• About The Hedonist
  • Bar Talk-Where we’re drinking
    • The Polo Bar @ The Westbury
    • Pink Chihuahua
    • 69 Colebrooke Row – Review
    • The Bar at the George V Paris – Review
    • Duke’s Bar – Review
    • Bassoon Bar – Review
    • Banca – Review
    • THE EGERTON HOUSE BAR -Review
    • The Lucky Pig – Review
    • Beagle – Review
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • London Restaurant Reviews
    • Caractère – Review Notting Hill
    • Patri – Review
    • Villa di Geggiano – Review
    • African Volcano @  Great Guns Social  
    • Beso – Review
    • Padella – Review
    • 28°-50° London Wine Workshop and Kitchen – Review
    • The Goring – Review
    • Freakscene – Review
    • CUB – Review
    • Tsukiji Sushi – Review
    • COYA Angel Court – Review
    • Nutbourne – Review
    • Galvin Bistrot de Luxe – Review
    • Palatino – Review
    • Lao Café – Review
    • Galvin at The Athenaeum – Review
    • 7 Park Place – Review
    • QP London – Review
    • Cinnamon Bazaar – Review
    • Chinese New Year @ Hakkasan
    • Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – Review
    • The Ritz @ Xmas – Review
    • Coriander – Review
    • El Parador – Review
    • Inamo – Review
    • Ostuni – Review
    • Chai Wu – Review
    • Shotgun BBQ – Review
    • Ormer Mayfair – Review
    • Review-The Angler
    • The Harcourt – Review
    • Pizzicotto – Review
    • The Painted Heron – Review
    • All Star Lanes – Review
    • Kurobuta Harvey Nichols – Review
    • Bangalore Express – Review
    • Zero Degrees – Review
    • Chakra – Review
    • Cottons Caribbean Restaurant and Salon de Rhum – Review
    • Lotus – Review
    • Charlotte’s W5 – Review
    • Massimo – Review
    • Brasserie Les 110 de Taillevent – Review
    • The Dalloway Terrace @ The Bloomsbury hotel – Review
    • Plum + Spilt Milk – Review
    • Bella Cosa – Review
    • Roka Aldwych – Review (with Bookatable)
    • Brasserie Gustave – Review
    • Muga – Review
    • Barrafina – Review
    • Charlotte’s Place – Review
    • The New St Grill – Review
    • The Lockhart – Review
    • Kêu – Review
    • The Richmond – Review
    • Allan Pickett @ Sanderson – Review
    • Scents of Summer Afternoon Tea @ The InterContinental London
    • Tartufi & Friends @ Harrods – Review
    • The Five Fields – Review
    • West Thirty Six – Review
    • Evoluzione @ Hotel Xenia Kensington – Review
    • Rex & Mariano – Review
    • Kitchen Table @ Bubbledogs – Review
    • John Doe – Review
    • Ceru – Review
    • Kouzu – Review
    • Enoteca Rabezzana – Review
    • Old Tom & English – Review
    • The Wallace – Review
    • Zaika – Review
    • Xmas at Boulestin – Review
    • Crocker’s Folly – Review
    • The Cavendish – Review
    • Laurent-Perrier at The New Angel – Review
    • Assado – Review
    • The Life Goddess – Review
    • Bubba Gump Shrimp Co – Review
    • Ember Yard – Review
    • The Palomar – Review
    • Blanchette – Review
    • Cannizaro House – Review
    • 1901 Restaurant at Andaz – Review
    • Notting Hill Kitchen – Review
    • The Guildford Arms – Review
    • Curry for Change @ Cafe Spice Namaste
    • Chotto Matte – Review
    • Lyle’s – Review
    • The Clove Club – Review
    • Quo Vadis – Review
    • Polpetto – Review
    • Osteria dell Angelo – Review
    • Amsterdam-Johannes Restaurant – Review
    • The Worlds End Market – Chelsea
    • Brigade Bar & Bistro- Review
    • La Polenteria – Review
    • Mele e Pere – Review
    • La Mancha – Review
    • The Well – Review
    • Harrods The Salad Kitchen – Review
    • Layla – Review
    • See Sushi – Review
    • Pescatori Mayfair – Review
    • Flesh & Buns – Review
    • Grain Store – Review
    • Acciuga – Review
    • Pizza Pilgrims – Review
    • Les Trois Garcons – Review
    • Little Social – Review
    • Review-Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
    • Review-Balthazar
    • Reviews-Brasserie Zedel
    • Review-Copita
    • Review-Hawksmoor Air St.
    • The Glasshouse – Review
    • Review-Coya
    • 214 Bermondsey – Review
  • Travel
    • Tuscany
      • Tuscany-A Florentine Feast with Anna Bini
      • Tuscany-Olive Oil Pressing in Pistoia-Olio Nuovo
      • Tuscany-Pecorino and Ricotta from the Pistoia Hills
  • Music
    • When A Gig Goes Wrong – Pop Music’s Hall of Shame

The Hedonist

7 Park Place – Review

February 15, 2017 by Adrian

7 Park Place

St. James’s Hotel and Club Mayfair, 
7-8 Park Place,  
St. James’s, London, SW1A 1LS

+44 (0)20 7316 1600/info@stjameshotelandclub.com

IMG_0301I first encountered William Drabble’s cooking at Aubergine, the Chelsea restaurant where he had just taken over from Gordon Ramsey at the stoves. The cooking was elegant and restrained, classically influenced and displayed precise sense of technique. Drabble gained a Michelin star  at Aubergine in 1999 which he maintained throughout his time there. Seven Park Place by William Drabble was launched in September 2009 in the elegant St James’s Hotel. The restaurant’s food offer is modern-French using primarily British local and seasonal ingredients with a Michelin star arriving in just over a year. The restaurant has only 26 covers over nine tables and you get 3 courses for £69. I’m keen to see how Drabble’s food has evolved over the last couple of decades.IMG_0300A glass of champagne came from the boutique Delamotte house (£15) based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Elegantly poised with white flower and citrus notes it set her Ladyship and I up rather well.IMG_0302for some rather refined bread which came with a sweet Espellete pepper butter.IMG_0304First out was an anaemic smoked haddock consommé. It was too gentle for me – not enough smoky depth of flavour.IMG_0305However things really picked up with a baked fillet of red mullet and calamari served with some intensely flavoured fennel and blood orange. The fish was super fresh and its sweetness of the fish was balanced by a powerful saline hit. It was a great piece of fish cooking.IMG_0306A dish of seared hand dived scallops with Madeira, Perigord truffles and Jerusalem artichokes was a return to unreconstructed ‘fine dining’. The scallops were seared on the outside and creamy inside giving the perfect base for the intensity of the artichoke and truffle flavours s with a hint of sweetness coming from the Madeira.IMG_0307I’m trying to wean Her Ladyship away from her innate Toryism to my distinctive brand of Champagne Socialism. I convinced her to go red with a peppery, cherryladen Malterdinger 2013 Pinot Noir – an act of gastro revolution – to accompany our seafood. Because I’m greedy an extra dish of ravioli of native lobster, with cauliflower puree and  lobster butter sauce (£15 supplement) was an absolute necessity. Again the balance of flavours was perfect with a sublime textural contrast between the silky, eggy pasta and the cauliflower.IMG_0309Saddle of Venison with a parsnip purée,red cabbage, potato fondant and juniper jus was a great manifestation of Drabble’s philosophy; a classic French technique put to service with top-notch British ingredients.IMG_0308Turbot is the king of fishes and my roasted fillet had great flavour and was give added sweetness by the additional crab, carrot, grapefruit and coriander. (£10 supplement)IMG_0315Tarte Tatin for two was almost overladen with fruit and came with a vanilla ice cream and a deliciously unctuous toffee-apple sauce in a combination so good that I was forced to finish all of the Tatin sisters’ decadent innovation.IMG_0317After coffee and some perfectly poised petit fours it was time for reflection. We live in turbulent times, a world in which politicians lie as a matter of course and potato crisps have their own restaurant, so  it’s reassuring to come to a place where the art of fine dining is unashamedly practised. So if you need a safe haven from the vicissitudes of life then maybe you should visit 7 Park Place.

Square Meal

Seven Park Place by William Drabble - St James's Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tags

Acciuga Belgravia Brighton Bruno Loubet Camden Chelsea Chiswick Cocktails Covent Garden Curry D@D Fitzrovia Gallery Mess gin Hackney Harrison's Harrods Hoxton Indian Islington Italian Japanese Kensington King's Rd London London-Unattached Marylebone Mayfair Namaaste Kitchen Negroni Notting Hill pan-asian Peru Peruvian Pizza Restaurant sake Sam's Shoreditch Sloane Square Soho tapas The Hedonist The Saatchi Gallery Tony Conigliaro

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in