Zedel

Zedel opened in June 2012, with a modest ground floor café frontage leading to a vast basement dining room, as well as private rooms. The building was once the Regent Palace Hotel, dating back to 1915. The dining room seats 230, not counting bar seating. The menu is full of crowd-pleasing brasserie items, such as steak tartare and choucroute. The executive chef since June 2024 has been Federico Pinotti, who has worked in the Wolseley group for nine years.

Gratinated scallops were served in their shells, topped with breadcrumbs, herbs and cheese, then baked. The scallops were cut into small pieces and were reasonably tender, and the gratin was cooked correctly (13/20).

Sardines Provencale had seared butterflied sardines with tomatoes and olives. The sardines didn’t have the kind of flavour that you get straight off the docks in Greece, but they were nice enough, and the tomato sauce was a good accompaniment to them (12/20).

Lemon meringue tart was the best dish I tried, having genuinely good acidic balance, the texture perhaps a touch grainier than ideal, but still fine (14/20). Coffee was from Musetti, pretty much the cheapest industrial coffee available to restaurants. Service was quite attentive, and the bill came to £54 per person, with some glasses of wine. Zedel has an appealing formula, with a large menu of attractive dishes, competently executed. All this is delivered in a grand setting at a reasonable price. No wonder it was heaving, even on a weekday lunch in January.

Further reviews: 18th Oct 2017 | 28th Jun 2012