Recent Meals in London II: Gordon Ramsay - with pics!

Part I is here

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Even though Ramsay is more of a television personality nowadays than chef, his flagship London restaurant still sports three Michelin stars and is a tough table to get. For some inexplicable reason I was able to snag a table on Opentable UK a few days before we got to London and I did. I was really impressed with this place. It's frightfully expensive, but was about as perfect an experience all around as I have had. The room is beautiful, and surprisingly intimate, with only 15 tables. Every single interaction was on point, from the guy who opened the door to let me in (first seating is 6:30, I arrived around 6 and the door was locked ), to the people in the kitchen who gave us a quick tour. Clare Smyth is the chef and has been for several years. She was there, in the kitchen, on a Monday night running things and was very gracious when we visited.

I didn't take pics of the amuses, but they were fantastic: salmon tartare with dashi gel, steamed bun with truffle, croquette jambon.

Pea and Ricotta mousse



Steak Tartare with sake, mirin, olive oil and nasturtium.


Ravioli with langoustine, lobster, and salmon with sorrel sauce. This is a signature Ramsay dish.


Morel stuffed with duck confit and foie gras, over asparagus sauce, with foie gras sauce over the top and jambon iberico. The jambon pushed this a bit over the top and was unnecessary, as this was probably the best single dish of the trip, it was outstanding.



Foie gras terrine with shaved apples and duck. This was awesome.



Halibut with langoustine, fennel, morrocan infusion, and ras al hanout.


Pork cap with fava, peas, and other stuff I can't remember.


Lamb navarin, belly, rack, shoulder, sausage, other stuff. This was my wife's dish. She's not a meat eater, but she would have fought me for this one. Every element was delicious.



There were a lot of plates set down on the table.

Dover sole, purslane, cucumber, buerre noissette.


Lemon parfait


Strawberry custard tart


White chocolate/strawberry sorbet truffles, Elderflower gelee, something else I don't remember.

So the remarkable thing about this meal is that considering how many courses there were, there were no misfires or clunkers. And I also thought the dishes avoided being too precious. It was a nice balance of hearty concepts executed in a really elegant and precise way.