Sinn's

In Wembley Square. Nothing to do with soccer.

Thomas Sinn, whom I first knew as a spotty youth fresh from Austria aus, when he was appointed chef de cuisine (and I, spotty youth, too, was appointed waitress) at Buitenverwachting, post its Bonthuys era [its heyday, which neither the restaurant nor that chef managed to recapture; he, essentially, having rested on his oversauced laurels ever since], owns Sinn's along with his wife....er...name,name,...Britte!, who then was another spotty youth, appointed pastry chef when the tubby Frans quit that post in a huff and hoofed it back to the fatherland, she fresh from the Draairestaurant in Bloemfontein...

Wembley Square is an odd place, and eating there in its atrium is rather like waiting in an airport in a blizzard for one's plane to arrive from parts unknown and to leave for parts desired once the its wings have been de-iced...: there's muzak. Seriously. And small palms, and marble.

Our server was new, we decided. 'Nuff said. We both ordered the mussel and shrimp pot au feu, a starter on the menu (preceeded by duck parfait, a warhorse from Buitenverwachting days). I won't go into the definition of pot au feu here, but the term is a misnomer for this dish. That didn't matter, though. What we were hoping, me mum and me, was that it might resemble the Rhine Riesling and mussel soup that Thomas made at his first restaurant after B'verwachting, The Blue Danube, which was something transporting - the soup, I mean. One of the nicest, most simple and most sophisticated things I have eaten anywhere, ever. A sort of sabayon of a soup, pale gold, frothy, with a huddle of plump, naked mussels beneath it's airy surface. And here at Sinn's, in the airport foyer, yes! This time with a bisque base, but the same richness to the stock, though definitely not Rieslinged, and very shrimped in essence, and still fluffy and light, but deep in flavour...I had often thought that as a chef he was conservative and not essentially creative, but that he had excellent technique...I've not changed my mind in essence, having read the menu and cast my eye around some plates served at lunch, but this one is a winner. I could eat it again and again. And again. A lovely thing.