Actually the dumpling was really good on its own - and I say that as someone not big on mushrooms. Wasn't burnt, just crispy. My photography probably just sucks. The issue there was that it stood out like a sore thumb, and for me, didn't cohere well with basically anything else on the plate. Whereas at least the pear, apple and scallop were good together (though there was either too much pear or not enough scallop).
I felt like that whole dish was conceived as follows: "Hey man I went to Q Haute Cuisine last night and they did some wacky sh** with pearled fruit jelly, puree of unexpected stuff and the use of random items that don't seem to have any connection to anything else. Maybe we should try doing that!"
I realize that's fairly insulting to the chef who obviously actually knows what the F he's doing, because this is a good restaurant, but it just didn't work, imo. However, as the main was really great and the soup was pretty good, I still left satisfied with the menu. Even if I hadn't been satisfied with it, the dessert we got as an add-on... yup.
Anyway. Next stop tonight: Ox and Angela.
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