There is nothing restaurateurs like so much as a good
concept to get their teeth into. London's newest addition to the de luxe hotel circuit, the Halcyon Hotel in Holland Park, is the stuff Greek myths are made of. I should like to have been present at the baptismal board meeting when some business-suited would-be ,classicist struck on the notion. For Halcyon, or Alcyone, (one of the six daughters of the wind-god Aeolus) was married to Ceyx who got into some trouble in a storm in the'Aegean and drowned. Distraught Halcyon threw her- self in after him, and that was both of them gone. But in Greek myth no one really dies, they just metamorphose. The gods took pity on them and turned them into kingfishers, and as a further indulgence Aeolus forbade the wind to blow as they tended their young in their watery nest, so home life in the Halcyon family could be conducted in calm and tranquillity.
This is the mood management hope to infuse in the Halcyon Hotel and its allu- sively named dining room, the Kingfisher. Ample opportunity here, you would think, for the full Grecian get-up — but not a bit of it. The Halcyon Hotel is an exuberant exponent of interior decorator's town- house chic, with a bit of belle époque thrown in. Come to think of it, a bit of everything thrown in. There's not a wall that isn't stippled, dragged, rag-rolled or marbled. There is gilt in one room, bam- boo in another, and everywhere curtains are draped, swagged, festooned and piped to within an inch of their life. All in a spirit of sombre opulence, you understand.
The doors to the hotel open automatical- ly, as if some divine intelligence were apprised of your approach. If you are not prepared for this and try, quite normally, to push, you might find yourself flat on your face on the mat in the elegant foyer. The restaurant is downstairs, through a maze of fire-doors, round the corner from the low-lit little bar which plies champagne at £6 a glass.
. The heady steam of hotel restaurants emanates from the dining room, decked but in stage-prop lobster pink and green. Diners are hotel residents — women in click-clack heels and fur jackets, men in dark suits and aftershave — and tables are far enough apart to make the place perfect for illicit liaisons — until it gets better known, that is. From the tassel-decorated
menu you can pick your way through a list of dishes of fashionably eclectic origin. Starters are, appropriately, the most appe- tising: among them, marinaded salmon in lime, hazelnut oil and grain mustard; car- paccio with sun-dried tomatoes (today's most modish ingredient) and flaked parme- san; sashimi of trout and tuna with sesame seeds; wild mushroom and marrowbone risotto; crab, coriander and ricotta ravioli. After much agonising, we chose the sashi- mi and the risotto; both were flawed by the chef coming on a little too strong. The delicate flavour and texture of good fresh fish need little enhancement; here the dark-fleshed sashimi is overpowered by soy and sesame. And the risotto is just a little more darkly pungent than it needs to be. Neither dish is bad, but the same ingre- dients arranged with a subtler touch would make both really good. For a main course we had the sea bass baked en papillote with soy sauce, spring onions and coriander and braised breast of partridge with red cabbage and juniper. Again, the fish (which could have done with a minute of two less in the oven) ran the risk of being completely overwhelmed by its distinct flavourings. The partridge was perfectly cooked; moist-fleshed and subtly offset by the warm spiciness of the sweet red cabbage. The most tempting thing on the pudding menu is the honey and amaretto soufflé. Unfortunately they don't alert you to it before you order at the beginning of the meal, so unless you are one of those rapacious eaters who looks at the pudding menu before plunging into the starters and main courses, you will have to be prepared for the 20-minute wait for it to be cooked. I wasn't, but you have at least been warned. We settled instead for the caramelised apples with hazelnut shortbread and yoghurt and parfait of date and coconut with rum sabayon — both too sweet for all but the sweetest of sweet tooths. The wine list is in the main prohibitively expensive, but the house white at £8.75 is a fine enough one. With a bottle of the stuff and coffee and petit fours dinner for two will easily nudge the £70 mark.
The Kingfisher Restaurant at the Halcyon Hotel; 81 Holland Park, London WII; tel. 01 727 7288; open lunch and dinner daily.
Nigella Lawson
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