(menu)

The Greenhouse

Address:	27a Hay's Mews W1J 5NY
Tel	020 7499 3331
Email:	info@greenhouserestaurant.co.uk
Website:	Visit The Greenhouse website
Price: £87.00	Wine: £30.00	Champagne: £65.00
Opening Hours:	Mon-Fri 12N-2.30pm Mon-Sat 6.45-10.30pm

Square Meal review of The Greenhouse:

This former BMW Square Meal Restaurant of the Year closed in January for a complete refurb & has re-emerged with a beige-&-grey look that brings an elegant urbanity to the place. There’s been no change in the kitchen, however, where talented chef Antonin Bonnet remains at the stoves. A starter of Limousin veal sweetbreads with wild garlic caramel & glazed leek boldly mixed unexpected ingredients to great effect, the pungent sharpness of the leek & garlic cutting the richness of the sweetbreads. A Thai-flavoured broth of prawns & carrots had a gentler charm, while Anjou pigeon with braised salsify & toasted sesame salt was a well-judged mix of French & Asian influences. Meals end on a high note, whether the simple pleasures of a superbly kept cheeseboard, or a pudding such as the Snix: a delectable ensemble of molten chocolate, salted caramel & peanuts. It doesn’t come cheap, but factor in amuse bouches, pre-desserts, delicious bread & butter & smooth, attentive service, & The Greenhouse provides a memorably enjoyable night out that few London restaurants can match.

Wine List: The Greenhouse has one of the world’s great wine cellars. The Champagne selection alone is astonishing, while jaw-dropping highlights elsewhere include verticals of Comte Lafon Meursault, 17 vintages of Latour (back to 1924) & every Grange from 1999 to 1961 bar two. With a list of over 100 pages, modest budgets are well catered for, & the sommelier team is excellent. Best Buy White 2004 Château Sainte-Marie, Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux, France, £26. Best Buy Red 1999 Allegrini Palazzo della Torre, Veneto, Italy, £47.

Chef: Antonin Bonnet

Continuing his work with restaurateur Marlon Abela, Antonin Bonnet moved from private club Morton’s to sister restaurant The Greenhouse in early 2006. It was only weeks before that Michelin had revealed it was considering awarding the restaurant two stars (under chef Bjorn van der Horst). Luckily Bonnet has maintained standards as well as taking the food in a new, exciting direction, but we have yet to see if the site will attract the promised two stars. After honing his skills in various restaurants in France, with a year spent in the French army as a private chef, he worked for three years under the renowned three-Michelin-starred chef Michel Bras in Laguiole, before moving to London’s Oak Room to work for Marco Pierre White. In 2000 he became a private chef for Abela before being appointed as executive chef of Morton’s.