Many moons ago, I reviewed the cocktails at Element. I’ve visited on a couple of occasions since then, but hadn’t previously tried their food. On a lunchtime visit, I stopped for a bite to check things out.

I was joined by regular guest quester Kim, who previously dined at Fish and L’Escargot Bleu, amongst other places.

Dining is primarily in their wood and tweed back room, which is quite smart. Their menu reflects that sense of understated elegance with some very neatly described dishes.

Kim started with the baked brie and tomato pot while I opted for the haggis bonbonbonbons. Kim followed with the burger, while I opted for the gnocchi.

Starters arrived, delivered by our friendly waitress, looking neat and tidy. Kim’s looked a little unusual and proved to be a very strange dish, with good Clava brie melted into a curious tomato concoction. It was just plain odd.

My bon bons were accompanied by a tasteless curried cauliflower puree, a single slice of black pudding and good parsnip crisps. It was a better dish than Kim’s, but was still rather underwhelming and disappointingly under-seasoned.

Main courses were better with my parsley gnocchi profusely covered in olive oil, blue cheese and courgettes. Pickled walnuts offered textural variance but not much additional flavour and the notional herbiness of the gnocchi was rather lost in the mix. Kim’s burger looked pretty good and the chunky chips were tasty.

We rounded things out with poor espresso.

So overall, it was a rather curiously mixed bag from Element. Dishes sounded enticing and imaginative, but didn’t see things through in terms of execution or flavour. I think they need to retrench their ambition to focus on getting the fundamentals right before shooting for loftier climes. As it stands, this smart and friendly place is more likely to baffle than dazzle the palette.

Scores
Blythe scores Element
2.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20

Today’s questers were: Kim, Blythe

We ate: baked brie and tomato pot, haggis bons bons, burger, gnocchi

We drank: water, espresso

We wore: flowery blouse, black boots

Total bill: £35.60