Lunch at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

I wasn't expecting to go back to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay this soon, but a friend of mine was visiting in early December and I thought it would be a nice experience for both of us. I put myself on the waiting list for lunch, hoping for the best - and I got a callback for today!

Front of the restaurant, as seen from across the road

Entrance hallway

Table setting - exactly the same spot where I was
the first time! With black olive and potato &
rosemary bread - both excellent.

Very pretty flowers

Amuse bouche: the same as what I had the first time - smoked duck confit ball (less salty now) on ricotta cheese with a sweet, intense and smoky chestnut velouté; nice!

Since I already had had the tasting menu on my first visit, we both went for the standard à la carte menu to cover the other signature dishes, and simply swopped plates halfway through each course, so that we could try each other's choices - nobody bats an eyelid if you do that. 

(In fact RGR is the only fine restaurant in London I know of so far to not enforce the rule of ordering the tasting menu for the entire table - so small eaters can just go for the à la carte menu, while their partners carry on with the tasting menu if they wish; surely a challenge in terms of service and pacing of individual courses!)

Starter: pressed duck foie gras with peppered Madeira jelly, smoked duck, peach and almond crumble.

Incredibly smooth and creamy foie gras, balanced and glazed over with a thin spicy layer of jelly and complemented with small pieces of rolled smoked duck. Additional textures and flavours were provided by the juicy fruit and crisp crumble accompaniments, and the refreshing and subtle taste of radicchio tardivo.

Starter: pan-fried sea scallops from the Isle of Skye with lardo di colonnata, heritage apples, fresh walnuts, celery and cider emulsion.

The scallops were done just right - preserving all their natural juices and maintaining a springy texture - excellent! Their natural sweetness was further complemented by the apple and walnut accompaniments (both the fresh, crunchy bed below each scallop and the cream & emulsion versions) and a savoury touch was provided by the piece of lardo di colonnata (a traditional Tuscan delicacy) atop each scallop - divine!

Close up of the lardo di colonnata - very high-quality and velvety cured pork fat that complements the juicy scallops perfectly. A traditional Italian delicacy, it is still produced in the Apuan Alps in Northern Tuscany today.

Main course: best end of Cotswold lamb with confit breast and braised shank, navarin of autumn vegetables and vitelotte (violet) potatoes. A rich and comforting dish with tender slices of lamb in a savoury roasting jus, balanced by an assortment of sweet and refreshing vegetables.

Main course: fillets of lemon sole with butter poached Scottish langoustines, caviar, mushroom duxelle and watercress sauce.

A masterpiece to behold

The presentation of this dish was utterly amazing and out of my expectations. The rectangular bed beneath the fish consisted of mushrooms sliced incredibly thin and held together by a somewhat gelatinous film. The fish itself (more a roll than a fillet, really!) contained a delicious duxelle (chopped mushroom and shallot) filling that gave real body to its naturally subtle nature. A slightly spicy watercress sauce lifted the whole dish and the langoustine and oscietra caviar accompaniments in the background provided a touch of luxury.

Close-up of the accompaniments - no detail is spared with sweet and crunchy langoustines, slightly salty and gelatinous caviar with fresh watercress, potato and mushroom - perfect harmony of textures and flavours.

Not a particularly big fan of cheese but the trolley (for the next table) looked really enticing!

Accompaniments for the cheeses - grapes,
various dried fruits & nuts and chutneys

Dessert: blackcurrant fennel and yoghurt génoise with violet sorbet - as good as the first time!

Dessert: bitter chocolate cylinder with coffee granité and ginger mousse, and a scoop of milk ice-cream.

Another work of art

A signature Ramsay dessert, this was much more rich and indulgent than it looks! A hollow dark chocolate cylinder is filled with layers of butterscotch, caramel, milk chocolate & hazelnut cream (hidden), balanced with a top of spicy ginger mousse and slightly bitter coffee granité. This was accompanied by a scoop of surprisingly light milk ice-cream that felt almost like a sorbet!

The usual petit fours to end another excellent meal there:

If I had any gripes about this meal, it would be that the portions were extremely small even by fine-dining standards - tasting-sized, in fact (especially for the lamb dish - how much smaller could that get?!). We were definitely expecting more since we were ordering from the standard à la carte menu (not the £45 'budget' set lunch). Leaving the restaurant half-full, we were ready to have a substantial dinner barely 4 hours later.

Having said that, the morsels of food were exquisite and delicious while they lasted, and it's definitely a place a return to for that sporadic treat or special occasion - just not on an empty stomach!