Chez Roux

Chez Roux is on the ground floor of the Langham Hotel, directly ahead of you as you go through the main entrance. It opened in late May 2024, with large, well-spaced tables in a nicely decorated, windowless room with rather low lighting.  The executive chef here is Berwyn Davies, who has worked at The Langham since September 2021 and was formerly head chef at The Glasshouse in Kew for six years. He is supported by head chef Dirk Schmittbuetner. There was an a la carte choice or a tasting menu at £80, with a full vegetarian tasting menu alternative at £75.   

The wine list was curiously short, which I am sure was a deliberate choice but an odd one for a London hotel. It also had unusual balance, with 38% of the list being sparkling wine and champagne. It had 53 labels and ranged in price from £42 to £1,600, with a median price of £101 and an average markup to retail price of 4.5 times, which is outrageous even by London standards. Sample references were La Loupe Grenache Blanc Languedoc 2022 at £42 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £11, Acrobat Pinot Gris 2019 at £68 compared to its retail price of £12, and Barolo Cru Ravera Lo Zoccolaioa 2017 at £93 for a wine that will set you back £54 in the high street. For those with the means there was Krug Grand Cuvee at £320 compared to its retail price of £241, and Chateau Clerc-Milon Pauillac 2010 at £450 for a wine whose current market value is £106. The list suffered from a surprising number of typos (anyone for “Sauterns”?) and had a few ambiguities in the descriptions, which was careless, though less irritating than the markups.

The meal began with a canape of sable biscuit with Stilton, walnuts and chives, which was simple but very pleasant (14/20). The first course was a mackerel dish. Pieces of soused mackerel were topped with mackerel pate, little croutons, cucumber and radish relish and a hazelnut and elderflower dressing. I am big fan of mackerel and cucumber was a logical pairing for it, but this particular mackerel had surprisingly little flavour. I am not quite sure as to why this might be other than the variation of the fish supplier, but even though the texture of the pate was fine, this too was quite bland. Maybe more seasoning would have helped (and as we shall see, subtle seasoning was not a theme here) but I don’t think that was the issue. Somehow the mackerel itself was just not a very good specimen (12/20).

Better was lemon sole meuniere with baby shrimp, croutons, fried parsley, capers and brown butter. This came with green beans “amandine” that had been sauteed with shallots and flaked almonds. Lemon sole is not a thrilling fish in terms of flavour, and indeed it is not related to Dover sole at all. It is a flounder, and a closer relative to halibut than to Dover sole. The fish has a mild, delicate flavour, and this was brought out quite well with accurate cooking and the complementary flavour of the capers. The only thing that let the dish down was the rather overcooked beans (14/20).

The last savoury course was fillet of beef from Buccleuch Estate in Scotland, served with baby spinach, a layer of brioche, and a sauce of red wine, peppercorns and cognac. On the side was colcannon, the Irish dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage. Fillet is the cut of beef with arguably the least flavour but it was cooked nicely enough and the sauce was good. However, there was a glaring seasoning error. I enjoy quite salty food and am quite tolerant of dishes that have more salt than most people like, but this was fiercely salty, far more than any reasonable person would wish. The colcannon was very good, and it was a pity about the over salting, which should really have been picked up in the kitchen (12/20 is kind due to the seasoning).

There was a little cheese course featuring Stichelton (the excellent unpasteurised blue cheese from Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire) as well as Pitchfork Cheddar, offered with damson jelly and sourdough crackers. For dessert I had a frozen orange givree (served in an orange casing) with honey and almond ice cream and a touch of ginger. Although this was advertised as a frozen dessert, they certainly weren’t kidding, as an ice pick would barely have dented the dish when it arrived. When it warmed up a bit and could be eaten the ice cream flavour was very enjoyable, the ginger a nice touch (13/20). Coffee was from a supplier called Workshop Coffee in Fitzrovia, and was very pleasant. It came with a chocolate, as well it might at £6.75 for a double espresso.

Service was charming, with our excellent Portuguese waitress Mariana being friendly and professional.  The bill came to £214 per person, which to be honest is an awful lot of money for the quality of the food delivered. If you shared a modest bottle of wine and went a la carte then a typical cost per person might be around £130 or so. Chez Roux serves exactly the kind of classical food that I like, but sadly had too many errors in the meal tonight, from the bland mackerel to the over-salted beef to the rock-solid frozen dessert. These are basic culinary errors and simply should not happen at this price point. The overpriced wine list does not help the overall offering.