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18 January 2012

We Heart Nopi





To kick off the festive season of 2011, the trimmers headed for a Prosecco induced evening at Yotam Ottolenghi's latest glamorous venture, Nopi. A minimalist interior with slick white tiles on the walls, lots of shiny brass fittings and a 'f*** me WOW' bathroom. Seriously, the bathroom alone is worth the visit. The walls are covered in mirrors jutting out at different angles creating a 70s psychadelic vision that leaves you wide-eyed and fumbling for the camouflaged toilet doors.

The menu is divided into meat, fish, veg and sweets with all the plates being small sharing sizes - (3 course meals are so passe). We started the feasting with a fresh and tangy dish of caramalised macademia and mango coleslaw, heavenly scallops with fennel puree and sweet pumpkin pie with salty manouri cheese and a lip-smacking ginger sabayon. The Trimmers forks were flying across the table snatching every last morsel of yumminess. Yottolenghi if you're listening, you should jar those macadamia nuts and sell them, because damn they were good.

A small break allowed for a second bathroom trip, this time with cameras in hand (you'll understand this madness once you experience the bathroom). Back in the restaurant our table was filled with round two of deliciousness. A seductively tender pork belly cassoulet with madeira prunes was presented in charming jam jars, tempting us to just pop one in our bags for a midnight treat. Another interesting dish of hibiscus and tea smoked quail with cumquat relish demonstrated Ottolenghi's successful fusion of exotic flavours. A heart warming dish of fondant swede and caerphilly gratin had everyone dribbling whilst stating repeatedly as if on drugs 'I don't even like swede, but I love this'. A last show stopping dish was chargrilled octopus with a banging salmorejo sauce and sweet morcilla. After this our brains drowned in foodie serotonin and we had no other choice but to order another bottle of their Cuvee rose 'Jeio', Bisol, just to lubricate our systems (please note that Trim now fully stocks this prosecco).

Desserts arrived just as we began to slump over, but nevertheless we raised our spoons like a cavalry standing to attention and devoured a christmassy mincemeat strudel with burnt orange and caramel ice cream and an creamy passion fruit meringue trifle creation all washed down with a 'pick me up' espresso martini! Oof it was gooood.

There wasn't a single dish to fault. Every flavour and texture was executed to a blinding perfection. Nopi is our favourite new restaurant and Ottolenghi is our new hero.