Seasonality, Maidenhead: 'Deserve to thrive' - restaurant review
One could be forgiven for thinking that a trip to Seasonality, a new restaurant in Maidenhead, would involve a smooth and lightning-fast journey along the brand new Elizabeth Line. After all, we saw Her Majesty in a tall hat, dutifully cutting a ribbon, announcing that Maidenhead and the likes of Twyford and Slough are now within super-fast reach of the capital. Surprisingly, this is not the case.
Seasonality is very much in evidence, serving smoked lardo rillettes and peach bavarois on Queen Street in the city center . But it'll be 2023 before the Elizabeth line starts doing the useful, commuter- and homebuyer-friendly things it promised, because it's still three separate parts. Currently, Seasonality, by Wesley and Francesca Smalley, feels like an intimate party just before things get a little hectic.
On the day of our visit, we were one of only three tables, and Wesley served the food as well as placed it, on a beautiful, coveted freestanding island in the center of the room. The menu was delicate, ornate and carefully selected, similar to what one might find in a posh, hard to book place in London. The Smalleys offer, among other things, a sea trout tartare speckled with cucumber and ginger, sweetened with a white soy ponzu; and ginger mackerel with oyster cream, radish and lemon verbena.
Seasonality is more than a restaurant, by the way. It first opened as a neatly curated produce store, where you could – and still can – leave armed with classy balsamic vinegar and exemplary jars of cashews. They also offer weekend meal delivery boxes, which have been a local hit. Now, however, it's time for Seasonality the restaurant to shine. It is obviously a small independent structure, operating in difficult times; a real labor of love, involving a lot of sweating, pivoting and courage. At one point, after a round of Carlingford oysters spiced up with shichimi togarashi spices, and then a bowl of really good eggplant caponata, I thought to myself: this is a place worth thriving.
Caponata is a perilous thing to pull off because it's little more than a delusional ratatouille, made with capers, olives and garlic. We all know how difficult it is to make a ratatouille or caponata presentable to anyone other than yourself, and maybe the dog. Oh, we start with good intentions, but 10 minutes after cooking this eggplant, we end up with a pile of dark, bitter mush. But at Seasonality, the caponata was a glorious architectural feat...
One could be forgiven for thinking that a trip to Seasonality, a new restaurant in Maidenhead, would involve a smooth and lightning-fast journey along the brand new Elizabeth Line. After all, we saw Her Majesty in a tall hat, dutifully cutting a ribbon, announcing that Maidenhead and the likes of Twyford and Slough are now within super-fast reach of the capital. Surprisingly, this is not the case.
Seasonality is very much in evidence, serving smoked lardo rillettes and peach bavarois on Queen Street in the city center . But it'll be 2023 before the Elizabeth line starts doing the useful, commuter- and homebuyer-friendly things it promised, because it's still three separate parts. Currently, Seasonality, by Wesley and Francesca Smalley, feels like an intimate party just before things get a little hectic.
On the day of our visit, we were one of only three tables, and Wesley served the food as well as placed it, on a beautiful, coveted freestanding island in the center of the room. The menu was delicate, ornate and carefully selected, similar to what one might find in a posh, hard to book place in London. The Smalleys offer, among other things, a sea trout tartare speckled with cucumber and ginger, sweetened with a white soy ponzu; and ginger mackerel with oyster cream, radish and lemon verbena.
Seasonality is more than a restaurant, by the way. It first opened as a neatly curated produce store, where you could – and still can – leave armed with classy balsamic vinegar and exemplary jars of cashews. They also offer weekend meal delivery boxes, which have been a local hit. Now, however, it's time for Seasonality the restaurant to shine. It is obviously a small independent structure, operating in difficult times; a real labor of love, involving a lot of sweating, pivoting and courage. At one point, after a round of Carlingford oysters spiced up with shichimi togarashi spices, and then a bowl of really good eggplant caponata, I thought to myself: this is a place worth thriving.
Caponata is a perilous thing to pull off because it's little more than a delusional ratatouille, made with capers, olives and garlic. We all know how difficult it is to make a ratatouille or caponata presentable to anyone other than yourself, and maybe the dog. Oh, we start with good intentions, but 10 minutes after cooking this eggplant, we end up with a pile of dark, bitter mush. But at Seasonality, the caponata was a glorious architectural feat...
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