Elegant luxury oriental food from 4 countries

Four hundred year old building but spotlessly clean. Expensive but different. Good for dressing up for an anniversary. If one of you likes Chinese food but the other likes Thai, this is the place to go.Tables have white cloths and napkins. Some food arrives on giant white plates, other dishes in little woven baskets with lids.The dessert menu was displayed on a stand. Menu is hard to read in low light. I could read, just. Next time I must take a magnifying glass. The take away menu and website have red print on black, pretty but hard to read.FOODHuge menu. Sections on Chinese. Japanese. Thai. Malaysian. Green. The four cuisine menu from all four countries available in all the rooms. Food is prettily presented. Dots of green or red hot sauce around the outside of the plate of savouries.Before you begin you get peanuts and pickled cucumber to eat with chopsticks,Starters included crispy crunchy salty seaweed. (Chinese.) I had the chicken egg drop soup. It arrived in a small square white bowl on an oblong white tray. The soup was thick and glutinous and contained corn off the cob and chicken. Very filling and satisfying. Main courses included small white beans. (Japanese.)Chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce. Okay. The cashew nuts were a bit sparse and lost.DuckAromatic Crispy Duck in pancakes listed under starters (quarter is six pancakes, half is 12 pancakes). They bring it up and place it on a tray beside your table on a folding X shape support. You watch as the pancakes are prepared for you. Not like Chinese restaurants where you are shown how to do it and then left to do it. Very good. My companion thought by the time the server had rolled up six pancakes and put them on cold plates the food was merely tepid, not hot. We would have preferred the food kept warm over one of those table heaters with tea lights underneath.VegetablesThe gourmet vegetables were assorted vegetables (green peppers and red tomato and onion and mushroom) in black bean sauce containing some small whole black beans. Seemed very good at the time. RiceCoconut rice didn't taste much of coconut. Came wrapped in a rather dead looking banana leaf or lotus leaf in a steamer.DessertsDesserts include Shanghai pancakes filled with red bean paste, with one scoop of vanilla ice cream. And chocolate fondue. And a trio of Japanese ice creams, green tea (okay), bean (good) and chestnut (superb). I was sorry I had not asked them to change my vanilla ice cream for bean ice cream. Also a mango ice dessert.CoffeeNo espresso coffee but my companion was happy with the black coffee. The coffee came up with an After Eight mint. We shared the ming. Half is plenty of sugar. All the same, I was surprised that I didn't get a chocolate covered mint with my tea. Maybe they forgot, or thought mints don't go with tea. We were too shy to say ask. So we'll never know.TeaI had a very nice ginger tea with slices of real white ginger root. Do not bite into a piece of ginger root straight away! It has a bite like cough mixture which makes you gasp. I bit it because for the first three seconds I thought I'd just got hot water and was bored. But the genuine ginger taste gradually developed until I felt really pleased I'd ordered it.DECOR Exciting yet calm and restful. Seems to be a converted house. The outside co-ordinates with nearby medieval buildings including a couple of historic old pubs along the shopping street. Inside it's oriental with pristine white walls and newly painted black beams. The room at front has oriental hangings. Flowers under glass. Unexpected and strange, but it works. The central hall has he reception and an old fireplace. A couple of steep steps down to the front room which is Japanese style. At the back are two smaller rooms. On one side of the room you have agreeable views downhill of the historic Tudor street with listed buildings.The servers are slim and wearing black. Alert rather than friendly. When I was last there I found the chef and a server were brother and sister.ServiceAttentive. When I ask, toothpicks arrive within seconds. Tap water has a thin slice of lemon. White fabric napkins are neatly folded into pleats.Tables are covered with double white cloths. The top one is removed after your main course to leave you with a clean undercloth for dessert.MusicPleasant back ground music.PriceNot cheap but worth the money.ToiletsLadies - only one toilet. Very elegant. Even a zip-up fabric container hiding the spare toilet paper and keeping it clean and dust-free.LOCATIONPinner is a delightful area. This restaurant is in a beamed black and white building at the top of the hill by the church. If you are from overseas you will like the street. If you are entertaining overseas visitors they will enjoy it. GETTING THEREBy car: At night you can park outside. Read the parking signs.By train: Take the fast Metropolitan line which passes the spire of Harrow-on-the-Hill, next to the famous school. You'll see it on your left if you sit facing forward. Straight ahead if you are seated on the right hand side looking across the train. You are nearly there. Stay on the train to Pinner. From the station take a short walk gently up the High Street past the old pubs (left in my photo above) and L'Orient is in front of the church at the top.WebsiteWhen I went onto the website next day I discovered that upstairs they have two more rooms reserved as karaoke with dinner rooms which can be booked by Premium Club members.The website like the take away menu has some sections in red print on black. It looks very smart but is hard to read.Spiciness and Flavour StrengthThe menu has one two or three red points to indicate spiciness. I am happy to report that unlike in many Indian restaurants nowadays where many dishes are distressingly spicy everything here was just right. In any case, if in doubt, Japanese food is usually relatively bland or, as the Japanese prefer to say, subtly flavoured.Anything missing? If you want petit fours go to Appolonia in Stanmore or try Friends in Pinner.Final verdict:Delightful decor. Romantic candles. Lovely. Soothing. Happy. Food a mixture of the acceptable, the good, and the wonderful. A great evening.

A User - 06/12/2007 | report this review