WORLD-RENOWNED ANNE-SOPHIE PIC is the only female French chef to hold three Michelin stars. For several generations, her family has played an integral part in the history of French cuisine. Her family’s restaurant Maison de Pic in Valence originally won three Michelin stars under her grandfather Andre in 1934. Pic’s is the only family in France in which three generations of chefs have each gained three Michelin stars. So it should come as no surprise that eight months after launch, La Dame de Pic at the Four Seasons hotel, Ten Trinity Square was awarded its first star.

A pared back dining room with high ceilings and bare tables offers more of a relaxed foody vibe than the formal experience one normally associates with Michelin starred cuisine. As we were to discover, although there’s no doubt that Pic’s cooking is refined and rooted in classic French techniques, it’s also playful, colourful and original. The meal began with some superb sourdough bread served with moreish stout butter beautifully sculpted into the shape of a lotus flower. A number of amuse-bouches were then sent our way, including waffles, beetroot crisps, and heirloom carrots served with a fresh, jasmine yoghurt. It was a good start.

The tasting menu began with the prettiest pink bluefin tuna tartare with pepper and radish marinated in cherry blossom, served with almond cream. Pic’s signature berlingots followed. These were perfectly constructed pasta parcels of St Cera cheese with fresh peas, bergamot and mint. Pasta was cooked al dente and the contents exploded on the tongue. A taste sensation.

After that, the courses kept coming. One perfectly pan-fried Scottish scallop arrived on a bed of smoked beetroot with grapefruit, batak pepper and hibiscus emulsion, before some Kagoshima Wagyu Beef roasted with wasabi, hispi cabbage parcels, Geranium rosat and Buddha’s hand consommé. Outstandingly tender.

Although the white millefeuille cube filled with Tahitian vanilla cream and jasmine jelly is arguably the restaurant’s most lauded desert, we were more taken with the Beenleigh Blue pebbles. A thrill for the senses, a crisp white chocolate shell housed soft whipped cheese, and came served on top of real identical pebbles. These are as memorable a couple of weeks later as they were on the night.

As you would expect, the 45-plus page-long wine list has plenty to offer, but the sommelier’s exceptional choice of the 2014 Pernand-Vergelesses from Fanny Sabre was the perfect accompaniment. With relatively few bottles made, we later found ourselves searching for sources to buy a bottle to have at home… Certainly deserving of all its accolades, La Dame de Pic is exciting dining indeed.

LA DAME DE PIC AT THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, TEN TRINITY SQUARE

10 TRINITY SQUARE, LONDON EC3N 4AJ    T: +44(0)203 297 3799

E: DININGRESERVATIONS.TRI@FOURSEASONS.COM    WWW.LADAMEDEPICLONDON.CO.UK