Best of British Food Being Served Up by a Finn: Richard Vines

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Avenue has been around for years, surviving in business without becoming a destination, except for drinkers in search of a bar in St. James where you can enjoy decent wines without paying indecent prices.

That’s not all going to change overnight, but the restaurant has been reborn under a young Finnish chef whose menu and cooking are deserving of attention and even a detour if you’re thinking of other haunts in the area such as Le Caprice.

Mikko Kataja, 31, is an unlikely champion of modern British cooking and ingredients. He was born in Sammatti near Helsinki, and has become such a fan of U.K. produce that he cooks with rapeseed oil, rather than olive oil, and his improbable signature dish is a fondue made from three British cheeses.

Fondue is something you don’t often find on a menu in London. The only other place I know serving it is the wonderful Swiss venue St. Moritz, and the Avenue’s version is unique. It’s made from Coolea, Lincolnshire Poacher and Danegeld, all from Neal’s Yard Dairy. It’s nutty and rich. I can’t resist ordering it each time I visit, even while realizing I should be exploring the menu.

That’s not a great problem because most dishes are also offered in small portions, so you can order a bunch of different things to try. There’s a Caesar salad with intense home-cured sardines and a starter that’s not to be missed: wild mushrooms on toast with a slow-cooked hen’s egg and hazelnuts.

Clam Chowder

There’s a welcome focus on presentation. You would expect no less when you realize that Kataja is a protege of Tristan Welch at Launceston Place. The fondue comes in a sleek pot; the Caesar salad on a board; the fish wrapped in paper; the chips in a metal beaker. The letdown is roast cod and clam chowder. While it looks clever in a hollowed-out loaf, it is heavy.

Why bother when there is a superb burger in a beautiful seeded bun, with English mustard, home-pickled cucumber and a slice of Lincolnshire Poacher? It’s soft and rich and melting, a match for the ultimate West End burger at the Wolseley.

The burger costs 13.50 pounds ($21.63) and a small fish & chips costs 9.50 pounds. Most of the desserts are 7 to 8 pounds.

The desserts are fine. Take your pick. You might do worse than the light raspberry cheesecake with black-pepper ice cream. But my favorite is the prune and Armagnac ice cream, which comes in a cone and is as much fun as a childhood treat.

Piper Heidsieck

Talking of treats, there’s currently an offer on cocktails whereby you get a choice of about 10 for 5 pounds. The wines start at about 20 pounds. The cheapest Champagne is Piper Heidsieck Brut at 9.50 pounds a glass, or 47 pounds the bottle.

The room looks great. I’m so bored with beige and gray that any splash of color improves my mood. There are bright and bold paintings of camp-looking guardsmen. The art will change every few months, and I hope the owners -- D&D London -- invest in an artistic talent to make the selection.

If I return in six months and find the kind of tasteful modern art that lets down many a restaurant, I’ll feel like finding a new use for the fondue.

The Avenue, 7-9 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1EE. Information: +44-20-7321-2111 or http://www.theavenue-restaurant.co.uk/.

The Bloomberg Questions

Cost? The fondue is 18 pounds.

Sound level? Not noisy away from the bar: 75 decibels.

Inside tip? Tables in the raised corner area are good.

Special feature? British tapas.

Will I be back? Yes.

Date place? Yes.

Rating? ***

What the Stars Mean
**** Incomparable food, service, ambience.
***  First-class of its kind.
**   Good, reliable.
*    Fair.
0 (no stars) Poor.

(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net.