Restaurants

Founded in 1980 by food writer Quentin Crewe and friend Hugh O’Neill (now third Baron Rathcavan), Brasserie St Quentin soon became the haunt of Knightsbridge’s beau monde. It was sold to the Savoy Group in 1989, then O’Neill bought it back in 2002 with investors that included the chef Anton Edelmann and several titled landowners, who now supply much of its meat, poultry and game. The place feels much as it did when it first opened – all classic tinted mirrors and brass rails – only with a more mature clientele. An early promising sign on our visit was a lady of a certain age dining happily alone at the next table. The meal began with nicely caramelised scallops, and some tasty tiny rings of deep-fried squid on a tomato salad. A main course of grilled ribeye of Buccleuch beef with béarnaise sauce and pommes frites was astoundingly good, despite the rather mean serving of frites; we slowly savoured the incredibly delicious beef, even the little bits of browned fat at the end. Grilled wild sea bass was equally stunning. From a usefully annotated wine list with plenty of labels at reasonable prices and by the glass, a bottle of Château de Belle Garde Bordeaux was almost too tannic, until it met the beef in perfect harmony.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009