I visited Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in London's Chelsea area for the first time yesterday evening. This man probably needs no introduction, having gained worldwide popularity through his TV shows, and equal notoriety for his less-than-desirable language in the kitchen.
He has a whole chain of restaurants in London and elsewhere, but the flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay along Royal Hospital Road (3 Michelin stars, 4 AA Rosettes) is the one to which most foodies like myself would be heading straight when the opportunity arises. The kitchen is helmed by his protégé Clare Smyth, one of the most prominent female British chefs. (Not Ramsay, he's just way too busy doing other things!) Reservations are notoriously difficult to obtain and being able to score a table (especially on a Friday evening) is as good as hitting the jackpot!
Very small space (I'm sitting at one corner of the restaurant) - full house every night! The white truffle season had just begun when I visited and its intoxicating fragrance permeated every corner of the room - surely a bonus even if one couldn't afford the seasonal truffle menu (£185!). I went for the standard tasting menu (Menu Prestige).
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| Elegant table setting |
Canapés to start with - this is a lobster cornetto with bits of tomato and avocado within. Extremely tangy, juicy and refreshing. Great harmony of textures.
Second canapé in the foreground: mini tortilla sandwich with tomato, ricotta cheese and bacon.
Third canapé: poached quail's egg wrapped with a layer of ham and laced with white truffle oil. Creamy runny yolk, gelatinous white, crispy breadcrumb layer and fragrant hint of truffles - totally indulgent and exquisitely executed!
Salted butter to go with the bread.
Amuse-bouche: duck confit ball with ricotta cheese and chestnut velouté. The intense woody and smoky flavour of the chestnut velouté was an excellent complement to the duck confit.
First starter: pressed duck foie gras with roasted veal sweetbreads, baby carrot, carrot purée, and amaretti foam.
This first dish left me speechless with awe - this was a total creamy melt-in-your-mouth experience within, and pan-fried just right to give a very thin crispy layer on the outside, and subtle hint of my favourite charred taste. The sweet amaretti foam was another high point of this dish - almond always works well with foie gras I think! The baby carrots and purée provided a nice overall balance to this indulgent dish. Full marks for presentation too!
Second starter and a Ramsay signature: ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil velouté.
A posh twist to the Chinese wonton, this was perfection. Bursting with flavours of the sea, the thin outer layer of dough concealed a substantial filling of the freshest catch, which was extremely well matched by the subtly fragrant velouté.
First main course: roasted fillet of Cornish turbot with fennel pollen, coco beans, girolles (a type of wild mushroom) and morteau sausage (a special kind of pork sausage from Burgundy in France).
What really struck me about this dish was the highly unusual combination of fish with pork sausage and a roast chicken sauce. One would not normally expect this to work, but it did because turbot is a very light-flavoured and meaty-textured fish. (According to my server, it could also work with halibut.) The fillet was extremely fresh and the fennel pollen was an excellent touch - always works when one wants to enhance the overall fragrance of white meat/fish without overpowering it.
Close-up of the accompanying garnish: girolles (the little dark brown mushrooms) were particularly memorable for their intense woody taste.
Second main course: roasted pigeon from Bresse with a small leg confit on the side, grilled polenta, smoked ventrèche (pork belly), braised shallot, baby carrot and beetroot, date (seen under the leg confit), and pigeon jus.
This was the most substantial dish of the evening. Pigeon was really tender (still pink at the bottom) and without any gamey smell at all - tasted a bit like liver I thought! This was matched equally intensely by a piece of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly and a sweet date. The vegetables and polenta provided a wonderful balance to the rich savoury flavours of this dish.
First dessert: Agen prune crème brûlée with Granny Smith apple juice.
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| Have you ever seen an apple sliced this thin?! |
Crème brûlée was exceptional - intense vanilla flavour with real vanilla pods throughout. The agen prune at the bottom of the pot and the accompanying apple juice were nice finishing touches and an essential balance to the overall richness of this dessert.
Palate cleanser: Mango, jasmine and passion fruit soup with yoghurt, drunk through a glass straw.
Second dessert: blackcurrant and yoghurt génoise with violet sorbet.
Flower-infused sorbets/ice-creams always appeal to me (think lavender) and this was no exception - the sorbet was so light, refreshing and intensely flavoured. The violet sugar and petal garnish were amazing fragrant touches to the overall presentation. A perfect ending to a most indulgent and memorable meal.
But wait! There was a surprise in store: rosewater Turkish delight and dark chocolate ganache in the foreground, and guess what was in there beneath the spectacular dry ice display?
Hmm this was a little underwhelming (why didn't they fill up all the holes?) but really delicious while they lasted - strawberry ice cream balls coated in white chocolate!
Views of the restaurant, taken at 12.30 am. Yes, I was the last customer to leave because I had started my dinner very late, but the servers never displayed a hint of impatience. Service was excellent throughout, warm but never intrusive, and seeing how interested I was in the food, they brought me a book of Ramsay's recipes to read between courses so that I wouldn't get bored being alone.
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| This really is the size of the restaurant ... |
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| Bar/lounge area |
A most memorable experience - will definitely return if I can get a table! (Well, it is rather pricey, but then again, certainly not something you get to do everyday...!)
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