Review of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London
by Andy Hayler
Food Rating: 8/10
Last visited: March 2008
In 2000 I wrote on my web site: “The kitchen here is cooking at very high two Michelin star level, and would be a good bet for the UK’s next 3rd Michelin star restaurant” and this indeed transpired in 2001. It is in the premises of the old Tante Claire but was refurbished in 2006. Service is of a very high standard, and the main problem is getting in. They operate a completely surreal booking system, with attitude to spare: “Try calling back in about three week’s time between 09:00 and 09:05 a.m.”, for a table in exactly a month’s time is a typical experience. If you get past this without screaming and don’t just give up entirely then the dining experience itself is lovely.
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Below are notes from a meal in March 2008, my first with new head chef Clare Smyth.
The dining room has just over a dozen tables and is simply decorated, with wooden panels painted white alternated with mirror panels, and a central pillar in the dining room also mirrored. There are no paintings on the walls, and no music to distract from the food. Lighting is nicely done with directed ceiling spots, though a dimming of the lights during the evening was unsubtle to say the least; it felt as if someone was about to call “last orders”. Other than that service was superb throughout, with waiters attentive without being intrusive, and what came across as a genuine interest in the customer. The wine list is 37 pages in length and full of top growers, but is fully priced. There is a solitary wine at £21, but Ata Rangi pinot noir 2006 is £82 (retail price around £23), Clot St Hune 2000 £185 (retail maybe £70) and Unico 1995 an unforgiving £440 (retail around £120). Even the basic Kistler Sonoma Coast, the least interesting wine of a great producer, is £130 for a wine that retails at about £30 (if you can find it). For nibbles there are crisps of mozzarella and potato cream and a cone of avocado and lobster salad. These were both fine though I recall previous incarnations of the crisps being more delicate (7/10). An amuse bouche of a little ravioli with potato foam on a tiny bed of root vegetables and a jacket potato consommé had a pleasing smokiness (8/10).
My langoustine, lobster and salmon ravioli was poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil velouté. This is a slight update on an old Ramsay classic but I found the pasta just a fraction harder than ideal, and a filling that could have been a little more moist (7/10). Better was a starter of pan-fried Scottish scallops with a millefeuille of potato, parmesan veloute and truffle “smarties”, the star for me being the excellent potato, but here the scallops were timed just about perfectly (9/10). This is more than can be said for pan-fried John Dory, which was distinctly on the crispy side of cooked, served with Crab, caviar, crushed new potatoes and a basil vinaigrette; the fish itself was on the borderline of being suitable to be sent back for another go, though the other elements of the dish were fine (5/10 at best). I fared better with excellent Barbary duck, cooked pink and with lovely flavour, served with creamed savoy cabbage, chestnuts, beetroot, turnips, black trumpet mushrooms and nicely judged Madeira jus (9/10).
The cheese is now from Cave au Fromage in South Kensington, a mostly French board with a few British offerings such as Stinking Bishop and Stilton. These were in good condition but I am still in search of a cheese board in England to rival those you find in France (8/10). Pineapple and coconut soup with chilli syrup as a pre-dessert had its flavours in control and was fairly refreshing (7/10). A tarte tatin was well made though for me was caramelised just a little too long (8/10) though the taste was good, the pastry fine and the vanilla ice cream with it excellent. A Granny Smith parfait with honeycomb, bitter chocolate and champagne foam was very prettily presented and had nice texture, though the flavours seemed a little subdued (8/10). The white chocolate spheres with strawberry ice cream served in a dish with liquid nitrogen would perhaps be better with less theatre, being served so cold that the palate is numbed. Coffee is excellent. Overall this was a very enjoyable meal: the menu is appealing, full of dishes that you actually want to eat but not stuck in a time warp. Service was genuinely excellent. For me though the flavours are not truly exciting as one might hope for in a 3 star place, and the odd slip as with the John Dory timing tonight should not occur at this level. I don’t think the bill is particularly excessive: three courses cost £90, and there are plenty of freebies thrown in for that.