Fleur

[Andy Lynes]

Marcus Wareing's Fleur has opened at 33 St James St. David Collard is the chef in residence, dishing up more relaxed menu in what the press release calls a "younger sibling to restaurant Petrus". He has formerly worked with Robuchon, Caines and Wareing. Fleur's claret leather banquettes are "inviting" we are told, and the whole experience is designed to be less formal and involve less ceremony than the elder restaurant, which is due to re-open at The Berkelely on 7 September 2003.

All dishes are seperately priced and customers will be able to order a single course. The launch menu is very reasonably priced and I will be interested to see how long they are maintained - starters are £4.50 to £9.50, mains £11.00-£18.00 and Desserts £5.50 - £8.00 (for cheese)

Typical dishes include Tuna seared, wild rocket, cherry tomatos, green beans, quail eggs, anchovy and black olive dressing, scallops hand dived, leek and potato soup, creme fraiche dressing, classic vinaigrette or boudin with onion, potato saute and veal truffle jus to start, fillet of Aberdeen Angus, pomme confit, braised carrots, sauce borguignonne, skate a la grenobloise with pomme mousseline or lobster with cabbage and lobster port jus for main. Desserts run to a tatin for two through a feuillete of pear to a millefeuille of chocolate.

Menu.

Fleur is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

Reservations on 020 7930 4272

[Andy Lynes]

Ramsay's website has had a complete overhaul, and whilst it doesn't yet reflect the change at 33 St James, is well worth a look if you like that type of thing : Gordon Ramsay website.

[Gareth]

Fleur

Billed by Andy as Petrus’ little brother, Fleurie might have been more apt. But Fleur it is, and it blossomed when 6 of us went for dinner last night.

Let’s get the gripe out of the way first. Booking for more than five requires you to fax confirmation with credit card details threatening £40 a head for a no-show with less than 24 hours notice, followed by repossession of your house and murder of your first-born. It also included a turn-around time (two and a half hours) which hadn’t been advised on the phone.

In the event, the turn-around wasn’t enforced and the pacing of the meal was relaxed throughout. But I wonder under what circumstances they enforce the no-show. What if just one of you steps under a bus, is it pro-rata ? What if one of the party is abnormally small...?

The decor is slightly dark, but a warm gold and brown and chocolate. Further ‘graced’ by huge dark canvases on a food theme. Dull as ditchwater. The kind of studies that put the ‘still’ in still life.

A small bar area served up a respectable gin sour without asking “a what ?” and we were led through to the dining area.

Service was excellent and correct throughout. It may well be “a more relaxed experience” than Petrus, but we’re not talking bermuda shorts and t-shirts here. Maybe “sponsored by Gap” rather than Mssrs Gieves & Hawkes.

The menu was in the price ranges Andy had reported and offered a very good selection of about 10 or so choices for both starters and mains. The balance was towards fish and poultry, with at least one vegetarian option in each category. It followed the modern trend of reducing the dish to a jus of description “Duck”, “Skate”, “Lamb”. I wonder if their nerve will hold when it comes to “Pig”.

The more laid back experience was reflected by an absence of amuses (and other interspersed fripparies during the meal) , but instead we got a good bread selection with a smoked aubergine dip.

Some of our starter selections included a mushroom and morel soup; crabmeat raviolo with pink grapefruit; and hand dived scallops (I hear the latest new-wave chefs have also found some scallop-divers who are pretty nimble with their feet...). Murmurs of significant approval came from round the table.

I went for “sweetbreads with truffle, little (horse ?) mushrooms, spinach and a tarragon and chicken-stock sauce”. The sweetbreads were very good (not perfection – see report on 21 Mill St., Chagford earlier this year..) but still, very light and moist. The truffle – as usual with these poor summer things – was a bit of a waste of time but this was more than made up for by getting the sauce in a little jug on the side, with an accompanying sauce-spoon (a theme throughout).

Most folks went for fish in the main courses. Salmon proving most popular but a vote each for skate and sea bass. Again all these met with approval (portions could maybe have been a bit bigger...). Alone among table I remained determinedly unicthyphagus and went for the guinea fowl. Again this was excellent and perfectly cooked with just the faintest shade of pink left in the meat but crispy skin and good accompaniments.

Wines were pricey, with anything under £30 thin on the ground. This seemed to be reflected in the sommelier’s approach. My friends were not big wine enthusiasts so I didn’t want to run up a significant tab on the vino. So I specifically told the sommelier I was on a budget and pointed in the direction of a couple in the £28-35 range I had been looking at. He then directed me to a bottle at £52. Nul points. That said, and ignoring his kind advice, the white Crozes-Hermitage (£35) we ended up with was very classy. Me, dix points.

Desserts maintained the high standards. My coffee pannacotta (sp.?) was, perhaps a little too milky, not intense enough for my taste. Panna-latte, perhaps. However, Jessica’s pear was deemed first rate and there was a good selections of icecreams/sorbets and a fruit salad. The latter showed the final Gordon Ramsay group touch. The fruit had been macerated in Malibu. At GR@RHR I have often seen desserts centred on Bailey’s. What is it that makes these high-class joints cook with the kind of drinks you wish you’d never brought back from the Costa del Sol ? An Essex-girl patissier ? What next, Alcopop Parfait ?

Anyway, a couple of coffees (accompanied with chocolate almonds and raisins) and we wrapped up for the night. Not everyone had dessert, not everyone had coffee and we stuck to the one bottle of wine (with multiple Evians). Even so, the total, including suitable reward for the highly engaging but professional service, was £250 for 6. Which, in London terms, makes it a bit of a bloody bargain in my book.

As Andy says these may be introductory prices that will drift up when it becomes established (not that there was any shortage of punters last night...). But even if it migrates from the £40+ a head to the £60+ a head, it would still be pretty high on my visit list. A huge number of restaurants in London are pitched firmly in this price category, and deliver little more than complacent mediocrity. Not so this one which, 10 days since opening, appeared to have already hit its stride.

Fleur...[came up smelling of roses/daisy pulls it off/supply your own clever flower pun ending here...]

A good 7/10 on the 'Majumdarometer'

Gareth

[Gavin Convery]

Fay Maschler reviewed this in the standard yesterday assuming that it was meant to compete in Le Caprice territory. She didn't rate it from that point of view and moaned about the price of the wines. Her preamble indicated a preference for relaxed St John's style eating (see St John's thread)

Gareth, can you compare and contrast vis a vis Le Caprice or St John's ?? Essay on my desk by 9am.

[Bapi]

I think Circe said she was of here soon for work purposes, at the St John meal.

[Bapi]

Nice review of Ma Cuisine in today's Metro missus, and instead of the full Fleur review. It must have impressed.

But how on earth can he only charge a minuscule £4.75 for Foie Gras??

Also, what's this I read in the review? "Death by carbohydrate". Now where have | heard someone else bleating on about something similar, I wonder ??? :o)

[circeplum]

thanks, bapi. couldn't believe price of foie gras at ma cuisine either! and it was a big old dod, too.

fleur i found a bit uninteresting. can't imagine a reason to ever go back. so it's a result for the wee guy in the suburbs.

m

[Jonathan Day]

A business lunch at Fleur today. The setting hasn't changed that much from when it was Petrus -- and before that, "33". Those dark still llife food paintings are still on the wall. Tables slightly closer together, and brown banquettes replace chairs.

Two course set lunch was £18, but ordering from the carte wasn't crushingly expensive, e.g. scallops + guinea fowl was £23.50, gravlax + duck was £20. Bread rolls were crisp and came with good butter and a small dish of anchovy butter.

I had the set lunch: a velouté of chestnuts, mushrooms and walnuts followed by a sea bream. Both were good, especially the soup which was light, creamy, well balanced flavours with a pleasant crunch of walnuts. Petrus served similar soups, but they were always more complicated (lots of mirepoix and frippery tossed into the bowl) and often oversalted and dosed with truffle oil. The fish was served with a few bits of very tender squid, and the bream itself well prepared: crisp skin, flesh just done. Each of the three mains came with a little pitcher of sauce on the side. The bream was sauced with butter and a hint of anchovy...slightly irritating after having this flavour with the bread. Mediocre coffee with chocolate almonds.

Service was good and less obtrusive than at Petrus.

Not overwhelming, this, but I am prepared to give it another try.

[tony h]

Its more relaxed than Petrus & initialy I thought it pretty good although a week has now passed I am beginning to suspect the Ramsay & co are running thin on ideas.

Chesnut soup was light & clean - the sweetbreads nice and caremalised. I don't recall any truffle - maybe they've rethought the dish Gareth was there - but it was good if a little small.

Venison & white fish (sorry - I don't recall which) were also sort of good & both were propped up by a cabbage. I suspect this is where they're making their saving. I whole heartedly approve of taking humble vegetable/pulse etc. and making it sing (as in the Capital & Michel Sarran) but I partly got the impression that the meat/fish had to be accompanied with something so it may as well be cabbage. The dishes didn't really harmonise. The reduction accompanying the venision was a little too thin & drifted towards the tasteless.

We had the tarte tatin for which whas wonderfully carmalised & came with v good vanilla ice cream and thick cream. This was the only really good dish although I could easily have had one to myself.

The while thing came to less that 100 (wine was 35 - probably a st jospeh).

At the time I enjoyed it but as mentioned I've come to think less or it as the week's gone by. Maybe its because I've just read Ramsay's Chef Secrets - well they'er still fairly secrect as far as I can see. There's very little to inspire in this book - more along the line of the OK Just Desserts than the wonderful Passion for Food. A few chef's tips may have been a more appropriate title.

Fleur - fine but with some reservation. I think its worth a second try but I am worried the Ramsay/Waering pact is wearing a little thin.