Rupert's review of Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

This is not a meal I will forget in a hurry.

The whole Ducasse experience is a fantastic, and the only disappointment is the money you have to part with for this enjoyment. Ducasse has worked out the way to make money at a restaurant is to ramp up the wine list to insane levels. I have been lucky enough to eat in some very good restaurants over the years and have always found a good selection of wines at the £50-100 mark. At Alain Ducasse you will struggle to find anything under £100 – even a St Aubin 1er cru is over that – a similar wine is £65 at Chez Bruce.

This left me with a slightly sour after taste from this meal – which is irritating since everything else was incredible. The menu is so full of appealing dishes that we actually didn't go for the taster menu because there were specific items we all wanted on the a la carte menu. The starters are especially good – it was a struggle to choose just one – the chicken and lobster signature dish didnt disappoint, rich and a great combination. The halibut fish course seemed a little bland, but this was in comparison to my rich starter and also having tried the lobster main course which was again full on. The venison main was cooked to perfection and the portion size ideal after the two previous courses. The souffle was beautifully light, whilst the Crispy Chocolate and Earl Grey wasn't just visually appealing. After 4 impressive courses I did not feel overly full, always a good sign after such fine food.

As I said before – not a meal I will forget – the meal was fantastic, you are made to feel very special and it is so refreshing to be allowed to arrive at 7.30pm and not hurried to leave. Then again for £770 for 3 people it is no wonder they don't need to force another seating!

I am very pleased to have had the chance to eat at such a wonderful restaurant, but I would never go there and pay my own money, unless they introduce a BYOB policy!!