Galvin at Windows

I was taken here as a surprise dinner and it was fantastic. We had the degustation menu deluxe which included the wines with each course. They were very accommodating with a change to one of the courses that I cant eat. The wines were excteptional and at exactly e right temperature. On a Saturday night it had a very buzzy atmosphere and we were moved to a window table after an hour or so (you can't reserve the window tables as it is first come first served) so the view was fascinating. I would highly recommend is as a treat like I had!

I recently booked a dinner at Galvin at Windows with important clients of my business. In general, the food and service was good – which is consistent with my previous experiences of dining at this restaurant.

For my starter I ordered the Seared Scottish scallops, wild sea vegetables & oyster emulsion. It was tasty, but consisted of only one scallop which I thought was quite meagre for a dish which cost £18. However, near the end of our meal, I noticed that other diners who had ordered the scallops had been served two scallops on their plate.

I queried this with the waiter who abruptly told me that the scallops that we had were much larger than the ones on the dishes served with two scallops. I responded that the difference was not so significant to warrant just one scallop and I felt that we had been short-changed. The waiter responded to this saying the chef had made the decision because my scallop was much bigger. He then made a hand gesture to illustrate the size of my scallop which was a gross exaggeration of the actual size of the scallop. By doing this, I felt the waiter was effectively calling me a liar.

Additionally, the waiters continued to serve us bottled water throughout the meal without any request to do so. In the context of a business meal, I found this to be acceptable. However, at the end of the meal (when everyone had almost finished their coffee) they opened and served yet another bottle of water which, at this stage of the meal, was entirely unnecessary and simply an opportunity to increase the cost of our bill. I also raised this point with the waiting staff and, after considerable disagreement, they reluctantly agreed to remove the service charge and the coffees from the bill. Given that the service charge is a discretionary option, I found this offer to be highly insulting.

Overall, I found the manner in which the waiting staff dealt with me to be very unsatisfactory. Their rude and arrogant approach to my concerns and lack of apology for serving dishes of different quantity to that of other diners in the restaurant made me feel like a second-class customer, which is extremely disappointing when I have eaten at this restaurant many times.

The next day, I telephoned Galvin to see if they had changed their attitude, but sadly it remained the same. The member of staff who received my call was very agitated and did nothing to allay my concerns. In fact he approached the complaint in a very erratic manner. One moment he would casually announce “If you want the £18 you can have at” (which was in and of itself insulting) and the next moment complaining about the cost of the bottled water he had removed from the bill. This was confusing, unprofessional and offensive.

I so wanted my dinner at Galvin Windows to be blow-your-socks-off good. Really really wanted it to be. And yet I left feeling a little deflated and disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, the food is very good on the whole. We chose from the Menu Prestige, which at £65 for three courses is a little steep in comparison to something like Marcus Waering at the Berkley. The choice however was good and varied enough, though not vast, and I was torn between the venison and the fillet of beef bordelaise (which incurred a £5 supplement)

The amuse bouche was superb – pumpkin bavarois, mushroom cream, topped with a parmesan froth. It was spectacular, although they lose a few marks by not telling me it had pistachio mixed into the parmesan froth. I have a partial nut allergy which I told them about before ordering, but still the amuse bouche came with the pistachios! Fortunately pistachios, hazelnuts and almonds are the only three nuts that I am not allergic to, but still it could have been a close call.

Starters for my partner were scallops in a slightly nondescript veloute of some sort, whilst I had a duck and foie gras terrine. The scallops were perfectly cooked – lightly browned on the outside, squishy in the middle and full of flavour, A shame then that the veloute was so bland in comparison and did nothing to lift, or complement, the scallops themselves. My terrine was very good – full of flavour, and came with an astonishing piece of brioche toast which I could have kept eating all night.

Mains – my partner had a roasted fillet of cod whilst I went for the beef. The fish elicited murmurs of delight, whilst the beef was actually really rather good, with slices of ox cheek underneath and a lovely bordelaise sauce. The smoked potato puree was also rather good, although not spectacular enough to elevate it onto another plain from other forms of mashed potato.

Dessert was a huge tarte tatin to share – huge in that it was a full dinner plate size, cut in half. Lovely looking caramelised apple, crisp pastry, but otherwise very run-of-the-mill taste. The vanilla bean ice cream didn't do enough to lift the dessert. In truth, and this isn't being harsh, Cafe Rouge offer almost as good a tarte tatin, but for considerably less money.

A lovely touch is their tisane menu, with some great teas. I had a “Tisane sans souci” which contained orange, lemon, possibly some bergamot, and other exotic herbs and flavours. Lovely. As too were their homemade marshmallows which we had set our beady eyes on all throughout dinner!

So after all this, why did I leave so deflated? Well, the food is very good no doubt, but sadly nothing more than that. It just wasn't spectacular enough – the flavours weren't so alive that they rearranged your taste buds. It was good fare, well executed, but lacking in imagination. Compared to the aforementioned Marcus Waering at the beginning of this review, it is evident that Galvin is trying hard but doesn't quite get to that level. That is before taking cost into consideration!

A couple of other things annoyed us. First, you are not allowed to wear coats in the bar. They must be checked in. If we wanted to keep our coats, and it was very cold that evening, then we would have had to go straight to the table. So after a bit of a stilted and incredulous conversation with their front of house, we checked our coats and headed into the bar. It took ten minutes for our drinks orders to be taken, five minutes for them to arrive, which was expected, and before we could even lift a glass to toast each other, a front of house girl came over, took our drinks off our bar table onto a tray and brusquely said that our table was ready and we should follow her. We hadn't even managed to have a drink in their bar!!! I found this really poor service, totally ignorant of letting a customer relax into a venue.

Then at the table, we had been seated for two minutes before a surly waiter comes over to ask for our orders! We still hadn't managed to drink any of our champagne!! And so it continues – no doubt the service staff want to ensure your every need is looked after, but this should be done discreetly without a constant ten minute return to ask questions or to prompt ordering. The restaurant wasn't even so busy at 8pm so why they felt they had to rush us into ordering, I don't know.

It is a shame when these aspects of service remain more prominent as memories in my head than the food itself. That is saying all that needs to be said. Yes, the view is spectacular and worth the visit alone, but honestly I won't be coming back.

This was about our 4th visit but our first on a Saturday Night, but well worth the whole experience even with the music coming in from the Bar next door as it just added to the atmosphere.Once again the food was simply wonderful and the service matched all our previous visits if not even more friendly than before (even got a takeaway for my son and his favourite marshmellows).Can't wait for our next visit.

I went with my father for dinner there on his last visit to London. The atmosphere and view are fantastic, but we found the food to be really really disappointing. We had the ‘offer menu’ which was 50gbp per person for set menu excluding wine. Of course this is less expensive than the regular a-la-carte menu, but we still expected cuisine of decent standard. Unfortunately this is not what we found. Both our starters were poor, our mains were not at all appetising, and only the desert was of an acceptable standard.

I am not exaggerating when I say the food tasted bad, and I have had much better meals at a local pub or chain. If the chef is not willing to cater for a prix-fix menu, then it should not be offered.

A very very disappointing experience.

Depending on your sensibilities, Galvin either has a fabulous location, way up in the Hilton and with breathtaking views over London, or perhaps has dizzying effects on your stomach as you peer over the edge. The restaurant itself is very nicely laid out, and with a multi-tier effect, you don't feel the space so much. I assume it was laid out in this way to afford everyone a decent view out of the window…

The waiting staff are very attentive – the sommelier remembered having a little ‘discussion’ on burgundies with the Hubby the last time he'd been in – and the waitress brought us some piping hot bread straight out of the oven – yummy!

The amuse was a tomato water – just fabulous… Fabulous, fabulous – I'm definitely going to make the effort to make it having previously considered it too time-consuming.

I began with the pan-seared foie gras, spiced duck pastilla, confit lemon and date consommé. The foie gras was, yes, you've guessed it – fabulous. But actually the date consommé was even more incredible – I was spooning down to the last drop as the staff tried to take my plate. If I could have a flask of the stuff, I could climb Everest.

The Hubby had the terrine of foie gras, orange purée, spiced salt and toasted brioche. Now the Hubby is renowned in his search for a decent foie gras terrine – he's had it everywhere and is usually disappointed. Here he thought the flavour excellent, he loved the texture (it looked very smooth), he loved the orange, and even the brioche looked crisper and more robust than the usual offerings. I didn't even get a look in!

I then had the slow cooked fillet of beef, braised ox cheek, pomme purée and red wine jus. The ox cheek was deep and earthy, packed with flavour and a great contrast to the fillet. The mash was as smooth and silky as you'd expect, and the jus rich to the point of obsession. A proper ‘you can wipe your finger across it’ richness. And I did.

The Hubby had the real highlight though, Cotswold white chicken, tortellini, broad bean, wild garlic and jus gras. It looked stunningly pretty. The small amount I was allowed to steal was loaded with the garlic jus which tasted intensely of roasted garlic purée – smooth, delicious, full of flavour.

By this stage it was too late for pud, though they all looked delicious. We were brought some of the marshmallows, and the strawberry one's were particularly tasty, without doubt the best marshmallow I've eaten. I did also buy a bag of tea (!) – there were some amazing combinations, and I went for one with fennel seed, which aids digestion. I thought it might be a decent Kümmel substitute.

So. If you find yourself in need of a really flavoursome dinner, I'd definitely try Galvin! It has a very cute bar which fills up quite late (I noticed that they shut the doors between the bar and the restaurant when it started to fill). If you like heights the view is sensational. Also, the atmosphere is very relaxed – you could come here with friends and enjoy dinner without feeling as though your disturbing everyone else – a definite plus in this calibre of dining. It's going on my favourite's list.

Galvin at Windows also participates in Galvin's Chance – an employment programme for 18-24 year olds – have a look on their website.

I visited Galvin @ Windows for a birthday celebration and we were fortunate to occupy one of the larger tables situated by the large window (does have a greenhouse effect on a warm day) over seeing the spectular views London has to offer.
Unfortunately this along with the charming service from our waitress was the highlight of our meal.
Call me old fashioned, but when I go out for a meal, the main focus should be the food. Unfortuantely the food here was not worthy of a Michelin 1*. The problem being – lack of seasoning not only on mine, but on all the dishes that we all tasted. I had to request salt and pepper for my organic pork chop.
Fair enough, we opted for the lunch menu, but we have eaten lunch menus at Maze, Alain Ducasse @ Dorchester, Ramsay @ Claridges in the last 12 months and this was easily the worse 3 course meal we have had.
The pineapple desert lacked flavour as if the pineapple had been in transit for a long while. I don;t normally choose fruit desserts. However I had a pineapple ravioli @ Royal Hospital Road quite a while back and that was probably the best desert I've ever had at a restaurant, so was hopeful that this pineapple dessert would evoke that memory. It didn't.
There was nice touch at the end with a nicely decorated plate of chocolates with “happy birthday” written around the sides, but other than that a mediocre meal with a nice view of London.

I had never been out for Valentines Day before, so I was a little dubious about spending an evening surrounded by other couples. People always say that first impressions mean a lot and Galvin most definitely made a good one. We were warmly greeted as we entered and were quickly shown to our table and of course it is hard not love the breath taking the views.

We were told that we would have one waiter assigned to us for the evening and he was introduced to us, however this was clearly not the case as we were served by a variety of people and I quickly forgot who had been assigned to us in the first place. Though this was not as irritating as it may sound, as all the waiting staff were friendly and polite, but not in a formal and stiff way.

All of the food was absolutely sensational and I honestly cannot think of any way to fault it. We had a ham hock with carrot foam Amuse Bouche; I was blown away by how they had managed to capture such a strong carrot flavour in the foam. I then had goat’s cheese curd, with baby vegetables, which was beautifully presented like a vegetable patch and almost looked too good to eat.

The Foie Gras was surprisingly unrich, which meant that I was able to eat a lot more than I normally would, which as far as I am concerned is never a bad thing. The main was a small piece of fillet steak, served on beef cheek, which left me feeling utterly spoilt and just to top it off there was the most delicious reduction and perfect creamed potato. This was all accompanied by a wonderful bottle of Alamos, an Argentinean, Cabernet Sauvignon.

In between courses I paid a visit to the loos, which turned out to be the only disappointment of the evening, as there was toilet roll all over the floor and with only two loos in there one hoped that one of them would be nice and clean, but this was not the case. As I returned to the table the dessert arrived, which was a heart shaped chocolate mousse covered in gold leaf and I thought that maybe they had taken Valentine’s a little too far.

I like to consider myself a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to chocolate desserts and I have to say that this was up there as one of the best I have ever eaten. There was a passion fruit mousse in the centre, which complimented the chocolate perfectly, as unlike most chocolate and fruit desserts it had not been sweetened at all, making it very morish. As it was Valentine’s Day this romantic dessert was designed for sharing, but I found myself wanting to eat it all.

So at the end of the evening, I left feeling like I had been spoilt with wonderful food and wine and that I had had a lovely Valentines Day.

In a word overrated.

The good(ish)

Well the food is alright, although personally I’d expect a bit more for a Michelin star, its not exceptional and certainly no better than in their other restaurants, the key difference is you really pay for the view and that star, you could eat the same food at La Chapelle for £50-£55, here the Prestige menu plus a supplement for the beef means you pay £70.

After some bread and a pre starter the meal proper started with mushroom risotto, which was fine, very easy to get wrong and hard to get right; the taste and texture were both excellent but somewhat overwhelmed by the pecorino emulsion. This was followed by fillet of beef, which wasn’t pink as promised, but was fine although less good than in Bistrot de Luxe, about half the size and as usual with a Galvin option minus much in the way of supporting acts like veg. Followed by vanilla poached pear – frankly a huge disappointment, either the pear wasn’t ripe or hadn’t been poached for long enough and was somewhat chewy and with a crumble style topping that you’d get in a Travelodge.

The view is nice but limited and nowhere near as impressive as 40|30, Vertigo42, the Tate, OXO Tower, Pont de la Tour etc; the way the room is set up you can only see out of the window by your table and not in any other direction and if you don’t get a window table (make sure you request it when booking) then you’ll not see a lot.

Service was polite and attentive and not overwhelming.

The bad

The bill, frankly £385 for 2 people to eat 3 courses, all be it plus quite a bit of drink is steep even by Mayfair standards and if you are going to spend that there a way better options than here e.g. Marcus Waering. The food is at least £10 more than it needs to be for that quality, but the thing that really sticks out is the cost of drinks. A vodka and lemonade is £12, champagne £16 a glass, cocktails pushing £20 and any decent wine comes with a 3 figure price tag (and in some cases rapidly can get towards 4 figures) and despite an extensive wine list you’ll do very well to find a bargain. And then there is the slightly depressing incident with the dessert wine – the waiter came over before dessert and did the whole “I hope you are having a lovely evening, have you enjoyed it” bit explaining what you could see from the view etc and then said “how about I get you a nice dessert wine to go with your choices” – its not uncommon in many places for this to be a statement that amounts to “have a drink on the house” – given by that stage we’ve probably already gone though £280 with more to come its not that unreasonable to believe this; what it really amounted to was I’m going to choose you both an expensive glass of wine, not show you a menu, let alone prices, add it to the bill and charge you service on top and that’s another £40 thanks. There was also a policy of keeping you in the restaurant to buy drinks, with service on top and where you didn’t see prices, rather than going to the bar where you’d just pay cash and save 12.5% – it left a slightly sour taste.

The room is very badly laid out, already dated (think early 2000's shag pad) and if you look not too hard a bit tatty in a few places and also filled with pretentious people who think they are a bit better than they are and have really made it by being here; you haven’t and there are far better options in London if you want decent food and/or atmosphere e.g. the OXO Tower, Nobu or indeed anything else in the Galvin stable. But if you’d like to see middle aged men trying to impress women who clearly aren’t their wives, but frankly who may be rather more impressed with an thick envelope of £20’s, then this is a good choice, though frankly having to troll through the rather depressing Hilton (it's really not a decent hotel, its a chain and there are tens of better places in London) and wait ages for the slowest lifts in the world also didn’t help either.

I really can’t recommend this and it’s a shame as I’ve given every other one of Galvin’s restaurants a good write up – I won’t be going back

Don't understand why the reviews here are so fantastic (I dine out twice a week in central London) – I went for lunch here with a friend – cost was £250 for 2 ( both had starters and main course and one desert and one coffee, 2 bottles of marques de riscal) – Firstly the food – the starters were not great, I had risotto which wasn't cooked properly – the mains were good but nothing elaborate – service was very good. The wine is way over priced – the views are great but for lunch its not worth the price, and for dinner you are better off at a dozen other places if you are going to spend this type of money

My husband and I chose to dine at Windows for our 1st wedding anniversary as we wanted somewhere which had a lively atmosphere but also an intimate and romantic feel and Galvin at windows was just that. It was a perfect evening. The bar area was buzzing when we walked in although it was a Saturday night in the Westend so not too surprising, we had mojito's which were fantastic, and then the Galvin Mary's but they were slightly too pungent as they used garlic olives which we found overpowering. Then we were seated in the dining area and was lucky enough to be situated near the windows which of course had the spectacular views everyone talks about. The dinner was delicious, we immediately chose the Chateaubriand as we are meat lovers and it did not disappoint, in our opinion it was cooked to perfection. Then for dessert I had the bananna, chocolate and peanut souffle, and my husband had the basil creme brulee, we was both very happy with our choices. The service is also worth a mention as to me it was faultless, all of the staff were friendly and helpful, and the glasses were constantly full. The Sommelier was incredibly helpful without being pushy or trying to get us to spend more money. He helped us chose a red to accompany the meat, it was just what we wanted.

Although this is an expensive restaurant the service and food were impeccable and therefore justify the price. I would definitely recommend it for special occasions.

The food is to die for and all we can say was that it was like having fireworks explode in your mouth. The service is excellent, but the drinks are a bit pricey. I would definately go back again, well deserving of a michelin star

Absolutely amazing. Fantastic atmosphere, service, exquisite food. Higly recommended.

Watching over London town, Galvin at Windows is situated on the 28th floor of the prestigious London Hilton on Park Lane hotel. The restaurant and bar are dimly lit and the décor is luxurious but tastefully so. Luckily having secured a window table, we are free to gaze over the lights of London by night whilst nibbling on fresh bread and olives and sipping on champagne. The wait staff are all immaculately attired and refreshingly attentive.

Although excited, I await my starter of seared scallops with pumpkin puree, wild chicory, pomegranate, smoked bacon and maple vinaigrette – which to be perfectly honest sounds like it has a little too much going on. But needless to say arrives as a beautifully plated dish of delicate scallops adorned with a myriad of colour from ruby-like droplets of fresh pomegranate seeds scattered on top of big fat scallops, which were cooked to devastating perfection.

My main course of venison fillet with Savoy cabbage, Parmentier potatoes and a cocoa and cabernet sauvignon reduction is superb, even more so because of the addition of a wonderful miniature ‘Shepherds pie’ made with confit shoulder of venison topped with an elegant piping of creamy mashed potato. Very rarely do I want to cry because a dish is so good, but this is one such time – Heavenly. No more, no less. The dish seems to encapsulate the best of both culinary worlds for me with the class and refined sophistication of the fillet of venison, paired with the more homely comfort food offering of Shepherds pie, it’s a double whammy of absolutely flawless perfection.

At this point I am utterly stuffed, but never too stuffed to continue the experience, it must be said but regardless, I opt to share a pre-dessert cheese plate and what I do like about Galvins is that they have not abandoned the traditions of Grandeur that some restaurants seem to have dispersed these days, so when you order cheese, they wheel a huge cheese trolley your way and allow you to choose what you would like, expertly describing each one to you. The trolley displays at least a dozen different cheeses, each one exquisitely whiffy as it should be. We the meal the only way I know how, with Crème Brulee, which has a delicate flavouring of Lavender. It is ridiculously rich in a fabulously decadent way and despite my stomach begging me to exercise some kind of self-restraint, I am unable to do anything except sigh with happiness.

Had a dinner with my girlfriend on Friday 9 April. I dine out at least twice a week in London and other major cities, in small local as well as “high end” restaurants. The dinner at Galvin was the most terrible experience I had in years. If you are used to posh / Michelin star places you will find the quality of food appalling. If you are a regular visitor of your local, family run restaurants you will find the service to be very pretentious and the place to be severely overpriced and lacking atmosphere. Views of London are great, but that’s all. If you are interested in a great London view, consider London Eye or have a drink at the bar next door (same floor as Galvin and same view).

The food poisoning comment compelled me to write.
Although I have not been there since… about a year ago… and when I complained I went through a process and they told me I had not indeed been sick, which confused me since I thought I'd know best.

Good minus the food poisoning

The Bar at Galvin is a very special place, but unfotunately the restaurant fails to keep up. Service is OK, but the atmosphere is disappointing. In a room which has the view of one of the world's great cities, it is interesting how one can make three fundamental mistakes. 1) paint the walls in a dreary shade of beige 2) fit windows which refelct whatever little and cold lighting there is and thus spoiling the view in the evening and 3) fitting a ocean-liner inspired “railing” to sections of the restaurant which are exactly on the hight of the eyes of most normally tall diners. A mystery to me.

Entering the restaurant late on a Friday night, tables were full to the brim with couples, friends and acquaintances all busily chatting away and it can get pretty noisy at its peak. No matter, as your attention is immediately turned to the view from all windows – no matter where you sit, you can catch a glimpse of London from all angles here (even on a cold damp and dark night). Service is an impeccable combination of hospitable concern without overly fussing – a balance that's often hard to pull off, so hats off. The Maitre D is also very good at pushing the aperitifs, which must add some great revenue to the restaurant and I can imagine he'd have no problem selling ice to eskimo's with that sort of charm.

Food however is an entirely different story and like any good show with a poor second half that really disappoints, so too does it here. I'm genuinely conflicted because I want to like it and feel I should for all the digits on the bill but it just didn't quite hit the spot. The menu seemed to be pulled out of a ready steady cook bag, where the same ingredients featured throughout dishes from starters to main, without any real invention. An amuse bouche of tuna with a special kick started the course off well but I was instantly let down by a starter of pea veloute with alsace bacon and creme fraiche, which was well made, but lacked any real flavour and seasoning.

After this, I was looking forward to the mains in order to lift the experience and a dish of white asparagus and fillet of halibut with grapefruit vinegarette arrived at the table with a look of real promise. However upon tasting, although the fish was cooked to perfection, the grapefruit did not compliment it at all and made it somewhat inedible. As I turned my attention to the asparagus for some welcome relief I was further disappointed. the asparagus was tough and stringy and was impossible to cut through. Now I'm not one for nuking my vegetables till they are nothing but mush but on the other extreme, raw vegetables which are inedible aren't exactly great either. It was a shame as what I could manage to carve up was rather tasty. Upon mentioning this to the waiter, he did admit that he had felt that the dish required a chopping knife and that he had mentioned this to the Maitre D but this was vetoed – perhaps Maitre D has gnashers similar to Bond's arch nemesis Jaws and therefore felt it unecessary.

Though the potential is there, both the execution and the delivery left the meal and me with nothing but regret. It seems like a familiar case of style over substance, and I find it very surprising that it won best french eaterie over the likes of Hibiscus, as having just recently dined there and having been wowed by every element, I would say it could learn a few lessons from it.

We recently went to Galvin at Windows for their “credit crunch” lunch and were sorely disappointed. Despite eating from the special offer menu, all of the courses were options on the a la carte menu and thus I was expecting each dish to be quite special.

For starters, we had the warm ballotine of pigs head. The first taste was quite pleasing, however it was so salty that we were both unable to finish it.

The roast fillet of plaice for main course was equally unremarkable, with the fish and it's accompaniments being so bland that you barely noticed eating it, The creme brulee I quite enjoyed, though unlike any other creme brulee I've had, seemed to consist of a bowl of warm thick cream.

Despite the mediocrity of the food, the restaurant itself is pleasing and has stunning views. As we had not been fortunate in getting a table by the window to dine, when our coffees arrived, we asked if it would be possible to go and sit in the window to drink them – we had dined quite late and so the restaurant was largely empty by this time. The expression on our waiters face at this point was comparable to what I would have expected had I asked to change a baby's nappy on the chef's table, and he said no we couldn't as we might dirty the tablecloth.

This lazyness and lack of customer care in a restaurant who's sole draw is it's views seemeed very short sighted in the current economic climate. I shall certainly not be returning, and would recommend that for enjoying the views from the 28th floor, you go and have a drink in the bar, and then move on for dinner to somewhere where the food has flavour (other than salt), and the waiting staff can be bothered to make yuor experience a memorable one.

I'm a big fan of the other Galvin around the corner from where I live and was very excited about trying this, the more upscale, version. Galvin at Windows is on the 28th floor (or 27th?) and the first thing that strikes you is quite unsurprisingly the gorgeous views. That alone is worth a lot in my eyes. Key here is to get a table by the window since I get the feeling that you wouldn't have the same experience in the middle area of the restaurant.

Service is absolutely impeccable from the very first minute. The old “attentive but not intrusive” is very much applicable. We both went for fish dishes and were very satisfied, although I wouldn't accentuate the food too much here. It is very good, but I think some people would feel that they've had as good or better at lower prices. That said, you're definitely paying a bit for the fact that you can landmark-spot during dinner. Something I failed miserably at by the way.

To conclude, having been here only twice I'm already happy to call this one of my favourites for finer dining. Sure, it isn't exactly cheap (£75 for the tasting menu, £110 with wine), but given the views, the service and the high quality food, it's definitely worth it.

Galvin at Windows may be just a little over-priced but the views and some of the dishes make it totally worth it. If you are going, have a drink in the bar beforehand and then sit down to enjoy a tasty seasonal menu. Our only complaint from the night was the mullet with artichoke, the artichoke has obviously been marinated in vinegar rather than olive oil so the vinegar flavour kept creeping in so I wish Id sent it back. The pear tart -tatin was way too big for even two people, four of you could share it. All the other dishes were lovely.