Cornus

I have written previously about the background of Cornus and its head chef. At this latest meal, we opted for the full tasting menu at £185 each. There was also a set lunch at £60 and an a la carte selection.

The meal began with a wide array of canapes. Aged Comte gougère arrived warm, stuffed with Gruyere fondue, brushed with beurre noisette and shaving of aged gruyere. The choux pastry was had good texture and there was plenty of cheese flavour. Iberian pig's head croquette with pickled walnut & burnt apple ketchup was finished with Italian fennel pollen. This comprised Spanish pig’s heads that had been cured for five days in a salt cure containing rosemary, thyme, garlic, pink salt, sugar and peppercorns. They were then cooked overnight in a steamer (at 85 degrees) until soft and tender. Once cool, the meat is picked off and retains some of the fat. The meat is then mixed with caramelized onion, tarragon, mustard, chopped bacon, sherry vinegar. The result is pressed and set, cubed and then fried to order. These had a crisp exterior and a deep flavour, the hint of mustard just enough to cut through the richness of the meat. 

Chicken wings were stuffed with chicken mousse and wild garlic alon with lampong pepper, topped with slices of black truffle olive oil and salt. This canape was also very good, the fragrance of the late season truffle going very well with the chicken. Butternut squash mushroom tart came with mushroom ketchup, onion ketchup, butternut squash foam, onion consomme jelly and truffle crispy potatoes. This managed to avoid the oversweetness that can often happen with butternut squash, and the texture was good. The canape array continued with Cevenne onion and wild garlic velouté, which had good sweetness from the onions. There was also prawn and squid ink cracker with smoked cod roe and espelette pepper. The cracker itself is made from prawns, squid ink, tapioca flour and a prawn consommé. The crackers are topped with taramasalata, espelette pepper, lemon zest and dehydrated langoustine head powder. This had been a regular canape. Finally, there was a lovely miniature quiche, with delicate, melting pastry. This was an unusually wide array of canapes, and they worked very well indeed (17/20).  Bread was a choice of ancient sour dough (from Flourish bakery) and focaccia that was baked in house with Capezzana olive oil. The bread was served with Maison Bordier Demi Sel butter.

The first formal course of the meal was sea bass tartare with oyster cream, green apple and shiso. Raw sea bass is diced, mixed with crème fraiche, shallot, chives, white soy sauce, lemon zest and pickled pink ginger. The white soy sauce is used to season the dish instead of salt, bringing an umami flavour without altering the texture of the fish. The sea bass mix is placed on top of pickled white radish and topped with dots of oyster cream seasoned with seaweed powder. The dish is finished with crispy shallot, julienne of Granny Smith apple and purple shiso leaves. This was a lovely dish, the acidity of the apple cutting through the tartare, while the shiso leaves add a contrasting texture (17/20). 

Next was a crab dish. Handpicked large Devon crab from Kevin Bartlett is slowly cooked at 75 degrees until translucent. It is then chilled, carefully picked over for shell, then mixed with wasabi mayonnaise, spring onion, nashi pear, chives. lime juice and zest. This is topped with Hass avocado puree, quenelle of green apple sorbet, and a disk of green apple jelly. The dish is finished with dots of avocado puree, finger lime, Japanese cold pressed wasabi oil and coriander shoots. This is a well-established dish here and is a joy to eat, the balance of flavours precisely judged. The crab’s sweetness works well with the avocado and there is just enough bite from the wasabi to lift it without overpowering the crab (18/20). 

Next was red mullet, gill-net caught by Simon De Courcy. The fish was slowly roasted and a bouillabaisse sauce made from mullet bones stock and crab stock. Along with plum tomatoes and tarragon, this was reduced into a thick consistency and blended with butter, seasoned and finished with freshly squeezed lemon juice.  A salsa verde was made from wild garlic and parsley and freshly chopped herbs with capers and anchovies and seasoned with salt and lemon juice. Red mullet is at its peak right now (March), and the cooking of the fish was superb, while the robust flavour of the mullet stood up well to the sauces. This was a really lovely dish (strong 18/20).

Next was spaghetti with 24 Month Aged Parmesan, black winter truffle and Capezzana olive oil. Here, hand-rolled buckwheat spaghetti is cooked in Parmesan stock and dressed in an emulsion of butter, grated truffle and lemon juice. The dish is finished with shaved winter truffle and Capezzana olive oil. This was a simple but very enjoyable dish, the gentle fragrance of the winter truffle lifting the flavour, the pasta having excellent texture (16/20).

The final savoury course was roast chicken. In this case the bird was Maison Garat chicken (from the French Basque country) with Loire Valley white Asparagus, morels, wild garlic and Lampong pepper from Sumatra. The chicken was roasted with chicken fat, served with glazed cauliflower, spinach puree, emulsion of white asparagus and morels that were glazed in lemon juice and wild garlic, finished with chicken fat. The spinach was cooked in butter and seasoned, while salt roasted chicken wings were stuffed with wild garlic and chicken mousse, with a roasted chicken sauce finished with herbs. The chicken had excellent flavour, and the new season morels and white asparagus were very good indeed (17/20).

For dessert, Sicilian pistachio and chocolate mille-Feuille came with pistachio ice cream and salted chocolate sauce. This came with pistachio crème diplomat, pistachio praline, pistachio ice cream, a crispy tuile and salted chocolate Sauce made from Vietnamese Mekonga dark chocolate. This was an excellent dessert, pretty to look at and with enjoyably contrasting textures and well as stacks of pistachio flavour (17/20). I also tasted the kitchen’s take on tiramisu. This involved layers of yolk enriched mascarpone cream, hazelnut praline, amaretto and Difference Coffee soaked sponge. This was served with triple chocolate sorbet using Mekonga 70% chocolate, Valrhona Caramelia and 85% Abinao chocolate. This came with Red Williams pear ice cream spiked with eau de vie and a vanilla anglaise rippled with espresso syrup. A well made banana souffle was also available. This used a caramelised banana milk rice pudding base, mixed with banana jam, with a crust of toasted banana bread. This came with Greek yoghurt ice cream and toffee sauce. Petit fours were banana and passion fruit macaroons, pink pepper and white chocolate fudge, and blood orange pates de fruits. Coffee was Difference Coffee, and we indulged with some Panama Gesha, which is some of the best coffee that money can buy. 

Service was excellent throughout the meal. The bill came to £279 per person including service and corkage. Obviously, you could run up a much lower bill by choosing the set lunch. Cornus is a lovely restaurant serving high quality, seasonal ingredients. The technical skill in the kitchen is high, as shown by the superb red mullet dish.

Further reviews: 10th Oct 2025 | 27th Jun 2025 | 22nd Jan 2025 | 20th Dec 2024 | 08th Nov 2024 | 16th Aug 2024