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The two page wine list is good, featuring selections such as Mas de Daumas Gassac 2006 at £43 for a wine that costs around £22 retail. But there is yet another chef change at Sonny’s. The previous chef has given way to his sous chef, Owen Kenworthy. It is not an improvement.
Leek and potato soup was distinctly watery and lacked seasoning (1/10). A salad of girolles, broad beans and artichokes was much better, the rocket leaves properly dressed, the ingredients decent (3/10). Yellowfin tuna was lightly seared, served with green beans, a few roast cherry tomatoes and salsa verde (3/10). Corn fed chicken was nicely cooked, with a truffled beans and a fairly well reduced jus Parisenne (4/10).
Sadly a passion fruit tart was a shambles, with pastry that I could literally fold, and a congealed filling (0/10). Greengage fool was smothered in absurd amounts of cream (1/10). Service was pleasant enough. This meal showed a discernable drop in cooking standards, and the locals have noticed. Last time I came here they were turning tables. Tonight, a Saturday, saw just seven tables occupied at 8:30 p.m. They are about to close for some minor refurbishment, but I’d suggest some major refurbishment of the kitchen staff based on this evening’s experience.
Below are notes from a much better meal in May 2007, by way of comparison.
Sonnys chefs appear to have the lonegvity of mayflies, but after Helena Pudokka (ex head chef at Tante Claire) left things went downhill. New chef Ed Parkin (ex Galvins) joined in 2006 and has raised the game. The bread here has always been good, from the Exeter Street Bakery in this case a choice of slices of excellent green olive bread, walnut and raisin and ciabatta (6/10). There are no fripperies here like amuse guele or petit fours. Service tonight was friendly though they should fix the basic issue of waiters knowing who ordered what when delivering the dishes; this is easy enough. Starters are £5 to £9.50, mostly around £7 or so, and main courses range from £10.25 to £18.50 (vegetables £3 extra), with desserts at £5.50 - £6.50, with cheese at £7.50.
The bread here is from the Exeter Street bakery, which make excellent olive bread, as well as good slices of walnut and raising bread, and reasonable foccacia (6/10 bread). Eel salad had fresh, baby gem lettuce dressed with a pleasant lemon vinaigrette; the eel itself did not have as much flavor as it might, but otherwise this was fine (3/10). Asparagus were cooked simply and served hot with a classic Hollandaise, which was very well executed; the asparagus themselves were cooked very nicely (5/10). Pot roasted monkfish was not at all chewy, and had tender borlotti beans garnished with small cubes of butternut squash (5/10). My Bresse pigeon was very tender and had the excellent flavor that this high quality ingredient should have, served with a ring of pea puree, peas and tarragon garnish, with a pleasing sauce made from the cooking juices (6/10).
Desserts were not to the same level tonight, a simple slab of passion fruit parfait that had reasonable texture but limited passion fruit taste (2/10) and pannacotta with orange that again lacked any depth of vanilla flavor (2/10).
Here is a meal from October 2006, by way of comparison.
Tonight I started with saffron risotto with ricotta and gremolata (a mix of capers, olives, lemon zest and parsley). The rice had soft texture and had absorbed the stock, which in itself lacked depth of flavour but was saved by the strong flavours of the saffron and the gremolata (5/10). Salad of endive, Roquefort and walnut was an interesting blend of components but the leaves needed a dressing (4/10). Pork belly was served as two slabs, nicely crispy on top, served with a cassoulet of Tarbais beans but the stock strangely lacked any real depth of flavour (5/10).
Better was poached halibut, nicely cooked with a creamy celeriac puree, trompette mushrooms and a red wine sauce thickened with butter (6/10). A side order of chips were extremely good, thin, crisp and pretty much exactly what you would hope for from a bowl of chips, which is something that rarely happens (7/10). Chocolate marquise was simple but had honest chocolate taste, served with a passion fruit sorbet that I requested instead of the crème fraiche sorbet advertised (5/10). Pain perdu ("forgotten bread" but essentially French toast) had good texture, served with a well made vanilla ice cream with a rich dark chocolate sauce (4/10). Coffee was pleasant (5/10).
Overall the new chef heralds a return to form for Sonnys. The waitress we had was fairly grumpy, but dishes were served correctly and at quite a pace, though there was no table turning The wine list is on two pages and has a good range oif new world wines in particular, with Bonny Doon Big House Red and Guigal Cotes du Rhone as pleasing mid-range choices. Mas de Daumas Gassac is the pick of the whites.
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