Corrigan’s Mayfair

Press Reviews (12)

• Marina O'Loughlin (29th May 2009)
  3/5 stars
  
  It’s a “subtly glittering, low-ceilinged room” that’s “solid, undiluted Mayfair”, but Metro’s Marina – a self avowed Corrigan fan – is disappointed that “this place doesn’t speak of the beaming Irishman with his love of fresh, robust flavours”. The menu may be “classic Corrigan, peppered with fantastically butch ingredients” but its “execution is fussy and slightly fey”. Even so, much of what she eats is “properly sublime” (even if “details let the side down”). Servicewise, we are warned that the head honcho is “slightly terrifying”. All in all, she finds it “a bit mannered, a bit clenched”, and between “waiter-fear” and “small portions of international hotel food” she fails to have the “marvellous time” all the other guests appear to be having.
• Richard Vines (11th February 2009)
  3/4 stars
  
  Having been dissed at Scott’s, the critic retreats to “the new London flagship of the Irish chef Richard Corrigan, one of the most ebullient figures in the hospitality business”. “The reviews of Corrigan’s [elsewhere] have been so good, you might think Corrigan has reinvented the culinary wheel”, he notes, but “[h]e hasn’t”. “It’s a fine restaurant, not a spectacular one. What it does offer is honest food, realistic prices and a friendly welcome. That’s not a bad formula for survival in a chilly economic climate.”
• Jay Rayner (12th January 2009)
  
  “[W]ith his barrel chest, easy laughter and big hands, [Richard Corrigan] looks like he's engineered for a life lived in full”, says the critic. “That full-size exterior belies an acute intelligence and exquisite good taste, all of which have been given full expression at his new restaurant just off Park Lane”. “[M]ost important is the genuine sense that everyone - waiters, cooks, diners - is here not to pay homage or deify but to have a good time. Which is something Corrigan understands better than most”.
• Matthew Norman (12th January 2009)
  9.25/10
  
  For once a review of this Mayfair newcomer who knows the eponymous chef “not at all”. Doesn’t stop it being a ‘rave’, though: “by every criterion Corrigan's is a triumph”.
• Zoe Williams (7th January 2009)
  9/10
  
  “In Richard Corrigan’s new place the 1930s atmosphere is pronounced, with lovely arts-and-crafts carvings, and gentle but glitzy lighting delivered by chandelier. I had read that it was looking very hushed and recession-blighted, but when J and I were in, on a Friday lunchtime, it was abuzz with diners and jollity.” Thus begins (yet) another all-round rave review of the amiable Irishman’s Mayfair newcomer.
• Giles Coren (15th December 2008)
  8/10
  
  As is obligatory with all reviews of Richard Corrigan’s new Mayfair restaurant, the critic begins by setting out, flatteringly, the cv which explains why Richard Corrigan is something of a darling of the circle who write about London restaurants for a living. The review, in keeping, is pretty much invariably upbeat: the fare may be “rugged-sounding”, but it has been “tamed [rather than] egregiously Park-Laned”.
• AA Gill (15th December 2008)
  4/5 stars
  
  Nowadays, you’re “more likely to find your [‘name’] chef in the News of the World, or a supermarket ad, than a kitchen”, notes the critic, but “[t]he exception is Richard Corrigan”. (“He has consistently been one of my favourite cooks, ever since I first came across this garrulous, charming Irishman in Fulham Road.”) The menu is “indomitable”, and most of what if offers is “peerless”.
• Tracey MacLeod (1st December 2008)
  Food 4/5 stars, Ambience 4/5 stars, Service 5/5 stars
  
  Oh dear, no disrespect to Mr Corrigan or the critics concerned, but - just looking at the grades so far awarded – we fear there’s going to be a bit of a ‘Hix-effect’ (which is rather akin to a ‘Rowley Leigh effect’) in reviews of Richard Corrigan’s new Mayfair venture. Both man and cuisine are so critic-friendly that one currently has to be alert to praise that non-members of the foodie-luvvie world may find just a touch too rich.
• Terry Durack (1st December 2008)
  18/20
  
  The Indie’s man too notes early on in his review that Mr Corrigan is “Britain's favourite Irish chef”, and records his “years of hard graft at Lindsay House in Soho, and rejuvenating the famous Bentley's oyster bar”. He does have the very occasional complaint, but his overall conclusion is that this is “a restaurant that means business, and pleasure”, and that “a table here [is] one of Britain's best”.
• Jasper Gerard (24th November 2008)
  8.5/10
  
  This new Mayfair restaurant is “superb”, says the critic, “showcasing [Richard Corrigan’s] typically gutsy, gamey Irish cooking”. “And what value”, too.
• Jan Moir (12th November 2008)
  
  “This is”, says the critic’s (long-term) companion, “my perfect menu. It’s the best one I’ve ever seen. Anywhere. Ever. In the world”. And the critic (as you’d rather hope) “can see where the old boy is coming from”. “Here at Corrigan’s in Mayfair, the emphasis is on game, wild fish and seafood, shot through with the kind of rootsy Irish sensibility that is the hallmark of this chef’s brilliant cooking.”
• Fay Maschler (12th November 2008)
  4/5 stars
  
  “[A] rural sensibility and an appreciation of simplicity shines through in the dishes at Corrigan’s”, says the critic (and for an establishment that’s part of a luxury hotel just off Park Lane, that’s no mean achievement). The critic is pleased by almost all of the dishes she samples. The interior is “appropriate, comfortable and glamorous” too, with “nice little jokes at the expense of the macho tweediness of hunting, shooting and fishing”.