Berkeley Square Cafe

[Gavin Convery]

I have a reservation here for tomorrow night and wonder if anyone has been yet. The chef is Stephen Black who cooked at Conrad Gallagher and then 197 when Conrad Gallagher became a fugitive. As it happens a friend of mine who dined at L'Arpege in Paris recently met a sommelier there who used to work with Mr. Black and highly recommended him.

Did I see a review in Metro or was I dreaming?? Circeplum?

[Mrs Woman]

Dunno about the Metro but that Giles Coren thought it was pretty good. Review here

Edited June 19, 2003 by Mrs Woman (log)

[olly s]

i have a problem with all these "cafes" - Boxwood, Berkeley Square, and the soon to open Grand Cafe. What is a cafe if not a greasy spoon and a pillar of the community?? Surely these places are far too poncey to justify the cafe title ...

[Andy Lynes]

For what it's worth, I greatly enjoyed the meal I had at Conrad Gallagher when Black was there. And it was definatley Black in the kitchen, because Gallagher was reading a paper in the upstair bar when I was there! I thought at the time that the food was great but the surroundings lacked a certain something...enough other people for a start. I'll be very interested in your opinion of the place, although I agree with Olly on the "Cafe" misnomer, aren't they charging something silly like £37.00 for two courses? That would buy you a hell of a lot of tea and toast.

[J Acord]

Did I see a review in Metro or was I dreaming?? Circeplum?

Yep, there was a review in the Metro, gave it a good write up actually.

[Gavin Convery]

And it was definitely Black in the kitchen, because Gallagher was reading a paper in the upstair bar when I was there!

Apparently the sommelier guy at L'Arpege said that Stephen Black always did the cooking - I don't think he had a high opinion of Conrad Gallagher who is now a fugitive in NY for some reason - tax dodges I think.

Dine online tells me that a 7 course degustation menu is £42.50 which hopefully will be good value - I always go for those menus - probably because I am greedy and yet tight northern b**tard at the same time.

[Andy Lynes]

I don't think he had a high opinion of Conrad Gallagher who is now a fugitive in NY for some reason - tax dodges I think.

He was recently been extradited from NY and is out on bail in Dublin awaiting trial for the theft of several paintings from the Fitzwilliam Hotel where his "Peacock Alley" restaurant used to be : bang to rights.

Gallaghers past is murky indeed, someone ought to write a book about it, or at least a TV movie. Actually, Anthony Bourdain ought to write a book about it.

[circeplum]

Did I see a review in Metro or was I dreaming?? Circeplum?

i liked it a lot. though - and you don't often hear this from me - the portions could've been smaller ...

the sweetbreads had the potential to be great.

m

[Gavin Convery]

Did you go a la carte or tasting menu? Any other recs besides the sweetbreads??

BTW presumably your reviews are in the subscriber only section of thisislondon or is there somehwere free to peruse them??

[circeplum]

there's a very reasonable set menu which my date had and actually liked more than my a la carte (excellent organic chicken/summer veg assembly).

stunning lime ice and dense chocolate mousse, and i don't much like puddings.

and yes, sorry, you have to pay to see me on thisislondon. but it's only about £3 a month. and i'm worth it

alternatively, you can just pick up the paper for free!

m

[Mrs Woman]

alternatively, you can just pick up the paper for free!

That would be extremely difficult if you don't actually live/work in London, as - shock horror - not everyone does

Edited June 20, 2003 by Mrs Woman (log)

[Andy Lynes]

So how was it then Gavin?

[Gavin Convery]

Andy,

In general it was very good. We made sure they knew we had been recommended by one of their ex-colleagues and so, I guess, received some favourable treatment along the way.

Amuse was a melon soup - palate cleansing without being stunning.

First dish was a pressed chicken terrine with shallots which was tasty but not mindblowing

Then a scallop with chanterelles and small dice of asparagus - good materials, tasty

Foie gras with marinated fig - this was superb, probably the best Foie Gras I have tasted - talking to the Chef later on it turns out this is Hungarian Foie Gras which is untrammeled by EU regulations and so made the way they used to make it with no force feeding.

Crab risotto with plum sorbet - delicious - a small bowl (Fat Duck red cabbage soup style) with the risotto in the bottom, a crisp biscuit and then the plum tomato sorbet on the top. I could eat this one all day.

Then lamb with white bean puree - the lamb was from Orkney and was quality but a little cool.

Selection of cheeses - all British/Irish e.g. Cashel blue, Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire

Desserts - strawberry plate - several different strawberry desserts incl. strawberry smoothy, can't remember the rest and a chocolate fondant - disappointingly dry. The desserts were the least successful.

Wines were provided by the glass and I don't have the details of them. But we also had a half bottle of Saussignac Richard Doughty Coup de Coeur 1998 - this was a surprise as this is a very rare wine and one of my favourites ever since a tasting at Richard Doughty's vineyard near Bergerac. He is English and a passionate supporter of Saussignac - his 1997 beat Chateau Yquem in a blind tasting - it is superb. Cost £35 (compared to £8 at the vineyard).

The sommelier took us to their wine room downstairs and it is clear that he has some unusual bottles but I didn't look at the main wine list so can't give any more details.

Cost was £42.50 for the seven course surprise menu and we had the usual Kir Royale, brandy,eau-de-vie the latter while sitting out on their small terrace at the front of the restaurant.

I would say there are some inconsistencies in the food and I would still rather pay that bit extra and go to Pied a Terre but given the set dinner menu of £18.95 for 3 courses it would be definitely worth a punt.