Galvin La Chapelle

Sunday Birthday Lunch

We had a joint birthday lunch at La Chapelle on Sunday 5th May. It was wonderful.

All the staff were friendly and helpful, and coped magnificently with a very lively 2 and a half year old who started out rather grumpy from being overtired but then woke up after a nap with a vengeance to be the life and soul and to dance to the live jazz band. The meal provided from the children's menu was spot-on; simple and beautifully cooked.

The 4 adults indulged themselves with a three-course meal from the prix fixe menu. Everything was beautifully cooked and presented, and tasted as good as it looked. Between us we had the crab lasagne which was incredibly delicate; the beetroot salad which came with goat's cheese and walnuts and which we fully intend to try to recreate when the weather improves, and the pea velouté. This was followed by roast beef and the roast loin of Bayonne pork, the beef was medium rare and melted in the mouth. The pork was voted ‘delicious’.

To follow we had chocolate ganache, which was to die for, and the almond financier and there was a dish of ice cream for the toddler which she loved.

We had a great time and would happily go back again. One of the staff noticed that we were exchanging birthday presents and after dessert the coffee arrived with three plates containing a little dish with a candle, truffles and mini macaroons, with ‘Happy Birthday’ written in chocolate sauce on the plates which we thought was a lovely touch.

Bland, over salted, poorly trained sommelier, overpriced disaster

We think they we're practising for GCSE food presentation and someone with no taste buds seasoned the food, the only explanation for a terrible meal. Lemon Sole was delicately poached, then utterly drowned in a green salty broth ( no flavour) with samphire ( usually utterly lovely, in this instance like thickened rosemary) floating cubes of new potato to finish. We complained, and we're offered desert , we declined. My fellow diner opted for pork, cooked ‘medium rare’ odd description, and served by the aforementioned GCSEcandidate on a lump of mash with thick water logged asparagus around the edges of the plate. Pork itself was tasty, the dish looked unappetising and sloppy. Sommelier , when asked about the relative merits of two puligny Montrachet options answered… I'd go for the other one… ( possibly one needs the O level students for an opinion) . Wine was tasty,bill was sizable , there is a Carluccios across the square, reliable, tasty, delicious. wish we had opted for that. Galvin was lazy, in every respect ( possibly due the number of expense accounts and therefore disinclination of guests to complain. )
Disappointing. When Le Manoir charges less and offers legions more in terms of quality and taste, when you have the whole of London to choose from, heck when there is a Carluccios across the road, don't waste your time on Galvin. We will not, needless to say, be back.

Perfect evening

it is not often every course of a restaurant meal for four diners is perfect, together with the service and the wine. But this was the case for our dinner at La Chapelle last night. Add the superb room and the ability to hear what your fellow guests are saying and it is difficult to think of anywhere better. The Ledbury perhaps but not much in it.

It's interesting how the door isn't that big for such a grand place. The people at the reception were very lovely and helpful, giving me the choice of waiting at the bar or at the table. The restaurant was pretty empty on a Monday night and we had the full attention of the staff. I don't notice that often, but the the lightning and the ceiling were truly stunning.
We picked mains and decided to go for several desserts to share. My poached sea bass was perfect and delicate, the jus may have been a tad too salty and the pumpkin gnocci were strangely sticky. My partner's assiette of lamb (three ways) looked gorgeous too.
The highlights were probably the desserts. We shared a blueberry soufflé that was so light it was almost a mousse, a coffee parfait as fondant as butter and chocolate ganache which would please chocolate addict. Three desserts were probably being greedy as they were all very rich but we were left to chat at our table for a long while, so I had a chance to digest.

The last sweet touch, the waiter wondering if we needed a cab.

Overall, this is a stunning space to eat in, either on beautiful day – as today – or in the evening when the lights make for a wonderful scene. The service could not have been more attentive, especially if they'd got my name right on the reservation. My guests thought that it was “on the poncy side”, so Galvin brothers beware ! I enjoyed it, though.

It has been a while since I’ve visited one of the Gavlin restaurants, and if I am honest it was more the clients’ choice than mine. Whilst I’ve enjoyed the food in both the Bistro De Lux and Window I’ve never really been blown away by them and that we were out on a Saturday night it seems a little wrong to me to be in the City when I don’t have to be.

Without doubt it is a very impressive building once inside, the huge vaulted ceiling and immaculately set tables, and you do spend the first few minutes just looking around at the amazing space.

We kicked of with a few cocktails in the adjacent café, and then went on to dinner in the restaurant itself. We opted for the tasting menu (£70) accompanied with the matching wines (£35). This encompassed crab lasagne, for me the best part of the meal, sea bass with lovely crisp skin, vegetable risotto, beetroot and goats cheese salad (the only let down course as a little incongruous with the whole meal I thought), fillet steak with potato fondant and creamed spinach all finished off with a superb tarte tatin. There were no amuse bouches or pre-desserts though, it is very much what you see on the menu is what you get, which is fine but detracts from the spoilt and pampered feeling some restaurants give to you.

Service wise was ok and the whole friendly and efficient, albeit a little too effusive with a queue of waiters and maitre d’s lining to talk to my dinner companion as he’d been there a ‘few’ times before. Good skills from the sommelier remembering the wine he usually drank. On the negative side, one course we had to chase for the matching wine and napkins were sometimes folded and sometimes not, but only minor infractions really.

All in all it was very pleasant, and for the standard of food and service £105 (plus 12.5%) a head for the tasting menu was good value, whilst I’d probably not race back I’d certainly recommend the place especially as the City is so lacking in top end restaurants.

Having recently been disappointed with Galvin’s Bistro De Luxe, it was with a certain degree of trepidation that I booked their recently Michelin anointed City joint, La Chapelle. I should not have worried: all in all, a far more satisfactory experience, and good to see that the brothers are at the top of their game here.

The Chapel was actually most recently a gym for the local girls school, and has the light, high ceilinged air of a gym, but fortunately without the sweaty air of a gym. It also has a hushed feel to it. A nod perhaps to the place, perhaps to the food.

The name La Chapelle doesn’t, as I’d assumed, come from the place being an old Chapel, but from the association with the wine of that name from the Rhone Valley. And there is a good selection of Jaboulet’s finest, from the ’94 (at a relatively sane £190 a bottle) to the mind bogglingly daft ’61 at the best part of £20k. Fortunately the rest of the wine list is more sensibly priced, with many bottles in the twenties and thirties (pounds not thousands thereof), some excellent small producer champagnes and a good selection of both by the glass and carafe.

Food is a good selection of Frenglish, with a lasagne of Dorset crab and broad bean soup sitting next to Mediterranean fish soup and foie gras salad. A fine fish soup too: rich, thick with fish and tangy with saffron and orange, coming with garlicky mayonnaise and croutons. The broad bean soup proved a hit too, slickly smothering the smoked duck.

Mains too were fine, with the red mullet and cod both hitting the spot without being outstandingly memorable.

In fact, whilst the food is good, this isn’t what most people will come here for. It is a serious place to conduct serious business: RBS and the EBRD are next door, and the £1,000 an hour lawyers from Allen & Overy reside on the doorstep. This is a canteen for the suited expense account brigade. To ensure that they keep coming back, the food is good without being challenging, the service is smooth without being obtrusive and the atmosphere is suitable reverent. A chapel is an excellent choice to house this combination.

With the recent star awarded to Galvin La Chapelle, The Square Mile now holds a trio of starred establishments, the accolade yet to be achieved by L’Anima, The Bleeding Heart and Lutyens. Expectations were high.

My first impression was very positive, the restaurant is in a converted school chapel with no expense spared fit out and dramatic vaulted ceilings. I arrived at their well stocked bar and am served with a well made G&T and small bowl of Olives and Nuts. Following a quick aperitif we were shown to our table and brought an ‘appetiser’ of the same bar Olives and shortly after, two bread options. Brown or – Olive. Unfortunately our (very friendly) Italian waiter’s grasp of English was so rudimentary that any questions around the menu were simply met with a single enthusiastic ‘fabulous’ – so we just ordered, both something fabulous apparently. Well done us.

Starters arrived, quickly. My guests Pressed Guinea Fowl was apparently very good, although I was unable to detect any crustacean in my Lasagne of Dorset crab with velouté of chanterelles, the veloute itself did have a teffific smooth and creamy texture. Starters finished and my £32 côte de boeuf with potato fondant looked decidedly unfabulous. The fondant potato or mille-feuille as they prefer to call it was already sliding around the plate in its own butter. The meat itself was tender and cooked well, the Béarnaise was delicious, but the cut even for a rib was very fatty, with at least of a third of its gloopy inedible weight remaining on my plate. My companion did much better with his saddle of Venison which looked very good. Still feeling rather peckish I opted for Cheese and am relieved to report that the selection was full of many very interesting choices and a delight. Two cracker options were offered in keeping with the theme.

The shared opinion (based on this one meal) was that it was not a Michelin star experience, although I will go back and try again because I really want to like it and other readers reviews have been so good. My feedback regarding the Steak was dealt with very professionally, hence my higher overall score.

Wine recommendation – Frog's leap Zinfandel Napa Valley

First went here for the set lunch and had to return for the dinner and what a dinner, the food was amazing, best meal I've had for years. To start with I had a Terrine of pork and foie gras, finished the plate in about 5 minutes flat it was that delicious, for main I had Breast of Landaise chicken and all the flavour combinations worked superbly. We has a cheese board to finish and they had a salty blue goats cheese which was to die for, I asked where it was from, they went off and printed an A4 page detailing the whole background story on the farm in France where they sourced this amazing cheese. All I can say is go and visit this restaurant, you won't be disappointed.

Another first class meal and evening at La Chapelle. The cooking is exemplary and the service on Saturday 23rd October 2010 was extremely good – friendly, professional and timed perfectly. The ambience of the room is great. Keep on finding myself coming back here – as it thoroughly deserves the repeat business!