I recently stumbled across this web page,
which brought back
lots of memories.
It's dated 1996/97, but seems to me to be largely from around ten years
earlier.
Anton at the Dorchester. (Since he did that television programme with
the Sheffield dustman, I've only ever been able to think of him as
"Anton", and it has to be said in a Sheffield accent.)
The Connaught before Gordon Ramsay and Hartnell destroyed it. Odd it
doesn't
mention the glory of glories that was Terrine Connaught. Now
that
Gordon Ramsay Holdings have quit, it would be nice if it could re-open
as a classic old style French restaurant. While we don't want
the
heavy flour-laden sauces of yesteryear, there must surely be room for
some of the classics of Escoffier's cuisine? Perhaps the more
appropriate place to look for that would be the Savoy, home to
Escoffier for so many years.
I never went to 90 Park Lane before Nico Ladenis took over, a long time
after this piece was written: at the time of this piece, Nico has just
moved (unsuccessfully, we
know with hindsight) Chez Nico to Shinfield.
Boulestin. Boulestin! Boulestin!
Now that's a real blast from the past. Along with the À
l'Ecu de France on Jermyn Street, which it survived IIRC, one of the
last of the grandes dames of classic French cuisine in London. In its
latter days (referred to on that web page) it had shaken off Escoffier,
but as I recall it then did not last long and was soon a Pizza Hut. At
least L'Ecu de France (which itself had survived Mme Prunier's St
James' restaurant and Le Coq d'Or, which became Langan's Brasserie) was
spared that ignominious fate. IIRC McDonalds was interested in its
Jermyn St site, but planning was turned down, and now it (or rather the
old bar area - presumably the rest lies mothballed behind) is a
Church's shoes shop. There is a wonderful story that when L'Ecu finally
closed its doors, MI5 had to nip and remove all their microphones
hidden in the banquettes, and that when they did so, they found all the
KGB microphones in there too.
Waltons. Now the first of the Itsu chain. Then it was what I always
assumed a Chelsea brothel would look like.
Interesting comment on Le Poulbot (for the benefit of younger readers,
a quondam Roux outpost in the City) that "Wines are
Paris-priced". Were wine lists generally not as aggressively
priced as they usually are these days?
Guy Mouilleron's Ma Cuisine on Walton Street. A lovely little
restaurant: charming, intimate and with excellent food. I
still remember a
fabulous lamb dish I had there once with exquisite pea tartlets.
Poon's of Covent Garden! I don't recall ever eating there, but used to
go to the
Leicester St and Lisle St Poons. Are they still going? I remember
walking down King St, Covent Garden past Poons once, when a
Franco-Italian maître
d' type came rushing out to say how nice it was
to see me again, Mr Stevenson. I've still no idea who he was.
Perhaps it's an indicator of when you eat out at too many
restaurants, that maîtres d' can spot you on the street, rush
out to say hello and you don't know who they are?
Rue St Jacques - in Charlotte St (now the site of the well regarded
Rasa Samudra, a Keralan fish
restaurant). I only went there a couple of times. Top notch food,
but damn expensive and there was something about the place I just
didn't like.
Ménage à Trois. From the days when Antony
Worral-Thompson was a chef, and a pretty fine one too, rather than the
media whore he is now. Starters
and puddings, but no intercourse
went the strapline. This was the first (and last) restaurant, where
I've ever had a
whole truffle - IIRC wrapped in ham, baked in puff pastry and then
served with a truffle sauce. But I might be wrong about the sauce. When
you think about it,
Ménage à Trois, with its small plates of small
food
was about 20 years ahead of its
time: think Maze, Le Cercle and the proliferation of
this-and-that-style
tapas restaurants that litter London's streets now.
I vaguely remember the English House part-owned by Michael Smith (TV
food presenter of the 70s and maybe 80s), but
I don't remember anything much about it: perhaps I never went.
Was it the same English House that Richard
Corrigan was involved in (at the same time as the Lindsay House), and
which later became Rasoi Vineet Bhatia? Or was that the English Garden?
It's interesting to reflect on the remarkably numerous survivors of
that list:
Back to Andrew Stevenson's web page
Last updated: 30 December 2008