Went to The Gate last night with a couple of friends. I'm always sneakingly suspicious of vegetarian restaurants, as I almost invariably am disappointed or leave hungry (save a few exceptions, like 'Millenium' or 'Greens' in San Francisco). The Gate fortunately met neither of those expectations: we were delighted, and left very full indeed!
The service here is irreproachable. We arrived on time for our 9pm booking, but our table wasn't ready; however, our server told us to go to the bar, and order any cocktail off the list on the house. Now that's what I call turning a potential customer problem into a stellar customer experience! The cocktails were ok, but then again, I'm pretty picky about my drinks... so by and large, pretty decent drink (gin, pepper, strawberries on crushed ice).
We all decided to share our starters, mains and desserts, so that we could experience as much of the food on the menu as possible.
For starters, we ordered the Courgette Flower, Pumpkin and Potato Cake, and the Green Banana Fritters.
The courgette flower had a perfect crunch, and was nicely tucked into a dry, crispy, batter, and it came with a side of lentils that made the dish nicely balanced. Wasn't too impressed with the banana fritters, but the harissa they came with was spot on. The potato cake was the heavier starter, and the stilton came through, but not too strongly, again, showing how the kitchen here is right on top of their flavour profiles and balance.
The mains demolished us! We ordered to share: The Aubergine Teriyaki, the Wild Mushroom Risotto Cake, and the Beetroot Canenelloni.
The Aubergine was probably the most strongly flavoured dish, and comes chargrilled and layered with coriander pesto, roasted red peppers, shitake mushrooms and horseradish, and is coated with crispy breadcrumbs and served on stir-fried noodles with a pickled ginger and mango salsa. Pretty explosive in taste, and really good.
The favourite dish for my 2 friends was the Cannelloni. I was a bit fearful, as I hate beetroot, and anything that uses that word is usually something I don't end up going near. It's essentially a home-made pasta filled with Jerusalem artichokes, hazelnuts, goat's cheese and basil pesto, served on an artichoke purée and finished with salsa verde. This dish was absolutely fantastic, and if it wasn't for the risotto cake, would have been my favourite.
The star for me was the Wild Mushroom Risotto Cake. It's copiously served with with pan/fried girolles, pied de mouton, oyster and paris brown mushrooms, with a cepe reduction sauce and finished with rocket and Twineham grange shavings in truffle dressing... Whoa. Amaaaaazing!!!!! The risotto was perfecly cooked, the cake formation slightly crispy but still moist, and flavours where wild and explosive. Really, really good, and literally the dish that pushed me to give this place at least 4 stars.
The 5th star comes associated with the level of service we received last night. The wait staff were attentive, kind, humourous, helpful, and went out of their way to help us. When they saw us constantly dividing our dishes amongst ourselves, they'd come with additional plates, spoons or whatever to help. When we asked if the kitchen could set up our three desserts to be shared and equally portioned, they happily obliged. Rarely have I seen this in a London restaurant.
Talking about desserts: the Orange marmalade & whisky croissant bread & butter pudding is my favourite, but the White chocolate & baileys cheesecake is worth a detour. The Banoffee pie? Tastes like any old Banoffee pie, to be honest. Good, but could do with some more 'eeeee'.
In any case, The Gate is truly a gateway to a truly pleasurable vegetarian culinary experience. Is it high end ? No. But is it good, with a warm atmosphere, no 'phru-phru-posh-BS' ? Absolutely. Go there, and see for yourself :) Oh, and you will leave pretty full and satisfied!
PS: The house wine, although cheap (17£), has a bit of a bite; we decanted it into the empty water flask on our table... got a whole lot better ;-). read more