Dinner at Petrus

[Matthew Grant]

I had dinner at Petrus on Saturday evening.  Shock horror, we started with a drink at Quaglinos (for research purposes only) as I didn’t get the recommendations in time!

Quaglinos is looking a little tired around the edges now, I remember it when it first opened (I was very young at the time) as a grand dining room, extremely cool and with reasonable fod, subsequent visits over the years were disappointing although it always seemed to impress non-foodies if we were taking them out. Cocktails were poor, mixed away from the customer and not strong enough. Surprisingly the bar was standing room only and the restaurant appeared to be full at 19:45.

Onto Petrus, I am not sure about the dining room, it’s a little too dark for my liking and the tall ceilings don’t add much of an intimate feel (unlike the Oak Room who’s large size is remarkably intimate).

Once seated at our table (in the middle on the back wall), service seemed a little ragged, we were offered water but we had to wait 20 minutes for the menus and I was about to complain when they finally arrived. A lot of attention was being paid to a couple of large tables and it appeared that too many people had arrived at the same time for the restaurant to be able to cope comfortably. From sitting down to receiving our starters took 70 minutes, we weren't too bothered though, I enjoyed watching the show as it went on around us. The large table next to us managed to get through starters and main courses before our starter arrived and it was fun to watch the American gentleman on the table next to us struggle with the concept of holding the knife and the fork at the same time as eating, still he seemed to enjoy the food once he had chopped it up and scooped it into his mouth one handed.

I ordered Scallops with poached Oyster, truffle gnocchi, truffle and lobster bisque, Rachel had the crab ravioli with ginger cream and a fennel and cucumber salsa. The scallops were cooked to perfection (not too difficult a task) and the lobster bisque was a powerful reduction that was a good contrast to the sweetness of the scallops. The  poached oyster seemed an unnecessary addition to the dish although the slice of truffle could never be out of place, the scallops were layered on top of (no prizes for guessing)a small round of spinach. The gnocchi were well flavoured with truffle although maybe a fraction heavy (I often find gnocchi heavy)

The crab ravioli was well executed and the hint of ginger in the cream was perfectly subtle. The cucumber and fennel salsa was refreshing but not to Rachels taste and I would question whether it was necessary to the dish? Rachel complained about the use of yet another 'cappuccino' sauce. Is this becoming the new spinach/coriander/sun-dried tomato?

For mains Rachel chose Canon of lamb served with potato fondant, braised onions, shallot purée, tarragon jus and I had Anjou pigeon breast with a truffle jus, braised onions, spinach (I think) and a small game tart.

The lamb was a touch overcooked at the ends but had good flavour and was very tender. The potato was fine and appeared to have been cooked in a stock instead of the usual butter and water. Braised onions and shallot puree? There is a whole lot of onion going on there.  The tarragon jus was fine but to my taste not enough tarragon (incidentally I used tarragon over the weekend and found it to have a very weak flavour, is there a season for it?). This is a nice dish but not spectacular which made Rachel wish she had ordered something else, unfortunately she is a sucker for lamb. This dish, or variations thereof, seems to always to be on the menu at GR related restaurants, she has promised not to order it again in the near future (she currently has self imposed ban on lobster and chocolate dishes and I recently lifted my self imposed ban on scallops and have had to hold back on the Fois Gras).

The pigeon was, in my mind anyway, the star dish of the night. Beautiful flavour, texture and colour in the Pigeon combined wonderfully with the heavily truffle scented sauce. The tart was wonderfully small and flavour packed, it was apparently goose, although it had a stronger flavour than I would expect from goose and I found it very pleasing.

To accompany we had a 1998 Cornas “Domaine De Rochepertuis” by Jean Lionnet at £49. A well chosen wine by the sommelier, still a little young but suitable for both dishes

For Dessert Rachel ate vanilla crème brulée with almond sable on roasted rhubarb and blackberries, strawberry and sorbet whilst I chose Earl Grey tea cream with granité, macerated golden raisins and currents in a warm brioche, served with Baileys ice cream.

The crème brulée was predictably perfect and all the flavours combined beautifully, the blackberry and strawberry sauce being particularly good. The Earl Grey tea cream was unusual on its own, the strong flavour of the Earl Grey coming through well but not ideal on its own, the cream itself was perhaps a little heavy. However, when combined with the Baileys ice cream it came together wonderfully. The macerated raisins and currants were fantastic and something that I will now have to try at home. The accompanying Baileys sauce was suitably alcoholic and could have been just warmed through Baileys. The tiny brioche tasted a little dry, perhaps as a consequence of its size.

Overall a good meal, in my opinion deserving of more than its one star, but not reaching the heights required for three. Although Marcus Wareing is the chef I think he needs to make more of his own mark on the menu, it reeks of Gordon Ramsay (not always a bad thing, you may have noticed I'm not a GR knocker) and it might help him if he tried moving away from the old formula.

[Tonyfinch]

I don't detect too much of a WOW factor in your account.You call it a "good " meal,but at the prices charged (you don't say what the food cost but I'm sure it was expensive) aren't we looking for more than "good"?

Also,a 70 minute wait to receive your starter is totally unacceptable in my opinion.The fact that you didn't happen to mind is not really the point,unless you've agreed that such a wait is acceptable.The food,as you,ve described it,sounds lovely but its the totality of the experience that makes a meal out in a restaurant so special and the tone of your report indicates that you were a little disappointed-unless I'm reading it wrong.

[Matthew Grant]

Tony,

I would say that my choice of dishes possibly highlighted the skill of the kitchen a little more than the lamb and the Crab Ravioli, I think that is where the lack of the 'WOW' factor comes from, the pigeon was an especially good dish.

The meal came to £178 including wine and coffee (we also had a couple of glasses while we waited).  The A La Carte is £50 a head with a couple of supplements (fois gras and caviar).

I wouldn't say I was disappointed but I think that Rachel might agree that the meal wasn't as spectacular as she had perhaps hoped. As for the wait for starters, as you say it would normally have been unacceptable, fortunately, the service during the rest of the meal was exemplary.

[Jinmyo]

Matthew Grant, a very nice post.

But 70 minutes? Egad.

[Andy Lynes]

My last dinner at Petrus was on a Saturday night and service suffered a little as a consequence, but not to the extent you experienced. I really try and avoid going out at the weekend at all but especially in London. The only disappointing dish I have ever had was the lamb, again on my last dinner there.

[Scottf]

Just to add that it's on teletext that the 5 city traders that ran up the £44k bill have all been sacked for putting the meal through on expenses!

[Tonyfinch]

Well that's my dose of schaudenfreude(sp?) for the day then.

[stellabella]

i just heard something on the news yesterday [here in the States] about a petrus scandal--some businessmen charged tens of thousand of dollars of wine to their expense acount and got fired.  is that so?  what's up with that?  is it a big scandal in london right now?