Mission gets a bit confused

10 April 2012

This review was first published in May 2000

Philip Lamb, head chef and partner in The Mission restaurant in Wandsworth Bridge Road, has worked, somewhat formatively it seemed to me, at hotels including The Goring and The Lanesborough under Paul Gayler, but was most recently senior sous-chef at Redmond's in East Sheen.

His partner, Henry Watson, who runs front of house, wrote to me back in February asking for advice on how to help Lamb get the exposure that he believed his chef warranted. This review is, I suppose, a belated reply and perhaps the one that was intended.

A deep fringe of fairy lights around the small front terrace picks out The Mission from among the shops that supply the locals with their stripped pine, French boat beds and conversation-piece curtain pole finials. Inside the restaurant a stainless-steel bar occupies one side of the front room which is otherwise distinguished by an elaborate, rather pretty chandelier. Intrusive piped music adds to the mix of messages about what to expect from the cooking.

Lamb, apparently backed up in the kitchen by his brother David, is the sort of chef who likes to arrange a picture on the plate. His ingredients, coaxed and chivvied into near-perfect symmetry, resemble the sort of dishes you see photographed in trade magazines such as Caterer and Hotelkeeper often illustrating a feature on a chef competition. You may or may not appreciate the style - and it seems an awkward one in the context - but the proof of its success still resides in the eating.

The friend who accompanied me to The Mission is someone with whom I eat out regularly. I can't remember seeing her shaking salt on her food before. Something was lacking in her fillet of beef topped with a crown of leek and wild mushroom mousse and encircled by pommes Anna and oaksmoked garlic. It was flavour. The refrigerator had removed some of that quality from her first course of confit vegetable terrine - their description - garnished with goat's cheese mousse, fennel and lemon oil which was served much too cold to be alluring.

The slices of seared pigeon breast balancing on the circle of celeriac remoulade, staked out by baby beetroots placed with the precision of a compass, had that unfortunate trace of bitterness that can afflict pigeon meat even when cooked as appropriately rarely as here. My main course of best end of lamb with a blue cheese and tarragon glaze matched with spinach and basil jus (sic) came with a piece of hollowed-out raw aubergine stuffed with mashed potato and topped with some other mousse - perhaps fashioned from the aubergine flesh - looking like a mad ice-cream cone. The meat was fine but seemed somehow sacrificed to the concept.

Other dishes on offer are similarly complex, and it could just be the case that had we tried, say, crispy tamarind glazed quail with oriental slaw, mango and papaya, followed by basil and ricotta gnocchi with artichoke and tomato tian, minted rocket pesto and herb salad - shades of Paul Gayler's enterprising approach to vegetarian eating - the experience would have been happier, but I wonder. The baked Camembert served hot and melting with a basket of sliced brown bread and two different chutneys was a hefty ending to the meal, but we attacked it jointly with the sort of hunger that disappointing food can arouse.

All in all, although the brothers in the kitchen are clearly ambitious, industrious and dedicated, a simpler and more direct approach to food might spread the word of their mission more successfully.

The Mission
Wandsworth Bridge Road, London, SW6 2TF

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