Looking into The Grill - note that you can move to the dessert bar at the back for your final course (which is recommended).
What is The Grill by Tom Booton?
Somewhat self-explanatory, this is the former Grill at the Dorchester, given a light rebrand to focus on their star chef, Tom Booton. Since being in charge of The Grill, he's managed to turn it into a destination restaurant that's moved quite far from its former grill/steakhouse days, so the name change is designed to highlight that. Frankly, the "grill" aspect of the name isn't really in keeping with its current guise, but we guess that's the hotel's decision to retain a familiar element in the name.
Before we go any further, we need to disclose that this writer's niece (and daughter of the other co-founder of Hot Dinners) currently works in The Grill waiting tables. So we're not going to mention too much about the service (other than to say that it was obviously great!).
Who exactly is Tom Booton?
Previously best known for helping Alyn Williams get a Michelin star at The Westbury, the chef took over the grill restaurant in 2019, becoming the hotel's youngest-ever head chef (he was 26 when he took charge). Since then, he's had such an impact on the menu that he's getting his name above the door.
Where is it?
If you've somehow never come across The Dorchester, you'll find the hotel right beside Hyde Park directly on Park Lane. If you come in the main entrance, you'll find the Grill as the first restaurant on your right. It's one of three restaurants in the hotel, the others being China Tang and the three-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse.
Looking down into The Vesper Bar
Where should we meet for a drink first?
The most obvious place - and it's where we started - is in the hotel's main bar - The Vesper Bar. The bar, which takes its name from James Bond's martini, has recently gone through a huge revamp by top restaurant designer Martin Brudnizki, making it easily one of the most glamorous spots in the area - there's a lot of brass and gold tints here, not to mention the silvery palladium that the ceiling has been covered in. The Grill does have its own bar counter (and serves a great Sidecar), but we still think a quick trip to the Vesper bar is a good way to start a trip here.
The newer cocktails are all inspired by the hotel and its surroundings and we would recommend The Gilded Three (roasted pineapple Flor de Cana 12, Siete Misterios Doba-Yej mezcal, Noe Pedro Ximénez sherry, carob honey, pepita horchata - £22) which comes with a honeycomb on top, but really you're going to need to go for the star of the show:
The signature drink, The Vesper Martini (originally created in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale). Here, it's Stolichnaya Elit, The Dorchester Old Tom gin, re-distilled Forbidden Fruit liqueur, Del Duque 30 yrs. The glass is then sprayed with Vesper scent (£25)
Onto The Grill itself - what's the look there?
Although the menu could be described as fine dining, there's a more relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant than in many of London's high-end hotel restaurants - something that may well come from the relatively young team in charge. The room is surrounded by a bronzed, mirrored wall - which rotates to something a little more restrained during the day.
And what about the food?
Although called a grill restaurant, it seems much more than that having really outgrown that term. Instead, it's being touted as a modern British restaurant, so you'll see many innovative touches on many of the dishes that call back to British classics. From what we had, we'd say it's a combination of a fine-dining British restaurant with the odd nod towards comfort food (looking at the cheesy mash in particular).
There is a standard small plates/large plates/dessert layout for the main lunch and dinner menu - but there's also an extensive snacks and specials menu that is where you should really start. We'd say go for at least two snacks before heading to the main menu. Those snacks include:
Fried semolina, gouda cheese, salami (£7) - an explosion of Gouda inside these make for a phenomenal snack.
BBQ potato bread, onion, waterloo cheese (£12) - hard not to like warm slices of cheesy potato bread.
Killough Bay oysters with shellfish xo, lime (£4.50 each) - that shellfish XO, in particular, has a richness that works well with the oysters.
Langoustine, fennel seed mayonnaise (£15 each) - extra points for that amazing dip. That's a running theme of the restaurant as the dips, sauces and mayonnaises are all exemplary.
From there, it's onto the main event. Starting with the small plates, you'll absolutely want the first of these:
Black pudding on toast, confit egg yolk, pork fat (£16) - one of their signature dishes and it's a fabulously dense black pudding.
One of the specials - Pork jowl, langoustine, lardo, asparagus and marjoram (£35)
Raw scallop, peas, white asparagus, kombu, kosho (£24) - the asparagus and incredibly fresh peas making the most of what's in season right now.
Then you're onto mains. Here you'll see Booton's take on very traditional English favourites like the Ham, Egg and Chips and perhaps the clearest nod to the Grill's history with a 500g ribeye steak and frickles (fried pickles, we had to look that up) for sharing (£85). Of those sharing dishes, we went for the lamb. There have been quite a few slow-cooked large lamb dishes popping up on London menus of late, so The Grill's take is a welcome diversion from that:
Lamb rump, sweetbreads, gooseberries, girolles (£65) - the star elements are the sweetbreads which are made incredibly crunchy, taking inspiration from karaage.
Don't miss out on the sides either. The triple-cooked chips are essentially confit potato chips and come with a fantastic gravy mayonnaise (£9) and going back to their new takes on British staples, there's even a stuffed jacket potato on there. However, the winner is the mash, which has only just been added to the menu:
New to the menu, just the cheesiest mash possible.
After all that - room for dessert?
As mentioned earlier, when dessert time comes, there's an option to move over to the dessert counter where you'll see it all being prepared in front of you. As long as there are just two of you dining, we'd recommend moving over there. The dish to look for here is one of Tom Booton's signatures - the white Snickers:
White snickers, salted milk ice cream (£16). Cut this open and...
You'll find the toffee, peanutty goodness.
Coffee soft serve, hazelnuts (£15) - do we we did and opt for an extra shot of Blue Jamaica (£12) to turn this into a top tier affogato.
What about drink?
For the wine list, you have access to the extensive Dorchester collection list (almost 60 pages of it). There's a big focus on French and European wines and, given the location, you can go a little crazy if you have the budget (there are at least a couple of bottles in the £3000 range). Assuming that's not in your league, the entry-level bottles here are around the £45-50 mark with lots more available if you're willing to move towards the £100 price point.
And is there anything else worth pointing out?
A recent addition to The Grill is that they've just started doing breakfast and the menu looks extremely good. Dishes include truffled egg and soldiers (£22), Tom’s bacon, cheesy sauce & fried egg baked pastry (£19) and one of the best cookies we've ever had, as we finished things off with this small breakfast preview:
Warm chocolate chip & banana cookie (£8) - worth popping in for on its own.
Overall thoughts
It's been a while since we last visited the grill. Back then, there was a lot of tartan flummery and that's all been pushed aside for something with a much more modern approach. The cooking here is genuinely some of the best in London in this fine-dining oeuvre. Any potential stuffiness is driven away by a menu that is having fun and providing a good few moments of extreme comfort food. It's a restaurant that probably deserves greater recognition and hopefully this subtle rebranding will help to give the chef and his team the plaudits they clearly deserve.
More about The Grill by Tom Booton
Where is it? The Dorchester, 53 Park Ln, London W1K 1QA
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @thedorchester.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of The Grill. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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