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Ritz

150 Piccadilly, London, England, W1J 9BR, United Kingdom

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Chef interview

John Williams MBE is the head chef of the Ritz Hotel in London.

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The Ritz has now added to its menu some dishes that involve a little tableside theatre. The meal tonight began with excellent raw scallops, prettily presented, with pickled cucumber, avocado mousse and little spheres of fried pigs head (16/20).  Next were very high quality langoustines with broad beans, the shellfish tender and having excellent flavour, served with a verbena sauce that mercifcully was very subtle (17/20). Foie gras terrine was served in a brioche with Sauternes jelly; this was very good, though not having quite the depth of liver flavour that the best versions can have (15/20). Asparagus with a morel sauce and a poached egg was very good indeed (16/20).

A roasted celeriac was carved open at the table, served with candied walnuts, pea shoots and a sauce flavoured with tomato: the celeriac was very soft in texture and worked well with the morels, but it was very salty even to my taste (15/20). Whole sea bass in pastry was also carved tableside; this was a sort of fishy version of a beef Wellington, the pastry containing a mushroom duxelle, quail eggs and lobster mousse, separated from the pastry by a layer of spinach. On the side was a mireille sauce (béarnaise sauce with a reduction of lobster) This was served with leeks; the fish had good flavour, and the pastry excellent texture (16/20).

For dessert, strawberries with basil sorbet seemed rather out of character for the Ritz, but the strawberries had quite good flavour (5/10). Much better was Amadei chocolate dessert with a chocolate sauce, tonka bean ice cream and pear puree, which had really rich flavour and several textures of chocolate: a classy dessert (17/20). Service from the large team of waiters was very slick. This was another very fine meal at the Ritz, clearly cooking at a strong one Michelin star level; at some point Michelin will hopefully acknowledge this. 

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Further reviews: 02nd Feb 2024 | 11th Dec 2023 | 01st Nov 2023 | 24th Sep 2023 | 26th Jun 2023 | 10th May 2023 | 08th Mar 2023 | 09th Dec 2022 | 04th Nov 2022 | 30th Sep 2022 | 20th Jul 2022 | 24th Jun 2022 | 15th Apr 2022 | 08th Feb 2022 | 14th Dec 2021 | 06th Dec 2021 | 22nd Oct 2021 | 14th Oct 2021 | 25th Jun 2021 | 25th May 2021 | 15th Oct 2020 | 28th Aug 2020 | 31st Jul 2020 | 29th Feb 2020 | 19th Nov 2019 | 25th Oct 2019 | 30th Sep 2019 | 30th Aug 2019 | 16th Jul 2019 | 18th Apr 2019 | 12th Mar 2019 | 26th Sep 2018 | 01st Aug 2018 | 04th May 2018 | 20th Apr 2018 | 13th Feb 2018 | 11th Dec 2017 | 02nd Feb 2017 | 15th Jun 2016 | 27th Jan 2016 | 26th Aug 2015 | 28th Feb 2015 | 21st Dec 2013 | 24th Aug 2013 | 29th Dec 2011 | 01st Feb 2011 | 01st Dec 2010

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