Which brings me to the topic of the day - Notoriously Cantankerous Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay (wow...that's a bigger mouthful then a lot of the plates he serves). We've all watched as he berates his chef-testants on Hell's Kitchen. But has this resulted in a well-oiled kitchen? Sue and I set out to answer this question last week at Gordon Ramsay at the London Hotel in NYC.
Gordon Ramsay at The London has two options: Maze and the formal dining room. The formal dining room has a nice subdued gray and mother of pearl color theme with interesting light fixtures and a modest number of tables. On unusual feature that I really loved was that the chairs were swivel, which took away the awkward server trying to push your chair in factor (which I personally find rather uncomfortable and unnecessary a lot of the time...here they just lightly turned your chair out and then back into the table). There are two options in the formal dining room - the 3 course or 7 course menu (3 courses will set you back $110 which I view as reasonable for this sort of restaurant). Having a show to attend later that night, we opted for the 3 courses.
The service is good but a tad awkward. Our waiter and food presenters were a bit strange and forced at times, as if they were new and hadn't gotten comfortable yet. At one point, I asked the waiter a question and he explained the dish in such great detail that I think I could make it at home. That said, the intention of the service was good and always there when you needed it. The best part of our service team was undoubtedly the sommelier, because he was quite capable of casual, spontaneous conversation and joking with us. I went over with him what we were going to order and he recommended reasonable bottles that would pair well with each. His strongest recommendation was our choice - a 2008 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner that did truly pair well with every bite we had...
We began our meal with a nice glass of prosecco and were then provided with a two part taste from the kitchen. The first was a shot glass of squash and cranberry soup with a brown butter foam, and the second was a spoon with a small bite of seared tuna, ginger, lemongrass and a sprig of cilantro. Sue hated the soup in a shot glass thing..."shots are supposed to be cold and soups are supposed to be eaten with a spoon". While I understand her point of view and also thought that the foam was a bit too thick because the first little taste was all butter, once you got to the remaining portion it was an excellent combination of flavors. The tart cranberry mixed in with the silky sweet squash and the rich brown butter was delightful. The tuna while deliciously fresh was strong with ginger at first and a bit too strong on the cilantro finish.
Our amuse bouche arrived on a plate shaped like a long half cylinder and included a spoonful of roasted garlic and chanterelle mushroom puree and a wee little square of salmon crepe. The salmon crepe was just thinly-sliced, deliciously fresh salmon but rather unremarkable in this day and age of sushi. The roasted garlic and chanterelle mushroom bite on the other hand had such a lovely roasted garlic flavor that mixed nicely with the earthy mushroom background. Something you'd want to spread on bread more than eat by the spoonful but delectable nonetheless.
Following this course, house-salted butter and the bread tray arrived on cue. There were three bread options, but there was no way Susan or I could choose anything but the rosemary, onion, and bacon roll. I wanted this roll to astound me like most bacon items do (I basically wanted this bread to be the cheddar bacon biscuits from Gramercy), but it was just a nice rosemary roll with a salty/smoky bacon flavor seeping its way into some of the bites. Darn.
For my appetizer, I chose the sturgeon with caviar, pickled cucumbers, roasted fennel and pernod truffle sauce. The sturgeon's texture was perfect but it was a bit too charred for me. The charred flavor overwhelmed the plate and allowed no other tastes to come through...I would have loved the salty caviar and the pernod truffle sauce flavors to complement this but the char flavor was a little bit of a plate hog. Upon hearing that I was going to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant, a friend that is a die-hard fan of his show insisted that if risotto or scallops were on the menu I had to order them because Gordon is always yelling about them on his shows and therefore must clearly pay the most attention to these two dishes. Susan tested this theory out by ordering the scallops as her appetizer. And well, if I ever dine in any of his restaurants again, I will without hesitation order any scallop dish I see on the menu. The grilled scallop appetizer was served with a vanilla-infused parsnip cream sauce and oysters. The scallops were fork tender, melting in your mouth with the velvety, vanilla sauce. A delicious appetizer that put me in prime order envy mode.
My choice for entree was the seared salmon with soy & yuzu dust, butter poached lobster (the real reason I ordered the dish), turnip, and hearts of palm. The salmon was like eating a really good piece of sushi complete with soy sauce flavor and it had a nice crisp crust...not an out and out wow but a nice, basic fish preparation. The star of the plate was certainly the butter poached lobster. This was some of the most mouth-wateringly tender bites of heavenly lobster that I've ever had. This butter poached lobster method is just amazing...I've had it twice and I'm hooked. I only wish there were more pieces of buttery lobster on my plate and in my life.
Sue had the Langoustines with pork head terrine made into fritters and a herb pasta. The herb pasta stuck together so much that it reminded me of my college staple, the butter herb pasta-roni, and didn't taste all that different. The langoustines had a very different texture from lobster. There texture was a hybrid of fish and lobster textures that I found kind of addictive (Susan obviously did as well because I was offered far fewer bites then usual). The pork head fritters were richly decadent in a way that only pork can achieve with crisped edges and soft filling.When I read the dessert options on the menu, I was convinced that there was no way I would like any of them. Luckily, I was completely wrong. My favorite diabetic had the passion fruit and chocolate mousse molded into a rectangular log and garnished with a balsamic reduction and topped with a creme fraiche ice cream. My roasted pear dessert was a round bed of thinly sliced roasted pears with the tiniest sage leaves I've ever seen garnishing them topped with a milk chocolate pudding (they had a fancier name for it but whatever you call it it's a pudding) and vanilla ice cream. The pear and chocolate was a very nice combination. I wouldn't say either of these was the best dessert I've ever had or anywhere close to contending for such honors, but they were very good...Sue and I both finished our plates without a second thought.
Roll in the trolley of treats! The top level was nougatine and salted caramels, the next was a variety of truffles and the bottom was various sugar-based confections like marshmallows and honeycomb.
For the price, I think the food, atmosphere and overall experience is about right. I would have liked to have been amazed by a few more dishes than I was. Each had nice parts, but as a whole didn't always work. I wouldn't say that it has to be on the top of anyone's list of places to dine (I think there are better places in the same price point), but for the midtown location and a special occasion it's a decent option.
I think perhaps you can do a little bit better Gordo
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