Flavours with an extra dash of Viking

Imagine my excitement when, having just got back from Copenhagen (see right) and a meal at Noma that explored the many possibilities in Nordic cooking, I found out that Sverisson comes from Iceland. A fellow Icelandic artist, Thorlakur Morthens, known as Tolli, has supplied vibrant splashy paintings for the dining room and designs for the cover plates.

The site where Indian restaurant Deya sat rather disconsolately has come into its own in its new incarnation. Wedding-cake mouldings of the listed interior are set free to swoop gracefully and creamily around the walls, and the bar dividing the room across - rather than down as before - has created a much more congenial space for drinking (Champagne is the intention) and eating. Staff, mostly young men dressed in black, are amiable and enthusiastic.

It would seem that Sverisson has had a meal or two at Noma in Copenhagen. There and at Texture meals are preceded by an array of wafers and a dip made of yoghurt and herbs. There was a chicken skin wafer at Noma, a fish skin version at Texture. Since I don't find oysters a source of amusement, that little bonne bouche was replaced by a test tube of tomato water topped by froth - wonderfully fresh tasting, leaving the palate perked up for what followed.

In my case it was a first course of char-grilled Anjou pigeon served with sweetcorn, shallot, bacon popcorn and red wine essence.

Now that most fancy chefs have embraced sous-vide (boil-in-the-bag) as a reliable cooking method, it is rare to find pigeon that is feisty. The word texture came to mind as it did when contrasting boiled sweetcorn served in three neat little rows with the exploded variety. Cauliflower mostly has only one texture, and that frequently soggy, but here (as at Noma) the vegetable is dissected, explored, manipulated - and served at Texture with pan-fried Scottish scallops.

The main course speciality is Icelandic-lamb from Skagafjordur served with a separate bowl of broth and barley. Extreme tenderness is the texture in this flavourful meat.

Black leg chicken, which comes with wasabi emulsion, toasted grains, radishes and soy dressing, was delectable with an unexpected tinge of sweetness in the sauce. Cereals and seeds, fresh berries and milk sorbet makes a dessert out of muesli. It was dispatched as greedily and quickly as if someone was starving at breakfast time.

As is the way with this sort of meal, the petits fours - madeleines, jellies, macaroons, meringues on sticks - make another dessert. Xavier Rousset had to be content with recommending glasses of wine as only one of us was drinking alcohol but this he did supremely well. I've already booked again to try lunch at Texture when all dishes are £8.50.

Texture
Portman Street, London, W1H 7BY