Since we didn’t call very far in advance, we could only get a table for lunch, but we took it because you can still order the tasting menu at lunch time.
They get minus points for demanding that you fill in and fax them a paper with your credit card # & signature on the understanding that they'll charge you a certain amount if you don't show up. This has never happened on the "continent", but one of the restaurants in NYC and Fat Duck (see next post) wanted a credit card number too. Bad style in my opinion and it, unfortunately, seems to becoming more and more common.
Entrance
They get plus points for asking who was hosting the table (this was the first time I've encountered that). The most extreme opposite case was in Brugge at De Karmeliet where the youngest person in our party got the only menu with the prices since he was the only male in the party.
Dining Room
The picture is a bit dark, but it is a very light interior and there are 14 tables total. A very “modern London” feel, with an atmosphere that feels both formal and relaxed. There were also silver Christmas decorations. (You can see some of these decorations in the pictures of the restroom below).
We started off with a glass of Dom Perignon 2000. Definitely an excellent champagne, but I still think I prefer Dom Ruinart. We also told them to bring wines to match the food.
Amuse Bouche
I think it was duck ravioli with pumpkin soup if I remember correctly.
Then they brought out their white Alba truffle sitting on a bed of rice in a wooden box and it smelled amazing of course. They asked us if we wanted a supplementary course with the truffle, but we declined as we'd recently eaten an entire menu based on truffles at Frantzén-Lindeberg in Stockholm.
They also asked us if we wanted to have alternative dishes from the tasting menu for the 2nd person (switching between us) so that we could try more things. We realized that this was probably a "gimmick" to save money on their part, but we said yes because we wanted to compare things. Based on what we tasted, we'd recommend against this as the dish from the tasting menu was always superior even though there was nothing wrong with the alternative. I'll mark the dishes from the tasting menu below (TM).
First course wines: 2005 Riesling Muenchberg, Domaine Ostertag, Alsace and 2006 Riesling Spätlese, Kesselstatt, Germany. The Riesling with the foie gras was the best wine pairing of the two in our opinion.
Roasted Loire Valley foie gras with braised carrots and almond foam (TM)
This was an absolutely amazing dish, my favorite I think. The dark sauce is a cabernet sauvignon reduction. I'm drooling thinking of this dish, so I this one gets the “sex-on-a-plate” rating.
The alternative dish was Slow braised pied de cochon pressed then pan fried with ham knuckle, poached quail’s egg and hollandaise sauce.
Somewhere around here we heard a woman, assumed to be the head chef, Clare Smyth, totally go off and yell at someone in the kitchen. It sure sounded like they should've been fired.
2nd course wine: 2007 Vinho Verde, Alvarinho, Portugal
Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon with tomato chutney and vinaigrette (TM)
Sorry, I can't find an official description of this dish, but it was a tartar of salmon & tuna(?) with a quail's egg, caviar, seaweed, cucumber, capers...
Third course wines: 2005 Sivi Pinot Riserva, Edi Simcic, Slovenia and 2005 Chassagne Montrachet, Bernard Morey
Fillet of turbot with braised baby gem lettuce and cep sauce (TM).
This was excellent, especially since one does not usually match mushrooms with fish.
Sorry, can't remember the details. Think it was sea bass with an herb sauce.
At this point I went to check out the bathroom. Lesson to be learned: always go to the bathroom when you first realize you need to. I had really needed to go when we got there, but got caught up in it all so waited for a while And, OF COURSE, Gordon Ramsay was actually there that day and CAME OUT and talked to the people at the next table WHILE I WAS IN THE BATHROOM!!! Needless to say, I was extremely irritated when Magnus told me this after I got back. We hadn't expected him to actually be there at all, but he was and I missed him. I really wanted to see if he was as charismatic in person as people say. SO TYPICAL!!! Oh well. Magnus said he was bouncy and enthusiastic like usual.
Tiny bathroom
Nice Christmas decorations
4th course wines: 2001 Cahors Le Sid, South West, France, and 2002 Clos Plince, Pomerol, France
Oven roasted pigeon from Bresse with grilled polenta, crispy lardons, and date sauce (TM)
Cannon of Cornish lamb with confit shoulder, ratatouille and thyme jus (TM)
Yes, these were both on the tasting menu as alternatives, but I think we preferred the pigeon.
Cheese! (TM)
Pineau de Charentes, Francois 1er
Magnus told the sommelier to surprise him, and he did. This is a fortified wine made from a blend of unfermented grape must and Cognac brandy. Very different and very good, and we voted it the 2nd best wine of the day.
At this point the sommelier said he could tell we'd been to three-star restaurants before, I guess because of the questions we asked and that we were relaxed, and that we'd just told him to bring wine, and to surprise us. It was interesting to see some people at the restaurant who were less relaxed, e.g. the guy trying to impress the girl by taking her to a famous restaurant. On the other extreme, you had the old, rich women going out for lunch and the server commenting to them "As you know..."
Note the crackers (see comment in the Fat Duck post).
Crème Brûlée with a applesauce(?) on the bottom, and an apple soup (TM)
I got the pré-dessert instead of cheese, which was an alternative choice in the tasting menu.
Mango and passion fruit soup with lychee and coconut. And pop rocks in the bottom! (TM)
Dessert Wine: 1998 Banyuls, Val Magneres, Roussillon
Bitter chocolate and hazelnut cylinder with ginger ice cream and blackberry granité (TM)
We voted this dish #2 after the foie gras.
I want to say this was a chocolate tartlet with lavender and some ice cream.
The lavender added a very nice touch, but there could've been more of it.
Mignardises
Too bad I was about to burst. I only managed to taste each one, while Magnus hogged down the rest. I thought the mignardises were good, but nothing special. At this point I was feeling a bit tipsy so I skipped a digestif even though I was so full that I needed one, but Magnus went for some Poire Williams, Goutte de Passerillée.
Strawberry ice cream covered with white chocolate
Silver-coated chocolates
Mince pies
Of course we also asked for a copy of the menu and wines to take with us. They got plus points for giving us a full menu when we left and not just a printout of the tasting menu.
There is quite a lot of staff, as usual, and they did quite a good job of melting into the background despite the fact that they're wearing black and the room color scheme is white. The staff was pretty much all French and they were very personable (although one was a bit too personable in my opinion) and created a nice atmosphere. Logistically they were brilliant, automatically moving aside for guests and communicating with each other in subtle ways. We were the first ones there at 12:00 and the rest of the tables arrived with an average of 10 min between tables. We were also almost the last to leave at 16:00.
Overall, I think Gordon Ramsay (Royal Hospital Road) deserves it's three stars and would classify the food as traditional with a twist. However, I'm not sure I would go back. I'm not sure the rest of the menu sounded so interesting that I would bother. I'd try a new three-star restaurant instead.
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