Galvin La Chapelle

Press Reviews (9)

• AA Gill (29th March 2010)
  Food 3/5 stars, Ambience 2/5 stars
  
  The critic visits the Galvin brothers' latest restaurant in Shoreditch: “[t]his place knows its clientele and knows why they’re here. It sets out to impress, flatter and indulge, which are not motives known to inspire the most hospitable, happy food. But it struggles to make the best of it”. Tarte tatin proves to be the best thing on a “Franglish” menu, on which the other dishes range from “insipid” and “bland” to “competent” at best. All in all, dishes seem to have been prepared with “rather too many fawning personal assistants”, somewhat akin to the service which “is a bit like being frisked by lonely moles”.
• Giles Coren (8th February 2010)
  9
  
  The critic wonders if he can give “an impartial review of the place I am trusting with my first lunch as a married man” (the catering for his wedding). We suspect the answer is ‘no’.
• Jay Rayner (4th January 2010)
  
  “It is, of course, a cliche to describe a fancy-pants place as a temple to gastronomy”, says the critic, but in the case of this Galvin brothers’ Shoreditch newcomer “it is perfectly apt”, and it is a venue he admires “very, very much”. “But I can't quite find it in myself to love it”. Problem is that with each of their ventures the brothers “have ramped up the offering, and the prices. Add “lip-puckered service which is the sickly side of ingratiating”, and a main course côte de boeuf (£53 for 2) didn’t quite measure up, and the critic conclused that “[i]n the great echoing vaults of La Chapelle [the brothers] appear to have mislaid their lovely, light touch.”
• Zoe Williams (4th January 2010)
  
  “[A]t the moment, this is Michelin food at mid-range prices”, says the critic, who is much impressed by the Galvin brothers’ Shoreditch newcomer.
• Tracey MacLeod (14th December 2009)
  Food 4/5 stars, Ambience 5/5 stars, Service 4/5 stars
  
  “Chris and Jeff Galvin are shaping up to be Britain's most successful restaurant-owning brothers since Albert and Michel Roux”, says the critic. Their Shoredtich newcomer is “one of the few truly fabulous-looking restaurants in London”, and it “crackles with excitement and discreet glamour”. Indeed, her designer friend immediately identified the look of the place as “very Keith McNally” (“referring to the king of downtown New York dining”). (As fans of Mr McN, we’d have to say we don’t agree; some might say that the problem here is that the feel isn’t ‘downtown’ at all.) This, she concludes, “is a … place to celebrate a special occasion, and a place that would make any occasion special.”
• Marina O'Loughlin (10th December 2009)
  4/5 stars
  
  “It’s a long time since I’ve walked into a London restaurant – even ones that, defying financial jitters, have had gazillions spent on them – and stopped in my tracks. Maybe not since The Wolseley has a space elicited a jaw-dropped ‘Oh. My,’ from my cynical chops.” And so this hymn of praise goes on… The only criticisms the critic can find of the Galvin brothers’ Spitalfields newcomer is that it’s “a teeny bit … stiff”, and “steeply priced”, and the menu displays a “few jarring unseasonalities”.
• Jasper Gerard (7th December 2009)
  4/5
  
  The critic seems to have recognised the “cove who knocks together a restaurant guide” (your humble scribe) who co-attended the first service at the Galvin brothers’ “awe-inspiring” new dining room in Shoreditch. Fortunately, the sight did not put him off the his food: [t]here is nothing terribly original here, but you can be sure the Galvins' impeccably crafted French fare will leave you smiling wide and long”.
• Fay Maschler (26th November 2009)
  3/5 stars
  
  The critic visits the Galvin brothers’ new Shoredtich restaurant, and proclaims that it has an “exceptional” site, with a “cathedral interior”. Sadly however, “a mezzanine structure… intrudes clumsily into the lofty chandeliered grandeur”. And that’s not the only problem: “[m]uch thought has obviously been lavished on everything — except, it would seem, the food.” Her problem is rather the same as the one we identifed in our own review: “I don’t know quite what I expected but it was not just a rerun of the Baker Street menu plus a few twists. Sticking to what you’re good at is all very well but the dramatic surroundings demand a burst of original, maybe even stupendous, effort.”
• Guy Dimond (26th November 2009)
  4/5 stars
  
  TO’s head reviewer find “[c]lassic dishes… perfectly rendered” at the Galvin brothers new Shoreditch establishment. The comment must only apply to some classic dishes, though, as those from sampled from the à la carte menu were “not sensational”, and the prix-fixe turned out to be “a far better deal”.