Chefs Table At Claridges

[Gary Marshall]

I had one of the best nights out in London that i've ever had on wednesday.

I also dined at the 'chefs table' at claridges. From what i can gather these tend to be mutually exclusive events.

However there was a little more to it than the food (strict foodies please scroll down i'll highlight the 'food bit').

you see whilst i'm not so shallow to get over-excited about the presence of your common/garden uk celeb, a couple of hollywood A listers,which happen to be the leading characters in one of my favourite films, and separately a chat with england's leading clothes designer did mark the night out as something special.

As it happened Wednesday saw the premiere of the much awaiting (well in my house anyway) matrix reloaded, i didn't know if the actors were coming over but it turned out they did, and they stayed at claridges, so to meet keanu reeves and then later lawrence fishborne did leave me a little star struck. and before this i had a very pleasant chat with Paul Smith about cycling in italy. so that's the background out of the way, now to the food.

FOOD BIT STARTS HERE

On checking into the bar area that preceeds the dining room, we were shown to a table and advised that champagne and canapes would be served here, 'ooh free chamapagne', a nice touch thinks moi as the bolly nv roams into view, (however my economic background gently reminds me of the 'no such thng as a free lunch' lecture more of which later, oh and i should add my colleague organised the night i was meerely there as food and beverage advisor, although it ended up on my card and i didn't know about the charging structure).

we were assigned out own waitress for the night and a sommelier. It was explained it was to be a menu surprise which made choosing wines to match a headache and in a couple of peronis/glass of champagne/matrix over excitement moment i let the sommelier choose, with a limit £30 - 40 per bottle for 3 bottles (there were 6 of us but 1 teetotal and one not-really-wine drinker).

first amuses were the usual ramsay-esque hummus and another 'spicy spread' that escapes me.

second amuses were hot, as in temperature, they were deep fried risotto balls which were excellent and duck spring rolls and dipping sauce also very good.

we then went to our table in the kitchen, which mercifully meant we avoided the dining room where the interior design spec must have been 'tarts boudoir'.

into the kitchen we were given a brief tour of the coffee area, the cold starters pass and then shown to our table which was in front of the hot dishes pass. It's basically a decent sized table with a horseshoe banquette surrounding it and holds up to 10 which would be a squeeze, our six was about right.

By this point it was about 9pm and service was in full flow, generally the kitchen was a model of quiet efficiency but the sheer numbers of dishes going out were quite incredible (it turned out they had a full dining room, us, and two private rooms to cater for, so it was busier than normal). The first staff bollocking came from head chef mark seargeant quite soon which livened things up a bit as the first course arrived.

This was a chilled pea and mint veloute (hurrah!) which did as they described.

second was a small seared tuna loin, two discs of rare tuna, very light and good.

third up was a small ballotine of foie gras with toast, again good but not execeptional

fourthly was was an excellent but hey, guess what, small, fillet of John dory in an excellent lemon-y frothed sauce (they're sending a copy of the menu and wines to me so i'll give the full details later).

Fifthly was an excellent seared canon of lamb, now we watched very impressed as they plated up and sent out at least 40 of these dishes at once, so when ours came as chunks of lamb in a big copper pot with roasted shallots, mushrooms and 'crispy bits', a pot of truffled mashed pot, spring veg incl artichoke & asparagus, lentils and 2 sauce boats , one infused with rosemary one without (crucual difference as an fortunate waiter discovered), and i played mother with fairly crap results the skills they displayed were appreciated.

Sixthly: a small french cheese selection, i can't say i've ever been impressed by a ramsay cheeseboard, this was no exception.

seventhy: an excellent choccy tort.

eigthly: an excellent apriccot tart.

What made the experience of this was just being in the kitchen in a busy service, it was mesemerising watching the organised chaos. We were also treated to a full chef rant by mark when a waiter gave one table the wrong sauces for the lamb, who then foolishly blamed the kitchen for giving him the wrong sauces. To say he went absolutley f*cking mad is a slight understatement, at first we thought it might be a bit of a show for us but no-way. So that was good

As aspiring Lynes understudy in the world of chef groupie-dom i had a long chat with mark (after service and he had calmed down) and he also happily came and chatted to the guests at my request, he did howver ask for 5% of anything i got out of them the next day, who says chefs aren't commercial!

I was also impressed that they must have overheard 2 of the table saying they had to leave, and unbidden, boxed up the deserts for them.

They then offered us a full tour of the kitchen and explained how it all worked, just to make sure i had the cheffy bases covered though i spent that time chatting to 2nd chef andew. As a parting shot the pastry chef boxed up 4 tarte tatins for us to take home too.

the guests and my colleagues were blown away by the whole experience and although i've spent time in many a kitchen i must admit it was bloody interesting and i would definately return.

the food although parsimonious at times was perfectly cooked, solid one star, with the quality of ingredients showing through rather than any particular culinary pyrotechnics in the execution. To be fair others round the table were full to the brim so maybe the portions were about right for a taster.

we then took coffee & chocs in the foyer of the hotel with a calvados to 'make a hole' as they say in france. (as the matrix crew returned)

I ended up signing for the tab and then got a bit of a shock. The table (with our free bottle of bolly) cost £700 for 6. That's the basic rate for up to 6, after that its charged at £110 /head. With wine, somewhere along the line the idea of 3 bottles vanished, we had 5 plus another bolly for my not-really-a-wine-drinker colleague and it came to £990.20. plus service i left £1100. So £183 per head 'aint value but yes i'd do it again.

Gary

[Andy Lynes]

As aspiring Lynes understudy in the world of chef groupie-dom i had a long chat with mark

You've got a long way to go young fellow me lad, but its a good start.

Pleased to see the veloute laws are being adhered to by the Ramsay organisation, although the single mention is a disappointment.

[Bapi]

"there were 6 of us but 1 teetotal and one not-really-wine drinker)."

Thanks Gary, I nearly fell off my seat as I thought that this sentence read " ...but I was teatotal" for one second. Yeah right

What can I say , apart from " You Jammy Get"- sounds like a great evening ( Luckily no Carrie Ann-Moss or I would have been seriously jealous).

I will be taking the Bint there in July along with her best mate as its her friend's birthday soon. That plus I still have a large voucher to use up at GR@C, which was a gift to us.( What a cheapskate !)

Great Review and one assumes that, experience- wise, it was the complete antithesis to the revered " Where's me sodding napkin" Majumdar's experience.

Edited May 23, 2003 by Bapi (log)

[Basildog]

Thats what i was going to say Bapi...Simon must have pissed off the food gods,but what the feck has Gary done to deserve this?

[Gary Marshall]

i don't know b'dog

i must admit my bad restaurant experiences are quite few and far between, but then i'm not particularly adventurous.

It's quite sad to relate that i rarely eat anywhere that i don't know who's cooking for me by name or reputation!

They did completely fail the napkin test, the poor waitress couldn't even reach the far side of the table, never mind replace napkins!

gary

[macrosan]

Pleased to see the veloute laws are being adhered to by the Ramsay organisation, although the single mention is a disappointment.

If this is going to go on for some time, I'm going to have to get an effing é on my effing keyboard. Can't have bad spelling ruining the look of the UK Forum

Super write-up, Gary, most enjoyable. I'm surprised you were surprised by the bill. Of course that's a lot of money, but for an exceptional experience it sounds not bad value to me. In fact, you've got me thinking ....

[Andy Lynes]

Pleased to see the veloute laws are being adhered to by the Ramsay organisation, although the single mention is a disappointment.

If this is going to go on for some time, I'm going to have to get an effing é on my effing keyboard. Can't have bad spelling ruining the look of the UK Forum

I'm intending becoming the Shawn Taylor of eGullet and relaying nightly news of velouté-less menus. So yes, you'll need to get your keyboard sorted out (and tell everyone else how to do it as well!). Its for the greater good, surely you must see that?

Keep 'em peeled!

[Gary Marshall]

I'm surprised you were surprised by the bill.

it was the fixed £700 for the table i hadn't realised. I thought we'd be looking at a slight premium to the menu prestige which is usually £60-70 in other ramsay places, but wasn't expecting £110.

as you might have gathered, i thought it was worth it

despite the cost they also say it does big repeat business. The 'new' savoy also has a table that apparently has a slightly elevated position looking onto the pass from the chefs side, that sounds good too. Both are/seem a lot better than my only other chefs table experience at comme chez soi, it was just a long corridor off the pastry section, you needed binoculars to see anything!

gary

ps i noted basildog's black dog menu was veloute less, should it now be an offence to recommend a restaurant where the unsuspecting gourmand may be shocked not find the welcoming presence of our creamy friend?!!

Edited May 24, 2003 by Gary Marshall (log)

[Tonyfinch]

ps i noted basildog's black dog menu was veloute less,

You need to come off the pop for a while Gary. You've lost the ability to tell the difference between a pig and a dog.

[Basildog]

Tony, may i offer you the Margot's Smoking Chef Table, which is a step into Duke St with yours truly for a drag and a cough? This exclusive experience is yours for the price of £100 per head

[Basildog]

Andy, wasn't it Shaw Taylor not Shawn?

Yours pedantically,BD

[Andy Lynes]

Ahh, no wonder I had such a hard time finding it on google.

[Gary Marshall]

You need to come off the pop for a while Gary. You've lost the ability to tell the difference between a pig and a dog.

countless nights out of my youth would suggest i never had it

apologies, i thought the name was wrong, it may even have been ripleys ? that i was thinking about, my only excuse was extreme hunger on sat eve waiting to go out for my curry!

and funnily enough i'm planning 2 weeks off the sauce, think i've had enough recently, and an extra bottle of red on friday night really did confirm this on saturday morning.

gary