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Quince

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The May Fair Hotel, Stratton Street, W1J 8LT Full details & map

Restaurants & cafés: Turkish

Tricia de Courcy Ling

Time Out says 4 Users say 3/5 Rate it

By Guy Dimond Posted: Jun 24 2011

You may have seen Silvena Rowe on the telly, possibly on 'Saturday Kitchen'. She is the cook with the shock of blonde hair and the vaguely Bulgarian/Anatolian accent, the one who is untroubled by self-doubt. Her 2010 cookery book, 'Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume', is an excellent interpretation of the food of the eastern Mediterranean; her track record as a food writer and author of award-winning cookery books is more impressive than her television appearances might lead you to expect.

At the end of 2010 the May Fair hotel hired Rowe to head their revamped dining room. At long last, Quince has been unveiled.

The interior design is busier than a port on the Black Sea. Plush red banquettes evoke Angus Steak House in its heyday. Tiled walls suggest a Bosphorus bath house. It looks the ante-room to a casino designed by a Gulf sheikh.

The service still needs to settle down. It took several minutes, and two transferred calls put on hold, to make a booking. On arrival, we were dealt with by a procession of waiting staff, some of them repeating the questions of their predecessor a minute before. It probably doesn't help that chef Rowe could be seen pacing up and down, peering into the dining area from the pass.

The first impressions might be ominous, but the dishes on our visit were masterful. Although based firmly on the dishes of Turkey, Syria and the Levant, Rowe isn't scared to spice things up or deviate from the accepted way of doing things.

'Surf and turf' is a bit of a Rowe signature dish, mixing ground veal and prawn together into little kebab-like skewers, the plate dusted with a spicy herb mix and a tiny side dish of of harissa to pep it up. Fattoush, a classic Levantine salad made from toasted pitta bread with salad greens, was zipped up by the addition of a pomegranate dressing, and - a bit of a risk, but it worked - burrata soft cheese on top.

Staff encourage you to order a selection of 'small dishes', which makes sense as the portions are indeed small, but the high prices do not reflect this. So that fattoush salad costs £14.50, and nibble-sized starter portion of lamb böreks (pictured above, though ours came without the garnish of flowers) cost £7.50, or £1.50 per mouthful. But this is Green Park, not Green Lanes. It's worth paying the price for dishes such as the crisply fried squid, spiced with chilli, cumin and cardamom; or the tomato and fennel side salad which came with a dressing of pomegranate, tahini and mint. We doubt if a grand vizier's banquet could have been better.

Among the desserts was a panna cotta, topped with a delicate layer of rose jelly, in keeping with the Asiatic theme.

Rowe is a very talented cook; how Quince works as a restaurant is another matter, especially when she is not there. On our visit the dining room was filled with hotel guests, many of them conference delegates from the Midlands. The place is more a collision of styles and approaches than a fusion - but if you are a fan of Rowe's style of dishes, then they should save the day.

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Tags: Middle Eastern, Turkish, Creative cooking, Central, Mayfair, Mid-range

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Quince details

Address

Quince

The May Fair Hotel, Stratton Street W1J 8LT

Transport Green Park tube

Telephone

020 7915 3892

Quince website

Breakfast served 7-10.30am Mon-Fri; 7.30-11am Sat, Sun. Lunch served 12.30-3pm Mon-Fri; 1-4pm Sat, Sun. Afternoon tea served 2.30-5pm; dinner served 6-10.30pm daily

Main courses £14.50-£29

Credit cards AmEx, DC, MC, V

Facilities

Tables outdoors ( 6, pavement ), Babies and children welcome ( high chairs ), Booking essential, Separate room for parties ( seats 46 ), Available for hire, Disabled ( toilet ), Dress ( smart casual )

Quince map

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Comments & ratings 3/5 (Average of 4 ratings)

By Jaine Berkow - Aug 5 2011

4/5

We had amazing meal tonight at Quince! Service was warm and with a smile! Food was very tasty and fresh! Spices are great and we loved the chicken wings, the baby squid,the pulled lamb! The orange baklava is the best , Silvena was there and came to the table, telling us a story from her travels! My husband and I loved that! It felt personal and we will be back for more!

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By Chrissy - Aug 2 2011

3/5

Service - staff were clearly learning but keen and helpful. Food was delicious (the pulled lamb and orange balava particularly) but given Silvena Rowe's personality I expected the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine being served to be more generous, the portions were very small and seemed a little mean. Seating was uncomfortable and some tables were very close together.

To sum up: Quince is up against some tough competition from other restaurants in Mayfair and there's no wow factor. You just get what you order and two small slices of bread, there's no pre starter or anything else that you might expect from a restaurant in this market.

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By Ania - Jul 6 2011

Service - slow and forgetful. We had to ask for water several times and still did not het it until we suggested to the waiter that we are happy to go to the kitchen and get it ourselves.
Food - below average if you don't consider the price. And at these prices - pretty bad. Stone oven baked chicken was dry as a bone and hard as a rock.
Hallibut - overcooked and dry. For GBP 25 for this dish, saying that it was overpriced is an understatement. I should have been paid to eat it.
Crispy fried baby squid - apparently should have been great, but it was a lot of tiny deep fried and turned very brown pieces.
Wine - our picks were fantastic although to be honest beer would be better given how badly the dishes were prepared.
Final bill - with wine, close to GBP 200 for food that is in standard below anything you can get in an Ocakbasi joint in Dalston!

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By Claudia - Jun 24 2011

5/5

What an amazing place! Couldn't agree more with the Time Out review by Guy Dimond! The food is fresh and light! Colours and textures are beautiful! It's a pleasant surprise to find bold delicious food in a hotel restaurant!
Me and my husband went to Quince, after i have been watching Silvena for years on telly! We live in Scotland and i wish we had such an exciting food here! We had a dinner there and our waiter was great, he recommended the right amount of food and was at hand at all times, i loved the small dishes, you can see how much work is gone in there...the sordid are simply divine! The salads crisp and fresh, loved the burrata cheese and Fatoush salad, so moorish! The baby squid is to die for! Delicately spiced with sumac, cumin and cardamon, its crunchy and crispy and ohhh, so moorish!The cote be beef is sensational! We love our Scott steak...but we haven't had nothing as that ! 45 days aged! A generous chunk of mouthwatering rib of beef

to share, perfectly cooked! For that alone I recommend Quince...and then the tiny
shoestrings!
Yes, it was not cheap, but the taste of everything we had was simply a revelation! This will be a busy place, chef Silvena's food is so inspiring....
Just a small note re wine, our white wine wasn't as chilled as it should have been....
I recommend Quince, we loved it! Claudia K.M.

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By zara - Jun 23 2011

1/5

i was so excited about trying this place, sounded like my dream food. it was really overpriced, i know it's supposed to be pricey in a location like that, but i've never left a restaurant feeling so mugged off. 'shoestring fries' (see spuntino) weren't even fries, let alone shoestring fries, they were chips, regular KFC style chips. The blueberry pilaf was good but there was hardly any of it. Service were sweet but it was clear they had been asked to gently force certain (expensive) options on you. Mains are served on their own, with no vegetable, so you get a very large plate with a bit of meat on it. Left hungry and pissed off. What a shame!

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By Rebecca - Jun 23 2011

One star
Average service, décor almost verging on a bit tacky and food very disappointing. Main course was cold and undercooked with the quality resembling that of kebab from a post night-club establishment, food items on menu not available, terribly bitter green tea and incorrect drinks served. A real shame as good location and a good head chef (although she was not at the restaurant at the time). Restaurant manager had already left for the evening when there were still many diners still eating and so there was no-one to discuss issues with. Lots of great places to dine nearby so this one is definitely worth a miss.