After 5 months I returned to L'Ami Malo, this time on the back of a Timeout voucher (great value of £19 for 3 courses and a cocktail = £36+ value). As pleased as I was to have a cheap reason to return, it is a bit of a shame that a good niche restaurant in Spitalfields (with a modern twist on the Breton classic) needs to have these vouchers to gain their business. But that's the dining scene...
The glaring omission in my last visit (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/lami-malo-london-01-2018) was not getting to try the chocolate/cherry/pistachio dessert and so it beckoned me.
Kir Normande (cidre bouche Breton, merlet creme de cassis) £8 is a light fizz drink with blackcurrant flavour. Francois Sour (calvados blanche, red wine, lemon, egg white) £10 was also refreshing.
- Roscoff onion tart (poached egg, cider hollandaise) £8 - soft pastry, nice egg, sweet onions, great;
- Smoked salmon maki (capers, shallot, dill, keta caviar, creme fraiche) £8.5 - quite disappointing. The galettes are not thin and crisp and so it just feels too thick and dry;
- Confit duck leg galette (braised red cabbage, caramelised pear, tenderstem broccoli, red wine jus) £14 - as typical of French, the duck is well cooked, quite tender and tasty with crisp skin. Parts of the galette are burnt butter crisp with the characteristic buckwheat flavour coming through;
- Cod wrapped in buckwheat (braised fennel, new baby potatoes, glazed carrot, chorizo sauce) £13.5 - the fish is cooked well but you can't taste the buckwheat flavour in the galette covering. So not a combination or method I want to try again;
- Souffle lemon & blueberries crepe £9 - a very good crepe with an excellent shell, although the souffle in the middle seemed just a strange filling in my opinion;
- Dark chocolate delice (buckwheat nougatine, griottine cherries, pistachio icecream) £6.5 - deep dark chocolate, average pistachio icecream (not strongly nut flavoured and had some freezer/ice texture to it) with sour cherries. The nougatine was sweet and caramel although I couldn't detect buckwheat.
I would go back here. I'm not sure if I'd go to the area specifically to pay full price, but the tart and duck leg galette will make for a good meal.
The service from the gorgeous two waitresses was of high quality and I tipped £10 to them. It's interesting that one told me when using the Timeout voucher alone, they aren't allowed to charge service. Plenty of other places seem to find a way to...