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Top Tip: The three-course set menu here is a steal at £42 (available Mon-Sat, from 12noon-2pm and 5.30pm-10.15pm)
Harden's survey result
Summary
This “sophisticated and impressive” Mayfair chamber has had its ups and downs in recent times, and despite scoring a respectable level of customer satisfaction in the last couple of years, still came nowhere near realising its potential as one of the capital’s best traditional dining rooms. The hotel has seen a lot of changes in recent times, though, with the June 2019 appointment of Stefan Trepp as Executive Chef (replacing Henry Brosi who’d been in-post for 20 years); and with the July 2019 hiring of 26-year-old Tom Booton, who shifted over from heading the kitchen at the highly rated Alyn Williams at the Westbury. Can this potentially magnificent dining room now finally regain its place as one of London’s foremost hotel venues?
Summary
This “sophisticated and impressive” Mayfair chamber has had its ups and downs in recent times, and despite scoring a respectable level of customer satisfaction in the last couple of years, still comes nowhere near realising its potential as one of the capital’s best traditional dining rooms. It’s all change at the hotel, though, with the June 2019 appointment of Stefan Trepp as Executive Chef (replacing Henry Brosi who’d been in-post for 20 years); and with the July 2019 hiring of 26-year-old Tom Booton, who shifts over from heading the kitchen at the highly rated Alyn Williams at the Westbury. Can this potentially magnificent dining room now finally regain its place as one of London’s foremost hotel venues?
Summary
Culinary mastermind Alain Ducasse is behind something of a renaissance at this “very elegant dining room” in Mayfair, which had lost its way quite badly a few years ago. With its luxurious decor and “wonderful” modern French cuisine it can be “unbeatable for a special occasion”. Hardly surprisingly, it is “not cheap”, but this is one of London’s grander dining rooms and deserves to be more discovered again.
Summary
Chapeau! to Alain Ducasse who has successfully turned around this formerly lacklustre traditional dining room in Mayfair, to create “a most enjoyable experience” with “expensive but faultless” modern French cuisine, charmingly served in tasteful, luxurious surroundings.
Restaurant details
Prices
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Wine per bottle | £30.00 |
Filter Coffee | £4.00 |
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Service | 14.00% |
Harden's says...
Dorchester Grill, Dorchester Hotel W1
As an act of witless cultural vandalism, the Dorchester's Grill's new look takes some beating. Out goes the characterful Spanish Baronial styling of 70 years' standing. In comes a riot of Tartan High Camp that would not disgrace a Marriott in a Scottish golf resort. Dr Johnson's observation - 'The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!' - may have been a reaction to horrors such as these.
And it gets worse. The food - previously a bastion of grand traditional Anglo-French fare - has become tedious and expensive. Frenchman Ollie Couillard helped establish a formidable reputation for La Trompette. But what is excellent in Chiswick at £45 / head is disappointing in Mayfair at half as much again. When it comes to English traditional fare, Monsieur C loses his way completely. A set lunch, for example, comprised a tepid brandade, an indifferent plate of roast beef (from the trolley), and an insipid, over-fancy apple crumble (with cream!). Desserts are no better from the carte: the sticky toffee pudding is no better than at any respectable gastropub, but costs a whacking £10.50.
Service - formerly a textbook combination of efficiency, old-fashioned style and easy charm - has been made 'modern', matey and sloppy. You should not have to cast about to find a waiter's eye in the half-full dining room of a five-star hotel. Nor should you have to re-scan the bill because - although it is stated that 12.5% has been added for service - no service charge line actually appears. It is especially important for an establishment to be clear about such things when a blank space on the credit card slip invites you to tip again - not, oddly, an invitation we felt it necessary to take up.
53 Park Lane, London, W1K 1QA
Number of Diners: | |
Required Time: | |
Opening hours
Monday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Tuesday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Wednesday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Thursday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Friday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Saturday | 7 am‑2:30 pm, 5:30 pm‑10:15pm |
Sunday | 7:30 am‑12:30 pm8 pm |
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