Euro Winter Menu 2021

It had been a very long time between drinks (and bites) at Euro, so it was great to get back there last week, accompanied by our digital whiz Liam, to sample from their current winter menu. Inspired by the French city of light, the menu reads like a travel-lovers dream – from chicken liver pate and lamb navarin and Cote de boeuf through to bouillabaisse and whipped ‘haricot blanc’ beans – you could easily imagine yourself ensconced in a chic Parisian restaurant. However, the menu designed by executive chef Gareth Stewart and head chef Uelese Mua isn’t one dimensional in its adherence to French flavours, but rather brings that influence to every dish. With a perfectly pitched Appletizer in hand (Calvados, pear, apple cordial, Ricard and soda), we sat down to experience an absolute feast.

Gareth kindly walked us through everything we tasted, starting with Escabeche of line caught trevally with saffron pickled shallot, verjus and fennel – deliciously clean and elegant as well as stunningly presented. By contrast the Gnocchi Parisienne with Fiordland crayfish ragu and Emmental cheese was extreme comfort food - wildly decadent - and had all those at the table swooning. The ‘gnocchi’ were a revelation, made from light-as-air pillows of choux pastry, swaddled in rich cheese sauce with generous amounts of crayfish meat…quite frankly – ‘’phwaor”!

The Bouillabaisse was made with fish, mussels, clams and cleverly smoked local octopus, served with saffron rouille and plenty of soft bread for mopping up the luscious juices. Gareth quite rightly waxed lyrical about the Charcoal grilled oyster mushrooms with lemon and truffle, a magical flavour combination with a perfect balance of earthy and fresh notes. One of my favourites was the Tart tatin made with golden beetroot, flaky pastry, whipped chevre and walnut – such a pleasing sweet and lightly salty match. 

The Steak frites with First Light wagyu bavette, pomme paille bearnaise and bone marrow jus was beautifully presented with a mound of fine frites crowning the perfectly pink steak. On the side, Tartiflette made (with a twist) from hasselback potatoes with bacon, truffle and raclette cheese. For those brave souls that still had room there was a dessert selection including a wild Ice Cream sandwich with banana parfait, hazelnut streusel, whipped dulcey and feuilletine biscuit as well as Chocolate Crostata with Valrhona Manjari chocolate fondant, salted caramel mousse and Koko Samoa.

As a lunch, it really was a great deal more to eat than was strictly necessary, but my recommendation would be to round up a group friends and head there while the menu continues through winter, so that you can sample as much of it as possible. Congratulations to Gareth, Uelese and the team for creating such a fabulous range of flavour-packed dishes.

To celebrate their new winter menu, Euro are giving you the chance to win dinner for two this Bastille Day (Wednesday July 14th). To enter, simply fill out the form below!