Restaurant Review: Providores
Upon the recommendation of a co-worker (and an evening at the Hellenic Center nearby), I went to dine at the Providores in Marylebone Village, London. I was attracted by the fusion of ingredients from different cuisines. Providores has two sections, the upstairs dining room and the downstairs tapas bar. I went to the upstairs dining room. My dining companions were a little disappointed at the dearth of Old World wines on the Wine List and I was puzzled as to why the majority of the wines were from New Zealand... Well folks, puzzle solved. The Chef, Peter Gordon, is from New Zealand (What a relief! I had thought that perhaps New Zealand had become the new wine mecca overnight and I was completely ignorant of the fact).
The menu gives you a rather rigid set of prices assigned to the number of courses you choose, although whether your course is appetizer, main course, or dessert is completely up to you. Just think, your entire meal could be made up of desserts if you were so keen on the idea! Two courses are offered at 29 pounds and it only goes up from there. What I didn't like, though, is that the price is courses per person, so if you wanted to eat light and have everyone order one course to share, you would either waste money or be forced to eat more. Also, since the menu is priced as courses per person, I feel that it has the behavioral effect of discouraging people from sharing. Ironic, given that there is a Tapas Bar downstairs. Well, enough whining about the behavioral implications of the menu pricing...that's the economist in me coming out. Let me suppress my inner economist and move on.
As a main course, I ordered roast venison with chermoula. Chermoula is a Moroccan marinade that has some spice, but is mainly very earthy. It is an unexpected pairing with roast venison, but it works really well. My medium rare venison was perfectly cooked, although my tongue was so entertained by the fusion of flavors I wasn't paying too much attention to the doneness of the meat.
In terms of dessert, I ordered a raspberry financier solely for the purpose of trying the olive oil almond ice cream it came with. It was good and the ice cream was certainly good, but it tasted nothing like olive oil, which was actually a little disappointing for me. The dessert tasted perfectly ordinary and I had ordered it because I thought it would be extra-ordinary.
I think I would have done better by ordering the malted white and dark Valrhona mousse cake that my dining companion so intelligently chose. It was rich, but not overly rich. I have a huge dislike for chocolate mousse that is over-buttered and chocolate mousse that is actually a pudding (two things alarmingly common in American dining) and this cake struck the perfect balance of smoothness and mousse. The white chocolate portion was also perfectly done. Nothing like the artificial candy-like white chocolate I remember from my youth. Hail to the white chocolate renaissance!
Lastly, for wine we had a very interesting white wine from Hungary called Dobogo. I'm not a wine expert, so instead of smartly rephrasing the wine description, I'll quote the menu directly:
Overall, I felt it was a good dining experience mainly for the unexpected blend of ingredients that you find in the dishes. Of course, the food was also very well prepared. I just wish they would change the pricing scheme away from courses per person to just courses period. Then people might order more courses with the intent of sharing them all (and then the restaurant might actually bring in more revenues). Oops, sorry...that was my pesky inner economist coming out again.
The menu gives you a rather rigid set of prices assigned to the number of courses you choose, although whether your course is appetizer, main course, or dessert is completely up to you. Just think, your entire meal could be made up of desserts if you were so keen on the idea! Two courses are offered at 29 pounds and it only goes up from there. What I didn't like, though, is that the price is courses per person, so if you wanted to eat light and have everyone order one course to share, you would either waste money or be forced to eat more. Also, since the menu is priced as courses per person, I feel that it has the behavioral effect of discouraging people from sharing. Ironic, given that there is a Tapas Bar downstairs. Well, enough whining about the behavioral implications of the menu pricing...that's the economist in me coming out. Let me suppress my inner economist and move on.
As a main course, I ordered roast venison with chermoula. Chermoula is a Moroccan marinade that has some spice, but is mainly very earthy. It is an unexpected pairing with roast venison, but it works really well. My medium rare venison was perfectly cooked, although my tongue was so entertained by the fusion of flavors I wasn't paying too much attention to the doneness of the meat.
In terms of dessert, I ordered a raspberry financier solely for the purpose of trying the olive oil almond ice cream it came with. It was good and the ice cream was certainly good, but it tasted nothing like olive oil, which was actually a little disappointing for me. The dessert tasted perfectly ordinary and I had ordered it because I thought it would be extra-ordinary.
I think I would have done better by ordering the malted white and dark Valrhona mousse cake that my dining companion so intelligently chose. It was rich, but not overly rich. I have a huge dislike for chocolate mousse that is over-buttered and chocolate mousse that is actually a pudding (two things alarmingly common in American dining) and this cake struck the perfect balance of smoothness and mousse. The white chocolate portion was also perfectly done. Nothing like the artificial candy-like white chocolate I remember from my youth. Hail to the white chocolate renaissance!
Lastly, for wine we had a very interesting white wine from Hungary called Dobogo. I'm not a wine expert, so instead of smartly rephrasing the wine description, I'll quote the menu directly:
This fascinating wine combines spiced vanilla, orange
blossom, pear and fig flavours with oleander and
ginger aromas, and a hint of smoked oak. A rich
creamy texture with rounded acidity. Rather special
blossom, pear and fig flavours with oleander and
ginger aromas, and a hint of smoked oak. A rich
creamy texture with rounded acidity. Rather special
Overall, I felt it was a good dining experience mainly for the unexpected blend of ingredients that you find in the dishes. Of course, the food was also very well prepared. I just wish they would change the pricing scheme away from courses per person to just courses period. Then people might order more courses with the intent of sharing them all (and then the restaurant might actually bring in more revenues). Oops, sorry...that was my pesky inner economist coming out again.
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