Thyme to go to The Hospital

[Matthew Grant]

If anybody sees Ben The Twat as they enter a restaurant, I strongly suggest that they leave before placing their order.

[Winot]

If anybody sees Ben The Twat as they enter a restaurant, I strongly suggest that they leave before placing their order.

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Matthew, thanks for your post. I'm sure you have the sympathy of everyone on eGullet.

I'm so hot under the collar having read this I'm tempted to launch into the debate Andy mentions. Instead, let me summarise my position very simply : as a result of your post, I shall not be visiting Thyme.

[Suzi Edwards]

wow. i'm having a horrible day as it is but am tempted to leave my desk and go and hunt down ben the twat and punch him in the face.

[Andy Lynes]

It did cross my mind that we should round up an eGullet posse and hunt down Mr Green- Trousers-Red-Top and give him a collective piece of our minds, but I really shouldn't be encouraging members to such vigilantism.

[Matthew Grant]

I would not wish anyboy not to visit Thyme, merely for Thyme to re-evaluate how they deal with people such as Ben.

Incidentally, I'm no wine expert but I have drunk plenty of wine with plenty of sediment in it. What should the restaurants position on the sediment be?

[Carlovski]

Surely the role of a sommelier is not only to advise on the wine, but also to ensure that it is served in the best possible condition. That guy was simply not doing his job.

Ben the Twat sounds scarily like some people I knew at University...

[Andy Lynes]

I met Adam Byatt, head chef of Thyme, at last year's Restaurant Show in Islington, a few weeks before the opening of the new version of his restaurant at The Hospital in Covent Garden. He was excited about the prospect of the new venture and obviously keen to get back in to the kitchen after an enforced lay off from service (the original Clapham restaurant had closed a few months before the new place was ready).

Having witnessed all that optimism, hope and bottled energy, it was doubly disappointing to read the critics almost universal condemnation of the place. Although Terry Durack called Byatt "a bloody good cook", the overall tone of his Independent on Sunday review was one of disappointment, saying that he missed "the delicacy and harmony of the old kitchen." Jay Rayner echoed Durack's sentiments: "I do regret the passing of the old Thyme". And nobody, but nobody had a good word to say about the room. Compared in various reviews to a club class lounge, an air raid shelter and a hotel lobby, Jan Moir seemed to sum up the general feeling by signing off her drubbing with "What a horrible room."

The critical savaging caused me to cancel a December reservation and it wasn’t until I found myself near Covent Garden a few weeks ago at lunchtime with nothing to do that I reconsidered the option of a meal at Thyme. Even then, events seemed to conspire to discourage me from the idea.

Firstly, I couldn’t remember the name of the street the Hospital was in, and wandered between Covent Garden and The Strand for 20 minutes knowing that it was close and sure that as soon as I saw the road name I would recognize it. When I finally stumbled across Thyme in Endell Street, the lunch menu was not on display, only the £45.00 a head a la carte. It was a sum I was not prepared to pay for a spur -of-the-moment-can't-really-afford-it treat.

As the dining room is not visible from the outside and I therefore wasn't able to tell in advance if it really was "a horrible room", I nearly kept on walking. The club's ground floor reception had no details about lunch time options and had to phone up to the 1st floor restaurant to confirm my suspicions that a £25.00 set menu was on offer. I then had to go to the restaurant itself to see the actual menu.

It was 12.20pm and the room was empty. The last thing I wanted to do was to be the only person dining and I nearly turned on my heel to search out a Pret a Manger there and then. However the restaurant receptionist assured me that others were booked and that I would not be dining alone. The menu sounded interesting so I finally decided to take a table for one, despite fears that the critics had been right, that I was going to hate it and it was going to be a waste of money.

As it was, I needn't have worried. A "Beer To Die For" (stupid name, lovely brew), fantastic olive oil rolls and butter, a very comfortable chair at a large table in acres of space and I was in instant gastro-heaven. I loved the room, maybe not brimming over with character, but typical of Claire Nelson's cool and understated style. It was, as we interior design experts like to say "dead posh", and I felt a great deal more chic and clever than I actually am simply by sitting in its surroundings.

A sip of the sweet corn veloute with a slick of thyme oil served as an amuse made me understand what the jolly green giant has got to be so happy about, while the presentation of the salad of home cured duck, truffle potato salad, crisp carrot, soft organic egg was quite breathtaking. Yes, there were dot and slashes and ingredients strewn around the plate in that oh-so familiar modern style, but the dish was composed with such skill and control that it was raised far beyond the merely fashionable and into the realms of, well, bloody good cooking.

Crab ravioli, a gift from the kitchen, was made with the finest imaginable pasta (rolled by Byatt himself) and served with a shellfish sauce and orange foam. It was an improvement on the Phil Howard dish of Cappuccino of Langoustine that appeared to have inspired it (Byatt is ex-The Square) and even more impressive for having been dreamed up that very morning.

A main course of Anis Braised Beef Short Ribs, Pot Roast Organic Carrots, Creamed Potato was delicious in a gutsy and comforting sort of way and demanded a slurp of something really good and red to go with it. The £12.00 glass of Aussie Shiraz suggested by the sommelier was certainly up to the job, but at that price did require the boat to be pushed out a little further than I would have liked for a Tuesday lunch (I didn't find out the price until the bill arrived).

I was offered the choice from the a la carte dessert menu and went for an assiette of organic lemon that included the best meringue tart on the planet, along with some sorbet and limoncello jelly that were a little on the redundant side. The plate of caramel desserts on the pre-fixe sounded just as tempting.

With a herbal tea, beer, two glasses of white wine and that monster red, the bill came to £60.00 including service. A little more than I'd planned on, but not excessive considering the level of cooking and service.

A tour round the extensive kitchens after lunch with Byatt gave some credence to his claim, as reported by Durack in his review, that it would "take time to grow into his new surroundings". They are enormous and probably big enough to contain the whole of the original Thyme, dining room and all. I have never seen the like outside of a major hotel and while it’s a blessing for a chef to have so much space and equipment (including a screen on which monitor each of the tables in the dining room), the temptation to mess around with and over complicate the food must have been huge. My meal seemed to indicate that some settling down has occurred and that Byatt is now playing to his true strengths as a cook, however I would reserve judgement on that until I have had the opportunity to eat a dinner there.

Lunch at Thyme reminded me of the sort of haute bargains I used to snap up in the mid- nineties at places like the original La Tante Claire or MPW's The Restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel. It was a thrilling meal and an experience I can't recommend highly enough.

[Andy Lynes]

Six courses and a glass of champagne for £45.00? Bargain ahoy!

[Conor]

I've just heard that Thyme was closing officially for "refurbishment" as of last week for a few months. Although i believe it might be a fair deal longer than that.

It is a shame because some of the food was very good, and the wine list excellent, but i think changing their concept which had been so successful in Clapham was a mistake. They moved to a market where there are two many good, yet non-descript, high end restaurants but only a few great ones.

Its always sad to see a restaurant close so soon after opening, especially for all the staff who put in the effort to open in the first place. But it does show how difficult the London restaurant scene is.

[Andy Lynes]

Bloody hell! I can't leave the country for 5 minutes and they go and close one of my favourite restaurants. Its not all bad news however according to Caterer. Best of luck to the two Adams and I hope Thyme is back up and running in some form as soon as possible.