The Georgian at Harrods

The Georgian Restaurant is on the fourth floor of Harrods (door 10 in Hans Street is the best entrance to the store to take for the restaurant). The kitchen has a menu now overseen by Calum Franklin, formerly of the Holborn Dining Room, but the dining room itself has been here since 1911. It is quite stylish, albeit with a low ceiling, and there was a live singer this evening as entertainment. Afternoon tea is served here but in the evening the menu changes, to offer traditional British dishes including a range of pies. Beef Wellington is on the menu for two people at £150, with roast chicken at £35, to give an idea of price.

The wine list had 272 labels and ranged in price from £45 to £15,000 with a median price of £150 and an average markup to retail price of 2.5 times, which is extremely reasonable for central London. Sample references were La Cabane Léon Boesch Pinot Blanc 2020 at £55 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £21, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Clos La Roquète 2021 at £60 compared to its retail price of £, and La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza 2016 at £80 for a wine that will set you back £40 in the high street. For those with the means there was Meursault 1er Cru Genevrières Domaine des Comtes Lafon 2016 at £500 compared to its retail price of £458, and Krug Clos Du Mesnil Brut 2006 at £950 for a wine whose current market value is £1,400.

I can never resist a starter of pate en croute (£17), in this case pastry set with marsala jelly, with a filling of rabbit, Alsace bacon and pistachios. This was attractive to look at, the pastry well-made and the filling had good flavour (14/20). It was not in the league of the dazzling version at La Rotonde but it was very good. I also tasted a crab tart made with Devon crab, pickled shallots, brown crab mayonnaise, sea herbs and lemon. This was not quite in the same bracket but the pastry was fine.

Chicken and asparagus pie (£30) had an attractive pastry case and a filling of chicken, white onion puree, barbecued white onion and chicken jus gras. The pastry was again good, the filling for me needing more flavour and seemingly a little under seasoned (13/20). Lobster pie (£45) was similar in standard, the lobster meat tender though there being quite a lot of mash as filler to pad out the relatively expensive lobster meat. On the side, thin chips were fine, while some mixed wild garlic greens including asparagus, peas and broad beans were lightly cooked, though the white asparagus was distinctly woody. This was still rather better than a rather soggy hispi cabbage. Side dishes were each £9.

Lemon tart (£14) had decent lemon meringue filling, but the pastry shards in this case were a little on the soggy side (13/20). Bread and butter pudding was enjoyable, though the vanilla in the vanilla ice cream was barely detectable. A rhubarb trifle was made at the tableside, which was a nice touch. Coffee was Harrods own “Knightsbridge” blend, and was fine.

Service was polite but quite sloppy in many ways. At several points there was a “who ordered what?” when dishes arrived, while getting drinks topped up so was difficult that at one point, one of my dining companions walked across the room to get the bottle and pour it himself. One waiter had to be stopped from pouring sparkling water into the wrong glass, while getting attention from the quite large number of waiters on this not especially busy night was mostly a vain hope. This kind of thing is perhaps acceptable in a local pub, but not at this price point in Harrods. The bill came to £234 per person, with two bottles of wine and a half bottle of dessert wine between four, plus an initial glass of champagne each. This didn’t seem especially good value for me. The food was pleasant but the service let things down.