First Floor Restaurant, London

First of all I would like to express my thanks for the staff attending us on 3rd May at First Floor Restaurant, Portobello Road. They were amazing. Secondly, I would also like to thank Gourmet Chick if it was not for her guest post on London eater I would not have set my heart on this place for a joint birthday.

The entrance to the restaurant and bar is separate. It’s easy to miss the restaurant if you were just strolling down Portobello Road. A hidden gem, sort of. Colours here are bold, dark and strong. Think bohemian chic. I can just imagine how amazing this restaurant would be in the winter, the warm fire lit restaurant with the chilly cold winds blistering outside.

We had made reservations for the Portobello room (main restaurant) so it was only up one flight of stairs and into a dimly lit, big melting wax ‘sculptures’ and a glistening chandelier dangling from the ceiling. Large windows overlooking the famous portobello road, I would like to add draping curtains too…..but I don’t remember there being any.

I had the Duck leg confit with braised red cabbage & Puy lentils. The duck was lovely but what I found even nicer, yes I know it’s only the side dish, was the little layered cubes of potatoes; it had that melting sensation beneath the crunchy slightly salted top layer. The asparagus were blanched (I presume) nicely as it had that just about right crunch. Although we noticed how the sauce for the duck was uneven in every dish……diner S had a plateful of sauce whereas diner V and I had very little in comparison.

[Dana] For me, however, I took the…

Citrus cured Salmon tian, avocado, tomato salsa, crème fraiche & beetroot reduction starter, and Roast wild Salmon, crushed ‘Jersey Royal’ potatoes, watercress & citrus horseradish dressing main dish.

My starter was a delicately put together Tian. I’m just going to repeat that word over and over, because it sounds posh and I like that. ‘Tian’, where does that word come from? To me, I think it originated from the Tian Tan (the Temple of Heaven in Beijing) because, like the temple, my Salmon tian looked heavenly and beautifully constructed. The creme fraiche was sour and evened out the zingy taste of the tomato salsa and avocado underneath. The salmon was soft and 20% cooked, gorgeous if you can bear raw salmon – which I can. I really liked what went into this, quite thoughtful, quite original.

And as for my main, yet again, SALMON! You’d think I was obsessed with salmon with having both courses featuring it… well, why not? The wild salmon had a really perfectly cooked consistency, not overcooked and not raw – makes me wonder if they poached it inside a plastic bag (I’ve seen this demonstrated by Heston Blumenthal before, or was it somebody else). It’s not that exciting, except that they cook food in a waterbath of 40degrees I think, so that the food turns out cooked evenly throughout. There wasn’t really any seasoning to it though, and the skin had been quickly burnt through for crispness and aesthetic reasons. The Jersey Royal was quite interesting however, and dipped in the citrus horseradish sauce, it added flavour and stopped the potatoes being a bit too dry on the palate. Very interesting indeed. [Dana finishes]

Onto the most anticipated course of the night, the desserts! I choose the Apple tart tatin with cardamom & Calvados ice cream. Cardamom is a strong aromatic spice which can be used for savoury and sweet dishes, but the taste of cardamom always reminds me of those Scandinavian biscuits my mum once bought home. Ice cream and apple tart, you’re thinking warm/hot tart complimenting the coldness of the ice cream. But I felt the tart was slightly on the cold side with cold ice cream. I like apple tarts but this one didn’t please me much, however the chocolate fondant was to die for, soft velvety sponge with a melty chocolate sauce gently oozing from the middle. Recommended. But very chocolaty.

Overall the whole evening was fabulous and the venue is perfect for a private large party, the atmosphere, service, ambiance was definitely worth the hassle, and stress, in organising this memorable birthday night. The only down point to the evening would be the fact that diner As’ chicken dish was raw, only a little but it was raw. This was swiftly taken away and their reply to this situation was: “we don’t normally cook this many portions of chicken.” Our party in total only ordered four dishes of chicken, and surely being a restaurant they could cope with four portions of chicken for a party of 26, right?

They also do lunch and dinner offers if you want to try this restaurant out in a smaller group. Book via their website or toptable.

First Floor Restaurant
186 Portobello Road,
London,
W11 1LA.
020 7243 0072