What’s the story?
As a kind of 10th birthday present to himself (and to celebrate signing up for a further decade at The Berkeley) Marcus Wareing’s flagship restaurant has undergone a major renovation. But this isn’t just a room makeover. The menus have been gussied up too – offering more flexibility at lunchtime – and the service has been made more ‘American’. More of that later.
But it’s still a high-end experience right?
As befits a two Michelin-starred restaurant in a five star hotel in the middle of Knightsbridge, yes. We passed Claudia Schiffer in the bar outside on our way in, and she’s not the only supermodel to be spotted in these here parts as Grace Dent’s review last week proved. A lot of people are going to be heading here for a special occasion meal, but the large dining room had a distinct buzz about it that other hotel dining rooms of this ilk are missing.
Where should I meet friends for a drink first?
If your budget allows, the Blue Bar here at the Berkeley does cracking cocktails as well as offering a chance to do some serious star-spotting.
And where should l sit?
Coming into the restaurant you’ll spot the biggest difference - the chef’s table on your left. You used to have to pass through the kitchens to get to it before, now it’s slightly elevated, allowing you to enjoy all the action without being too much in the chefs’ laps. Across the dining room is another semi-private area which can also be taking over by groups. We were in the central section on a table for two facing into the room so both of us could people-watch at our leisure.
Do we have to have a tasting menu?
There is a tasting menu with the highlights of the a la carte on it – 8 plates for £120. But we decided to roam through the a la carte instead which is split simply into starters, fish, meat and dessert with between four and five choices in each section. Your options are two, three and four courses at dinner at £60, £85 and £95 respectively.
Before we began in earnest, waiters brought whipped foie gras parfait with confit of tomato base and shards of bacon together with warm little puffs of fennel and potato bread. The menu was packed with seasonal specials and of the dishes we tried our favourites were:
- Quail with nettles, raddichio and snails with unbilled but bloody brilliant circles of glass-like coppa
- Warm crab with courgette, rouille, chicory, grumelo – stuffed courgette flowers with rich crab
- Galloway beef, potato, charred hispi cabbage, marrow, short rib (+£10 supplement but worth it as it comes with a gorgeous additional pot of short rib and marrow)
- Pineapple, pain perdu and coconut – just a beautiful dish of teeny sticky meringues, cubes of pain perdu, pineapple and coconut ice-cream
We also felt we needed - for your sake - to try the pommes puree with Lincolnshire Poacher sauce which at £10 is a pretty hefty price for mash. To be fair, it divided us with one thinking it too rich and the other gleefully eating the whole thing straight from the pot with a spoon.
What about wine?
We had a few glasses of wines matched to the early course and then went with a bottle of Domaine Leon Barral Faugeres 2010 – a natural wine which was a great match for the lamb and beef. The sommelier here is reason alone to come to Marcus – his pairings were brilliant, but he managed to find the right line between giving us some interesting details about the wine’s story without going on too much, which other sommeliers don’t quite manage.
Overall thoughts:
We hadn’t been to the restaurant before, so although we can see from pictures that the dining room now seems more modern and bright it’s hard to tell just how much the room has changed. It was still early days when we visited, so they’re still tinkering around with things like the lighting which needs to be brighter around the edge of the dining room. Heralding the change of service is the arrival (return in the case of the Restaurant Manager Daniel Greenock) of two staff who’ve just spent time in New York at Eleven Madison Park. They’re working with the rest of the team who’ve been with Wareing for years to move away from the high European formal service and inject a little more levity.
The success of that is most evident in the coffee ceremony at the end of the meal. We don’t want to give too much away – but do make sure someone on the table orders it. It’s fun and interesting and in time the rest of the service will probably be this way too. It’s always hard to tinker with a tried and tested formula to inject new life while still retaining the ‘special’ ness that brings people here to celebrate. But we think Marcus has managed to do that.
Marcus is at The Berkeley, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7RL. Find out more about Marcus.
Prices were correct at time of writing. Hot Dinners ate as guests of Marcus.
