What can you tell us about 34?
It's Richard Caring's newest restaurant (until Balthazar opens), offering a cut above the usual comfort food expected by Mayfair residents, royalty - both literal and celebrity, and well-heeled Londoners.
Where is it?
Just around the corner from the American Embassy on Grosvenor Square, it's also barely a hop, skip and a jump from other Caprice Holdings spots like Scott's and their club George.
Who's it suitable for?
Anyone who's had a bad day or a great day and wants to either be comforted or feted to within an inch of their lives. There are a lot of London restaurants who should send their staff to see how front of house works here. Manager Laura and Maitre d' Gina and the rest of the staff make it seem as though looking after and anticipating guests' every needs is their single purpose in life. Take your boss here, take a date - you know they'd love it equally.
Where should I meet for a drink first?
Just down the road, the Grosvenor's new speakeasy bar The Luggage Room's apparently a good place to grab a cocktail (we haven't tried it yet), although the ones up at the bar at 34 are none too shabby. Slightly less pricey is The Running Horse on nearby Davies Street where a glass of wine starts from under £5.
And where should I sit?
The room at 34 divides into two as you enter. We were sat on the left on a table which let us see into the open plan kitchen, which we liked, although a table in the right hand side of the room by the bar may be a little quieter if you prefer that. The place is ripe for people watching (staff are much too discreet to reveal the names of celebrity diners, but you wouldn't be at all surprised to see Bill Clinton or Angelina Jolie here - it's that kind of place).
What about the food itself?
There's a bit of a misapprehension that 34 is a steak restaurant, when a quick look at the menu shows that only a quarter of it is taken up by various cuts from the Parilla grill. It took us an age to decide what we wanted, mainly because everything sounded like something we'd want to eat. To start, we kept it pretty simple with a mound of Dorset white crab meat, lightly mixed with mayo and topped with a wafer-thin circle of cucumber jelly and some apple & celeriac remoulade on the side - comforting, delicate and rather beautiful to look at (£17.50). As if to counterbalance this, our other starter was the steak tartare royale - well-seasoned, hand-chopped steak served with an egg on top and a pearl spoonful of caviar. Total decadence and appropriately priced at £21.50.
After this one of us went the steak route, while the other went for a different meat dish - pot roasted pork with king cabbage and port and redcurrant jelly. The pork dish was a very fine thing indeed, with loin, faggot and confit of pork in an incredibly rich sauce. It forced any effort at a January diet to the wayside, and was a particularly good reason to move away from the steak side of the menu. That said...
Now, we've had plenty of steaks in London and this one leapt clear into our Top 3. A huge piece of fillet - seared to a dark, toasty crust by the grill and absolutely perfectly cooked to medium - it was topped with black truffles which slowly infused the meat with their earthy flavour. A side order of foie gras was really gilding the lily to be honest. This was meat heaven - and for all that not horrendously priced at £44 for a good London steak. The menu is one of the few in London pointing out that doggy bags are available but we surprised even ourselves by polishing the whole thing off.
Thankfully the dessert menu features a large range of homemade ice-creams, including popcorn and black truffle honey which came with toffee sauce. But one of us still found room to give the rhubarb and custard pie a go, which turned out to be a blessedly small, warm pie served with warm vanilla custard.
Is bread included?
Yes, there's a large basket on the table with white, brown and carta musica to choose from.
What about drinks?
Well this is Mayfair, so you'd be right in expecting a pretty punchy wine list - bottles start at £23 and shoot up past a grand for magnums. We went slightly outside our usual comfort zone and picked a 2007 Geyserville Zinfandel from California which was decanted for us and managed to work with both the steak and pork without drowning out either. At £88 it would certainly be a treat, but it was one memorable wine.
Overall?
This is the kind of place which despite being a newcomer to the Caprice Holdings books manages to look like it's been here for forever and a day. You could return here years from now with your grandchildren, confident that this place would still be open and looking after Londoners to the best of its ability. Smart, confident, comfortable - it's the restaurant for the kind of life we wish we led and which for one night, we did.
34 is at 34 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 2HD
Prices were correct at time of writing. Hot Dinners were invited to eat at 34.
