Restaurants

After nearly two years, the InterContinental is emerging in phases from a £60 million refit. Gone is the smoked glass and gilded naffness of the reception, supplanted by intimate areas of sweeping contemporary furniture and palm tree-sized flower displays far more befitting a behemoth hotel on Park Lane in 2008. Most astounding is the blinding transformation of the ground-floor restaurant, which as Le Soufflé featured rag-rolled turquoise walls. The decorators moved in, moved everything else out and stamped a totally chic new signature on the place. Sleek floorboards and wall panels run like melted chocolate into ice-green glass and snazzy backlit silhouettes. The result is a super-cool look that’s a million years (or is that pounds?) away from the previous bolt-on hotel facility. Chef Theo Randall comes fresh from a food recce of Italy and 15 years at the River Café, where he was head chef and a major shareholder. In the celebrity smokescreen surrounding that restaurant you probably missed his name, but make note of it now. Randall aims to provide authentic Italian food in a relaxed yet luxury-tinged environment, and it seems to be working. Waiting staff hover ideally on the cusp of smartness and friendliness. Menus take seasonal and regional influence from Italy, concentrating on deep flavours, wood-roasted, slow-cooked meats and vegetables as primary elements. For instance, baby wood-roasted beetroots, celeriac and jerusalem artichokes played a major role alongside sizzling, juicy lamb rack and herb salsa. Panna cotta was divine: innocently pale, tremblingly set, headily infused with vanilla and a whisper of lemon liqueur, served with champagne rhubarb. Charred bruschetta doused in single-estate olive oil, an Italianate wine list, luscious nibbles, chocolates and Illy coffee – all are ace. There is no earthly reason not to come here.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008