Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

This is to me unfortunately not worth 3*. The food is, as the service, extremely solid and almost predictably correct. Of course the meat (venison) and the fish (halibut) were both well cooked. But it misses creativity in design and misses excitement in taste. It is traditional French cooking, served by French waiters and you can accompany the dishes with French wines as there are hardly other wines available.

There were no amuses before the menu started, which normally are kind of signatures from the cook.

For 3* you should do a lot more. I disagree with the michelin guide, 1* maximum.
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Waterman
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Thursday, December 16, 2010

I am neither a restaurant critic nor a journalist, however I have a grasp of the English language and I eat everyday. In fact I have been doing so for 41 years and in the last 20 of those have learnt to cook to a reasonable standard, identify various ingredients, and deliver 3 courses with confidence to friends and family alike. I lead a life style where eating out is a regular activity and the occasional foray into the hallowed halls of the over priced pomp and circumstance of Michelin starred eateries is a treat rather than a formality. I do however have to pay for these experiences and most of the time handsomely. I have a small collection of wines from mainly France and Italy good enough to warrant correct storage and thoughtful serving.

So armed with this menial knowledge and a nervous wallet, I visited the 'Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester' at the bequest of a good friend to celebrate his 40th Birthday along with my wife and 3 other guests.

After a very attentive and warm welcome we were shown to our exclusive table (though not exclusive enough to have a B&Q Xmas curtain encasing us) but a pleasant wall covered in randomly positioned green buttons which apparently mimic the exterior view of whatever park it was across the road. It was dark so it mimicked instead the speeding and frequent blue flashing lights that streaked past at this time on a Saturday evening.

I felt the table was better suited to 8 as the distance between guests was a little more than just comfortable but to complain would have been too picky, so I will just say that it was VERY accommodating. In all a pleasant and relaxing setting. Menu's and lists of all sorts arrived from several directions and so we perused the offerings. Now the detail is not noted as to every dish, but we all opted to go for the set taster menu with one vegatarian diner (but eats fish because they have no feelings) menu.

The wine list was expectantly heaving with massively marked up fare and the great en premiers. Many of the lesser labels though can be purchased very reasonably from high street retailers for a quarter of the price so far as I looked, so again we chose to have the matched wine menu, a glass per course, which I think was 7 for £95. So ahead lay £210 worth of the finest 3 star food and matched wine available today.

Were only that the case. First course a small bowl of luke warm Crab foam, admittedly accompanied by many different breads and butter that tasted a little like it had been left out too long, 3 of us had crab shell in our dish, an issue that was ungraciously brushed aside by the waiter with a simple apology (michel roux apparently would have sacked the chef if T'V is anything to go but for this crime), and I had a 'crystal' of what I was told was rock salt when I mentioned it to the help. Hmmm, Rock salt that 1, doesn't dissolve, and 2, when bitten down on defeated my teeth in the crunching department, so 'rock' I think would be more accurate. The message was simple, I was stupid and the kitchen new better, no further mention of the crab shell in 3 of the dishes though and so on we went.

I am not going to comment on each wine individually as I am getting bored now of typing, not being used to such excersion, so....None of the accompanying wines stood out as special, in fact they were all very recent vintages and mostly too sweet and white. I think £95 would have easily purchased a dozen or so bottles of any of them, let alone £95 per head for 7 glasses (£13.57 a glass). We all agreed on this summary.

As for the rest of the courses, I enjoyed the Fois Gras and pheasant terrine, but I love Fois gras so easily pleased I am. The lobster, rolled pasta, what I presume were Giroles mushrooms and chicken quenelles with black truffle was very good, but only together. The sauce was a little bland and I think if you had tasted the quenelles alone you would not have known what is was. Somewhere along the line was Venison with a scattering (small scattering) of root veg. The Venison was cooked nicely and was suitably gamey, chocolate sauce accompanied and was uninspiring but okay. I finished 3 other peoples out of 5 as I was craving substantial red meat by this point. The highlight I think was the Halibut with celeriac, cockles, and razor clams, very tasty again the sauce lacked the extraordinary depth you always hope for and pay for in these establishments but it was still very good.

Dessert, or at least the first dessert was a chocolate tart of sort, beautifully rich but too big accompanied by reduced milk ice cream flavoured with Salt. Now I liked this on it's own and so did others, however I left most of the tart, and so did others.

The apparently famous Rum BABA, made an entrance, and was as good a rum based sponge pudding as I have tasted. and some pink grapefruit sorbet which was as described. I was now feeling full so the final flurry of desserts etc was largely lost on me, perhaps a little more lobster earlier on would have been a better trade off.

So highlights / lowlights... Service was in general very attentive and from all sides though in this instance and throughout the meal the customer was most definitely never right. My wife was ignored when disagreeing with a wine choice to the point where the waiter turned and walked away. (my wife regularly visits Tuscany and Beaune to buy wine so is not an idiot when it comes to this element) It was topped when they served a wine for the fois gras dish and fish turned up, they refused to acknowledge this to start with. They later apologised for the mistake and re-served the wine but boys, boys, get of your horse, you only work in a restaurtant. They constantly throughout the meal replenished water glasses, it didn't matter if it was still or sparkling, they never asked after 1st serving so just mixed all the way through, Hysterical!

My 'Rock salt' and the crab shell was never mentioned again and swept heftily under the rug. The wine was poor, and I mean poor. But when faced with £90 plus for a bottle of average bordeaux I can buy for £25 in Laithwaites you take your chances elsewhere, we lost.

Amongst other things the real 'Special' moment apart from and enormous bill well north of £1000 for 6 people, was one of the 'signature dishes my friend had read about and so ordered specially because he wanted to taste it. I trust his judgement, or at least used to.... I don't know what it was but what arrived were to china pots with a pastry top baked on. As the lid was lifted another diner let out an involuntary but uncontrollable laugh. Inside the pot was a layer of root veg, sweet pots, parsnip etc baked in nothing really discernable to taste and as the lid was taken away it left a ring of largely uncooked pastry around the rim, If my friend's 4 year old daughter had cooked it I would have sent her back to start again.

On the up side, there were some nice dishes peppered in the mix, the evening was leisurely and even at nearly 1 am we were not being moved along with any haste, but would I go back or recommend to others a visit. No, not even close. I am glad my friend enjoyed the evening, but after many bottles of champagne before we even arrived, His judgement may have been skewed somewhat. If it had been £100 per head including the wine then maybe, but I now £450 lighter feel somewhat numb at the experience.
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6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Monday, November 15, 2010

I went here for lunch and the place was almost deserted. The food was nice but I suppose it's saying something that the highlight were the freshly baked macaroons! The seats were comfy and there was plenty of light with the service being quick and efficient.

Unfortunately I cannot recommend going here as Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and Roussillon are far more superior places to eat.
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Mr CM - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I ate dinner at the Alain Ducasse last night (8 Sept 2010) for a birthday treat, and this was by the far the best meal I have ever eaten in my life - every course was better than the one before, and I swear I almost died when I tasted the milk fed lamb, followed by the rum baba - it was all a little peice of heaven.

On top of the three course menu, there was all the little added extras that we didn't expect, including an amuse bouche at the beginnging, the delightful cheese puffs, and macaroons and chocolates before dessert. Plus they left us with a little goody bag of biscuits and orange cake to take home with us for breakfast!

And to top it all off, the service was unbelievable - the waiters were friendly and thoughtful. Not at all pretentious, which can often be a real let-down at expensive establishments. And we were invited back to the kitchen to meet the chef at the end of a meal, which was a real treat.

I could not recommend this restaurant enough - everyone should eat here at least once in their life!! It really was worth every penny we spent there. I literally can't stop thinking about it - yum!
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Jackie
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, September 09, 2010

Our experience at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester was unforgettable! We wined and dined in the beautifully decorated restaurant on 3rd August! The service was first class, very kind and friendly. The food was incredible!!! We chose the a la carte and tasting menu and we enjoyed every dish as well as a Puligny montrachet 2004 wine. It's a lavish restaurant, a place that everyone should experience!!!
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EFTYCHIA CHARALAMBOUS
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

We always go out on a birthday for a nice lunch. Today we went to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, mainly because we couldn't get in to Le Gavroche.

With a table in a shady corner and any view of the rest of the room blocked by the private dining area's hanging curtains, the ambiance was not great. The decor is bland, modern-weird; almost as though it has been designed by committee.

We were going to try the lunch menu but it was uninspiring; we looked at the à la carte which didn't get the juices flowing either (Tournedos Rossini, Duck à l'orange), so we settled for the lunch after all.

There are some really nice things about this restaurant: great, friendly service, good bread (but very salty butter), chocolates and sweeties with the coffee. The amuse gueule, small seafood ravioli in a ginger flavoured broth, was delicious and promised a great meal.

Sadly the promise got lost somewhere in the kitchen. My oeuf moellet starter was OK, not great but OK.

My wife's halibut goujonettes consisted of a three small pieces of fish in a very hot (spicy) sauce with strongly pickled vegetables. A failure of concept or of execution? Either way it wasn't appreciated and most of it was left on the plate, apart from the fish which she ate and the bits I ate to try to prove to her that it wasn't really that bad: it was.

Next we had the Ox cheek with vegetables: I was surprised when SWMBO ordered it because I'd cooked it for her previously and she didn't like it. However, it was the only meat option on the menu: maybe that's why she went for it, she's a serious carnivore.

So how do you turn a cheap cut of meat into something worthy of a 3 star restaurant? Answers please on a post card to "The Chef, Alain Ducasse..."

Anyway, it looked great: four chunks of meat with a column of thin rectangles of vegetables up the centre and a rich dark sauce. It tasted... well, like Ox cheek: slighty chewy, gelatinous texture but somewhat dry. I ate it but the birthday girl chewed a few bits, gave me a look far worse than when I’d served it to her and decided to go hungry.

So far, so-so. The puddings varied between pretty good and brilliant. My contemporary (i.e.deconstructed) vacherin was really sorbet and coulis with a trio of small meringue teardrops; so small, I could have cried. But the flavours were there and it did round off the meal well. OTOH, C's chocolate mousse was exceptionally good, so I was only allowed a little taste (she can be so mean) but they'd stuck a candle in the ice cream boule especially for her birthday.

The house wines were well chosen, albeit the portions were a bit tentative. Then again, a small glass of champagne at fourteen quid seems expensive until you consider that a Peroni beer is seven quid.

So, without trying the orange juice (is that really the acid test of a fine restaurant?), I can only say I was disappointed: I've certainly had better meals in no-star restaurants although not so elegantly served.

I really would like to highly recommend this restaurant but then I'd also like to fly to the moon: sadly I can't do either.
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chris spencer
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, May 28, 2010