Boxing Day lunch at The Gilbert Scott

This post reviews the Boxing Day lunch that I had with two friends at The Gilbert Scott. The restaurant is situated within the beautiful St. Pancras Hotel which possesses the most stunning Victorian architecture - apparently the attached train station was the largest enclosed space in the world, at the time of completion!

This restaurant is Marcus Wareing's second, after his Michelin-starred flagship at The Berkeley, and focuses on classic British cuisine with a more sophisticated twist.

Starter: Dorset crab (meat ball in foreground and roe on toast in background) with bergamot and fennel - fresh, uncomplicated and aromatic.

Starter: smoked Welsh rarebit (not rabbit!) with apple and gem (a type of lettuce) salad. I'll let the history of this dish speak for itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_rarebit.

Unusual presentation as a breaded finger here - but every bit as rich and comforting as it's supposed to be, with the salad providing a nice and essential balance. Nice and appetising crispy texture overall with a velvety molten cheese centre.


Starter: an interesting dish of Anglo-Indian origin - mulligatawny with quail and onion rings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulligatawny.

Quite a mouthful (both to pronounce and to eat!) - basically a curry stew. Very aromatic, and its spiciness was enhanced by the addition of slightly piquant watercress on top. The quail itself was tender and succulent. Delicious!

I wondered if they could have just used fresh onion rings for real aromatic depth - first breading, then soaking them in a stew, just makes them all soggy (as you can see) so that was the weak point in terms of texture. Actually, I wasn't even sure that they needed to be there.

Main course: soles in coffins (what a name!) - lemon sole, vermouth cream, Morecambe bay shrimps, mace, crispy potato (so that was potato, not fish skin!). A substantial portion that tasted as good as it looked - the tiny shrimps were extremely fresh and sweet. The fish was well cooked and well complemented by its simple but rich accompaniments.

N.B. 'Soles in coffins' is apparently a Victorian dish, and a pun on the word 'souls' - hence the shape of the fillet. Originally served with baked potato and a much creamier sauce, apparently. 

Main course: quintessentially English fish and chips with mushy pea mayonnaise. I had a taste of the potato (this wasn't my dish) - very thin crispy layer concealing light and fluffy insides - didn't feel too starchy at all. I found the presentation rather underwhelming, but I suppose there's only so much you can do with this dish.

Main course: Scottish halibut with Jerusalem artichoke (both the purée bed below and roasted chips on top) and Scotch Bonnet mushrooms. This was really, really good - halibut is a naturally meaty fish and this was definitely a succulent and satisfying portion. Its freshness was well matched by the sweet and creamy purée, with the gelatinous mushrooms and crisps on top for variety in textures.

Sides: very traditional English accompaniments of Pease pudding (in the background; split peas, parsley, smoked bacon stock - sweet and savoury, very nice!) and bubble & squeak (in the foreground; potatoes, cabbage, swede - apparently a 'leftovers' dish according to my friend; pure comfort food).

Dessert: Eccles cake with Cheddar cheese ice cream. A small, round cake, made from flaky pastry with butter, filled with currants, and topped with demerara (powdered) sugar. Originating from the town of Eccles in the late 18th century, this dessert is given a further touch of luxury here with the rich scoop of ice-cream.

Dessert: Mrs Beeton’s snow eggs with Everton toffee, peanuts, burnt honey custard.

This is the English version of the classic French desserts œufs à la neige ('eggs in snow') and île flottante ('floating snow'). Here, the soft meringue of egg white conceals a most indulgent filling of toffee from Liverpool (a town famous for this product; Everton being the name of the product and also the football team!), surrounded by a pool of rich custard and topped with a crushed mixture of peanuts and burnt toffee. Look at that toffee oozing from the frothy meringue!

Dessert: gingerbread pudding with pear ice cream and caramel. Very warm and comforting - pudding was plain but intense in flavour and surrounded by a good amount of rich caramel swirls, accompanied by an ice-cream spiced with ginger and containing chunky & juicy bits of pear within, on a bed of gingerbread biscuit crumbs.

In summary: not exactly the most mind-blowing food, but generally solid cooking with a keen sense of tradition, and beautiful surroundings in which to enjoy the food. The atmosphere here is very casual - nothing like Wareing's posh Berkeley flagship - great for catching up with friends and family over a leisurely lunch.