Cornus

I have written previously about Cornus and its background. It has an attractive room on the fourth floor of a building in Eccleston Yard, with a lovely open-air terrace in good weather. Executive chef Gary Foulkes was away on holiday today, and chef Sude Hancher was in charge of the kitchen tonight. She was formerly at Angler and also did a stage at Ikoyi. There was a tasting menu at £195 but tonight we went a la carte. I have mentioned the wine list previously, and corkage was £45. Mineral water was £4.95. 

The meal began with some excellent focaccia and sourdough bread, along with an armada of canapes. First was a warm Gruyere gougere, which had excellent cheese flavour and good choux pastry. There was a potato galette topped with bluefin tuna, basil emulsion and white peach, as well as white soy, chives and lime zest with Greek basil. This was lovely, the potato base crisp, the tuna having very good flavour and the other elements combining nicely. Also excellent was a cheese and onion tart with onion ketchup, cheese fondue, cauliflower, mushroom, Comte and Australian black truffle. This was a rich and thoroughly delicious canape. Stuffed chicken wings with chicken mousse and tarragon topped with N25 kaluga Caviar and a chive curl garnish were also very enjoyable. Even better was a cherry and hazelnut cornet with foie gras parfait, which had superbly flavoured parfait that was balanced nicely by the cornet. Pea barquette topped with Basque ham and pea bavarois was simple but lovely, the flavour of the peas coming through well, the barquette providing a textural balance to the ham. Pig head croquette with apple and walnut on top was rich and lovely, the acidity of the apple balancing the richness of the pork. The least interesting of this fleet of canapes was the prawn cracker with a topping of taramasalata and lemon zest, which was fine but just not in the league of the others. This has been on since the beginning of the restaurant, but it always seemed to me a slightly odd one out (canapes 17/20 overall).

Hand-cut cavatelli pasta (£48) came with 22-month aged Parmesan and generous shavings of Australian black truffle. I have had a version of this dish here before made with spaghetti, which I think works better, but this was certainly very enjoyable (15/20). Devon crab (£36) has been on the menu here since the beginning, and is a fine dish. It comes with Hass avocado, wasabi and finger lime. The sharpness of the lime provides acidity to balance the sweetness of the crab, while there is a hint of bite from the wasabi, though this was very subtle tonight (17/20).

Roast chicken (£62) featured Maison Garat chicken (from the French Basque country) with langoustines, girolles, sweetcorn and tarragon. The chicken had very good flavour and the Scottish girolles were also excellent, while the langoustines were tender. The sweetcorn is quite a humble accompaniment, but with other rich elements it worked quite well (16/20). Cornish lobster spaghetti (£40) was flavoured with Sarawak pepper and Aleppo chilli butter. The lobster was tender, the pasta had excellent texture and the gentle bite of pepper and chilli worked very well (16/20).

Millefeuille of apricot and camomile with Pompona vanilla and apricot sauce (£22) had good apricot but something had gone slightly awry with the pastry. The pastry should be light and have crisp, caramelised, buttery layers. Sadly, the version here was a little soggy, which is definitely not what a millefeuille should be. The sauce was very good and the apricots tasted great, but something went a bit wrong here. I noticed that the table next to me had also ordered it and had the same issue, so it wasn’t just the particular plate that I was served (13/20). English raspberry souffle (£24) with lemon verbena ice cream and raspberry leaf tea sauce, on the other hand, was very well executed. The souffle was evenly cooked, had good fruit flavour inside and was light in texture (16/20). Coffee here is from Difference coffee.

Service was very good throughout the evening, and the bill for two people came to £180 each including wine. If you ordered carefully from the wine list and had three courses then a typical bill might be around £150. The meal tonight was a touch less consistent than previous ones that I have eaten here, but this was still a very enjoyable evening.

Further reviews: 11th Mar 2026 | 10th Oct 2025 | 27th Jun 2025 | 22nd Jan 2025 | 20th Dec 2024 | 08th Nov 2024 | 16th Aug 2024