Hibiscus

Forward thinking

Hibiscus, photo from management

The double Michelin starred Hibiscus in Oxford Circus is renown for its creative and forward thinking approach in its French cooking. Chef patron Claude Bosi has a unique style in his cooking, thinking outside the box, using unexpected ingredients combination to challenge the mindset of diners and unlock what we normally would consider strange food paring, all that is all done in a refined and elegant way without being a gimmick. For my sixth visit, I returned to Hibiscus to experience the menu du marche, a 8 course tasting menu.

king crab, smoked haddock, apple

Scottish scallops, black radish, almond and truffle

The first course of king crab meat with smoked haddock was a refreshing dish to kicked start the dinner, the settledness of the sweet crab married nicely with the oily and smoky haddock, and the flavour was sharpen up by the granny smith apple. Raw Scottish scallops was another wonderful dish, the nutty profile of the almond added a great depth and texture to the fresh scallops, and the hint of truffle delivered a luxurious boldness and richness to the finish.

Cornish cod 'grenobloise'

Adour foie gras

Adour foie gras was perhaps the weak link on the night, while it was still solid, the quality of the foie gras was just not as good as 2 years ago when I had the same dish but it was largely down to the ingredient instead of the recipes. Fallow venison has all the stamp of Hibiscus' characteristic, cooking venison with passion fruit and dark chocolate, while it sound mad on paper, it actually worked exceptionally well with the richness and the bitter sweetness infused beautifully with a fine cut of moist venison. Lastly, the dessert of chocolate millefeuille achieved multilayer of crunchy and creamy texture, and the robust flavour was contrast by a very mild hint of basil.

Fallow venison, smoked grand veneur

chocolate millefeuille

All in all it was within the expectation of what I would consider high level French cuisine. The cooking was full of imagination and really makes people think beyond the usual logic of cooking, while I can totally see that some of the adventitious elements might not to be everyone's liking, when it does work, it really can deliver some of the finest flavour you can experience in London. Service as you would expect is very caring and professional, after all you wouldn't expect anything less in a Relais and Chateaux restaurant, one of the only two restaurants to have such status in London (Le Gavroche is the other).

Food 4/5

Executive chef: 
Claude Bosi

What I paid: £140 per head

Average cost without drinks and services:
Lunch menu: £35
Tasting menu: £120


29 Maddox St, London, Greater London W1S 2PA

www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk