What can you tell us about Meursault?
What once was the Opal bar, is now the stylish, newly-launched lounge bar and dining room Meursault, situated beneath the well-established L’Etranger restaurant on the Gloucester Road. L’Etranger’s Director Ibi Issolah and Executive Chef Jerome Tauvron have taken heavy cues from L’Etranger’s proposition and style in setting up Meursault, with the French and Japanese fusion cuisine making its way downstairs – along with Head Chef Sang Keun Oh.
Taking its name from the lead character in Camus’s L’Etranger, Meursault, rather than the wine, it has the feel of a VIP area in a rather uptown bar. The low ceiling, dark woods and brown leather banquettes covered generously in plump scatter cushions give it a cosy and intimate feeling. There's a rather large pillar in the centre of the dining room, covered in a giant Japanese influenced illustration which stretches out to cover the entire ceiling, lit from behind by 18,000 LED lights. The walls around the dining room are covered in glass cabinets housing bottles of impressive wines.
Where is it?
It’s located on Gloucester Road, a brisk 10 minutes walk from Gloucester Road tube station. You access Meursault through the same entrance as L’Etranger, but simply head downstairs for Meursault.
Who’s it suitable for?
It’s quite a good ‘date venue’ by all accounts, as fabulously groomed couples surrounded us for most of the evening.
It would also make a good spot for a light bite for those heading to the Royal Albert Hall, as you can grab a glass of wine and a sharing platter of sushi, or tartares to sustain you through a concert without running the risk of nodding off halfway through.
The French and Japanese influences on the menu give it a modern/experimental feel so it probably wouldn’t be a great fit for the more traditional diner, although the food is prepared to very exacting standards so anyone who appreciates good quality will be happy.
Where should I meet my fellow diners for pre-dinner drinks?
One side of Meursault is a bar with a small seating area (although we were informed that they’ll be adding more seating to accommodate more people), so you could always start there. Alternatively there is a pub directly opposite called The Gloucester Arms, which Hot Dinners didn’t venture into.
Where should we sit?
Meursault isn't a large venue, so you’re rather limited in terms of choice. We were sat at one of the banquette tables along the far-side wall which offered a great advantage point to be able to watch over the rest of the room. If you are more than two for dinner then there are some 4-seater tables aside from the banquettes in the middle of the room.
What would you recommend ordering?
Although the food on the menu looks impressive, it was a little confusing to understand just how you were supposed to order. There is a selection of platters including tartars, oysters, sashimi & nigiri, caviars and mini burgers. There’s also the A La Carte menu which offers a wide variety of dishes from Scallops with Parmesan Curd and Truffle Foam to Shishamo Tempura with Tofu and Mentaiko Sauce.
We were offered a bit of guidance from the waiter, which was essentially not to stick to convention and just order what we like, so taking his advice we opted to start with the Grade 9 Wagyu Beef Tartare (£15) and the Tuna Tartare with Osetre Caviar (£12.50) to share. The principal of the majority of items on the menu is to have them for sharing, so don’t be afraid to make a number of choices if you’re happy to dig in to them all. The beef tartare was exquisitely presented, topped with a raw quails egg and a selection of garnishes housed in a wooden tray and tasted every bit as good as it looked. The tuna tartare was bursting with flavor whilst being wonderfully delicate. We had a glass of Sepp Moser Gruner Veltliner Kremstal 2010 to accompany the tartares, which was a perfect match. It was crisp and refreshing and dangerously easy to drink.
Eager to show off their wares, we were (easily) convinced into trying some of the Mature Yellow Tail Tuna Sashimi (£10) also which was exceptionally good.
We then moved on to the Platter of Mini Burgers (£12.50). This is where the fusion began to feel a little stretched. There was one of each of the four varieties of burgers on the platter, which meant that each one had to be cut in half in the interest of fairness of distribution. If you prefer you can chose to order each variety separately, in which case you receive three of each type. The four varieties are Crab & Lobster Mayo Burgers, Lamb, Charolais Beef and Wagyu Beef and the platter comes with a tomato relish and a small dipping dish of cheese fondue. With the burgers we were served a glass of Henri Milan Le Grand Blanc 2008, which the charming sommelier described to us as being a “white dressed as a red” and assured us that it would be a great accompaniment to the food. She was absolutely right – it worked very well.
Finally we rounded off our meal with a portion of the Caramelised Alaskan Black Cod with Miso (£34). Marinated for 24 hours in miso, soy sauce and sugar, the plump fillet was absolutely delicious. The miso liquor was rich and delicious but didn’t drown out the fish. With the cod we had a glass of Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba 2008. The sommelier described it as a perfect compliment to the miso with its sweet, strawberry hints.
Despite studying the dessert menu, which includes a list of very tempting looking macaroons, Hot Dinners managed to refrain from ordering a dessert...this time.
What’s the wine list like?
In a word – huge! A giant leather-bound tome totalling 80 pages. Meursault has a strong focus on wine, which you gather from the glass-encased bottles around the room. They have some exceptional wines on the menu as a result, and a large choice of champagnes, which range from Laurent Perrier Brut (£69 a bottle) to a Jeraboam of Louis Roderer Cristal (£2450 a bottle). Price wise they do tend to be on the higher end of the scale overall, but ordering by the glass is an option and they provide a selection for that, as well as some half bottles. For example the Sepp Moser Gruner Veltliner at £9.50 is one of the cheapest on offer by the glass.
Is bread included?
We were not offered bread during the meal, however we were given an amuse bouche to start with.
How much is this going to set me back?
No two ways about it Meursault is going to be pretty expensive if you’re going for a full A La Carte meal with dishes ranging from £7.50 for the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup to £59 for the Wagyu Beef Fillet.
As a place to stop for a platter of delicious tartars and a glass of wine on the way out of an evening it could well be good value for money – the caveat being that if you opt for the caviar platter it will set you back £440 for 30g of Beluga, Osetra Classic, Sevruga and Royal Trilogy. The tartares are well worth the visit though.
Overall thoughts?
What really stood out as a positive was that despite eating the sum total of what seemed like a medieval banquet between two people, we left feeling sated and revived as opposed to bloated and feeling the need to lie down for long periods of time.
We can imagine Meursault is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, as it’s quite unusual in its offer. However, the exacting standards of quality and presentation, the warm and knowledgeable team of staff, the utterly gorgeous designer cutlery (yes, the knives were highly coveted by Hot Dinners) means that it will undoubtedly appeal to the locals in this part of town. There’s no doubt that the food is quite special and we will certainly be making a return trip for some more Beef Tartare in future.
Hot Dinners were invited to eat at Meursault. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
