Foxtrot Oscar

This might be the first restaurant from Gordon RamsayTM to be an underachiever. Its not that Foxtrot Oscar is a bad restaurant its an adequate neighbourhood place its just that its so lacking in soul and the food is so unremarkable that you wonder why you didnt stay home and cook instead. A bistro called Foxtrot Oscar has been plodding along on this site since 1980, run by an avuncular old Etonian called Michael Proudlock. Last year Gordon Ramsay Holdings bought Mr Proudlocks venture, something apparent when you book a table (a receptionist now insists on taking a mobile number for confirmation). After a long refurb we now have an inoffensive little place, decorated like a Jurys Inn meeting room, turning out dull food much in the mould of the old Foxtrot Oscar. Mr Proudlock is still there, on our visit doting on old regulars. The menu reads like a 1970s dinner party menu in places, from the prawn cocktail (oddly bland Dublin Bay prawns) through blanquette of lamb (a bit like Irish stew, but the sauce had an oddly floury texture) to chocolate tart. The days special of foie gras and veal burger sounded interesting but just wasnt as good as the normal burgers sold at contemporary chains such as Hamburger Union or Ultimate Burger: the bun had too little texture, the meat not enough flavour, the chips were pale and the Caesar side salad was little more than a few dressed lettuce leaves. The Ramsay gastropubs have cleverly reinvented old British dishes but Foxtrot Oscar seems to be recreating the dishes of the 1970s, not improving them. Things have moved on a lot in the past 30 years, mostly for the better. And Foxtrot Oscar, new Ramsay brigade or not, is just not keeping up. PS Later in 2008 Foxtrot Oscar was refurbished but the opening hours and days were reduced.