The Square restaurant – chemically formulated for perfection

The headchef Philip Howard, and co-owner of the Square, is a bio-chemist by training giving him some scientific knowledge how different ingredients interact. I have often thought that cuisine can be made a science by combining chemistry with good taste buds. At the Square Mr. Howard puts chemistry into action in each dish served. The  restaurant has been a destination for culinary lovers for more than a decade. Today it has two stars in Guide Rouge (Michelin) and it has retained them for the past 7 years. Sampling the food I agree with the Guide. They are still well worth the two stars.

The restaurant is open in its floor plan, there is something bistro about it, it is probably due to the mix of different sized tables. The walls are filled with modern art, colorist style, a bit like Per Kirkeby paints, but not as vibrant and intense in colour. Table cloths were starched, white and perfectly clean. Despite the square feel to the place there was a warm athmosphere, this must have been due to the friendly, passionate and professional servants.

Like in all good restaurants the food is playing leading role. Their compositions where beautiful creations with a touch of humour. For example my main course the Fillet of Seabass, was served with a wild mushroom sauce laid out as a track after a wheel, where the wheel was made out of a ring of crisp rösti. Funny, decorative and very good.

Genrerally the menu was extensive and classicly French., with a taste of Italian.

I started with one of their signature dishes, Lasagne of Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and Basil.  It was very good, each of the components in the dish where clearly distiquisable both in colour and in taste. The pasta was beautifully al dente, and the cappuccino was nicely foamy. For desert I had the Soufflé, a soufflé made with dates, Pain d'Epice and

Orange

. Souffles are notoriously difficult to get to rise straight, so I guess I wanted to test them. Soufflé not rising straight reminds me of an old story David Ogilvy, advertisings grand old man wrote in one of his book (The Unpublished Ogilvy, I think it was called) where he talks about his ambitions becoming a chef at young age, but chickened out when he saw the old French master chef fire his junior chef for not getting the souffle to rise straight. At the Square the souffle was ofcourse straight and having the waiter drop in a small ball of rhum and raisin ice cream so rich in taste that I still can taste it, made the desert perfect. Rhum raisin ice cream is and has for a long time been a favourite, never before have I had it at a two star restaurant. Souffles are a good benchmark to check the quality of the kitchen as there are so many things that can go wrong, the base, the cooking, the expansion, the colour, the texture, and yet it is a rather standardized dish.