BLACKBOOK IN THE KNOW BLACKBOOK IN THE KNOW GLOBAL GOURMAND ON OUR CULINARY RADAR: CAPITAL REPLENISHMENT, PARIS’S BEST MID-MORNING MUNCHES, TASMANIAN TREATS, A REVIVAL IN VENICE AND THE BEST EPICUREAN TOMES. BY ALEXANDER LOBRANO Europe’s Top New Tables The latest from London, Copenhagen, Berlin and Dublin The bright, white dining room of Panama in Berlin The most talked-about new opening in London right now is Core by Clare Smyth (corebyclaresmyth.com). Smyth, who is the first female British chef to hold three Michelin stars for her cooking at Chelsea‘s Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, opened her first solo table in a quietly chic Notting Hill town house in August. The 54-cover taupe and aquamarine dining room champions the best seasonal produce from British farmers and fishermen, and the tasting menus run to dishes like jellied eel with toasted seaweed and malt vinegar; skate with Morecambe PHOTO PHILIPP LANGENHEIM & CORINA SCHADENDORF 46 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ANNA KÜFNER, © BRACE, © CORE BY CLARE SMYTH, JOHN CAREY, LISA MICHEL KLEIN, ALBIN DURAND, PATRICK LAZIC Asparagus, wild garlic and seaweed from Panama Bay shrimps, Swiss chard and brown butter; and chocolate and hazelnut cream with salted caramel sauce. In Copenhagen, Noma may have recently pushed back its reopening, but that doesn’t mean the dining scene isn’t continuing to evolve in delicious ways. New Nordic continues to rule, but some young chefs, like Italian Nicola Fanetti, are pushing out the wall with restaurants that apply the movement’s ideas – foraging, seasonal produce, graphic plating – to the cuisines of their home countries. Come to Fanetti’s Restaurant Brace ( $ restaurantbrace.dk) for small plates like a Norwegian langoustine with artichoke, Sicilian almonds and ramson “capers” (pickled wild-garlic seeds), or flamed mackerel with nettles, green peas and ’nduja, the soft spicy Calabrian sausage. Set back in a courtyard off Potsdamer Strasse in an area of Berlin that’s filled with art galleries, Panama Restaurant and Bar ( $ oh-panama.com) is an airy new modern whitepainted German brasserie with herringbone parquet floors and blond bentwood chairs at bare oak tables in one dining room and a lower-lit, greentiled decor in the other. In a nod to the local galleries, the two dining rooms are decorated with contemporary art as well. Young chef Sophia Rudolph formerly cooked at the excellent Rutz, and her cosmopolitan menu prizes locally sourced seasonal produce. Dishes that tip her style include octopus carpaccio with fennel and preserved lemon and pike perch with cured apple and buttermilk. Great bar, too. Occupying a new building with floor-to-ceiling windows in the Brunch à la Française Though a mainstay of the city’s hotels, until recently few Parisian restaurants served what many consider a full blown-out brunch: a sprawling repast that’s more casual and, in some cases inventive, than a traditional midday meal. But things are changing, especially in several of the city’s less tourist-heavy neighbourhoods. Any search The weekend’s most relaxed meal is taking hold in Paris for the best addresses now serving this just-out-of-bed meal might start in Les Halles. The old market area in the heart of Paris is coming back to life and Marcelle ( $ restaurantmarcelle.fr), a three-storey restaurant with a good healthy brunch is a great reason to rediscover this historic area. Come here for the delicious brioche with Merrion Hotel’s private gardens, in the heart of Dublin, The Garden Room ( merrionhotel.com) is a handsomely designed new restaurant by interior designer Alice Roden. A private, peaceful place, it’s done up in a scheme of brown, grey, lichen green and heather. Chef Ed Cooney’s cinnamon and kouign-amann, the flaky Breton pastry, eggs Benedict, avocado toast, focaccia with halloumi and more. The Marais district is a favourite place for Parisians to wander on the weekend, and many also come here for brunch. Two excellent options for this meal here, are Le Comptoir du Trésor contemporary Irish menu features inventive modern versions of dishes you might be served in the great country houses of Ireland, including wild halibut with Dublin Bay prawns, and roasted rack of Kildare lamb. After the Irish cheeseboard, tuck into a salted caramel tart or a raspberry soufflé. From left: Grand Coeur‘s courtyard dining; eggs et al at La Fontaine de Belleville; the entrance of Marcelle Clockwise from above: Mediterranean sangria dessert at Brace; jellied eel, toasted seaweed and malt vinegar from Core by Clare Smyth; the renowned chef herself (restaurantletresor.com) and Grand Coeur ( grandcoeur. paris). Offering pastries, cereals, cakes, tartes, waffles and crepes, among other dishes, including eggs, charcuterie from Le Conquet in Brittany, and fantastic teas and coffee, Le Comptoir du Trésor serves one of the most fashionable brunches in Paris right now. Owned by Michelin two-star chef Mauro Colagreco, Grand Coeur offers a gourmet take on this meal in stylishly renovated old stables overlooking a stone-paved courtyard. If you’re not up for eggs, try the green tagliatelle with wild mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach and Valrhona chocolate cake for dessert. The delightful Café Mirabelle CONTACT CENTURION SERVICE FOR BOOKINGS CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 47
