Evening Standard
David Ellis was the first critic to issue judgement on the heralded reboot of Le Gavroche by chef Matt Abé, backed by his old boss, Gordon Ramsay. It is, he said, “a restaurant of substance over style”, even if the luxuriously spacious and sound-proofed interior in cream and leather – “call it cruise ship chic” – is not to his taste and the whole experience is “priced for warlords and footballers” (David ate the cheapest menu, at £165 a head).
“But are you chasing exquisite food, money no object? Book now: go. It might not be the most beautiful place, or the best value, but Christ can Abé cook. He is not only the name above the door, but the man sweating it out at the stoves. For all my sniping, there’s no putting down what comes out of the kitchen.”
Of particular note were “what I can only call a Parmesan Oreo”; a broth of carrots, parsnips and beef tallow that “tastes like an entire roast dinner”; quail blanquette that was “precision manifest”; a huge scallop in a battered crust; and “steak the size and shape of a tea caddy… extraordinary, intensely beefy, its fat rendered so well it could have been cut off and served as a snack.”
David Ellis - 2025-12-07The Times
Camilla Long was astonished at the sheer expense of a meal for two at this new high rollers’ joint from chef Matt Abé (coincidentally Sally’s ex, see above), backed by Gordon Ramsay and occupying the former Le Gavroche site, where she and her guest were “lured” by “charmingly ruthless staff” into ordering a different wine with almost every dish (“You really can’t eat that stuff sober)”, plus a “random truffle bucket” and a cheese course.
The room looked like a Qantas business lounge (an over-literal reference to the fact that Matt is Australian, Camilla reckoned), while several of the dishes were breathtaking in both looks and taste, most notably “two milky fronds of white asparagus arranged in a V, sprinkled with microherbs and flowers with a ‘sauce Maltaise’ — basically a blood orange hollandaise. You bite into it, the heavens part, the choirs burst into song… It tastes soft and creamy and acidic and it’s the loveliest dish I’ve had in a long time.” Quail breast achieved a texture like butter, and a coiled pile of squid in XO sauce was “by turns vinegary, sweet and pulsing with umami”.
But the prices: “As a restaurant critic, the deal is: the paper pays for the food (the table’s also booked under a pseudonym). But still that does not detract from the total shuddering horror of being presented with a bill for two, with wine, for £1,122. I gasp, ‘We’ve just eaten a mini-break.’
“You look at it all, and think, I could easily have a great meal just down the road for £300. Why is this £822 better? And the answer is: it isn’t. It’s just food. You’re paying £822 for ego: yours and theirs.”
Camilla Long - 2026-04-05
