Restaurants

By Guy Dimond

St Botolph’s Hall is a Grade II-listed Victorian church hall, built to cathedral proportions.

The three-storey height, vaulted ceilings, arched windows, stone columns and chandeliers were built to awe. And it still does, though now it has a new congregation – City workers from nearby Bishopsgate, mostly, who appear to have spent more time studying mammon than the Gospels.

Some worshippers have travelled from afar, following the stars of brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin, renowned for their modern French cooking at their other two Galvin restaurants in central London.

The Modern French menu at Galvin La Chapelle is cautious rather than daring. And unless you stick to the £24.50 prix fixe menu, prices are high – starters around a tenner, main courses around £15-£20, desserts £5-£10.

But for this you also get yards of crisp napery, leather-bound menus, comfortable pews, and toasted brioche that arrives like a prayer book folded in linen napkins.

Bacchus is also celebrated in some style, with plenty of wines so expensive they make human genome sequencing look cheap, including the eponymous Hermitage La Chapelle.

If you’re inclined to know more about the wines, the sommelier is on hand to deliver chapter and verse.

Classic dishes are perfectly rendered, such as the terrine of butter-smooth foie gras, ready to spread on light toasted brioche. Suprême (breast and wing) of flavoursome Landaise chicken was simply served with poached leeks, French beans and tournéed (lozenge-shaped) roast potatoes, in the French way.

Both dishes from the à la carte were good, though not sensational.

The prix fixe, in contrast, was a far better deal on our visit. For £24.50, you’ll get three courses such as a starter of red mullet, escabeched with a dressing of a carrot and onion stew, but tasting of the vinegar dressing, saffron and a squeeze of lemon.

The main course boudin noir was blacker than Satan’s soul, the pudding so thick with blood it was jelly-like, while the puréed potato had enough butter in it to fuel an altar lamp. But the dish was utterly delicious, the fat and richness neatly balanced by the addition of tart roast apple.

The puddings had the most ‘wow’ factor, for the precision of their execution: a tiny chocolate fondant with the concentrated flavours of high cocoa bean content, and a pretty crème caramel decorated with sweetened raisins.

Service was charming and exuded confidence, though our bill contained several errors.

If you’re not feeling pious enough for the high church, the poor seats are in the ‘Café de Luxe’ at the entrance, where a simpler menu is served in less formal environment.

Tables are more cramped and you miss out on the grandeur of the main dining room, but the café is usefully open all day, and serves breakfast too.

Time Out London November 2009