I’m a big fan of Tom Kerridge’s food; it’s always so comforting, wholesome and packed with flavour, and so British. Part of that ‘Britishness’ is that Kerridge’s restaurants are usually in pubs, but now he’s opened this new spot, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, in a grandiose 5 star hotel in the centre of London, between Trafalgar Square and the Thames Embankment.  I was very keen to see if Kerridge’s philosophy had changed for the Capitol, in comparison with his 2-star Hand and Flowers and 1-star The Coach in Marlow, so we booked to have lunch at the end of August on a visit to London for a pre-surgery consultation with my surgeons at The Royal Marsden Hospital.

One can enter from the street or from the hotel lobby, into a large high ceilinged room’s bar area. There are pillars, mirrors, tuuches of Art Deco, sculptures and a bazar of ornaments from around the world. I wasn’t sure about the styling, as it was a long way from a country pub, but also totally different from the classic grand dame feel of the Corinthia hotel.  Inane music was playing and the dining room appeared very loud.

We were seated behind a large pillar and very close to other tables, which wasn’t very good, so after ordering I asked for a better table and got one on the other side of the dining room.

Mr A and I both chose the “Classics Menu” and its wine pairing, shown above.

After some doughy sourdough our first course arrived.  Tartlet was the correct menu description – in a 2 star restaurant this would have been a canapé rather than a named course, it was so tiny! But the very fine pastry, a spoonful of soft rich parfait and a topping of chicken jelly made for a truly delicious start to our lunch. 10/10

Next up was another really small dish, at most 4″ at its widest.  Named “The Coach Mushroom Risotto” after the dish served in Marlow, it uses diced mushrooms instead of rice to make a creamy bowl of comfort food topped with lashings of grated parmesan just like a risotto.  At the Coach they credit Claude Bosi with inventing the dish, but he doesn’t get a nod here. And at Claude Bosi @ Bibendum it’s now called “Nosotto” and Claude has trademarked the word “Nosotto”.  But then again Tom Sellers has a similar dish (using diced celeriac) which he claims is based in a Tom Keller invention at Per Se in America.  What ever the history, if you see this type of dish on a good chef’s menu, then choose it! 8/10

Our 3rd dish was once again on the small side, and very reminiscent of a pub snack. A salt cod scotch egg sitting in a red pepper sauce, with a slice of chorizo in top. The centrepiece was crispy outside with the soft cod enveloping a perfect soft quail’s egg. It all went well together, though I might have preferred a bit more yolk from a larger egg. 8/10 for flavours.

Dish 4 was “St Austell Bay Mussels mariniere with warm stout”.  Another smallish glass bowl with big mussels in a good seaside liquor with diced carrots in the base, and a white foam on top. The foam didn’t taste of Guinness (probably a good thing) and the carrot was too al dente. The treacle bread accompaniment was good. 8/10

“Main” course was a good and familiarly comforting plate of food; treacle cured fillet of beef with chips, roasted shallot and bernaise sauce. Everything was well cooked (crisp and fluffy chips), but the beef was sitting on an unnecessary onion jam, which was too sweet. Overall it was a tasty and satisfying plate 8/10

Dessert was “Banana custard with Pistachios, Dates and Honeycomb”. This was a bit dry and messy; not the result of years of patisserie practice! 5/10

We finished off with a double espresso each, which was served with a few shortbread biscuits. The coffee had a good crema.

My total bill for two was £297, which included Champagne to begin.  I enjoyed the food we ate, and although I was initially disappointed with the small portion sizes, by the end I felt fully satisfied. Service was perfunctory, apart from a bearded Danish Sommelier, who was very engaging.  The dining room was a bit loud for me, and I wasn’t a fan of how it’s styled.  I would probably go back for the food, but Tom Kerridge’s pub restaurants in Marlow are much more inviting.

Overall 7.5/10