Simple ingredients cooked well don’t need a great deal of introduction.
Burrata and tomatoes
To start, I ordered burrata with Toscana olive oil and seasonal tomatoes. The mozzarella shell yielded to my fork – and the cream did flow. Tomatoes and cheese are God’s way (said even as an agnostic) of saying a human’s diet is to consist and dine on both vegetable and animal – sour tomatoes and creamy cheese, a combination parallel to ambrosia (even if the elixir credentials are not quite as comparable). It was, yes, incredibly simple, but all credit to L’Eto – it was simply divine.
Crab and avocado salad
The crab and avocado salad with soy and lime dressing, did also deliver. Zesty, zingy – you know what lime tastes like – was matched rather damn well with the soy and creaminess of the crab and avocado. A beautiful tower was presented on the (gorgeous) plates – the crab flaked with the texture of rice and submerged itself underneath the dressing; ready to be scooped and siphoned into the Welshman’s mouth. I also had a good go at it too.
12oz Côte de Boeuf Steak
Steak, cooked medium rare was also flavoursome, well seasoned and wholesomely presented with a selection of roasted vegetables and a few radishes. Only slight, and slight being very much emphasised, was that the cut wasn’t as tender as it could have been. But let’s not linger on this point.
Côte de Boeuf
Close up!
Gnocci with toasted almonds and rocket…I told you this menu was simple! Buttery, moreish (moreish – despite the fact I could probably hazard a guess at how many grams of butter, to the first decimal place, was in there). Not floury, not hard, not plasticky, but succulent, incredible pristine flavours and the insatiable sensation of wanting to shove it all in your mouth at once.
Gnocci with toasted almonds and rocket
Gnocci with toasted almonds and rocket
Gnocci with toasted almonds and rocket
I did not order dessert, but I can comment on the wine. In my youth I would never have claimed that the shape (nor material) of the vessel from which one drank would have affected the flavour of the solution of which one drank. Well it bloody well does. L’Eto have beautiful, ‘correct’, glasses which served our respective choices of a Merlot and Malbec between the Welshman and I. Good wine; good food.
L’Eto deli’s aubergine salad
Although I didn’t sample it, their buffet deli – I’m sure – would also be super for a lunch date.
L’Eto deli’s potato & sugar snap salad on the deli
Waxed lyrical? Perhaps. But most enjoyable. Thank you L’Eto for inviting me.
149 King’s Road,
Chelsea,
London,
SW3 5TX
020 7351 7656
The South West London Food Blog 