The Meal We Weren’t Meant to Have

We had a splendid meal yesterday at The Black Radish. In fact, it was a meal that perhaps was meant to be.

We were supposed to be exploring the culinary delights of Paphos, Cyprus. Instead, having successfully checked ourselves and our luggage onto the plane, we boarded our flight to Cyprus and settled into our seats. Five hours later, still firmly belted in and still sitting on the tarmac, an announcement was made: the flight had been cancelled.

Being the sort of people who try to make the most of an otherwise disastrous situation, we decided to cheer ourselves up with a nice meal out locally.

I remembered that The Black Radish had an event in collaboration with The Rooftop Farm, Wimbledon, so I duly logged on to their website. And there, rather wonderfully, was a vacancy that very evening.

Some hours later we arrived at The Black Radish in Merton Abbey Mills, where we were greeted by Chris, front of house. He asked us if we would like to sit at the Chef’s Table, to which we immediately responded with an assertive, “Yes please.”

We chatted with Chris and discovered that our last-minute table had become available because another couple had been stranded in Barcelona as a result of the very same air-traffic-control problem that had left us stranded at Gatwick.

As is the way at The Black Radish, the menu was a tasting menu, but this time with a difference. It was a collaboration with The Rooftop Farm in Wimbledon, who had supplied the vegetable elements of the menu.

The meal started with some refreshing pickles, followed by two snacks: a cucumber and smoked ricotta tartlet and a spicy aubergine slice. Then came an excellent Cavolo Nero soup, topped with Durrus cheese and crispy greens. A lovely combination of earthy, creamy and crunchy textures, and a very promising start to the meal.

Then we got down to the serious business of the main elements of the tasting menu.

The first dish was Hamachi, topped with cherry tomatoes, XO sauce and oyster-leaf herbs. The combination of the delicate fish with the richness and spice of the XO sauce made for a particularly interesting dish.

Next, we moved on to some more of Wimbledon Rooftop Farm’s produce: a fabulous mushroom raviolo in a sauce made from mushroom stock and decorated with Alpine sorrel. The mushroom flavours were beautifully concentrated, and this was one of those dishes where the quality of the ingredients really came through.

All the while, we were seated at the Chef’s Table, chatting with Chef Toby and James, who was there representing The Rooftop Farm. Having the opportunity to talk to the people actually producing and cooking the food added another dimension to the evening. It was much more than simply being served a succession of beautifully prepared dishes.

The last savoury dish before dessert was lamb loin and shoulder, served with Rooftop Farm onions and green beans. The combination of the two cuts of lamb gave us both the tenderness of the loin and the deeper, richer flavour of the shoulder, complemented by the freshness of the vegetables.

And then my sweet tooth, which had been patiently waiting for dessert, came in for a double surprise.

First came lemon verbena ice cream with plum granita – a wonderfully refreshing combination and a perfect way to prepare the palate for what followed.

Because there was a second dessert!

A Rooftop Farm financier was served with a superb nutty-flavoured custard and chocolate mint ice cream. The financier brought a lovely richness to the dish, while the chocolate mint ice cream provided a final flourish to what had been a remarkably varied tasting menu.

All in all, it had been a very enjoyable evening and, remarkably, not once did we have thoughts of the sound of waves lapping on Mediterranean beaches. Instead, they were replaced by the sound of south London’s River Wandle trickling through the suburbs.

The Black Radish is a very special place. This was only the second time we had eaten there, yet we left feeling like old customers and very much part of the Black Radish family. The warmth of the welcome, the opportunity to sit at the Chef’s Table and chat with the people behind the food, and the quality and imagination of the cooking all combined to make this a memorable evening.

And much praise too to James and The Rooftop Farm in Wimbledon for providing the fresh ingredients. Somewhere we’ll definitely be visiting when we get back from our revised break in Cyprus.

Perhaps, in the end, the cancelled flight wasn’t such a disaster after all.