[Non-Photo Review] For full review go to: http://wp.me/pwXBH-nE ---------- The Square: Generous, Rich, Golden Meeting the older sister Having had a pleasant (though not perfect) time at The Sqaure's little sister in Westbourne Grove a few months ago for full review of that dinner see here we were very excited to try out what is one of the most established stalwarts on the London fine dining scene. From what I know about The Square, it is undoubtedly one of the most consistently well regarded high-end restaurants in London, both by mainstream media food critics and food bloggers alike. Chef Philip Howard has certainly garnered a lot of respect and praise from his fellow chefs and food commentators of all sorts. This would appear to be partly because he is to some extent self-taught (though according to their website he did have a stint in the Dordogne, a year with Roux Restaurants Ltd. and a year at the now (in)famous Harveys where he had the opportunity to work with Marco Pierre White and no doubt learned that mother nature is the true artist that chef's favorite modern day refrain in-between having frying pans thrown at him), and partly because he is one of the few head chefs performing at this level to actually be present and cooking in his own kitchen pretty much day in and day out. As a short aside, I recently saw quite an interesting video interview with him on Caterersearch, but generally speaking he eschews the media and tries to keep to himself to the extent possible. So, an interesting character in the driving seat and certainly a serious contender for a very promising meal. My taste buds were certainly on high alert. Business or pleasure? Occupying the ground floor of a Mayfair office block, the entrance to The Square is rather nondescript, with a subtle sign somewhat camouflaged in the slightly curved burnt orange wall to the left of the front door. The line of windows facing the street is frosted to just above eye level, so you have to jump up to see into the restaurant, unless you're really tall. Once inside, this is an effective shield to the outside world, as when you are seated you can mainly see from the first floor upward of the buildings across the street, and not the street and pedestrian traffic. We were efficiently welcomed and shown to our table, which was at the back left corner of the wellsquare room, right next to where all of the food was being brought out from the kitchen. Not usually the best spot as it can be quite busy, but it turned out to be fine and afforded us a commanding view of the room and also enabled us to overhear the chit-chat of the staff. Compared to The Ledbury, whose interior Mrs. LF and I both found really appealing, The Square's ambience was a bit of a letdown. The tables are very well spread out, which provides you with good privacy and it isn't too noisy. But it is quite a plain room that for me lacks an engaging identity or design theme. It seems much more a business lunch on the company's expense place than somewhere you'd want to come for a romantic evening or a celebratory gathering. At first impression, the waiting staff were also all business. There seemed to be a small army of them coming and going from our little corner. They all conveyed a very professional air but, at the same time, they all felt quite distant and reserved in their interactions with us. It wasn't really a warm, inviting beginning. Not that this is a disaster, but quite the opposite of what we had experienced at The Ledbury. These factors were compounded by the fact that, as we were perusing the menu and trying to make our choices, our first amuse bouche was brought out. Then, shortly thereafter, a second round of amuses (of which there were three elements) followed. The Square's menu is quite a large affair, and it was rather awkward to find a place for them amongst all the little nibbles and bread which looked so appetizing. I got a bit flustered by the whole episode, and would have much rather preferred having them take our orders first and then properly beginning the meal. It just meant that we felt rushed and weren't able to concentrate on the food as much as we would have wanted to. While this is a small thing, and I probably wouldn't comment on it if the restaurant did not hold two heavy Michelin stars, it wasn't an impressive start. Since there was no time limitation on the table that I was aware of, I just didn't get why they were in such a hurry. Are you gonna finish that? But enough of my quibbles and onto the food. And boy was there a lot of it. Even though we had opted for the standard à la carte 3-course menu, we quickly found out that it was to be more of a 7-course evening when taking into account all of the little extras that The Square very generously includes in all of its dinners. It also turned out that the portions at The Square are much larger than you get at any other restaurant of a similar ilk (at least the ones I've been to) and that the food was read more
