually served with beet ice-cream and blackcurrants. As with bread, all ice-cream is made in-house. Also selling well is a lemon plate comprising lemon tart, lemon soufflé, lemon verbena brñlée and lemon madeleine.
Starmer took over as head chef of the west London eaterie when it reopened before Christmas, afterworking for five years with Richard Corrigan atLindsay House and the Barbican's Searcy's. He iscurrently cooking 40-50 evening and 25 lunch covers daily.
Customers who visit the modern, airy, 50-seat restaurant - all blond wood and neutral tones - are looked after by a front of house brigade of seven. Average spend per head is £35, including wine. n
The English Garden, 10 Lincoln Street,London SW3 2TS. Tel: 020 7584 7272
