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London's "Best New Restaurant"
Matthew Fort, restaurant critic for The Guardian of London, awarded East@West a lofty 17.5/20 rating in his review published on January 3, 2004. Following is an excerpt from his review:
Christine Manfield has come all the way from Australia with, as far as London is concerned, a pretty original approach to what is unquestionably fusion cooking... (with) an accent that falls markedly on the Orient.... In terms of the style, spicing, structure, sweet/sour axis and overall zing factor, it has the unmistakable tone of the eastern approaches.
For example, the yellowfin tuna is seasoned with ponzu, ginger, wasabi and no doubt loads of other dainties that give it an unusual roundness of flavor, and matched to nori omelette, avocado and flying fish roe mixed with wasabi. Spiced turmeric broth is more sour than sweet thanks to lemongrass and tamarind, so it has an immensely focused, clean tang to it, and one in which the additions of spring onion wontons and garlic chives strike clear, individual notes. Duck's breast is smoked -- which helps cut the richness of the meat, from which most of the fat has been rendered -- and then paired with longan, a lychee-like fruit with a similar exotic perfume, asparagus and arugula....
Not only do I find (Manfield's) dishes brilliant -- brilliant, that is, in terms of color, contrast, definition, complexity and balance; brilliant, too, as in vivid -- but that the contrast between them also sets up a kind of rhythm between the sets of flavors. The sharp, pointy notes of pickled fennel and mint with the salmon confit, for example, neatly set up the gentler, more ruminative flavors of the tea-smoked duck breast dish and the slow-braised lamb with white truffle noodles, chanterelles and green peppercorns.
It helps that none of the dishes is that big or rich, nor is the menu structured along the conventional lines. Of the eight dishes on offer at lunch, (we) did seven of them and still had room for passion fruit ice cream with lychee and mango sorbet slice, and spiced quince and ginger syrup cake with green ginger custard -- the sort of pudding about which I dreamed all through my school days....
Manfield has got the portions just about right, in part because the range of flavors and textures in each dish keeps your tastebuds limbered up even after you've stopped eating, and in part because, assuming you choose sensibly, there are such distinctive contrasts between the dishes.
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