Britain has a history of game hunting and cooking. But this tradition has for the most part been lost. Where game was a regular feature on tables across Britain, these days a Sunday dinner is more likely to be supermarket bought chicken. Even outside of London, game is being replaced by more readily available animals, bred and raised for the trade.
So when the opportunity to experience a game dinner at Lyle’s, one of our favourite restaurants in London (www.eatacity.com/guide/London/place/lyles/), came up we got very excited. And then when we heard that it was a guest chef night with seven chefs from around the world, all shooting and cooking British game from Scotland, we got even more excited. “But wait? What? Who?” These seven chefs turned out to include:
Matt Orlando - We had dinner at his Noma-replacing restaurant Amass in Copenhagen in September. (www.eatacity.com/guide/Copenhagen/place/amass/)
David Pynt - Chef at the crazy good and ‘game changing’ Burnt Ends in Singapore, which we also visited in September. (www.eatacity.com/guide/Singapore/place/burnt-ends/)
The experimental genius Daniel Burns, who was at the two-starred Momofuku Ko when we ate there on a bizarre snow blizzard day in New York surrounded by 2,000 fake Santa Claus’ three years ago.
Along with James Lowe (Lyle’s), Analiese Gregory (Sydney), Mat Lindsay (Sydney) and Jair Tellez (Mexico City). So we said “where’s my credit card!” But was this going to be case of too many chefs spoiling the broth? Or expectations so high that the final product wouldn’t live up? No! Absolutely no! This was one of the best meals we’ve had ever!
Rather than a group of chefs that delivered food by committee, it was a competitive kitchen, with some of the best modern chefs in the world eager to play with ingredients that they wouldn’t normally get their hands on. This was a case of many chefs delivering many individual dishes and chefs coming out of the kitchen to present them with pride. It was good natured and playful. And we had British game cooked with influences from around the world. This was far from boring old game, it was…
Partridge escabeche - Light and fresh dish, a perfect start to the meal. The meat had that on-the-bone flavour that gets lost in larger birds.
Pumpkin & hare flatbread - Little snack of shredded hare meat paired with pumpkin cubes. Along with Raw roe deer & pepperberries, a perfect little bite of game. The typical flavour combination of game and berries, served Lyle’s style in a fresh green leaf, which shows how good raw meat can be. This left us wanting more, and more came…
Hen of the Woods & treviso - What bird is this? Not a bird at all, instead they’re large mushrooms foraged by the chefs and tasted gamier than some of the meat courses.
Game dumpling - One of the highlights of the meal. Soft gooey dumpling shell filled with juicy minced game meat inside and served with a spicy, tangy chilli sauce.
Mallard birria - From Jair, one of the chefs we weren’t familiar with but absolutely sold us on his brand of Mexican food. The gamey stew had deep flavours but still managed to be light.
Pheasant leg, quince & onion - One of the simplest dishes of the night that let the natural flavours of the ingredients shine.
Grouse, beetroot & liquorice - The grouse was cooked to utter perfection; medium rare with charred skin, balanced by the earthy, slightly sweet beetroot. This was obviously a Matt dish with Danish liquorice flavour. Don’t think of the liquorice you get in a sweet packet, it’s proper natural liquorice root flavour.
Red deer, semi-dried figs, chestnuts & coffee - Interesting combination of bitter coffee, sweet figs and gamey deer, with crispy kale and chestnut slices to provide texture contrasts.
Burnt fig leaf pavlova - More of a meringue than a pavlova but still delicious, one of the sweeter desserts.
Apple, parsnip, dulse - Individually it didn’t make sense but it all worked when eaten together. Definitely not a sweet dessert, more like a palette cleanser and utterly satisfying.
Black trumpet mushrooms & green peppercorn ice cream - Delicious way to finish a meal. The earthy trumpet mushrooms paired with fragrant, slightly spicy ice cream and crispy pastry flakes on top.
We were told that green peppercorn is a common ingredient in Australia, Mat Lindsay’s home country, but not in the U.K. Lyle’s had to go all around London looking for this particular ingredient, only managing to find a single small bag in a Vietnamese grocery store. But it was well worth the effort - this was an exceptional dish.
It’s probably impossible to deliver this every week. The natural livestock couldn’t cope. But we really wish more British restaurants would give game a go. And at the end of the night, we got another treat from Scotland; a 15 year old Glenfiddich. The perfect end to what really was a rare treat.
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