Towards the end of last year Richard Corrigan opened a new restaurant in Mayfair. Conjoined to (but not part of) the Grosvenor Hotel, and with a separate entrance, this is now his flagship enterprise.
From the moment you enter there is an air of calm professionalism and service veritably runs on ball bearings. A long bar with high backed chairs stretches parallel to the street. The restaurant itself describes an L-shape with big comfortable banquettes and chairs for the well, ahem, upholstered man or woman. The room is clean lined, atmospherically lit, but not too fussy or ostentatious and at one end there is relief with outlines of game birds to break up the monotony of the walls. In addition to the main room there is a large private dining room and a chef's table which can seat about fourteen covers.
The menu is well-conceived and brilliantly priced. Starters include comfort food such as native oysters or herring and some Corrigan classics such as langoustines with spiced chicken peas and fried oyster with chorizo, fennel and apple. There are refreshing dishes: we had octopus carpaccio with clementines and nibbed almonds and heartier options; crubeens, beetroot and horseradish or ox tongue, cauliflower, Reform sauce or suckling pig sausage, oyster and duck tongue (the ultimate riff on surf-and-turf). Amongst the fish you may find John Dory consorting with Jerusalem artichokes, steamed fillet of sole with ceps or crumbed plaice with clams and whelk. Other than turbot (£24) all the fish are below £20. The choice of meat and game would bring a warm glow to a carnivore's heart. Poached pheasant, chestnut, bacon and game toast sets the seasonal theme, taken up by grouse pie (with those pesky ceps), roe venison in pastry, saddle of hare accompanied by roast pumpkin and sprout tops, roast partridge, bread sauce, sprouts and bacon. There is also daube of pork, salt marsh lamb and fillet of beef on the bone with snails (turf and snurf) and, in case you are not getting your autumnal jollies, reassuring side orders of celeriac chips cooked in goose fat, roasted roots, buttered kale and - fanfare please - a bowl of ceps. Cepsimus maximus!
It's not quite as simple as home on the farm and out with the poachers. The food is beautifully presented and the many of the dishes we tried were quite intricate in the manner in which the main ingredient had been deconstructed and then rebuilt. Portions are just right. It is comfort food with a modern twist and superbly and sympathetically rendered with intensely flavoured humble ingredients sharing a plate with the beasts of the field and the denizens of the deep (and sometimes all together).
The menu is seasonal so now the game has disappeared to be replaced by other meaty dishes such as daube of pork with apricots or ox cheek, mushroom ravioli and garlic leaf. Interesting to see the increasingly fashionable gurnard paired with squid.
The wine list offers exciting drinking. Several themes emerge if you have the time and inclination to delve into its depths. Firstly, the linking of the terroir of the food to the wine and an attachment to the artisan grower or farmer. Secondly, the emphasis on organic and biodynamic wines. And thirdly, the list is arranged creatively, sometimes by grape variety, sometimes by style and sometimes by emotion and occasionally even by food match.
If I have one tiny criticism is that there is almost too much choice. You could spend many an hour salivating over the possibilities of food and wine, but fortunately, expert guidance is on hand to give honest recommendations. read more