Les 110 de Taillevent London

The iconic Paris restaurant Taillevent, dating back to 1946, has a wine-oriented brasserie called Les 110 de Taillevent Paris. In October 2015 they brought this across the Channel, the all-day, 70-seat London version opening in Cavendish Square in what used to be a branch of Coutts bank. The restaurant name comes from 110 wines being available by the glass, ideal for wine pairing with the classically oriented menu. The head chef is Robert Panek, who has worked at The Bleeding Heart, Bob Bob Ricard and Pont de la Tour, amongst others. The pastry chef, Marion Luque-Bouvier, comes from Paris, having worked at Taillevent and Cinq. The dining room is in two sections, smart with reasonably well-spaced seating, comfortable chairs, and acoustics that are well controlled despite the wooden floor.

Starters ranged from £7 to £16, mains mostly £19 to £24, desserts £7 to £11. The wine list had 350 different references, so almost a third of the whole list is available by the glass, either 125 ml or a tasting measure of 70 ml. The price ranges from £26 up to Petrus 2005 at £3,900 compared its current market price of £2,590. Franz Haas 2014 Pinot Grigio was £44 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £14, Ata Rangi Craighall Chardonnay 2013 was £80 compared to a shop price of £29, and the rare Clos Rougeard Les Poyeaux 2007 was a bargain at £163 given that its current market price is £176. Many of the high end wines were kindly priced by any standard, for example Tremblay Vosne Romanee 2010 listed at £195 for a bottle whose shop price was £210, while Leflaive Beinvenue Batard Montrachet 1996 cost £344 yet its current retail price was £446. 

There are no nibbles nor bread offered other than some quite delicate cheese straws. A starter of crab remoualde with dill and fennel was presented in a  cocktail glass with a base of caviar. This was an unusual take on the dish, but the crab was fresh and generous (14/20). Langoustine ravioli came with basil and citrus butter, the shellfish fairly tender if not possessing dazzling flavour, the pasta good and the sauce rich (14/20). 

Sea bass with lemon olive oil dressing and a garnish of vegetables was properly cooked and had good flavour, the dressing having good balance (14/20). I was impressed by vol au vents with lamb sweetbreads and crayfish, the puff pastry excellent, the texture of the offal good. The only slight hitch was some extraneous crayfish shell, but the sauce was very well made, rich and velvety (15/20), and a side salad provided enough balancing acidity for what would otherwise have been an overly rich dish.

The best elements of the meal were the desserts, the French pastry chef showing why France represents the pinnacle of pastry cooking. Sable Breton had a delicate shortbread base, lemon cream, meringue, lime jelly and marshmallow, the contrasting textures lovely and with just enough acidity (17/20). A chocolate sphere contained a poire Belle Helene, pears poached in sugar syrup and served with vanilla ice cream. At the table a hot chocolate sauce was poured over the sphere, melting the casing, the rich sauce working really well with the fruit. This was highly skilled technical dessert cooking of the kind rarely on display in London (16/20). Financiers served with the coffee were similarly classy. In the UK proper pastry chefs are a rarity outside a few high-end kitchens, and the gap in class between the desserts here and what is normal in the UK was evident.

Service was generally excellent, the staff mostly French, the waiters attentive and professional, especially given that the place had only been open just over a week.  One feature of the wine by the glass menu structure is that it is very tempting to try better wines that one might otherwise order. It is a vinous analogy of the “small plates” format much beloved of London restaurateurs, which entices customers to order more than they would do normally due to the deceptively low price of each component dish.  Glasses of wine at £10 to £20 sound innocent enough, but six glasses between two can rapidly take the wine cost into three figures. We managed to rack up a bill of £180 a head, albeit with some very good wine, but it should be emphasised that the markup levels are actually quite kind by London standards, especially for the posher wines. If you exercised more self-restraint than me and just shared a modest bottle then a typical cost per head might be around £80. This is not bad given the smart setting, slick service and good cooking, especially at the dessert stage of the meal.