The first section of the dining room at Cornus
So what do we need to know about Cornus?
This the first new restaurant opening in 13 years from the team behind the much-loved Chelsea restaurant Medlar. The pair in question are David O’Connor and Joe Mercer Nairne who for this new opening have brought in chef Gary Foulkes, who you may remember headed up the Michelin-starred Angler in Moorgate for many years.
In their words, this is a 'rooftop fine dining restaurant'. Most of the team here have previously worked for Michelin-starred restaurants
Where is it?
It's not the easiest of places to find, tucked away in the Eccleston Yards development in Belgravia, just across the road from Victoria station which, incidentally, is the closest tube station. If you go in through the first entrance from Eccleston Place, closest to Eccleston Street then you'll find the entrance to Cornus off to the right. Take the lift and it's on the top floor.
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Where's a good place to meet for a drink first?
If a cold glass of Provencal rosé is your thing then you should try the nearby wine bar, Amie Wine Studio which is owned by a vineyard. Otherwise, local bar Ganymede does a nice line in cocktails. There's also a proper bar space here at Cornus with a range of cocktails from classic to signature ranging in price from £15-£16.
Where should we sit?
The L-shaped room makes for an interesting dynamic - our preference were the tables in the first section of the dining room, next to the window and looking across to the bar. But there are also tables out on the (covered) terrace which will be prefect for sunny days and a very nice looking private dining room too.
The bar at Cornus
What's on the menu?
If you're sick of small plates, then the reassuringly classic menu structure here will be sure to please. It's split into starters, mains and desserts, with one sharing dish - a Belted Galloway cote de boeuf for two. The prices, as you'll see below, are pretty punchy. More of that later.
Here's what had.
Canapes left to right: Cheese gougere and Tartlet with 96 month aged Parmesan, preserved wild garlic and cauliflower mushroom
Handpicked Devon crab, Hass avocado, wasabi and finger lime (£30) - both beautiful to look at and good to eat, this was a perfectly executed fine dining starter.
Hand-rolled spaghetti, Cornish Lobster with N25 Oscietra caviar and Amalfi lemon (£38) - the second priciest starter on the menu (there's also one at £42) this is also the most photographed dish so far.
Roast Newlyn Cod, persillade of Scottish girolles, line caught squid and Alsace bacon £44 - a perfectly cooked piece of fabulous Cornish fish. But we would have liked something a little more in the way of sides with this.
Roast Landes Chicken (Arnaud Tauzin), Scottish langoustines, truffle sweetcorn, roast chicken sauce (£50) - a really intricate, if rather punchy, chicken dish.
Room for dessert?
It would take a much stronger person than us to take a look at the desserts on offer here and skip them. Pretty much everything sounded good.
Brown sugar custard tart with blackberries and fig leaf £17 - it looks like there's going to be a regular variation on the custard tart on the menu here and we we goggling at just how perfectly sliced this was.
Creamed rice pudding (£16.50) topped with caramelised oat milk, cherries and served with amarena cherry ripple ice cream
What about the wine list?
Cornus is serious about its wine. The wine director here, Melania Battiston, used to be head sommelier at Medlar and she's joined by Lukasz Gorski, currently the World Young Sommelier of the Year. There's an extensive cellar here and plenty available by the glass too (16 white wines on the list when we saw it), along with a welcoming corkage policy. We were surprised, given the food prices, to find plenty of affordable wines on the list with bottles starting at £38. But if your budget allows you're definitely going to want to wander deeper into this list.
Anything else we should know?
In addition to the terrace adjoining the main dining room there are going to be two more terraces out on the roof that you can expect to see set up later in the year.
Overall thoughts:
We can't ignore the elephant in the room here: the prices. Starters and mains here are among the more expensive we've encountered in London for a while which will make Cornus, to start with, the preserve of London's wealthier diners. But we do understand that there's a set menu on the way this autumn once the restaurant beds in.
With that out of the way, we thought this was a lovely new addition to the London restaurant scene. A very experienced team here mean that this is going to be a place diners will be very well looked after.
More about Cornus
Where is it? 27 Eccleston Pl, London SW1W 9NF
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @cornusrestaurant
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Cornus. Prices correct at the time of publication.
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