The Blurb
Since I visited the venue late last year, the Silver Birch in Chiswick has gone from strength to strength, recently being awarded the enviable title of London Restaurant of the Year in the coveted AA Guide Hospitality Awards. Impressively, this was just one year after debuting in the same when it scored three Rosettes.
So, what’s different? The menu is under constant change, so that goes without saying, but more on that later…
The venue itself is still as stylish as ever. It’s homely accents of timber and vanilla walls against urban metallic ventilation and ceiling fittings do well to remind you that the contemporary ingredients on the menu will all be presented with a modern flourish.
Service, under the stewardship of Thomas Proden, remains as exceptional as ever. Attentive and familiar but never inappropriate, it has been refined to the point that it provides a subtle education that exceptional service is a craft in itself—one that many aspire to but few manage to replicate to such a high degree.
So to answer, on the surface at least, not a great deal has changed. Refined, maybe, but still very much recognisable. This is not a bad thing, quite the opposite. Indeed, one suspects the Silver Birch didn’t go from winning three rosettes last year to London restaurant of the year this year by deciding they’d got it wrong the first time. You could say that maybe a few edges have been sanded down or a little spit and polish in the corners, but that would only be to layer a further compliment.
The Food
A La Carte was the choice though there is a full tasting menu (and private dining room), on offer.
Starters saw us pick Holstein Friesian beef tartare, Jerusalem artichoke and tarragon and the Devon crab, pickled apple, sourdough crumpets and caviar.
The mains – after some debate – had us go with Sika venison, ragout, confit salsify, hen-of-the-woods and quince and the Squab pigeon, croustillant, plum and organic beetroot.
Dessert rounded off the evening with Kentish blackberries, meadowsweet, granola and meringue and Brown butter chocolate delice, preserved cherries and milk sorbet.
What to say here? Honestly, you’d run out of positive adjectives to describe each plate long before you reached the end of the list. There’s surely some kind of alchemy at play here, taking the seasonal ingredients sourced from within the UK that we’re all familiar with and transforming them into dishes that delight the mind as much as the tastebuds. Sometimes you want to find fault in a review, something to balance the praise out a little so your words aren’t just an endless stream of platitudes, but the truth is, I couldn’t fault it.
In a Nutshell
In closing, there’s something I always tend to turn to when attending a restaurant that’s truly special, and that’s the discourse you get when it comes to high-end dining where, sometimes, the conversation turns to the talk of food being art.
I’m aware that this in of itself sounds somewhat pretentious but on the occasions when – helped along by a couple of stunning wine pairings in this case – I’m one of those people who’s tempted to consider food as an art form, I think back to a quote from the American playwright David Mamet;
“Art is an expression of joy and awe. It is not an attempt to share one’s virtues and accomplishments with the audience, but an act of selfless spirit.”
Joy and awe. If that’s what art is – and I think Mamet is right on the money here – then art is what the Silver Birch is indeed.
The Details
142 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 1PU
020 8159 7176
info@silverbirchchiswick.co.uk
Menu varies due to seasonal variety
Booking recommended
