Late May '08: The New Angel, Dartmouth
Having visited the infamous L’Ortolan some 3 month before the move to the Landmark Hotel & being sorely disappointed, to the point of writing a letter of complaint, I wanted to dislike The New Angel.
I emailed my booking on the Thursday morning and received a prompt reply to confirm my 1.30pm table. On arriving in Dartmouth on a rainy Thursday morning I wasn’t really envisaging parking being a problem. How wrong could I be. Be warned it will take you a while to find a space although there are some pay & display areas not far from the restaurant.
The New Angel is on South Embankment, with good views over the estuary from the 1st & 2nd floors. The restaurant itself occupies 3 floors, with restaurant space being the ground floor & the first floor, the 2nd floor is a more relaxed bar area with plush comfortable sofas & Paul Smith influenced chairs with champagne & cocktail menus casual garnishing the coffee tables.
On arriving a few moments late (due to the parking issue) I was greeted by an extremely welcoming restaurant manager who informed me that my table wasn’t ready & would I like to take a seat in the bar area for 10-15 mins and have a drink. I was lead up the stairs by a waiter who then pointed out to me the drinks menus while he went to fetch the two menus.
On his return I ordered a glass of ‘Pierre Jouet Rose’, one of 2 champagnes by the glass. I’ve always had a soft spot for Pierre Jouet and often felt that it is over shadowed by Veuve & Moet, but what arrived did the label no favours.
The waiter poured the champagne like it was wine, straight in not a hint of life or the mousse you would expect. After this was pointed out to him he quickly replaced the glass , opening the fresh bottle at the table.
The menus are a 2 format affair for lunch, there is a 2 choice lunch menu coming @ £19.50 for 2 courses & £24.50 for 3.
There is also an A La Carte offering comprising of about 8-9 choices per course, as you’d expect being on the quayside seafood is fairly well represented, Crab tian, Scallops, Cod all feature.
I opted for the chicken, foie gras & baby leek terrine with mâche followed by a main course size of the scallop starter. After my brief wait in the upstairs area I was shown to my table which was on the ground floor and the closest to the pass that any foodie would like to be (some 7feet). The waiting staff promptly watered & wined me & gave me the choice of white, brown & walnut bread.
After a small wait, which was fine as I watched other customers’ meals being plated & the occasional sign of despair on the head chefs' face was more than entertaining, my foie gras & baby leek terrine arrived. Normally in these types of situations foie gras in terrines is just a passing interest from some chefs to help aid selling it, not this time if anything the chicken was the passing interest with copious amounts of quality duck liver. The terrine was surrounded by a circle of picked mâche leaves and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Warm toasted brioche was also served with the terrine again a very good example of which is so often over looked.
Next was my main course of the scallop starter with pea puree, again it didn’t disappoint. As with so many restaurants when customers would like starters as main courses the price is often doubled yet the quantity of food isn’t. At the New Angel the reverse is true, I had 9 lovely plump dived scallops on a pea & shallot dressing with a ring of ‘pea puree’ topped with young pea shoots. The only slightly disappointing element was the pea puree really, it was more like crushed peas as they had been put through a Pacojet & not passed. A word change on the menu would rectify this as the dish itself is accomplished and really well balanced.
Again a slight pause in between courses and I had a chance to have a chat with the charming Maitre D’. I explained my bad experience from L’Ortolan and assured him that this time was so much better.
Unfortunately when I’d reached the desserts there wasn’t really the selection that I’d hope for, nothing really took my fancy and I’m always reticent to opt for chocolate fondant.
Having said that what arrived was a very good fondant accompanied by an excellent vibrant pistachio ice cream, the plate also had the occasional peeled pistachio just to add texture & a dusting of cocoa powder which it could have done without but this really is nit picking.
The meal was rounded off with a coffee & some petit fours (a small frangipan tart & a cocoa covered truffle).
In conclusion; I said at the start that I went to the New Angel wanting to dislike it, maybe my distain was misplaced and reserved for its larger than life celebrity chef owner who replied to my letter of complaint wanting me to visit him @ the Landmark.
The restaurant is a good example of a 1 star establishment; the front of house team are attentive, polished, well mannered without it appearing to be an effort, the food is accomplished, well thought through and restrained. I’m sure that they could do more elaborate food, but why ? That isn’t what the New Angel is about, it’s about doing a simple thing well more chefs should eat there as a barometer of what 1 star cooking is all about.
The Bill:
1 Bottle of Sparkling water £3.50
1 ½ Bottle of Sancerre 2006 £27.50
1 Terrine £15.00
1 Scallop – Main £22.50
1 Choc fondant £9.00
Total £77.50
The glass of Pierre Jouet Rose wasn’t added to the final bill but would have cost £9.00
Service was at my discretion.