G Ramsay Connaught to Open Oct 1

[cabrales]

I called Gordon Ramsay's restaurant, "Menu", at The Connaught and was informed that the restaurant opens October 1. The first day for which the dining populus can make reservations is October 2. The restaurant could well be considering taking reservations now.

The September 2002 edition of Conde Nast Traveler has an article on Ramsay. An excerpt follows: "Now the dining room is being redone by Nina Campbell ('deep burgundies and olives in shot silk, an opulent look', but the oak paneling stays), and the kitchen will have an all-female management. The head chef is a woman, Angela Hartnett, a Ramsay protegee from Aubergine and Petrus [among other Ramsay facilities she has worked for]. Customers will be reserved what Ramsay calls 'modern European cooking,' with influences from Italy, the Mediterranean, the Pays Basque, and Spain. . . . Ramsay is unphased by the misgivings of [actor Stephen] Fry and [chef-author Simon] Hopkinson. 'They're from the old farts club, aren't they?' he asked. 'I associate them with the pee and dribble brigade. They just want to go out on Friday night till two in the morning, get pissed as newts, and talk about their strict upbrginging and how they were tortured by their fathers at an early age. That's all gone now -- finished . . . .'" Ramsay's media interaction approach remains consistent.

Conde Nast also reported that Ramsay is contemplating a restaurant in NY. See the NY forum.

[Gavin Convery]

Cabrales, Is there a special number for the restaurant or is it just the usual Connaught number??

[tony h]

They are taking bookings - phone 020 7499 7070

I'm going on the 4th (I wan't to eat there first before some tells me its shite )

[Andy Lynes]

So you can be the one to break the bad news....

Given Angela Hartnet's reputation and experience as GR's opening batswoman and troubleshooter, it could just be that "Menu" will turn out to be the Italian equivilent of Petrus. I look forward to your report BLH.

[tony h]

the Italian equivilent of Petrus.

Italian! But I hate italian

shit and double shit

[Andy Lynes]

I'm afraid so, here's the full awful truth http://www.caterer.com/archive/articledeta...articleID=43617 .

[cabrales]

I'd appreciate hearing if any members have made reservations for the new GR restaurant.

[Andy Lynes]

Well, I have, but I don't know whether I want to go or not yet. I can't decide as it's in the Grill room and I've no idea if the menu is going to be different from that of the main room. They said not when I booked, but frankly they sounded like they were making it up as they went along. i was sort of hoping that someone would get there before me and tell me all about it so i could make up my mind. It's in their second week, anyone going the 1st week?

[Scottf]

I think we'll all leave it until after your feedback Andy

Did they indicate a pricing structure?

[macrosan]

I think we'll all leave it until after your feedback Andy

Are you suggesting that Andy is likely to throw up after eating there ?

[Andy Lynes]

No - no pricing structure, no nothing. I was put off by the bloke at the end of the phone saying that the Grill room was for larger groups, and when I pointed out that my reservation was for a table of 2, he changed his mind and said the main restaurant was for larger groups, which is why I thought they were busking it. I suppose I will get the lower prices if I get in there early though, so I may give it a go.

[Andy Lynes]

I think we'll all leave it until after your feedback Andy

Are you suggesting that Andy is likely to throw up after eating there ?

I recently puked my guts up after eating in a Japanese restaurant in Dublin, and was ill for about a week after with a bad case of the runs. It was later established to be a virus and not food poisoning after my wife went down with the same thing a few days after I got back. I cannot countenance the idea of raw fish or chilli beef noodle at the moment though.

[macrosan]

I cannot countenance the idea of raw fish or chilli beef noodle at the moment though.

So the Raw Fish and Chilli Beef Tasting Menu is off at Bruce's, then. I don't know what he'll do now....

[Andy Lynes]

Yes, we're limiting his options by the day aren't we? He did mention something about coley being cheap that time of year....

[cabrales]

In an e-mail newsletter, Restaurant Magazine reports the following:

"Angela Hartnett provides the Daily Telegraph with a preview of her new menu for The Connaught in London, which opens on 2 October. The Mediterranean-inspired cuisine will be lighter and brighter than the previous Escoffier-style cooking of Michel Bourdin and, according to the Daily Telegraph, she is not going to be 'another one of those fancy pants, showy chefs of which there are already too many in London'. She says: 'I don't want food that is intimidating. I want it to be basic but good.' Dishes that are set to appear sooner or later on the menu include salt cod fritters, squid risotto on pizza dough, tomatoes and tuna on toast, grilled asparagus rolled in almonds, macaron aux cerises served with glace pistache and lots of American-style salads, such as shrimp and Caesar."

American-style salads? Basic, but good?

Below is an excerpt from the described article (September 8, 2002, "An appetite with an edge. Angela Hartnett, controversial new chef at the Connaught, has been scouring the world for fresh ideas and ingredients. Belinda Richardson tracked her down in Bologna for a lesson in real Italian food"): "It was Ramsay's idea to send Angela off on tour . . . Angela would pick up a few guidebooks, pack her bags and head off to where she could taste the sort of food she wanted to cook first-hand. The brief was simply to see what she could find by trying out all sorts of different

food (from Michelin-starred to roadside caff), by meeting chefs and exchanging recipes, and by visiting local markets and shops, truffling out unusual new

ingredients, odd bits of china and up-to-the-minute gadgets. Visiting the markets - especially in Valencia - was probably the highlight of Angela's trip. . . . 'The

trouble with Italian food once it gets taken out of a trattoria,' she says, 'is that it gets more complicated. Fair enough, it's bound to - but that's not what I was brought up on. I don't want food that is intimidating. I want it to be basic but good.' . . . . Alain Ducasse's macaron aux cerises served with glace pistache that she ate at Le Bastide de Moustiers in the south of France will be on her dessert menu, but toned down a bit and with a twist of her own, so nobody can accuse her of stealing it from the maestro. 'The only straight copies - and I'm not ashamed to admit this - will be of

the salads I ate in California,' says Angela. 'If I could recreate something

like that in our Terrace restaurant when it opens next March, I'd be very happy.

Shrimp salad, chef's salad, Caesar salad - whatever anybody says, the Americans

definitely make the best salads in the world.'"

[Scottf]

Well that's put me right off, bloody salad I'm definitely waiting for a 2nd opinion.

[circeplum]

... and risotto on pizza dough?

[Gavin Jones]

... and risotto on pizza dough?

Almost certainly part of GR's masterplan to kill Simon with CARBS = DEATH.

[Kikujiro]

That article or a similar once said she was sourcing ingredients from Stefano Cavallini, so the news isn't all bad ...

On which subject, those of you feeling flush and who aren't stuck walking down abandoned tube lines might want to know that SC is doing a dinner this evening together with the Isola chef at Isola. £55 per head for a set menu, not including wine, places still available. Phone 'em for more info.

[cabrales]

Below is the bulk of The Evening Standard's report from yesterday on the opening of Menu. Note the references to a recent act of vandalism.

"400 of Gordon Ramsay's closest friends turned up last night for the launch of his two new restaurants, Menu and The Grill Room. The celebrity chef was unshaken by the recent attack on the restaurants by vandals, causing thousands of pounds in damage - which I first revealed last week. Ramsay said he thought he knew who had carried out the attack. 'Good luck, darling,' said Michael Winner loudly, giving Ramsay a big hug. Jockey Richard Johnson was more restrained in his greeting with former

girlfriend Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, but they got along well

enough. As it was also the preview party for the Thomas Pink Gold Cup at Cheltenham there were racing celebrities like tipster John McCririck."

On September 25, 2002, the same newspaper had reported the vandalism:

"Just one week before the opening ... vandals have done thousands of pounds' worth of damage. 'Cigarette burns were found in each of the blinds in Menu, the main dining room at the Connaught,' says a Gordon Ramsay spokesman. 'It smacks of sabotage. As the blinds are designed by Nina Campbell, and there is one in every window, they are very expensive to replace.' . . . . Damage was also done to the carpets of the 70-seat restaurant . . . ."

[circeplum]

going tonight. tra la la. so beat you blh (that's if you're still going ...).

(how childish i've become)

only table available, 9.45 pm. by which point i'll probably be so pissed/ravenous that my critical capacities will be completely bludgeoned.

is this a complete waste, i wonder?

[Simon Majumdar]

Below is the bulk of The Evening Standard's report from yesterday on the opening of Menu. Note the references to a recent act of vandalism.

"400 of  Gordon Ramsay's  closest friends turned up last night for the launch of his two new restaurants,  Menu  and The Grill Room. The celebrity chef was unshaken by the recent attack on the restaurants by vandals, causing thousands of pounds in damage - which I first revealed last week. Ramsay said he thought he knew who had carried out the attack. 'Good luck, darling,' said Michael Winner loudly, giving Ramsay a big hug. Jockey Richard Johnson was more restrained in his greeting with former

girlfriend Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, but they got along well

enough. As it was also the preview party for the Thomas Pink Gold Cup at Cheltenham there were racing celebrities like tipster John McCririck."

On September 25, 2002, the same newspaper had reported the vandalism:

"Just one week before the opening ... vandals have done thousands of pounds' worth of damage. 'Cigarette burns were found in each of the blinds in  Menu,  the main dining room at the  Connaught,' says a  Gordon Ramsay  spokesman. 'It smacks of sabotage. As the blinds are designed by Nina Campbell, and there is one in every window, they are very expensive to replace.' . . . . Damage was also done to the carpets of the 70-seat restaurant . . . ."

I can't condone vandalism in any form

So just as I abhor what some mindless thugs did to The Connaught, I also abhor what GR and his minions did to Claridges

One man's vandalism is another man's refurbishment

S

[SamanthaF]

going tonight.  tra la la.  so beat you blh (that's if you're still going ...). 

(how childish i've become)

only table available, 9.45 pm. by which point i'll probably be so pissed/ravenous that my critical capacities will be completely bludgeoned.

is this a complete waste, i wonder? 

So come on Circe, put us out of (or into) our misery

[circeplum]

the connaught - which i'd never been to before - was divine. i wanted to move into the bar where the staff cossetted us like old friends. when we went through to our table, though, the atmosphere changed from one of relaxed luxury to a heavy fug of tense stuffiness.

too many staff, all employing varying degrees of archness - more wine, laydeez? how is it so far, laydeez? - got in our way at every available opportunity.

food was far simpler than the other gordon ramsay outposts (and not desperately italian, more kind of modern european). neither was it particularly brilliant.

a creamy and musky risotto with white truffle (well, we had to ...) was the best dish, we had to wait an authentic nearly half hour for its preparation. unbritishly, we made a point of asking its cost (less than locatelli)

squid ink pasta with cromer crab was mouth-puckeringly oversalted. truly verging on the inedible.

thick collops of veal came with a basic assembly of spring veg and an awesomely addictive truffled pomme puree. excellent venison was served on a bed of etiolated sauerkraut with a couple of teeny trompettes de mort. bizarrely, the same jug of over-reduced, again too salty, red wine jus was poured over both. both these dishes were ok, but kind of dinner party stuff.

puds were elaborate, too pissed by this juncture (about midnight) to remember much about them. then came a tedious array of minuscule other puddings - a doll's tea cup of tiramisu, tuilles of various flavours. enough already! i found this element truly over-the-top at claridges, too - if i want a million sweet things, i'll order them.

with a couple of stunning cocktails from the infinitely preferable bar and a bottle of wine from the entry level of the wine list, £160 for two, i thank yew.

i'm all for luxury, but i found the atmos here (and at claridges) an impediment to fun. in fact, there was hardly a laugh to be heard throughout the room. fay maschler was sitting opposite us looking miserable, as were numerous elderly types with their young nieces.

surely upscale eating shouldn't have to preclude a good time? (and, no: i don't mean bun-throwing ...)

gosh, my longest ever post.

i didn't like it ... i should have known after claridges but i am an incurable restaurant junkie.

[Gavin Jones]

as were numerous elderly types with their young nieces. 

Was Simon amongst them?

So basically go for the drinks. Very handy to know.