Restaurants

Le Gavroche is so special (and pricey, let’s be honest) that, unlike many restaurants in this section, it’s not awash with people having business lunches. Some are, but there are usually as many women dining as men, and they might be mothers and daughters celebrating a birthday or friends catching up. So the talk isn’t just about work, which completely changes the atmosphere and jollies things along enormously. The second factor is the dizzying quantity of front-of-house staff and the pace at which they work. Many restaurants achieve good service, but here it’s amazing; every customer’s moves are predicted and catered for in a fabulously mannerly fashion. Such professionalism is only achieved through the driving force of the business being constantly on hand; we’ve yet to visit and not see wonder-chef Michel Roux Jr and manager Silvano hard at work. Food is incredibly special too: complex, richly rewarding, outstandingly fresh and cooked to split-second perfection. The three-course set lunch at £48 with water, wine, coffee and petits fours is a must-have experience if you haven’t been here before. The à la carte dishes are a little larger, a little more luxurious, perhaps, and contain a few more ingredients. From the set lunch, lobster salad tartlets and hot, deliciously crunchy turbot goujons with cool caper sauce and micro salad were paraded as canapés. Starters included classic fish soup with beautiful, traditional garnishes served from cherished Le Gavroche silverware, and seasonal asparagus with intensely smoky bacon lardons and fresh green herb sauce. Main courses ranged from classic braised guinea fowl to salt marsh lamb or a chunky wedge of salmon trout with pea purée, tomato coulis and the most perfect, handmade tagliatelle glossed with butter. What’s not to love?

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008