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The Capital


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Anniversary dinner at The Capital…

Drinks beforehand: A Gin Sour and a Whiskey Sour. Perfectly good, but I wouldn’t be listing the bar as a cocktail destination – either for décor or delivery.

Pre-amuse: Duck spring roll with duck consumme. Again perfectly good, sweet and spicy but there’s only so far you can go with either…

Starters:

Calves foot and sweetbreads with cep reduction. This was a really nice dish, especially the sweetbreads but it was made as much through the combination as the execution. If I were being picky (and, hell, since I’m paying over £250 for dinner, why shouldn’t I be ?), then individually the calves foot didn’t measure up to the dish at Locatelli, and the sweetbread fell short of GR@RHR.

Crab lasagne in langoustine broth: Exceptional. Wafer thin pasta of great texture and accomplishment, superb and meaty crab in a quite ethereal langoustine veloute. Jessica could have just eaten this all night !

Mains:

Venison and venison Osso Bucco. Very good. Especially the venison fillet which was rich and peppery. For me the Osso bucco was not quite as melting as I would have hoped and – being done with venision – you didn’t get the same dollop of marrowbone that I love to spoon out of the veal original. Nevertheless an unlooked-for highpoint was a little potato and bacon…timbale…mound…lump…whatever…it was a few spoons of absolute gorgeousness. And if you combined it with the intense cabbage puree – voila: thinking man’s bubble and squeak. Knockout.

Assiette of Lamb. Hit and miss. The hits were the lamb farci in the pastry underneath, the sweetbread (as per the starter…) and the kidney. The miss was the lamb itself. Too fatty a cut by far and on the very purple side of the requested pink (the table next to us got the same treatment, despite requesting “medium”). At this money I’d expect a far better quality and much more precision in the cooking. Another puree – pea and mint; another “cappucino”: the veloute the vegetables were served in. “Oooh..fizzy vegetables !”

Dessert.

Iced coffee parfait with chocolate fondant. Not going to set the world alight with its originality but, that said, an excellent example of the genre ! Especially the fondant which delivered the sought for combination of intense sauce in a friable, bitter sponge.

Rubarb with Ginger Ice Cream: Fantastic: quite the most frivolous dessert I’ve seen in ages. Essentially a martini glass filled with stewed rhubarb, ginger ice cream, rhubarb jelly chunks, and popcorn ! A side order of two fabulous waffles. After thinking man’s bubble and squeak we get grown-ups jelly and ice cream. Oh to be chez Chavot for the kids’ birthday parties…!

So, overall impressions: a very good meal but by not a great one. Moments of brilliance flashed through but it was somehow just a bit faded: the décor didn’t work for me (could be any 3 or 4 star hotel dining room in England); the service was a bit to stretched which rendered it competent, rather than choreographic; Purees, cappucinos…George Michael topping the charts…And the dining room almost exclusively American vistors of my parents age. Not that I have anything against either my parents or Americans (I’m very fond of both) but a bit more diversity would have lifted the place. When I booked at the start of the week they said they could only do the table from 19:00 to 21:15. When we left at 21:40 it was still one-third empty. What is going on here:Cancellations ? Wishful thinking ? Trying to generate an atmosphere of packed-out popularity ? Or just poor attitude to punters ?

It was rich and comfortable cooking. But the price was the same as our meal at GR@RHR and since it didn’t offer anything particularly distinctive in cooking or style, why would I come here instead ? In fact, I don’t think it hit the mark as well as Gidleigh Park (which Michelin also rates two stars…). IMHO I think Chavot needs to give himself some space to breathe again…

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Gareth,

Thank you for that report. Although I enjoyed a meal last year at the Capital, it doesn't really rank up there with Pied a Terre (rumours of it going down too) or Sketch. I have made my (negative) feelings about GR@RHR clear elsewhere. Then again I don't particularly rate The Square or Le Gavroche...where are our top level restaurants going??

Gav

"A man tired of London..should move to Essex!"

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When I booked at the start of the week they said they could only do the table from 19:00 to 21:15.

I would not have gone on that basis. I see no way that you can have an enjoyable gastronomic meal without hurrying in that kind of time. You are continually thinking of how much time you have left rather than relaxing having your meal. To add insult to injury is the amount you're paying for the privilege.

I wonder if they were holding tables back for late booking hotel guests, and that was why it was 1/3 empty? I would say 80% of the time I book up on the day.

I still find the Capital one of my favourites, although as one of my regular dining companions disagrees with me I can see it's an opinion thing to a large extent.

Cheers, Howard

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Although I enjoyed a meal last year at the Capital, it doesn't really rank up there with Pied a Terre (rumours of it going down too) or Sketch. I have made my (negative) feelings about GR@RHR clear elsewhere. Then again I don't particularly rate The Square or Le Gavroche...where are our top level restaurants going??

Hi Gavin

Interesting comparisons, although I think that some of this might be like comparing apples and oranges.

I particularly like Gavroche because of its consistency, especially when it comes to service. True, the food may be considered by some to be rather 'boring' if you're more atuned to the multi-faceted dishes served up at places like Sketch and to some degree Pied a Terre and the Capital.

However IMHO the most enjoyable thing to do at Gavroche has always been to do the Menu Excpetionnel. On the few occasions I've veered off this path it's never seemed quite as good, even when choosing the day's Chefs' specials. True, it can seem rather formal in there, but the consistency means that at least I always know what I'm getting.

If anything I would say that Gavroche has improved over the past couple of years.

I have to agree with you about the Square, but my feelings on this establishment have been documented before.

Different strokes I guess...!

Cheers, Howard

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I share some of Gavin's thoughts about whether top restaurants are always all they are cracked up to be.

My bank manager does not permit me a statistically significant number of visits to anything more expensive than my local take away. So my opinions (apart from GR@RHR where I have eaten maybe 6 times over 4 years) are based solely on one or two meals.

I found Capitol and Claridges a bit of a non-event.

The service was so bad at the The Square that I couldn't tell you whether the food was good or not - poor treatment had curdled my opinion long before (and I do mean LONG...) we were served.

I still find GR@RHR a real treat every time but I think that over the past few years the style has definately evolved into the comfort of consistency rather than the risk-taking fireworks of trying to get a third star. (Not unexpected - and saw this with Guy Savoy in Paris too)

Gidleigh Park was elegant and beautiful with cooking that lived up to - but didn't exceed - its surroundings. The Manoir QS did, however - this was absolutely knockout. And gave Jessica an 'oooh-Raymond-dreamboat...' thing that didn't disappear until Johnny Depp came along in Pirates of the Carribean.

My meal at Petrus in its new guise was very good and I would definitely revisit. Probably with fewer Martinis inside me before I sat down (curse it for being so close to the Lanesborough...). Nobu, incidently, was far better than I expected given the off-putting celebrity cachet and the sheer bloody noise in the dining room.

Of ones tried previously but now defunct (or reincarnated in an entirely different form). Chez Nico was splendid (kind of what I hoped the Capitol had become...given just how bloody good Interlude was when it kicked off) Pied a Terre was good and Tante Clair very disappointing (caught it on the way out).

I don't think this is just a British phenomina - I've been in some postively rank Michelin starred places in France, whilst in Spain Akelare in San Sebastian boxed aboved its weight at 2* (truely great meal) but El Raco de Can Fabes (3*) was very pedestrian (great breakfast though...). Overall however, I have found nothing in England that touches Ambroisie or Pierre Gagnaire (in Paris) or Auberge de L'ill (in Alsace). Mark you nothing in England matches the precipitous prices of Paris either. Let's remember Ramsay's A la Carte menu (three courses) is the same price as some of the starter at Ambroisie !

But most of the enjoyment for me falls outside the Michelin-elite anyway. Trips to GR@RHR may be the highlight of the year but in between what I enjoy most is the good in its class (Hamburger Union; Dim Sum at Hakkasan) or something that brings a freshness to the genre in London (Kikuchi; Locatelli; Fino; St John; Meela) or something that offers comfort and certainty (Passione; Fung Shing; Jenny Lo's Tea House; Laicram - my local Thai).

Pip pip

Gareth

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Howard,

I take your point about apples and oranges but clearly the michelin inspectors have to squeeze such disparate fruit into their star system regardless of style.

My subjective rating mechanism is purely based on the extent to which I enjoyed particular dishes and I tend to prefer those dishes which excite me in some way - hence my love of Sketch and my lack of love for GR@RHR (which I would describe as comfort food for plutocrats) and strangely my ambivalence towards the Fat Duck which I didn't find as nearly as exciting as I hoped it would be. On the other hand I love St John B+W because it excites me by the quality of its ingredients handled sympathetically.

Gareth,

Funny that, I found El Raco de Can Fabes the same as you - very bland food although it looked lovely and the staff were charming...and yes Tante Claire was disappointing at the end...looks like we have the same experiences if not the same bank manager... :biggrin:

Edited by Gavin Convery (log)

Gav

"A man tired of London..should move to Essex!"

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Here's my £0.02 (which is all I can afford these days)

The Capital is simply wonderful for lunch - but loses its appeal in the evening. I put this mainly down to Chavot being restricted to cheaper ingredients at lunch & god does he make them sing. In the evening I think he relies (in part) on the expensiveness of what he's putting on the plate to impress - and this doesn't always work. Also - that room just doesn't cut in in the evening - not comfortable or cosy enough.

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  • 3 months later...

The Capital has re-opened after the refurbishment. It's very, very disappointing.

I'd always thought the place was charming in a faded sort of way, but they've gone completely in the other direction and ended up with something utterly charmless. The light wood veneer walls and green/purple curtains look like someone's borrowed them from the local Holiday Inn..

I can't imagine who thought this was a good idea. It's so bad, in fact, that it would put me off going again. Pity, when the food's as good as ever.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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