The bouquet's mix of roses, white bouvardia, jasmine and green trachelium have been chosen to evoke the crisp and fragrant flavours of the champagne.
Even side dishes and starters are firecrackers: Szechuan aubergine is a squelch of earthy vegetable in crisp batter, and alive with the "fish-fragrant" flavours of chilli bean paste and Chinese vinegar.
Put the herbs and garlic inside the cavity, together with the squeezed out lemon halves – this will add a fragrant lemony flavour to the finished dish.
Cooked-down with rosemary, garlic, onion and spinach, the lentils were fragrant, alive with flavour and rendered to a fraction-past-al-dente perfection.
3 Leave it to rest in the pan for 10 minutes before serving with the accompaniment of your choice: shredded ham, spring onions, sweet chilli peppers, a poached egg … Smooth, pleasingly filled with cheese, with fragrant pops of flavour from the nigella and fennel seeds, Val Pendleton's recipe is an exemplar of the basic grated veg and cheese fritter.
I was impressed with a sample £5.95 meal of tortilla (full of notably sweet roasted peppers and caramelised onion) paired with a lively, well-judged lentil and chorizo salad (long true flavours, fragrant with flat leaf parsley, the lentils nicely al dente).
The ribs have a great bark (crusty, seared surface) and the dry shake, loaded with fragrant spices, took the flavour profile to another dimension.
The girolles on toast have tarragon and white wine (£8); the fresh borlotti beans, with their wonderful softness, come with tomato, olive oil and a sprig of really fresh thyme, more imaginative than basil (£9.50); and the asparagus with capers and egg arrives with a waft of fragrant dill, its aniseed flavour coursing through the dish like an injection.
