Alyn Williams at The Westbury

By Jules Nelson

On a quiet night in January we zipped through The Westbury hotel and straight into the more glamorous bar of the hotel’s new flagship restaurant, Alyn Williams. The restaurant is oriented around a private room encased by floor-to-ceiling glass wine cabinets.

The décor is luxurious and chic; wood panelling, muted hues of creams and browns and a plush silver-threaded carpet (although get the interior designer back to match up the pattern). The atmosphere was hushed and perhaps a little cold, certainly as a result of dining out on an unseasonal mid-week night when sensible people were home digesting the festive excess.

Alyn Williams at The Westbury London

Given the sybaritic tendencies of my companion, we eschewed the three-course á la carte (£45) and opted for the seven-course tasting menu, which was very reasonably priced (£55) for fine dining in London and indeed Mayfair. The menus list out the primary ingredients of the dish (for example “Cod/seaweed butter/beach vegetables/cockles”) in a similar form to Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, perhaps unsurprising given Alyn was head chef there in a previous incarnation.

The staff were warm, courteous and informative, offering to swap dishes between the menus should we wish, and after one or two substitutions we were off.

We started with canapés over a glass of bubbles at the table:  truffle arancini were delicious and just as good as those at Marcus Wareing. Fourme d’Ambert gougeres were light as air while packing a cheesy punch. Deep fried sea bass belly with tom yum jelly on prawn crackers were unusual. Bread is made in house and was near perfect, including star anise rolls, lavash flatbread and (a slightly heavy) potato bread, served with an excellent whipped caraway seed butter.

A particular highlight on the menu was a deconstructed onion soup served in a martini glass along with crab meat, melting onion and jellied beef with a potato wafer with gruyere on the side – a very innovative take on a familiar dish. The main course allowed a choice between Cotswold chicken with smoked egg and charred leek or Devon beef sirloin.

My companion opted for the latter and, before I even had a chance to sample, reported that it was very flavoursome. I had been too distracted with my Cotswold chicken, served with a perfect smoked egg yolk that sauced the meat as I pierced it with my fork. While the meat was verging on the edge of translucency, the dish was as tasty as it was beautiful.

Alyn Williams at The Westbury London

Courses were perfectly balanced and despite being rather full, we foolishly opted to add in a cheese course. The trolley was excellent as was the knowledge of our waiter, who was very accommodating and offered to bring my favourite cheese (Vacherin) from the kitchen. No need at all and my tour of goat’s cheese was beautifully presented on slate with crackers or bread (we were too full to accept the latter) accompanied by chutney and a honey gel.

Desserts reached similarly heady heights: pre-dessert of crème Catalan with pear granita was subtle and refreshing (although the pine sugar was perhaps a little too subtle) and dessert of chocolate mousse with caramel and peanut butter consisted of a rich, dense chocolate “finger” with a caramel core and a peanut butter ice cream. Heavenly. This is slick, elegant and contemporary cooking, as handsome as it is delicious.

We managed to finish off dinner with truffles and then rolled out of the restaurant. Alyn Williams at The Westbury may not have opened with a prestigious named chef on the door but this is certainly prestigious cooking. Bring on the Michelin stars and go now before they put the prices up.

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Greek Chef To Take Over The Capital Restaurant

Greek chef Athinagoras Kostakos will be ‘Guest Chef in Residence’ at The Capital Restaurant for one week from 5th March 2012.

Known for his work as executive chef at Bill & Coo Suites and Lounge, a luxury boutique hotel on the Greek island of Mykonos, he won this year’s version of ‘Top Chef’, Greece’s version of ‘Iron Chef’ from the US, and the restaurant won the Condé Nast Traveller 2010 Readers’ Choice Best Hotel Restaurant award.

The menu for The Capital is in the process of being finalised, but dishes may include the likes of Santorini cherry tomatoes cooked with honey, warm goat’s cheese, capers, olive oil & foam perfume with thyme and slow cooked sweet tomatoes and lamb marinaded with mustard & Myconian herbs.

Address: The Capital, 22-24 Basil St, Knightsbridge, London SW3 1AT
Telephone: 020 7591 1202
Website: www.capitalhotel.co.uk

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Trishna Celebrates Holi from 5 to 11 March

Trishna will be celebrating Holi, the Hindu spring festival, from 5 to 11 March with a special tasting menu created by Head Chef Karam Sethi.

Dishes on offer will include crab and pollack tikkas with curry leaf, mustard seed and crab chutney; lamb chop with Kashmiri chilli, ginger and mustard mooli; and mango rice pudding.

Trishna restaurant

The tasting menu is priced at £35.50 for four courses (or £64 including wine pairings) or £45.50 for six courses (£88 with wine pairings).

Trishna is located at 15-17 Blandford Street in Marylebone, specialising in the coastal cuisine of South West India.

For further information or to make a booking, please contact your concierge at Bon Vivant. To make sure you’re kept informed of similar updates on a regular basis, subscribe to the blog, our fortnightly newsletter, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook!

Mari Vanna: New Restaurant Launch

Situated in the heart of Knightsbridge, Mari Vanna will open its doors at the end of January 2012. The Mari Vanna menu will offer ‘babushka cooking’ – homely Russian dishes with influences from Armenia, Georgia and Uzbekistan, all ‘with a twist to make it lighter and contemporary’.

Mari Vanna aims to ‘transport each guest into a Russian home where shelves are adorned with matryoshka dolls, trinkets and tchotchke’. The menu will include traditional dishes such as Pelmeni (veal dumplings with a light herb sauce); Mari Vanna’s signature dish Borsch with Pampushka (a beetroot soup with beef); Harcho (a rich Georgian lamb soup with rice and a spicy tomato sauce); and Ukrainian Galubtzi (cabbage leaves encasing meat and rice).

Website: www.marivanna.co.uk

Address: 116 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7PJ

Reservations: +44 207 581 5920

For further information or to make a booking, please contact your concierge at Bon Vivant. To make sure you’re kept informed of similar updates on a regular basis, subscribe to the blog, our fortnightly newsletter, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook!

Aubaine Dover Street

Aubaine‘s most recent opening is on Dover Street in Mayfair, ideally placed for the shops on nearby Bond Street. Described as a ‘contemporary French Provencal bistro, boulangerie and patisserie’, the restaurant’s all day menu features a mix of Mediterranean dishes.

The 80-cover restaurant also features a long bar, which seats up to 15, and a 25-seat atrium at the rear of the restaurant that will open as a covered terrace during the summer months.

Aubaine Dover Street

There is a private screening room on the lower ground floor, complete with full audio-visual facilities, with a fireplace and vaulted ceilings, which can accommodate up to 32 seated or 45 standing.

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Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar to Launch in March

Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar will aim to ‘celebrate the best of English’ when it launches at the end of March 2012 at County Hall. The name derives from James Gillray, a famed caricaturist of the late eighteenth century, whose work will be exhibited on the walls of the restaurant and bar.

The menu will feature 35-day dry aged Hereford Cattle from the Duke of Devonshire’s Bolton Abbey Estate in Yorkshire, with the signature dish being the 1000g ‘Bulls Head’ steak a 1000g-butterfly cut, double rib steak served with the bone in.

The bar will offer “a sophisticated and stylish Thames-side destination, featuring one of the finest selections of gin in London”.

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Meursault: New Restaurant Opening

The team behind South Kensington restaurant, L’Etranger, will open Meursault, a 40-cover bar, lounge and dining room on Monday 6 February 2012, which will aim to be ‘a younger and more spirited companion to its critically acclaimed sister restaurant’.

The main dining area will offer similar cuisine to L’Etranger, while small plates, molecular cocktails and fine wines and champagne will be available in the lounge bar.  The menu will include a selection of sashimi, tartars, tempura and platters to share, along with 40 home made desserts including an extensive selection of macaroons and sorbets.

Address: 36 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4QT

Phone: 020 7584 9719

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Tom Aikens Restaurant To Reopen on 12 January 2012

Tom Aikens will reopen his eponymous Chelsea restaurant on 12 January 2012 after a large refurbishment.

The restaurant will aim to offer the same standard of modern French cooking for which Tom is known, but with a more relaxed atmosphere. There will be an à la carte menu and a series of tasting menus, including six, eight and ten course options that are also available with matching wines.

The 52-seat restaurant will feature broad-boarded oak floors, custom-designed hand-made wooden chairs, a variety of mismatched oak tables (no tablecloths), and will have “evocative quotes about food and wine written on the walls”.

The restaurant will also feature a private dining room that will seats up to 12.

Address: 43 Elystan Street, London SW3 3NT

Phone: 020-7584 2003

For further information or to make a booking, please contact your concierge at Bon Vivant. To make sure you’re kept informed of similar updates on a regular basis, subscribe to the blog, our fortnightly newsletter, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook!

Breakfast at Aurelia

By Frances Cottrell

When the owners of Roka and Zuma decide to open a Cork Street restaurant, you know you’re on to a good thing. Aurelia is Mayfair’s newest chic brasserie, and at first sight it certainly doesn’t fail to impress.

We visited for breakfast, and a stroll along the galleries of Cork Street was the ideal introduction to a restaurant where design and aesthetics are incredibly important. A pretty bar with art deco features lines the room on one side, with antique mirrors reflecting this grandeur throughout the restaurant.

It was quiet on our visit, but we could still speak freely and relax in the very comfortable surroundings. The breakfast menu was solid with fresh pastries, duck eggs, and traditional Spanish bounty all featured. We went for a mixture of items, including some wonderful sweet roasted tomatoes, and smoked and meaty bacon which was some of the nicest I’ve tried in London.

Pastries were light and delicate, and not too sweet a start to the day. Service was prompt, and the kind of deliciously ‘Mayfair’ attentiveness which makes guests feel totally indulged.

Aurelia is a perfect stop for a meeting, or a generous start to the day on one’s own, and a very welcome addition to Cork Street.

Bon Vivant’s members and followers can receive 15% off breakfast at Aurelia throughout January – simple quote ‘Bon Vivant Offer’ at the time of booking.

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Dabbous: New Restaurant Launch

Dabbous restaurant and bar will launch on Whitfield Street in Fitzrovia in late January 2012, the first solo venture from Ollie Dabbous, formerly of Michelin-starred Texture, and mixologist Oskar Kinberg, formerly bar manager at the Cuckoo Club.

Spread over two levels, the restaurant will have “an industrial but organic design, with exposed brickwork, sheet metal and copper pipes offset by rustic candles and natural woods”.

The menu will change with the seasons, but example dished include salad of fennel, lemon balm & pickled rose petals; barbecued Iberico pork, savoury acorn praline, turnip tops & homemade apple vinegar and chocolate clay with sheep’s milk ice cream & basil. A tasting menu will be available at £49 per person and an excellent value lunch at £21 for 2 courses or £24 for 4 course.

Dabbous bar

The basement bar will offer a menu of classic drinks and signature cocktails such as the Dillusion – cucumber, elderflower and dill muddled with Bloom’s gin, ice and lemon -  along with limited selection of bar snacks to be offered alongside the full restaurant menu.

Dabbous will open from Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and the bar from noon until 11.30pm.

Address: Dabbous Restaurant & Bar, 39 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 2SF

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