Phil's review of Corrigan's Mayfair

I am not a joiner by nature and I have certainly not contributed to a web site in this manner before but my meal at Corrigans Mayfair on Thursday has caused me to break this taboo. I was dining with an old work colleague and friend with whom I always enjoy a very convivial meal and it is this that allows me to give the average scores and not lower ones – in other words, the distraction of the company overcame the need to damn the place altogether. To address the constituent parts: (i) the service: this was, in the main, of an extremely cheerful nature from the moment that I entered the attractively furnished restaurant. However, the cheerful nature was belied by an almost universal incomprehension of the English language. I was unable to make the first waiter understand that the fino I wanted as an aperitif was a sherry. Once I have pointed it out on the wine list, he took the wine list away with him and we found it very difficult to explain to the next waiter that we wanted the wine list back; (ii) the food: this is linked with the service as the carpaccio of beef with tempura oysters for me and my friend’s veal tongue took 45 minutes to arrive. We were not over bothered save that the management had made a colossal effort to ensure that we understood that the table was ours for only 2 hours (one hour having passed in ordering and waiting for the starters) and that we had only ordered a half bottle of Croze Hermitage White to accompany the starters. In fact, the excellent Maitre D’ offered a further complimentary half bottle as, even with abstemious sips, we had polished off the half bottle during our wait – again, not a massive problem but this wine is really a food wine and it needed the food for which it was ordered. The actual food was miniscule in portion and average in quality and presentation. For our main courses, I had ordered the woodcock and my friend the oxtail (he is somewhat of an oxtail expert) whereas I am a novice when it comes to woodcock but I was assured that this was the chef’s (presumably the eponymous Corrigan) speciality. The woodcock was ordered from the “specials” in the way of a “game menu”. I have to say that both main courses disappointed enormously. My friend’s oxtail (actually only an oxtail croquette) was accompanied by what had to be a large chunk of lamb. When we questioned this, we were assured that this large, homogenous pink mass was absolutely oxtail! My woodcock had clearly been cooked in its separate parts as one breast was beyond blood rare and the other medium. I am now familiar with the size of woodcock and could advise that it is suitable for a calorie controlled diet. It was served with (apparently) a foie gras gravy which was very sludgy and had been absorbed in large part into the wafer thin slice of bread (I think) on which the pile sat. The only bright spark was the portion of goose fat chips which were excellent. However, the price for such “special” was £40! This was substantially in excess of the a la carte prices but I was not advised of this when ordering and this did not include the chips or any other accompaniment. We were told that the chef often chose a suitable accompanying dish such as a gratin of greens but had decided not to that night. Hello? (iii) the wine: the real kicker was the wine list. Excellent sommelier – straight forward and blunt Australian and (uniquely) English speaking who helped us to find a red wine under £75 which was not easy even in the regional French category in which we were looking. We eventually settled on a £67 bottle of Cahors which while excellent retails for approximately €10. The Maitre D’ literally twisted our arms to have a digestif and apologised profusely; I can only suspect that we were not the only table to have a less than satisfactory meal – and being English we hadn’t even really complained, save for the delay in the starters. “Oh well” said my friend, “at least we’ve tried it now.”