Alex's Reviews

The first thing worth mentioning is that the place looks pretty good. It is definitely a nice change from some of the other, more stuffy places in Mayfair. More modern, cooler, but still very warm and welcoming. Someone has put some thought into the design and the lighting and – this is a first – there even was music. Not too loud, not intrusive, at just the right volume.

We got a table just in front of the open kitchen. Both chairs facing the action, so that you felt like you were sitting in a theatre watching a show. A bit awkward at first, to be honest. But they had asked us if we were comfortable with this table, so we couldn’t really complain.
And once you got used to it, it was actually quite interesting.

It didn’t have anything to do with the scenes you are used to seeing from one of Gordon Ramsay’s shows. No one was cursing, no one was sweating, no one seemed stressed. It all seemed extremely composed and almost choreographed.
At Le Gavroche we had a table close to the kitchen door and heard much more banging pots and plates and order shouting.

Nuno Mendes was working with the team, occasionally making a remark on one of the plates prepared by the other chefs, supervising everything, but also helping with the table service. You got the impression that he’s a really nice guy and that he has a good team working with him.

As for the food, Viajante has no à la carte. For dinner it is either a 6 course or a 12 course tasting menu. The 12 course menu has to be booked in advance. On the evening they offered us the option of a 9 course menu, including two more meat courses and a desert course, but we were happy with the 6 courses and matching wines.
What’s a bit odd though is that you don’t get to see what’s on the menu. It somehow felt a bit pretentious and patronising. I’m not going to ask for any changes to the menu, but I quite like to see it, so that I can look forward to whatever is coming next.

6 courses didn’t sound like much, but there was quite an assortment… More

Walking into The Berkley immediately you feel like a bit of a celebrity. The restaurant itself is nice as well. The lighting is good and it feels elegant yet quite intimate. But still you do get a little bit the feeling that you are in a hotel restaurant.

There is a range of different tasting menus to choose from as well as à la carte. We went for the “Seasons of Britain“ menu paired with British wines – partly because this one included Marcus’ famous custard tart.
And British wines? Well, let’s see. If they serve them here, they can’t be too bad.

On the menu it looked like “Seasons of Britain” only included three courses, but as always there’s an amuse bouche, a pre-dessert, lovely bread, so we surely didn’t walk out hungry.

The first full course was lobster and broccoli. I was really looking forward to that, we haven’t had lobster on any of the menus so far. And it was nice, but not quite as fantastic as I had hoped. We’ve had crab or langoustine at some of the other places that were nicer in consistency and flavour. A good dish though, with broccoli cooked in three different ways and a nice sauce – soft flavours that allowed you to still taste the lobster.

We then had the grouse with truffle, kale, Pink Fir Apple potatoes and bread sauce. Very strong flavours, the grouse was quite gamey, but I really enjoyed it.

I’m becoming a big fan of kale as well. Overall just a really lush autumnal dish.

And now it was time for dessert, the moment I’d been waiting for, the custard tart.
What we got though didn’t look like a tart at all. Oh, a pre-dessert! Horlicks, honey, whiskey. Really lovely. An ice cream filled pastry in whiskey foam and little pieces of honey jelly. Made me look forward even more to the famous custard tart.

Then it came, the tart, accompanied by a glass of British sparkling wine. The consistency was absolutely perfect, the custard dissolving as soon as it touched your tongue, a beautiful pastry. But the best British dessert? Nah. I thought it was a bit… More