Firstly, let’s cut to the chase, just cook and do it well, that is all we ask. Got it? Ok. I found this place slightly irritating if I am being honest- pretentious and overplayed. I am not sure how the atmosphere is in the kitchen, but being surrounded by this front of house all night was excruciating, like nails going down a black board, wanting to put my fingers to my ears, a relief from constant digs of annoyance. I have nothing against the US, but this restaurant reminded me of a structure that they have there. Upselling at every opportunity, (There were at least three upsells on this menu) everything made out to be bigger and better than it is… I had to check if I made the reservation on Tock with some kind of pre-payment- it wasn’t, it was Seven Rooms. At least that was one less American thing to point out then. I don’t know, it just seemed very out of touch with the current times too. Was it really needed for the waiters to be wearing earpieces? Maybe they were waiting for Dua Lipa to arrive. Seriously though, why? Do they realise how ridiculous it looks and what kind of impression this is giving? We are here to eat decent food, not to be part of your arrogant playground. As I looked back at Soil’s website, it is light, airy, giving this feeling of being outside and outdoors, being at one with nature. The website doesn’t feel coherent with the restaurant experience. (I am not expecting to eat outside, on top of the olive trees!) Just making the point that the vision from the website doesn’t connect in real life, the mood of the dining room especially.
Now for the dinner- I didn’t like the room we were sat in, everything felt haphazard with hardly any table space, feeling closed in, and cramped. There was a dismal attempt at putting a bar in the same space with the fridges all in view making lots of noise. I don’t think this is pleasant for the diner. Food wise, there is a lot of focus on herbs here, but was it all worth it? I kept asking myself this throughout the entire dinner.
Here we go- Oyster: Ossetra caviar, fermented cucumber, thousand leaf. The caviar was lost and the dish unbalanced, it was too sharp in acidity.
Bonito- Lovage, green apple, kiwi: Excellent texture on the bonito, but I didn’t find anything special about this dish, also being too sharp in acidity once again.
Shrimp- Orange, mussels, marigold: This shrimp was excellent and a particularly good dish here, everything on this plate worked. But somebody always has to ruin the moment… I wanted to ask the waiter to calm down a little bit, and to let the guest breathe, because at one point we were not allowed to keep the sauce for this even if we wanted to. We had to be firm, confronted with a dispute. If we want it, chill out and let us have it.
Squid- Not being a massive fan of horseradish, this was already a write off.
72 days dry aged beef- Cherry plum, pomegranate, ramson caper- It was too big to handle, the idea being ‘pick it up and eat it’. More refinement needed as it was getting messy (I had to get up and go and wash my hands) Slightly too sharp again with no attention to the balance of flavouring. I found it offal like in flavour, too much dominating for me personally.
Eel mini burger- Nothing standout with this one- All being one flavour profile, no balance or other interest of flavours coming through. There are ideas here, but unfortunately, they are not delivering.
There was a second shrimp dish of the night, which was wonderful as like the first. I think they should just exclusively make a shrimp tasting menu here. Forget about everything else… This product is high level, and they know how to show it off.
Quail egg- Potato, seaweed, chorizo- Not a bad dish, but nothing to shout about and at this moment in time everything is set like a course of appetisers, not like a tasting menu with a clear direction and plan.
The bread still hadn’t arrived… oh wait no here it was, in the form of a ‘course’ Arghhh. Why oh why, do restaurants feel the need to do this? The butter was good though.
Next, we have the eel- I didn’t finish this dish because it is not my thing. Eel can be at its best it when it is barbecued, bring some smokiness in here because there wasn’t enough of that. I found this too pungent, and we should just leave it up to the Japanese entirely when it comes to eel.
The last of the savoury is goat- We have that same sharp vinegar attack of sharpness here totally overpowering the dish, far too harsh on the palate. Having been here now for more than 2.5 hours, what exactly had we eaten? Nada.
But… when the dessert came, we had a totally different perspective, the pastry chef being on completely another level. Their first dessert was good, and the second came with interesting combinations and technique to match the taste. I turned to my guest and said, “Has it transformed?” The pastry section is much stronger than the cuisine, you could see the stark difference.
Overall, I was not loving this restaurant for all the reasons I have outlined from start to end. You can read this and forge your own decision but for me it will be left in the past. Style and ideas that haven’t quite made it, thrown in the mix a pinch of arrogance. Go out and see what your fellow chefs are doing. Just saying.
