Trivet was opened in 2019 by Chef Jonny Lake and Sommelier Isa Bal featuring Head Chef Adam Tooby-Desmond.  The name was about the cooking utensil that a cooking pot stands on and provides the “warmth and balance” which signifies their values for the restaurant.  Lake was from Canada where he developed a love of cooking which took him to The Fat Duck where he was head chef in 2009 and stayed with the group 9 years.  Bal was voted Best Sommelier of Europe in 2008 and met Lake while working with the Fat Duck Group.  Trivet achieved one Michelin Star in 2022 and was elevated to two stars in 2024.  The medium sized place had an open kitchen in the back of the dining room which held lovely teak tables and chairs.  Lots of fun art was on the walls, music in the background, shelves with books and mementos added more decorations and some patio seating was available out front of the charming old building.  They offered an a la carte lunch menu with lighter, smaller plates as well as having the dinner menu available to order from.   You were free to mix and match as you pleased and they also had a full bar.

Set-up

 

Food

An amuse bouche was a pumpkin and ginger soup with an amaretti biscuit broken in the soup.  This had excellent flavor, with many seasonings, and lots of textures.  A great start.

 

Homemade French fries with black pepper and onion ketchup sounded too good to not try an order to split.  The fries came out hot and crisp with good potato flavor.  The ketchup was quite cool and not as strongly flavored as I expected so it was mostly rejected in favor of an unadorned crispy fry.

 

Risotto ‘Il Maestro’ was seasoned with Tardivo, candied walnuts, gorgonzola and sauternes.  Tardivo is radicchio and this one was nicely sliced for easier eating.with the creamy rice dish.   The candied walnuts were a real hit as were the seeds and cheese cubes – all which gave the al dente rice even more texture.  It was very good.

 

Grilled sweetbread was plated with maitake mushrooms, pickled lingonberries and wild cumin.  I had this as a starter but you can also order a larger version as a main course.  Both the sweetbread and mushrooms were grilled to perfection and went great with the delicious sauce.   Something in the dish was a popping item in your mouth for even more fun.  I adored this plate.

 

Chicken with a vinegar sauce featured Slades Down Farm chicken with cavolo nero (Tuscon kale) and winter truffle.  A piece of chicken terrine was under the tasty truffle slices.  Some pickled shallots really perked up the sauce and which was lovely with the moist breast meat and buttery mashed potatoes.   On the side was a pastry round topped with a liver purée and truffles which was outstanding too.

 

Grilled venison was topped with lardo di colonnata and plated with red cabbage purée and puntarelle.   Inside a leaf was a red cabbage compote which was sweeter while the purée had  more vinegar essence.  The lardo was a nice touch on the lean tender meat to keep it juicy.  Alongside was a small tart filled with venison tartare which was quite good.  Another winner.

 

Grilled purple sprouting broccoli was with isot pepper (dried chili pepper from Turkey) dressing and anchovies.   It was topped with some toasted bread small croutons made from yesterday’s focaccia.  The broccoli was lightly cooked but enough to make it tender and then it was seasoned with confit lemon.  The anchovies added the needed salt.  It was quite good.

 

For dessert we split a Butter Tart, which is a Canadian standard.  It was a beautiful puff pastry crust filled with maple syrup and butter cooked into a sticky sweet custard.  The filling was more like what you see in pecan pie without the nuts and the flavor maple rather than pecan.  It was messy but worth evey bit.  It was totally yummy.

 

The parting treat was a basil macaron with olive oil ganache, which would only rate okay,  and a coconut filling with a passion fruit center in a dark chocolate shell.  It had lots of coconut flavor.