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The conservatory at the Lanesborough has seen a number of restaurant incarnations over the years. The latest, opening in the late summer of 2009, is an Italian venture with guidance from Heinz Beck of three Michelin star Pergola in Rome; he has recruited chef Massimiliano Blasone, who earned a Michelin star in Tuscany and has worked with Beck before. The large dining room has a large skylight and a raised dining area surrounding a central space, which can accommodate 70 or so diners at capacity.
I liked the décor, which included art deco style panels and a lush, thick carpet; it is hard to get away from a hotel dining room feel, but the tables were generously spaced and the room well appointed; lighting could be improved, and became gloomier as the evening wore on. I have no idea why some London restaurant managers think it is a cunning plan to dim the lights part way through the meal; presentation of the food here is skilful, and it is a pity to be peering into the gloom to appreciate it. The tasting menu is £55 for five courses (£75 for seven courses) with starters priced at around £18, main courses nearer £30 and desserts at £8.50. Lunch is £28 for three courses.
Below are notes from my recent meal.
ated with orange juice, cannolo of sea bass was served with a mini celery salad and cantaloupe melon, and langoustine roll was served with capers and Rice Krispies. The star was the langoustine roll, a little tail of raw Scottish langoustine, the capers balancing the seafood taste and the Rice Krispies giving a texture contrast. In fact each of the elements of this dish featured an astute pairing of ingredients, the sea urchin given a salty contrast of caviar, the slightly fatty tuna balanced by the acidity of the orange (7/10, more for the langoustine).
The first proper course was carbonara fagotelli, which I have described previously, though it was a fraction less hot than ideal by the time it arrived with us today (7/10). Warm pheasant was served on a bed of red cabbage and Sicilian dried fruit and delicate mini-salad. I enjoyed the dish but again temperature was an issue, the elaborate presentation probably contributing to the dish not being quite as hot as it should have been (6/10).
An intermediate course of spaghetti of monkfish with red peppers and courgettes was the star of the meal, stunning pasta with beautifully cooked monkfish, the courgettes and peppers adding a pleasing additional dimension to the dish (8/10 is perhaps too mean a score).
A pre-dessert of yoghurt ice cream in a cornet, a liquid strawberry concoction and mandarin sorbet was a very skilful dish, the mandarin sorbet in particular having stunning texture and flavour (7/10 overall but higher for the sorbet, which was pretty much faultless).
Millefeuille of raspberry was made with Chantilly cream and hazelnut ice cream, with hazelnut crumbs providing a texture contrast; this was enjoyable but not the best of the desserts, though an accompanying strawberry gratin flavoured with almonds was excellent (6/10).
Creamy cheesecake with lemon ice cream was as good as at a previous meal (7/10). “White dream” was an orange parfait, yoghurt ice cream filled with raspberry coulis, a sphere of meringue filled with a passion fruit cream and a pair of delicate chocolate cylinders. Again this dessert showed a high degree of technical skill, the various components of the dish working well together (8/10).
Coffee (espresso from Illy) was rich and dark, and a plate of petit fours was excellent (easily 7/10). Service was superb, highly attentive without being in any way obtrusive.
The notes below are for a meal in late 2009.
The meal today was even better than my previous experience, perhaps suggesting that the kitchen is settling down. Breads (made on the premises) were a little better than last time. The olive rolls were still good, and today a bacon roll was enjoyable, as was thin, crisp flat bread (6/10).
Nibbles, including a pumpkin soup, were very good though not out of the ordinay (6/10). However a slow cooked duck with red cabbage and candied pumpkin had lovely deep duck flavour, the red cabbage providing an excellent earthy foil to the duck (7/10), Salt cod with buffalo ricotta and cherry tomatoes confit had nicely balanced tastes (6/10), Game ravioli with butternut squash cream featured superb pasta, the game flavour coming through strongly, the butternut squash cream providing a lighter contrast (7/10).
Partridge crepinette with polenta includes very carefully judged partridge, nicely seasoned (7/10), We then tried a rabbit ravioli with asparagus and pistachio, again the pasta delicate, the filling delightful (7/10). Roast pigeon was cooked pink, served with pearl onions and mustard seed sauce, the pigeon of good quality and the mustard seed sauce a nice balance to the pigeon (6/10).
For dessert, creamy cheese cake with lemon ice cream was superb, with lovely texture and just a hint of acidity from the carefully controlled lemon ice cream (8/10). A dessert of a crisp chocolate dome with salted pine nut ice cream, garnished with a little gold leaf, was a wonderful example of how to make a chocolate dessert, with high grade chocolate, the salt of the ice cream just enough to bring out the flavour even further, without interfering with the main component (8/10). Coffee was of good quality, and petit fours were also very good (7/10). Service was excellent throughout; a superb meal.
Below are notes from my first meal here in September 2009, soon after it opened.
Breads are made from scratch, but were mixed: good breadsticks and excellent olive rolls, but ordinary bacon rolls and rather dry foccacia (5/10 overall, but 7/10 for the olive rolls). The 44 page wine list has an Italian focus, but also has plenty to offer from elsewhere. Starting at £25, the list has choices such as Heggies Chardonnay at £37 for a wine that will set you back around a tenner in the shops, Jermann Pignacolusse 2002 for £68 compared to a retail price of around £22 and the excellent Antinori Tignanello 2005 at £128 for a wine that costs about £48 to purchase retail. At the luxury end of the list Didier Dagenau Silex 2004 was listed at £150 for a wine that’s costs about £77 to buy in the shops, while Opus One 1996 was a hefty £495 for a wine that you can buy for around £125.
Nibbles consisted of well-made aubergine terrine, a few salad leaves that appeared (oddly) to have no dressing and a spoon containing artichoke puree, a little fried veal and kumquat to give some balancing acidity (5/10). A starter of artichoke tortellini with tomatoes, mint oil and Parmesan was well made, the pasta having soft texture, the artichoke flavour coming through well (6/10). My starter was carbonarra fagotelli, egg pasta parcels filled with cream of egg yolk, Parmesan and parsley, with a sauce of Parmesan, pepper, egg yolk, bacon and finely diced courgettes. This was a very skilful dish, the pasta having superb texture, the herb elements offsetting the richness of the dish (8/10).
Fillet of turbot was topped with an olive crust, accompanied by caponata (a Sicilian stew of aubergine, capers and pine nuts). The fish has good flavour and was nicely timed, but I think the dish was finished under a salamander, which had the effect of drying out the olive crust too much (5/10). Better was high quality fillet of beef cooked medium rare (sous vide) and served with tender spinach, girolles, pommes puree and slivers of both salsify and bacon crisps giving a welcome texture contrast, offered with a red wine and balsamic sauce, the elements combining well (easily 6/10).
Desserts were prettily presented. Crunchy chocolate dome with salted pine nut ice cream and mint foam was served with almond caramel and drops of passion fruit coulis. The ice cream was very effective, bringing just the right amount of saltiness to contrast with the rich chocolate, while the mint flavour was carefully controlled (6/10). Even better was a cheesecake with lemon ice cream, the base just right, the filling rich but having the lemon to balance that, and augmented by a little rhubarb providing a tart contrast, and a chocolate chip containing a rhubarb marmalade. Perhaps this last element was superfluous, but the cheesecake itself was superb, and the rhubarb was carefully prepared so as to be acidic, but not too acidic (7/10). Coffee was strong and dark, and accompanied by high class petit fours, including a peppermint, rich chocolate ganache and superb almond biscuits (7/10).
Service was superb throughout the evening. There is no shortage of waiting staff, but they are effectively marshalled, and topping up of both bread and wine was pretty much flawless. The bill came to £107 each (with 12.5% service included yet the credit card slip left open) with a medium priced wine, so this is hardly cheap. Yet there is real skill on display here, with good presentation, high grade ingredients and significant technical skill. This is the best restaurant that the Lanesborough hotel has yet hosted, and deserves considerable success, being much more than just another hotel posh dining room experience.
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