Gordon Ramsay

This restaurant opened in 1998 on the site of the legendary 3 Michelin star restaurant La Tante Claire (run by Pierre Koffman).  Royal Hospital Road was Gordon Ramsay’s first solo restaurant, and it gained three Michelin stars in 2001, which it has retained ever since. This remains Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant within his burgeoning empire. Its head chef is now Suphanta “Kim“ Ratcharoen, who started her cooking career at 64 Degrees and then moved to work for Gordon Ramsay in 2015. She worked her way up to senior sous chef at the flagship Ramsay restaurant and became head chef in 2022.  Tonight, we opted for the £260 “carte blanche” menu. There was also a “Prestige” menu at £210 and an a la carte where three courses were £180.

The wine list appeared on a computer tablet. I am not a fan of this approach, especially as the wine list does not appear at present on the restaurant website. It is much harder to take in a wine list on the small form factor of a tablet compared to a paper list, albeit you can try to search for a specific wine more easily. For sure, I can see why a paper version of a 63-page wine list with over 500 labels may be a little intimidating, but I would rather browse it in a book, albeit a thick one, than scrolling through screens. The median price is £480. Examples from the vast list included Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc 2021 at £110 for a wine with a shop price of £25, Tyrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 2016 at £180 compared to a retail price of £54, Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl 2020 at £250 for a wine that retails at £64. I counted just six wines under £100. The balance seemed rather askew at times e.g. there were more red wines from Romanee Conti listed than red wines from all of Italy, perhaps reflecting the target demographic. There was at least a nice selection of German Rieslings, with 31 on offer compared to just ten Italian whites. Even at the ultra-luxe end there were chunky cash margins. Coche-Dury Meursault 2019 is a glorious wine that retails at £974, but was listed here at £2,900 (plus service). There is no pesky corkage option here either, so no relief if you want to drink nice wines. For example Guigal La Turque 2014 retails at £352 but is listed here at £950 (plus service).

There was an initial trio of canapes. Warm gougeres were filled with Rove de Garrigues cheese sauce infused with marjoram, topped with honey vinegar gel and herb powder.  There was also a native lobster tart with citrus emulsion, Buddha’s hand, citrus powder, dill fronds, and calendula (pot marigold) in a chickpea tart case. The final one was 100 day dry aged blue/grey sirloin tartar dressed in pastrami spice, dill pickle, pickled mustard seeds, shallot brunoise with blue nasturtiums, chive curls and allium buds. The gougere had good choux pastry, though for me a slightly stronger cheese like Comte or Gruyere works best with gougeres. The tartare benefitted from the sharpness of the pickle given the mature flavour of the beef, and the tartlet case was delicate. I most enjoyed the lobster tart, where the level of acidity of the citrus was just right to balance the natural sweetness of the lobster. There was a final amuse-bouche of pea chawanmushi topped with fresh young Spanish peas dressed in hazelnut oil, rondelle of green asparagus and breakfast radishes, mint tips, anise hyssop, pea tendrils, garlic flowers and chive curls. This was a pretty dish and the peas had excellent flavour, nicely complemented by the other elements (17/20 canapes).

A hand-dived scallop from the Isle of Skye was served as sashimi, with pickled Yorkshire rhubarb and pickle baby sliver skin onion, horseradish cream, elderflower gel, watermelon radishes, white alyssum flowers oxalis, allium bud and chive curls. I am a huge fan of scallops and this one was sweet and delicious, but the accompaniments to it, mostly the rhubarb, were quite acidic. This is perfectly logical as the acidity goes well with the natural sweetness of the scallop, but for me the rhubarb was just too sharp, its flavour rather taking over from the scallop, which after all should be the star of the show (just about 16/20). Porterhouse bread was made from scratch and had excellent texture, fluffy and delicious.

Roasted veal heart sweetbreads were served with toasted grains of wild rice, macadamia nuts, puffed amaranth, sobacha and malt flakes. There was a jus noisette (butter sauce) with macadamia ajo blanco and allium flower to finish. The Dutch sweetbreads were glazed in honey and soy and very precisely cooked. They had a fluffy, light texture, nicely contrasted by the grains, which also offset the richness of the butter sauce. This was the dish of the meal for me. It would be even better if they used a higher quality French sweetbread (18/20).

The was followed by native Lobster finished over the barbecue, glazed with dashi, lobster oil, lemon balm powder and orange zest, served with French white asparagus, garlic cream, croutons, calamansi gel, red butterfly sorrel, lemon balm and chervil with sauce Maltaise, which is a Hollandaise base spiked with orange zest and juice. The lobster was tender and the white asparagus excellent, the two elements nicely bridged by the creamy sauce (17/20). 

Cornish cod was lightly poached in aromatic olive oil, served with mint gel topped with nasturtiums, red vein, butterfly sorrel, dill, wild chervil, red basil. purple shiso and a dashi broth made from shiitake mushroom finished with Iberico fat. I can never get excited about cod, and although the accompaniments were nicely put together there is only so much that can be said about a piece of cod (15/20). There is a reason that, in France, fine dining restaurants almost exclusively serve turbot, sea bass, red mullet and sometimes John Dory. Only in the UK do you see starred restaurants serving pollack, cod, ling and other cheaper fish. I should note that this exact dish was formerly on the menu here, but using sea bass.

The main course was 14-day aged duck from Sladesdown farm in Devon. This was roasted on the crown and glazed with Sichuan pepper, served with baby turnips, turnip ribbons, green turnip puree, wasabina (a kind of mustard plant) leaf, allium flower and shiitake with a duck sauce infused with Madeira and ginger, There was also a steamed bun filled with braised duck leg inside with the same flavours as on the plate. The duck was cooked pink and had excellent flavour, the earthiness of the turnips being a good balance for the inherent richness of the meat. I particularly enjoyed the steamed duck bun, which had deep flavour and a light, fluffy texture (17/20).

On the tasting menu there was now a cheese course of pieces of Rove Des Garrigues rindless goat cheese from the southwest of France. This came with honey vinegar gel, herb puree, and fresh radishes dressed in a light vinaigrette, topped with a rye cracker with fennel and caraway. There was also a garnish with rocket, tagette flowers, and wasabina. The dish was finished tableside with Mig Mag olive oil tableside. This was pleasant enough, though I almost always prefer to have a choice of regular cheeses. They do have a proper cheeseboard at this restaurant, which we added to our menu as an extra course. The mix of French and British cheeses were in good condition, served with as well as honey, oat biscuits, fennel pollen flatbreads, date ‘Branson pickle’, fresh grapes and candied walnuts. 

Pre-dessert was mango sorbet with a mousse of coconut finished with roasted coconut and lime zest. A pre dessert should be refreshing and this fitted the bill nicely, the sharpness of the lime adding freshness to the deeply flavoured sorbet (17/20). The main dessert was one of raspberry and chocolate. There was Marco Polo 64% dark chocolate ice cream, raspberry and almond parfait, raspberry gel, and a chocolate crisp finished with gold leaf. This was an excellent dessert, the contrasting textures working well and the acidity of the raspberry balancing the richness of the rest of the dish (17/20).

Coffee was from Workhouse, accompanied by some petit fours. These were a crunchy caramel coated in Manjari chocolate and topped with crispy sobacha and sea salt, pink grapefruit jelly coated in a pine and juniper flavored sweet and sour sugar, and a miniature yuzu and kalamansi meringue pie.

I was being treated by a friend so I am not sure what the final bill was, though it would have been substantial. If you ordered from the cheapest menu and shared a modest bottle of wine then a typical cost per person might be around £260 or so. This is hardly a cheap night out, though the technical skill on display in the kitchen is high, and the staff here are very welcoming.

Further reviews: 07th Nov 2023 | 25th Sep 2021 | 26th Jul 2018 | 19th Feb 2015 | 05th Dec 2012