The Square

David T. (Over 60, Male, United Kingdom)

My wife and I used to be regulars at The Square in its former location in St James. However, when it moved, it lost a certain humanity, not to mention gaining a few pounds, and we never felt sufficiently at ease to include it among our regulars. The last time we went was probably a year ago – I only recognised one of the staff and none of them recognised us.

However, when we arrived, precisely on time (it was Sunday and the traffic was light), we were greeted in a friendly manner by the receptionist. This was the friendliest of any that we came into contact with, the rest being correct (mainly) but distant. One table containing two young(ish) casually dressed men attracted much more attentive and friendly service to the extent that I suspect those two men were members of staff.

My wife ordered her usual, which came without any fuss. I had a glass of German riesling (£9) and a bottle of sparkling water. The riesling was pleasant but a somewhat ungenerous glass. I followed that with a bottle of Cornas Reynard 1996 at £95 – pleasant, as it should be.

We were each presented with a wooden block bearing canapés, which were nice enough, but not memorable.

Not being a lover of fish, I had very little choice of starter – one vegetarian option, some fried fois gras or a parfait of fois gras and chicken livers. The vegetarian option looked boring, as it often does, and so, although I am attempting to cut down on fois gras, I had the parfait. This came in three parts: a Kilner jar bearing an inch or so of parfait; a medium size plate bearing a salad; and a couple of slices of toasted Poilane bread. The salad had some Jerusalem artichokes, pickled onions and several sweet dollops, which, once I had established what they were, I left. My wife was afraid the onions would wreck the wine, but they were so lightly pickled and so mild that they did not. The parfait was a sloppy deep beige mixture coated on top with salted peanut crisp, which added a contrast in… More