Capital Hotel, Berkeley Hotel, Chelsea Hotel THERE can be something
faintly depress- ing about the prospect of eating in a hotel dining-room. It often lacks the frisson of dining in a restaurant, and conjures up visions of silent couples, even singles, peck- ing at their food in lifeless surroundings. At the same time a good hotel is likely to offer greater comfort and better service than Your average restaurant, and has the undoubted advantage of offering a fixed- price menu as well as a la carte, so that both hosts and guests know where they stand from the outset. Somehow the prospect of a set lunch seems more enticing than an evening meal, so I decided to investigate those offered at three hotels in Knights- bridge.
I did well to start at the intimate Capital Hotel in Basil Street, where Philip Britten has been chef for over a decade. In the just- Published 1998 Good Food Guide, it is the °lie London restaurant to be awarded eight Points out of ten, with only Chez Nico, La Tante Claire and Aubergine above it. So its small, quietly elegant dining-room, with tables spaced well apart, and set lunch menus at £23.50 for two courses and £28.50 for three, with coffee and petits fours, Offered an agreeable prospect on a bright, sunny day. I had invited my friend Justin Nason, a retired ambassador living in Cannes who Was spending an end-of-summer week in London, to join me. While awaiting him in the bar I was amused to watch several unhooked American couples ask for a table for two just after midday. They were received with courtesy and charm. After glasses of champagne (priced securely in single figures) we went in to lunch at a spacious window table. From the inenu I chose potato soup with foie gras to start and Justin a salad of fresh leaves with duck confit and oranges. Both were deli- cious, - my light, glossy soup benefiting mas- sively from its small slices of sautéed fresh foie gras floating on the surface, and Justin's juicy duck accompanied by the freshest of fresh leaves. On such a warm day we both opted for fish rather than meat as a main course: Justin took some beauti- ful grilled scallops (though he regretted the absence of their coral) accompanied by a sublime butternut squash risotto, and I rev- ,elled in some fresh, impeccably baked tur- °° ma mustard sauce of infinite subtlety, arid some tender young turnips. With an admirable Montagny premier cm u (£28), Justin reckoned that by any Michelin Cote d'Azur standards this was top-class cook- ing. With dessert came disappointment. Justin had eagerly ordered a hot caramel soufflé with orange sorbet, and was happily awaiting it when word came from the kitchen that the oven was 'down' and no soufflé could be made. Stalwartly he took poached William pears with a cassis sabay- on instead but, pleasant though it was, it was not the same thing. I had a wonderfully intense, beautifully bitter chocolate blanc- mange which reminded me of childhood days. With these we drank a pleasing Mus- cat de Rivesaltes in Justin's case, and a splendidly unctuous Vin de Banyuls 1989 in mine, from a commendably broad list of dessert wines by the glass. Ending with excellent coffee and petits fours, we had eaten an exemplary lunch in attractive sur- roundings, served with the utmost skill and charm. Mr and Mrs Levin run a superb hotel whose restaurant unquestionably `vaut le voyage'.
Around the corner from the Capital is the Berkeley Hotel, whose restaurant must be one of London's best-kept secrets. The young, English-born, French-trained, Gavroche-experienced chef, Andrew Turn- er, has been cooking up a storm for a num- ber of years, and nobody seems to know 'It's Ken Livingstone's office.' about it. True, the low-ceilinged dining- room is uninspiring and in some need of redecoration and the chairs need reuphol- stering, and true, some of the service has a flat-footedness redolent of hotels rather than restaurants, but the £25 set lunch, plus £3 for coffee and petits fours, is a treat. I ate it with the epicurean publicist, Deborah Bennett.
To start she chose the assiette of hors d'oeuvres, elegantly presented on a pretty glass plate and containing smoked salmon, prawns, crab, scallops and bacon, Parma ham, quail and mozzarella cheese among other goodies, while my salad of marinated vegetables with crisp plantain and poached egg in a balsamic dressing was a joy to eat. Next, Deborah chose a French partridge from the selection of roast game birds with traditional accompaniments, and very good it was: plump and pink, served with fine game chips, good gravy and well-made bread sauce. The accompanying green salad was exemplary, offsetting the richness of the game. My jugged hare with mush- rooms, crisp salsify and marvellous purée potatoes was a tour de force: gorgeous sauce covering a magnificent hare, greatly enjoyed. Deborah ended with a good selec- tion of admirably kept cheeses, and I ate a pleasantly astringent lemon tart, followed by coffee and petits fours. An excellent Comas 1989 red Rhone admirably support- ed our game, and we greatly enjoyed our meal. Despite the rather fusty decor, Andrew Turner's inspired cooking at the Berkeley is well worth a visit. The Savoy Group should give him zippier surround- ings.
Sadly, the Chelsea Hotel on Sloane Street is another story. When I went there recently with the American foodie Julia Petersen on another bright, sunny day, its large, atrium-enclosed, high-tech-fur- nished, coldly clinical restaurant was deserted at lunchtime. Only as we began our coffee did another couple arrive. Up till then we had eaten a perfectly satisfacto- ry meal — the combination of two set menus, lunch at £19.50 and the lighter Menu du Jardinier at £22.50 — surrounded only by staff. It had been well-cooked by Adam Gray — not by Bruno Loubet, the much-admired chef whose restaurant this was originally claimed to be but who, according to the restaurant manager, prefers to remain at home with his chil- dren. The meal was good, notably the con- fit of rabbit leg with carrot purée and char- grilled salmon, herb linguini and corn salsa, but it was like eating in a culinary grave- yard. I suggest Bruno Loubet returns as soon as possible and puts some life into the place.
Capital Hotel, 22 Basil Street, London SW3; teL 0171 225 0011. Open all week Berkeley Hotel, Wilton Place, London SWI; tel: 0171 235 6000. Open all week Chelsea Hotel, 17 Sloane Street, London SWI; teL 0171 201 6330. Open all week
Previous page
