Le Gavroche

I was disappointed. Thye food wasn't bad, just not outrageously good. And some pureed spinach tasted like grass puree. The room was too hot. The service was okay, but rather cold. It would be a good restaurant, but not at these prices. I expected more for what they charge.
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Soma Sengupta
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

This is by far the best restaurant I have ever been to!

I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

The staff were warm and extremely hospitable.

The food was excquisite.

This is a must have been to restaurant.
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Véronique Stokx
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, August 05, 2010

My first time at Le Gavroche and it lived up to all my expectations. Charmingly kitsch room, excellent relaxed service and sublime, beautifully refined food. From the Brill Tempura Amuse-bouche to the simply divine Pollock Sashimi and the beef with Foie Gras, each course seemd to out-trump the seemingly unbeatable last. And the cheese. The best I've ever tasted on either side of the Channel.

The wine list is brilliantly full of French beauties and the whole evening (a family celebration) was a joy to behold. The best restaurant in London? I think so.
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Toby Tucker
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, May 17, 2010

My husband and I had the tasting menu. We enjoyed most of the dishes immensely. The atmosphere was cozy and romantic.

I was very pleased by the attentive service. As soon as I wanted to get up, a waiter/waitress would come out of nowhere to help me with the table. The same when I sat down. As I am pregnant, my frequency of getting up and down was a bit embarrassingly high but the attentiveness was unchanged.

I asked the waiter whether the first dish was fully cooked because of my pregnancy (I never had trouble putting anything of unknown origin/cooking method in my mouth prior to the pregnancy). The waiter took special note of that and made sure every dish for me was cooked thoroughly. I was very delighted because most other restaurants do not bother even when I specifically request it.

We would definitely come back.
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CC
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I had a long anticipated birthday celebration lunch here last Friday and I have to say I was underwhelmed. We all chose from the set lunch menu - 3 choices per course. Everyone enjoyed their starter I think - my warm fish pate was lovely. I was glad not to have chosen the mushroom souffle with quails egg when I saw it but those eating it seemed pleased. The main course choices were "classic" rather than excitingly original - guinea fowl, monk fish wrapped in pancetta or navarin of lamb. I had the lamb which had a lovely rich flavour but was a bit stringy and the presentation very dull. Having watched M Roux criticise people on Masterchef for their dishes not looking upto "fine dining" standards I was disappointed with a meat stew in a silver salver with no particular garnish. My local bistro serves that. The choice of desserts was cheese, sorbets/icecream or poached pear. I appreciate many diners are delighted to have the famed cheeseboard on offer on the set lunch but I thought the choice disappointing. The poached pear (yawn) was incredibly sweet to my taste and the accompanying caramel doughnut (with fancy French name) was also similarly sweet and really quite heavy. The dish needed something to offset all the sweetness on the plate and I neither enjoyed nor finished it.

The service was good if you like over-attentiveness. Frankly I find having my water glass continuously topped up between sips a bit much. Likewise having to move for one tiny crumb to be removed from the cloth. Our table for 8 was a little on the small side given the size of the chairs and the place settings were cramped. I imagine the restaurant was not responsible for the very loud hammer drilling going on directly above our heads for the duration of lunch but this made conversation tricky and was extremely annoying. Interesting that it stopped during the time M Roux did his rounds of the important clients (not us obviously).

All in all I was disappointed. I have eaten far better in restaurants with no stars and I would not go back.
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7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 11, 2010

A 'snowday' off meant I could take advantage of the famed £50 lunch so why not. Well, unfortunately, much lauded as it is, the £50 menu just didn't appeal all that much on this day, so we ended up a la carte anyway, so I could have gone ages ago and in the evening for the same cost! Nevermind, there was something peculiarly enjoyable about eating a la carte at lunch. The price was in line with the other 2*s, not more expensive as I had believed, though the format is individually priced dishes rather than the usual fixed menu, so it does have the potential to go up a notch.

Food was very good, but very rich, much less fussy than at the other 2*s which is a good thing IMHO. There were less extras than in many other places, but what there was was well chosen-every fancy place in London has some sort of foie gras mousse as part of the appetisers it seems, but this was a good example, not too rich and on an oaty biscuit for a great texture comparison. Also very good was smoked red mullet with horseradish cream, the smokey flavour working well on mullet, and the cream with just a hint of horseradish to set it off. I had the famous soufflé suisses for my first course proper which was immense though artery clogging, the actual soufflé very light, almost savoury meringue-like, but the cheese sauce very creamy and heavy but in a good way, the flavour was so intense, you could see why it has been on the menu for 30odd years. For main I had halibut in a rich red wine sauce- a combination which worked very well. The halibut was seared on the outside to give a crispy texture, but the fish was perhaps the tiniest bit overdone, but only the tiniest bit. On the plate with which to mop up the excellent sauce was some extremely smoth pureed potatoes, the almost nursery food texture a simple pleasure. We had no need for dessert at lunch, and they weren't so tempting as to override that. Petit fours were ample and good, especially a little lemon sponge that was still warm and an excellent chocolate ganache. Coffee was replenished constantly from a silver jug which was a small but nice touch-no having to ask.

The wine list was not a bargain but more reasonable than I'd expected (eg very pleasant wine from the maconnais at £5 a glass, £25 a bottle unheard of in other restaurants of this level). The problem with it was its size plus the fact they don't have it online meaning theirs no time to go through it if like me you prefer to make your own choice rather than leave it to the sommelier. Thats how I ended up getting a bottle of the wine I'd had by the glass as it was pleasant and relatively cheap. Next time I'll ask for the list to be e-mailed to me in advance.

Service was good as expected, the whole set up is very old school, am pretty sure this is the first time I've had a main from under a silver dome! Lots of silver cruets and cutlery, jacketed waiters, lots of staff, it can be a bit fussy but here it worked fairly seamlessly. I quite enjoyed the old school clubby approach, the only thing that was a step too far into the past (alongside the jacket for men dress code, which I happened to meet only as I had been planning on going to work) was that one menu was for the man with prices and one for the woman without, leading to the bizarre situation of my friend and I being asked who is the man! To finish they have a great drinks trolley with a massive selection of Armagnac calvados and cognac-I don't know why more restaurants do it as it looks so appealing, they must upsell much more by having it out so visibly. We had an 85 armagnac which was delicious, and actually no worse value than it would have been in a bar, possibly better than in a decent bar, at £15 a generous glass.

Because the food is extremely rich yet at the same time less elaborate than its competitors at the top end (I'm sure constructing the rich sauces is elaborate and time consuming, but on the end plate there aren't too many elements) this is my favourite of the 2*s I have tried. You certainly couldn't eat this sort of food often, but I would definitely go back. As far as value is concerned, well its cheaper than eating this kind of food in Paris, not even taking into account the cost of the eurostar!
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 09, 2010

Well tonight was the night that I had the opportunty to visit the restaurant that I have always admired from afar and to be totally honest I was sorely disappointed!

I have been in the very fortuitous position of having the opportunity to eat in a number of fine dining establisments in and around London and sadly the Gavroche would not make my top 5 despite the fact that I really wanted it to!

We tackled the tasting menu with wines and only one dish blew me away - the foie gras starter. Given it was the opening dish as I am sure you can imagine, I thought that I was in for a fantastic night but sadly it all went downhill from there

1: Foie Gras - Simply stunning - a wonderful dish

2: Yellowfin tuna - beautifully fresh but ... that was about it

3: Langostine & pigs trotter - overpowered by the allegedly 'subtle' mustard dressing

4: Sea Bass - Lovely dish but nothing exceptional

5: Cheese souffle - I now understand why this dish has been on the menu for so long - light & fluffy but heavy on flavour - beautiful

6: Venison - Beautifully cooked but again nothing out of the ordinary

7: Cheese board - One word 'enormous'

8: Tarte Tatin - Average

Now please don't get me wrong this is a wonderful restaurant with an amazing heritage but I had high expectations given my previous experiences and I was sorely let down. I won't be rushing back

The food at the Square far exceeds the cooking at the Gavroche as to does its sister restaurant the Ledbury (certainly one to watch for the future).

Sorry Mr Roux Jr - I really, really wanted to come away totally amazed but sadly walked away disappointed
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Karl M
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, December 04, 2009

Wow. One of the very best dining experiences i have had. The food was just fantastic and the service was a rare mix of being highly attentive but not obtrusive.

We had the tasting menu with matching wines and I would definitely recommend this - the pairings of the dishes with the wines bringing the best out of both. Foie gras with a Gewurztraminer was a highlight.

It was all great but langoustines with pigs trotters worked brilliantly and some simply treated sea bass showed off the quality of the fish.

I had been looking forward to this for ages and my only concern was that with a fairly formal dress code the atmosphere would be a bit stuffy. Shouldn't have worried. It felt really relaxed and the atmosphere was one of one people enjoying themselves which is not always the case at Michelin starred restaurants.

And if you have the tasting menu, don't go overboard when the bread basket comes round as the 8 courses need a proper appetite!

Not cheap, but will remember this for a long, long time - worth the money. Go.
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hungry viking - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, December 04, 2009

Some things in life just have to be experienced to understand and appreciate them and Le Gavroche is one of those things, I can only describe the food as awaking from a food coma..it is life changing. The service and atmosphere are like meeting with old friends, no sense of awkwardness, you are treated like the most important person in the room and with absolute respect.

It is perfection personified.
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Mike Donovan & Angela Appleton
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, November 30, 2009

still the best lunch in london but book very well in advance !

of course in the set lunch there are no delicacies like lobster or gooseliver but great French dishes and always a choice of three items

and Le Gavroche does offer the cheese trolley in the set lunch without any supplement - bravo M Roux !

great service also for the included wines and a second coffee offered
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londonfreak - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 26, 2009