Maze is part of the Gordon Ramsay empire, its head chef currently Tristin Farmer. The notes below are from when Jason Atherton was in charge; he has since gone his own way with Pollen Street Social.
Maze seems as successful as ever, packed out early this evening. We tried a wide range of the dishes this evening. Crab salad with pickled mooli, apple jelly and Bloody Mary sorbet had excellent crab, and the taste combination was refreshing. A pair of roasted scallops was served with a classical pairing of cauliflower puree, and a muscatel vinegar dressing to give a little acidity to balance the sweet scallops. Honey and soy roasted quail had good flavour, served with a little foie gras from Landes and a spiced pear chutney.
Roast squab and Peking duck leg was served on a wooden chopping board with marinated turnip and date sauce. Roasted organic Shetland cod tasted excellent and was attractively paired with crispy pigs trotters, tripe and ears, along with some broad beans and peas. Cornish red mullet tasted fresh, with sardine and saffron rice, Pimento pepper puree and “paella air”. A rare breed Suessex pork was served “head to toe” with parsnip and spiced lentils. There was also a Cornish crab mayonnaise with avocado, sweet corn sorbet and Oscietra caviar, another dish whose flavour combinations worked well. All these dishes hovered around the 16/20 level.
The star of the evening for me was the BLT and Croque Monsieur pairing that will be familiar to those who have watched the 2008 Great British Menu TV series (this was the winning starter). This witty dish reinvents these sandwiches, the BLT arriving in a cocktail glass, with a lettuce soup in a glass on the side, the main cocktail glass holding tomato jelly, bacon onion cream, the dish garnished with fried onion rings and bacon lardons. This was a wonderfully successful combination of refreshing flavours (18/20). The brioche croque monsieur was less interesting for me, but the BLT was inspired cooking; the great thing was the flavours were so intense and complimentary; this was not just a dish relying on originality, but actually tasting great.
The wine list at Maze is excellent, with attractive choices from all around the world, at just about tolerable mark-ups. Service was excellent, though quite why the staff find it necessary to dim the lights to the point of gloominess shortly after the evening began eludes me: this is an attractive room with pretty food, and it would be nice to be able to actually see it.
Further reviews: 06th Sep 2013 | 01st Jan 2007 | 01st Oct 2005
RestaurantCritic.eu
I was here in February 2009 and was quite impressed. Not all the combinations worked but overall it was a great meal. See full review at http://www.restaurantcritic.eu/the-reviews/united-kingdom/maze
Craig Fisher
My meal at Maze was not particularly memorable. Apart from the BLT and croque monsieur and a dish which included horseradish snow, it was all ok, nothing more. My main gripe, however, was with the service. I attended with my partner and the waitress asked for drinks orders whilst she was in the restroom, a pet hate of mine. She then proceeded to do the same later in the meal whilst I was in the restroom. At the end of the meal, we asked for coffee and petit fours, to be informed that the coffee would be served in the bar area. We then waited, and waited, for the coffee to arrive, only to be told that we hadn't ordered the coffee (we had obviously taken the unreasonable step of assuming we had ordered it when we asked for the coffee and petit fours at the end of the meal prior to being moved). When the coffee now arrived, it was sans petit four, which then needed to be chased up. Small points, but ones which really affected my enjoyment of the restaurant.
RJM Gilligan
I had (an alcohol free) lunch at Maze with a colleague in October 2009. The greeting and service were friendly, welcoming and informal. The waiting staff knew the menu and could talk both knowledgeably and comprehensibly about the food and its preparation. The tasting /tapas menu format was less clear than at (say) Atelier Robuchon and it was difficult to judge how many courses a lunch should consist of. We settled on two with the option to extend should time and appetite allow. The food was good but not truly exceptional. The specific details are never particularly helpful as each dish is unique, but my recollection a week later is that the fish had waited at the pass too long and was just a little dry. The olive oil used in the potato puree was too strong; you couldn’t taste potato, just olive oil – why not make a proper fluffy mash? Most disappointing was the jam and peanut butter sandwich – clearly an attention grabber and presumably something of a unique selling point on the menu. It stated beautifully; the peanut butter ice-cream is heavenly, so subtle in a flavour that really does take you back to childhood. The problem is that the “jam”, actually a fruit reduction totally and utterly overpowers the ice-cream. I really wanted to love this dish; Elvis died on toilet eating its inspiration, what could be more inspiring. Sadly, it didn’t come off. The bill came to a not wholly unreasonable £66 for 3 dishes each. Overall, an OK meal tinged with disappointment that the dish designed to make me smile didn’t pull it off. The staff were lovely though, as were some of the ladies who clearly lunch there often.