• Added: 27th of July 2008
• Area: Mayfair
• Category: Restaurants

London W1K 6US
020 7107 0000

foodbuddha said
Bad value for money
I visited the restaurant on the 26th of July along with my partner.
The restaurant is pretty, the service is excellent but the food was not impressive...
The portions are just enough to get the idea of each dish and were enough for me and my partner. They are well presented, but unfortunately it seemed like the chef's need to impress took over it all.
We had the Chef's menu 7 courses option.
I had the Chilled pea veloute with goat's curd, elderflower and parmesan parfait which is pea soup with a teaspoon of goat cheese at the bottom, with a small roll of sweet parmesan ice cream. The dish was too salty and tasted like it had too much leek in it, although it was not described on the title.
For the second course I had the Marinated beetroot, Sairass cheese, pine nuts and Cabernet Sauvignon dressing - beautifully presented cheese nestled between thin layers of beetroot. I personally don't like beetroot but the combination of the cheese, roasted pine nuts and the vegetable was amazing.
For third I had the Assiete of Sandwiches BLT - awful dish! A jelly of smoked bacon which takes over all other flavours. Wrong texture and flavor.
My partner had the slow cooked quail & marinated foie gras - the texture of the foie gras wasn't right - too creamy and sickening.
The forth was the Cornish red mullet, rice in sardine and saffron stock, roasted pepper puree and paella air - the fish was good and tasted fantastic with the red peppers and black olives (not original but at that point it was very refreshing). Now the paella was something else - a Spanish person would be insulted. It is a tiny portion of rice topped with raw whisked egg whites - it was tasteless and just wrong!
For fifth I had the slow poached lamb - to me it was a bit too raw, but my partner loved it. The stock was fantastic and so as the mint hollandaise. The potato mash was creamy and rich.

Overall - a nice experience, but the food was disappointing. Seems like creativity came first, and not the whole dish as a complete experience. I would not recommend this restaurant purely because I don't think you get a good value for your money.