Mayfair Latest Openings

Saturday, November 09th , 2019

 

The Betterment (no, me neither) is the latest in the Jason Atherton empire, located in the Biltmore Hotel in Mayfair. It has well-trained staff and an experienced head chef, and we had some very good dishes over the evening, especially an excellent scallop with Parmesan foam. The issue, and it is a major issue, is the price, which is high even by the standards of Mayfair. The wine list has some eye watering mark-ups, and vegetable side dishes, side dishes mind, reach £12. At least the standard of food is quite high, but this is not for the faint hearted or those on a budget.

Charlie's has taken over from Beck at Browns Hotel in Mayfair, and is associated with Trinity. Although the waiting staff were excellent, the meal ranged from competent in the case of a neat but under-seasoned beef tartare to considerably less than competent in the case of a raspberry tart with rock-hard pastry. This would be just about OK if the bill was about a third of what it actually was, but at these prices the kitchen really needs to up its game, in my view.

The 2020 Michelin Italy guide appeared, with a new three star restaruant in the form of Mudec in Milan. This brings the total for Italy to 11 three-star places, with all the ones of the previous year retaining their three star rating. There are also 35 two stars and 326 one star restaurants in Italy, with 372 starred restaurants in all.