The London restaurant scene now

When I go to London, now hailed (by Londoners themselves if nobody else) as the international food capital of the world,

I try not to eat Asian food because we Indians now have so many opportunities to travel to East Asia and eat the real thing.

 

But I was curious about the newly opened Koyn Thai in the heart of Mayfair because it is daring to open an upmarket Thai restaurant in an area dominated largely by Arabs, Russians, rich Indians and Eurotrash, none of whom like paying high prices for Thai food.

 

   I know the owners (Dinesh and Samyukta Nair) and fortunately, they did not ask me about the prospects for Koyn Thai because I would have told them that most successful Thai restaurants in London were run by white people (Kiln, The Smoking Goat etc.) and ever since Nahm (also run by a white guy) had closed, no really upmarket Thai restaurant (run by people of any colour) had worked in central London. Even the Thai restaurant groups (Greyhound, Patara etc.) went with bland food for the mid-market.

 

   So it was a surprise to find Koyn Thai packed out. The bigger surprise was how good the food was. I ordered dishes I already knew well from Thailand: Chiang Mai Sausages, Massaman Curry, Grilled Pork Neck, Beef with Black Pepper, Chicken Krapow and many more. They were outstanding. My wife, who is more chauvinistic about Thai food than most Thai people themselves and is always critical of Thai food outside of Thailand was bowled over; she had to concede that this was well up to top Bangkok standards.

 

   The chef, Rose Chalalai Singh, whose glamorous Thai kitchen in Paris is much praised, was not there the night we went but the kitchen was on top form.

 

   Long before central London became infested with the world’s rich, there was Le Caprice. It was, in its heyday, the hottest restaurant in London frequented by powerful media people and glamorous celebrities. On a good day, if you were lucky you might see Princess Diana or Mick Jagger, or, if you were less lucky, Jeffrey Archer. I once sat on the next table to David Bowie and could barely contain my excitement.

 

   Le Caprice has a long history but its glory period came when it was run by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the best restaurateurs in the UK. But then, much to the despair of regulars, they sold their restaurant empire which also included The Ivy and J Sheekey.  Eventually, Richard Caring bought the restaurants and though he did not destroy Le Caprice as comprehensively as he has destroyed The Ivy brand, the restaurant lost its status.

 

   Now, it is back with Corbin and King. Because Caring owns the Caprice name, they have had to call it Arlington after the street where it is located. In all other respects though, it is the Corbin and King Caprice. It looks the same, the menu is an updated version of the original and the old regulars are back.

 

   It is doing extremely well (I loved it) and the big question when it opened—of course, it will appeal to the old regulars but what about the new generation? — seems to have been answered. Given that the original Caprice opened in 1947 (Corbin and King took it over in 1981) it's timeless. Generations come and go but Le Caprice goes on. (Well, at least when it is run by professionals.)

 

   Though he has been around for a while, Claude Bosi is very much the chef of the moment in London. Of the many expensive restaurants that have recently opened at London’s new smart hotels (Raffles at OWO, the Peninsula etc.) the only one that has caused a splash is Brooklands, Claude’s restaurant at the Peninsula. It got two stars from Michelin putting it on par with Bibendum where Bosi has had two stars for years.

 

"The best reviews I have read for any new restaurant in years are for the Devonshire, which has comfortable dining rooms over an old pub in Soho."

   Josephine is Claude’s stab at a neighbourhood (in Chelsea) restaurant in the tradition of Lyon. It has got better reviews than Claude’s older Socca in Mayfair which is more Riviera-ish in style perhaps because British critics hate relatively expensive Mayfair restaurants.

 

   I thought the food at Josephine — a cheese soufflé, steak tartare, confit duck — was fine without being particularly good and the service was friendly if only intermittently attentive. The basic problem was with the room and seating. Some of the tables were so uncomfortably close together that you felt you were eating at a communal table. I have nothing against communal tables at places like Brat but if you are going to take that route then your food had better be as good as Brat’s.

 

   Admittedly I went on a Sunday but the restaurant was not full, which a neighbourhood restaurant should be. So maybe Claude needs to rework the economics and take out a few tables to provide a convivial neighbourhood experience.

 

   The best reviews I have read for any new restaurant in years are for the Devonshire, which has comfortable dining rooms over an old pub in Soho. I thought the reviewers were absolutely right. If you have just one meal in London, this is where you should go.

 

   The menu has first rate ingredients which are brilliantly cooked by a crack, multi-ethnic team led by Head Chef Jamie Guy. (Also in the kitchen is a gifted young Indian chef called Syd—short for Siddharth—who has worked with Manu Chandra in Bangalore and will take India by storm if and when he comes home.)

 

   We had an absolutely perfect meal: Ham and Pea Soup; Iberico Ribs, cooked so that the meat melted off the bone; a White Crab salad and a British steak that was fire-cooked in full view of the dining room.

 

   All of this was excellent but the three standout dishes were a bread and butter pudding (quite different from the Anton Mosimann version), Diver Scallops with Bacon and Malt Vinegar and Chips triple-cooked in duck fat.

 

   If Triple Cooked Chips rings a bell it may have something to do with the fact that Ashley Palmer-Watts who helped frame the Devonshire menu was, for many years, Heston Blumenthal’s right-hand man.

 

   Though we tend to think of Blumenthal in terms of his TV shows, The Fat Duck and Dinner, we sometimes forget that among his Michelin-starred places is The Hind’s Head, which is a pub with a dining room upstairs in the foodie village of Bray , a short distance from The Fat Duck.

 

   I won’t attempt to review the food at The Hinds Head because we went with Heston and his elegant and dynamic French wife Melanie and did not have the same experience as the average punter. Of course, the food was terrific but then you would expect that, wouldn’t you?

 

   Still, it was very special to eat Triple Cooked Chips with the man who invented them, to rediscover the soft-centred Scotch Egg which is another of Heston’s contributions to gastronomy and to observe Heston’s seemingly endless search for perfection.

 

   He ordered two Hereford steaks cooked at different temperatures, compared them and then decided he wanted a third cooked at yet another temperature. (All three tasted fine to my unrefined palate!)

 

   The test of a good fried fish is the crispness of the batter and the exact texture of the fish inside. The batter is fried but the fish is sort of steamed. Heston used a temperature to check how hot the fish inside was and I was surprised to discover (I still don’t understand how) that the interior temperature actually went up as the fish came to the table.

 

   My lunch at the Hind’s Head was wonderful. But to see one of the world’s most influential chefs in action is also a privilege and an education.