l’ortolan is, as i’m sure readers of a food blog will know, a small bird that is both a delicacy and an illegalmealin france. the bird is drowned in armagnac plucked, oven cooked then eaten whole, bones and all, under a napkin. this 'under a napkin' lark is said to be either i) to fully capture the aromas, or ii) to hide your crime of eating a tinnyn songbird from the eyes of god (though personally i think if god is worth his name, he can probably see through napkins; just saying). it is said that francois mitterrand’s lastmealwas two of the birds, after which he didn’t eat again for 10 days before passing. l’ortolan is not on the menu at l’ortolan as far as i could see, though perhaps there’s a secret password that when uttered with a nod and a wink in the right direction... the restaurant today is under the direction of executive chef alan murchison who will likely be familiar to great british menu fans having reached the finals this year where he demonstrated a meticulous attent