Lalime's Cafe

On Tuesday night we joined another couple for dinner at Lalime's Cafe, where I'd never been but had always hoped to go. I admit that after our recent (and fantastic) fish dinner at Maritime East and all the good reports about Lalime's great food, I had high expectations. Here are the results.

We ordered four appetizers to split: after the divine crab at ME, we thought we'd compare by ordering the crab salad, with citrus and chicory. It was hugely disappointing - a little 'fishy', too much bitter radicchio - even though our waiter had recommended it. Things perked up with the gambas al ajillo - very fresh shrimp in lovely garlicky butter, but this is something I can whip up at home in five minutes. The foie gras, seared on toast, was quite good, though, and my favourite appy, believe it or not, was the crisped sweetbreads, fantastically beefy and lovely in texture (soft and chewy on the inside, toasted on the outside), served on a simple but tasty sweet pea purée.

I didn't have more than a bite of the others' mains, but G said the mussels in the seafood stew were the best she's ever had: plump and fresh, no grit, no rubber (and she eats mussels all the time and should know). D's pork was a bit too smoky for my taste, and I admit that I'm still not used to pork done medium-rare. P's duck was OK, but I think I may be losing my taste for your standard duck: maybe it would have been better - especially texture-wise - if I'd tasted it before it got too cold (incidentally, almost everything I ate was too cold - it all came reasonably hot, but things just seemed to cool off really quickly). The duck was served with a lovely confit tart, though, and I love the idea of 'double-duck': I guess we actually had triple-duck, if you count the foie gras.

My steak was very, very good: a grass-fed ribeye minimally but perfectly seasoned (though surprisingly thin - I'm used to hefty ribeyes, though I got plenty of meat), set on top of silky simple mashed potates and the best kale I've ever had: sauteed to a bright green and suffused in garlic. Very Alice Waters - everything on my plate spoke for itself, without too much complexity (as opposed to the pork, which was very elaborate in flavour). The only thing I can complain about with regards to my steak is that it took us twenty minutes after the appys to get a busboy to find our waiter so that we could order wine, and by the time it finally arrived (after another long wait and two requests) my food was cold. My wine was an extremely good and rich Spanish red, and it was a real shame that I couldn't enjoy it with hot steak.

The crowning glory of the meal was dessert, however. We ordered the banana chocolate fondue, and G & D had the noisette. The desserts are works of art: a tiny chocolate cake topped with richest ganache, 'fondue' - more a chocolate mousse - in a fanciful golden bowl of spun sugar, a perfect little square of chocolate raspberry paste, and the best rum and raisin ice cream I've ever had. I would come back just for dessert.