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Reviews of London's Restaurants, Supper Clubs and Hotels, Wine Tastings, Travel Writing, and Home to the Japanese and French Supper Clubs in Islington
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Name: Céleste Restaurant at The Lanesborough
Where: The Lanesborough Hotel, Hyde Park Corner, London SW1X 7TA
https://www.oetkercollection.com/destinations/the-lanesborough
Cost: The 4-course game tasting menu costs £110 per person, or with paired wines at £190 per person.
About: Céleste is a restaurant set in the gorgeous Lanesborough Hotel, an Oetker Collection Masterpiece Hotel. The hotel itself is spectacular, a grand mansion overlooking Hyde Park Corner just a short walk from Knightsbridge’s Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and within a few minutes walk of Park Lane and Mayfair.
The restaurant’s setting could hardly be more sumptuous, with a domed glass roof, huge crystal chandeliers, powder blue walls and a Spode-like frieze of white figurines below the high ceiling.
Florian Favario is Executive Head Chef at Céleste, which is celebrating the award of its first Michelin star in October 2016, which was renewed in October 2017. Having spent five years working at the 3 Michelin-starred restaurant at Le Bristol Paris, Chef Favario’s restaurant offers a three course menu for £42 per person, or £72 with matching wines, a 5-course tasting menu at £110, or a full à la carte service. I was there to try their autumnal game menu, a celebration of British heritage and provenance, which is available for a very limited period: from 20 - 30 November 2017.
What We Ate and Drank: We opted for the 4-course game tasting menu (which in fact turned out to be a 7-course dinner), priced at £190 per person with matching wines. The amuse bouche were exquisite: a crispy quail egg stuffed with juniper mayonnaise, a smoked haddock tartlet with squid ink spherified "caviar", and in another example of spherification, a pumpkin and mandarin sphere. Deliciously crusty bread was served with smoked, salted whipped butter.
A second amuse-bouche of game brioche, cleverly rolled in doughnut dough and deep-fried to resemble an egg, was served with a delicate juniper sauce on a nest-like bed of pine twigs.
The first starter was hen pheasant, served with foie gras, black truffle and Jerusalem artichoke terrine, hazelnut oil and Tartuffon white truffle cream. Served with toasted country bread, this was a celebration of the rich, savoury flavours of autumn.
It was paired with a Chinon Philippe Alliet 2015. A 100% Cabernet Franc from the Loire, this had a stalky nose, and gamey notes with blackberry fruit and fine tannins – a delicate wine but with more than enough structure to compliment the pheasant.
Next came wild duck pie, served in very light and buttery puff pastry with black truffle and giblets, a wonderfully intense roasting jus and a fresh herb salad. Served daringly pink, the duck was tender and deliciously gamey.
It was served with a glass of Assisi Sportoletti 2012, from Umbria - a "Super Tuscan"-style blend of Sangiovesi with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The wine had a rich nose redolent of ripe red cherries, with violets and vanilla on the finish and soft tannins.
Hare à la royale with foie gras was intensely meaty, velvety and rich, served with a glossy, concentrated jus, and with celeriac and chestnut ravioli glazed in horseradish.
A dish like this needs a powerful wine, and happily the Cheval des Andes, from Argentina’s Mendoza Valley was no shrinking violet. A collaboration between the fabled Chateau Cheval Blanc from Bordeaux and the Argentinian winery Terrazas de las Andes, this was a Bordeaux blend with plenty of black fruit and supple tannins. Massively concentrated and powerful, this was an excellent choice for the hare.
A pre-dessert of cucumber and elderflower granite with a green apple cream, topped with a purple shiso leaf was just what we needed to cleanse and refresh our palates after a rich medley of gamey dishes.
To end a meal celebrating all that is wonderful about autumn, what better than a dish of glazed Aubenas chestnuts, fondant chestnut cream topped with gold leaf, crushed pear and blackberry?
The dessert wine was an Austrian Burgenland, Beerenauslese, Kracher 2013. A late-harvest, botrytised Reisling wine, this had luscious sweetness balanced by high acidity, with nutty caramel and apricot aromas, making for a complex, satisfying wine.
Likes: Every dish and matching wine was worth savouring, for the high level of skill and the excellence of the ingredients. The setting is elegant, perfect for a celebratory meal.
Dislikes: None.
Verdict: The game tasting menu at the Michelin-starred Céleste Restaurant in the Lanesborough Hotel is available for a few more days, until 30 November. It is a celebration of all that is rich and plentiful in autumn, and in the hands of the Chef Favario, is an exquisite variation on a flavourful theme. Very highly recommended.
Name: Le Garrick
Where: 10-12 Garrick Street, London WC2E 9BH, http://www.legarrick.co.uk
Cost: The average price of a three-course dinner is around £30 not including drinks or service. Starters from the a la carte menu cost from £5.50 to £9.50, main courses range from £11.95 to £24.95, side dishes are £4.00 to £4.50, and desserts are £6.50. There is a cheese board of three French cheeses with baguette, priced at £10. The restaurant offers a pre- and post-theatre menu available from noon until 6.30pm and after 10.00pm, at £13.50 for 2 courses or £16.45 for 3.
About: Le Garrick is a French bistro-restaurant which is celebrating its 30th year of existence in Covent Garden. An independent, family-run business by restauraters Dominika and Charles Lepelletier, it is situated opposite the Garrick Club, and over the road from hip Peruvian restaurant Lima Floral.
The ground floor level has a few window tables, while the main restaurant is situated in the basement, an atmospheric candle-lit spot. I personally prefer the airier and brighter ground floor level
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| Ground Level |
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| Ground Level |
The offering from head chef Rocco Ahoune is unmistakably French, with a small menu of classic dishes like moules mariniere, Burgundian snails, steak frites and confit de canard.
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| Basement Level |
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| Basement Level |
What We Ate: From the specials menu, we started with the cuisses de grenouilles (frog legs £7). Pan-fried and served with chopped onions, red pepper, ginger, lemongrass and coriander, these were zingy and delicious.
From the regular menu, we chose the cassolette de calamars a la plancha au piment d'Espelette (grilled squid rings with Espelette pepper £7.50). Served in a rich, peppery and garlicky sauce, these were also good and well seasoned.
The escargots de Bourgogne (snails Burgundy-style £8.25), though tiny, they were deliciously tender, served with a maitre-d'hote butter with garlic and parsley.
For main course, the Entrecote grillee (£24.95) featured a 14 oz (400g) chargrilled 28-day aged rib-eye steak on the bone. The steak was cooked medium rare as requested, it was soft and tender, but it lacked caramelisation and depth of flavour.
The steak was not helped by its accompanying Béarnaise sauce, which sadly was not freshly made. It was disappointing to be served ready-made Bearnaise out of a bottle. Similarly the chips were dry and tasteless like they had been cooked from frozen - I'm happy to have these at home as a quick side in a rushed mid-week meal, but in a restaurant I expect chips to be hand cut and freshly made.
The daily special main course was a whole grilled plaice (carrelet entier - £18.95), served with chopped black olives and a balsamic glaze, with boiled potatoes glazed in butter. This was an uninspiring dish, pleasant enough to eat but a tad dry.
Side orders were the lovely petit pois Grand-Mere (£4.50), made with peas, bacon and whole baby-onions, and the haricots verts or green bean (£4.00), simply tossed in butter, with hints of fresh mint, salt and pepper.
We finished with a fondue to share (£13.50). Made with a whole cheese from Fromager des Clarines, Jean Perrin, from Franche-Comte, this was actually not a Vacherin as described on the menu but still pretty decent and a very adequate cheese course.
To finish, the crème brulee was a simple but classic dish, well made and flavoured with vanilla seeds (£6.50).
What We Drank: The wine list is exclusively French, with a good range of wines and Champagnes by the glass. The entry level wines, both priced at £19.50 per bottle, are the white wine from Pays de Cote de Gascogne at £19.50, and the red is a Pays de Vaucluse.
A glass of Viognier 2016, from Domain de Vedilhan, Pays d'Oc (£4.65) was rich, off-dry, buttery and soft.
The Clos du Colombier 2014, a Cahors Malbec (£5.70 per glass) was well balanced and rich in berry fruit. The Roncier Rouge, a Pinot Noir - Gamay blend from Burgundy (£4.50), was light with very little tannin, and was a good match for the grilled fish.
With the cheese, we had a glass of Bordeaux AOC Chateau Grimard 2015 (£5.40 per glass) - with a good weight of red and black berry fruit, soft tannins and satisfying length, this has enough richness to stand up to the rich creamy cheese.
Likes: a classic French menu with good starters but disappointing mains. Excellent pricing for pre- or post theatre menus. We loved the whole cheese fondue.
Dislikes: Both our mains were disappointing and the fact that they serve bottled Bearnaise and frozen chips is not great. I found the basement dining room a little oppressive. I recommend reserving one of the 5 tables on the ground floor.
Verdict: At £16.45 for a 3-course pre- or post-theatre menu, few Central London restaurants can beat Le Garrick on price. Good selection of starters, great cheese fondue, and a range of French wines by the glass warrant a return visit!
Name: Les 110 de Taillevent
Where: 16 Cavendish Square, London W1G 9DD, http://www.les-110-taillevent-london.com/
Cost: Average cost for a 3-course meal is around £40 per person (not including drinks or service). There is a set menu of 2 courses for £20 or 3 courses for £25, available both at lunch and at dinner. Each dish on the menu is colour-coded to match with suggested wines available by the glass at price points from £8, £14, £20 or above £20. From the à la carte menu, starters cost from £8 to £14, main courses from £8 to £35, and desserts from £7 to £11.
About: Les 110 de Taillevent London is a classic French brasserie which brings the cooking championed by other restaurants in the group, the most well-known of which is the two-Michelin starred Le Taillevent, along with Les Caves de Taillevent and the similarly named Les 110 de Taillevent in Paris.
But what makes Les 110 de Taillevent unique is its wine offering - no fewer than 110 wines by the glass or half glass. The menu has been designed to facilitate ease of choice, with four different wine suggestions in four different price categories listed for each dish.
Les 110 de Taillevent, situated in a listed building on Cavendish Square, is a beautifully designed restaurant, with an elegant colour palate of sage green, cream leather and polished wood. It is an stylish place to enjoy some fine French cooking and wines after a day’s shopping on Oxford Street (it faces the back of John Lewis).
What We Ate and Drank: Our dinner started with a deceptively simple dish of truffled scrambled eggs. Heady with the aroma of fresh truffle, the dish had complex vegetal farmyard notes and was, I think, the finest scrambled eggs I have ever eaten. We got off to a very good start.
We were helped to make our choices by the logically presented food and wine pairings, and by the guidance of Head Sommelier Christophe Lecoufle. We kicked off with a welcome glass of Champagne Laurent Perrier Brut NV.
With the scrambled egg, we had a Chardonnay, from IGP Cotes du Lot, 'Montaigne' 2014, Domaine Belmont (£14 per 125ml glass), which had a lovely fresh, smoky, elegant quality, with green apple and mineral on the finish.
Next came John Dory mousseline, glazed in lobster bisque under a salamander, served with romaine salad and Espelette pepper. This was nothing short of sublime.
The Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2014, from Felton Road, New Zealand, came with the John Dory. Partnering white fish with red wine is perhaps unusual, but the red was delicate enough not to overwhelm the fish and its delectable lobster bisque. An Alsatian Reisling or Pinot Gris might have been a more traditional dish choice, but I really enjoyed the Pinot Noir.
The truffled veal rump (£35) was for me the highlight of the evening. Stuffed with truffle and with extra slices of fresh truffle on top, it was served with a classic béchamel sauce, artichoke puree, and stuffed, deep-fried baby artichoke, this was a delectable dish of great refinement.
With the veal, we had a glass of Pomerol 2009, Fugue de Nenin (£19). The second wine of Chateau Nenin, this Cabernet Franc/Merlot blend had intense blackberry fruit, a nose of blackcurrant, cherries, cedar and vanilla, with complex fruit flavours, plenty of tannins and a long, complex finish.
For dessert, we had the calamansi lemon, with passion fruit, meringue, shortbread, tequila and lime sorbet, sprinkled with passionfruit flowers. Beautifully presented and intensely tart and refreshing, this featured the lovely Filipino calamansi fruit - one of my favourites, and thought to be a hybrid of the mandarin orange and kumquat. This was a delicious, complex dessert, and a tribute to the skill of the patissiere.
The chocolate dome was also excellent - truffled chocolate mascarpone cream made with Valrona chocolate was paired with a sorbet of chocolate, salted caramel sauce and fresh truffle. It was stunning to the eye, while on the palate the sorbet was intensely rich and concentrated, with a contrast in texture from a chocolate tuille brittle.
To accompany our desserts, we had a Loire Valley Coteaux de L'Aubance, Les Trois Schistes, 2014, from Domain de Montgilet (£6 for 70ml). With acidity, minerality and sweetness in equal measure, this was a deliciously complex dessert wine.
Likes: The truffled scrambled egg, the truffled veal rump and the desserts were spectacularly good. The menu partnering each dish with matched wines by the glass to suit a range of budgets is both innovative and well considered.
Dislikes: the name, I can't pronounce it!
Verdict: With fine French cooking and a vast selection of wines by the glass at 4 different price points, Les 110 de Taillevent is my top restaurant recommendation this month! Highly recommended.
Name: L'Unch at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Where: 13-15 West Street, London, WC2H 9NE, http://joelrobuchon.co.uk/lunch/
Cost: The set-price three-course L’Unch menu costs £29, or £39 including beverages (bottled water, a glass of wine and coffee).
About: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, set a few metres away from Cambridge Circus, is one of the most popular London restaurants, but not a place I would rush for a quick, cheap and cheerful meal. That was until L'Unch!
The 1-Michelin-starred restaurant is now offering its new L'Unch concept, launched in September 2016. The idea is simple – to provide an efficient and affordable Michelin-starred lunch for working people during the week. Happily it is also served on Saturdays, and so Dr G was able to join me to sample the January menu.
There are just two sittings (12 noon and 12.45pm), booking is only taken online (here), and guests select their dishes at the time of booking rather than at the restaurant. All dishes are helpfully and accurately illustrated on the website and detailed descriptions of the ingredients for each dish are given to help you choose.
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon is glamorous in black and red with a lush green indoor garden wall on one side, set around a central open kitchen where the chefs beaver away in full view of all the diners, and an extensive chef’s table/bar spreads round three sides of the kitchen.
Headed by Chef Jeremy Page, the menu changes monthly, and from February 2017 the plan is to offer a choice of three options for each of the three courses. You can check this month's menu here.
What We Ate: Starters and main courses are served simultaneously on plates that cleverly interlock, so that you can remove them to eat each course separately if you prefer.
On our visit, the starters were L’Oeuf en Meurette – a delectable Burgundian dish of poached egg served in a Bourguignon red wine sauce, accompanied by smoky lardons and mushrooms, and toasted garlic croutons.
Starter 2 was line-caught sea bream, served sashimi-style on chargrilled aubergine, with cherry tomatoes and a Citron de Menton confit. I loved the presentation of the dish, with colour from the edible nasturtium flowers, height and texture from the wafer-thin crisps of bread.
For main course, a British pork tenderloin was served seared and roasted until pink but still soft, served with a smooth and creamy celery puree, braised carrot and a nut crumble.
The red mullet main course was a grilled fillet, accompanied by a light citrus and broccoli guacamole, butternut squash puree, and roast fennel.
Every diner also gets a serving of Joel Robuchon’s famous mashed potato, made from a 50:50 mix of potatoes and butter, which is almost too good to be true – unctuous, aromatic and utterly delectable.
Dessert included a Galette des Rois (King’s cake), a traditional French January classic made to celebrate the Epiphany, of delicate frangipane and almonds, encased in flaky puff pastry.
Our final dessert was a Paris Brest – light choux pastry, filled with an airy praline crème patissiere, garnished with toasted nuts. This is always a test of the pastry chef’s talent, and L’Unch’s did not disappoint.
What We Drank: We started in the upstairs bar with a couple of cocktails - the Islington Negroni combined Portobello Road gin, Kamm & Sons ginseng, Del Professore Bianco vermouth, a teaspoon of Pimms and grapefruit peel (£17). This was a lighter, less astringent version of the classic Negroni, well suited to a lunchtime aperitif.
The non-alcoholic Hibiscus Dazzle mocktail (£9) was a delicious concoction of fresh red berries, hibiscus, pomegranate, lychee juice, lemon and soda, with an aromatic sprig of fresh rosemary.
Inclusive in our meal (£39 with beverages), the white wine chosen by the sommelier was an Austrian Grüner Veltliner from Huber, with refreshing notes of green apple and mineral. The red wine was an Aglianico (Posso) from Campania, Italy. This was a fresh but powerful wine with ripe cherry fruit and plenty of balancing tannins.
Our meal finished with some excellent coffee, salted caramel chocolates and madeleines.
Likes: Glamorous but intimate setting, great views of all the action in the kitchen, and some superb cooking. All the dishes we had were exquisitely cooked and presented, but I particularly enjoyed the classic oeuf en meurette, the delicate fillets of red mullet, and the pork tenderloin.
Dislikes: None
Verdict: At £39 per person for a top notch 3-course Michelin-starred lunch with wine, water and coffee in the centre of London, L’Unch represents outstanding quality and value for money. The ability to select your entire meal before you arrive, from photographs on the website that are amazingly accurate, is a brilliant innovation, and I would not be surprised if it caught on. Very Highly Recommended.
