The Ritz Restaurant London

Address: 150 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9BR

Award: One Michelin star

Visit: 28 July 2024. Lunch for two people

Price: ***

Website: https://www.theritzlondon.com/

The Review

The Ritz Hotel was opened in 1906 by Swiss hotelier César Ritz.  The legendary Auguste Escoffier was the chef.  The opulent dining room is located at the rear of the hotel as you enter through the glass doors at the back of the lobby.  You walk down the Long Gallery past the Rivoli Bar, and the afternoon tea guests at The Palm Court, to reach the restaurant.  This is a formal dining room that insists on a jacket and tie for men.

The kitchen brigade is headed by Executive Chef John Williams MBE.  The Ritz Restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2017.

Please see my previous review here.

On this visit for Sunday lunch, we decided to choose from the a la carte menu.  We were served three exceptional canapes to start.  There was a Parmesan mousse with Kalamata black olive and basil on a Parmesan sablé base, another of duck liver parfait with sour cherry glaze on a gingerbread and Espelette pepper cracker, and a third of coronation chicken inside a crisp cylindrical sugar tuile.  These were excellent canapes with perfectly balanced combinations of ingredients, textures and flavours.

The starter of Dorset crab with crème fraiche and Oscietra caviar was sensational.  The white crab meat was mixed with crème fraiche, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.  On top was a chopped jelly that was made from Granny Smith apple juice and fennel juice, split with chive oil.  This was topped with a spoonful of Imperial caviar.  On the side was a small English crumpet that was topped with whipped brown crab meat, with cream cheese, lemon and Espelette pepper.

Our other starter was the famous Scottish langoustine a la nage with bronze fennel.  The shellfish had been poached in butter, and were served with a cauliflower puree, baby vegetables, fennel, and garnished with edible flowers.  The “nage” is a stock flavoured with white wine, langoustine shells, herbs and vegetables, and this was poured over the langoustine at the table.  The langoustines had exceptional flavour and were beautifully sweet.

For our main course we chose the beef Wellington.  This is part of the “Arts de la Table” selection of dishes that are prepared at your table by your waiter.  The whole Wellington was presented to us at the table, and then it was carved.  The pastry and beef ends of the Wellington were removed and presented separately.  This was a magnificent Wellington, the beef was served perfectly medium rare.  It was wrapped in a pancake with mushroom duxelles, and stuffed with foie gras.  The pastry was crisp with no sogginess.  It was accompanied by hen of the woods mushrooms, a Perigord black truffle jus, and creamed potatoes which you can have covered in the beef jus.  Extra truffle can be shaved onto your dish at the table.  The truffle is weighed before and after, and your waiter shaves until you say stop.  The truffle is £12 a gramme, so be careful.

For dessert I ordered the Chocolate souffle with vanilla Chantilly cream which was tremendous.  To complete the meal we were served some excellent petit fours including a raspberry jelly, a chocolate bonbon, and a macaroon.  Instead of coffee we tried the tea infusions that were served on a trolley at the table.  We could choose from fresh mint, ginger, peppermint and a variety of other fresh herbs.  The infusion was accompanied by a chocolate ganache filled with a mint cream, like a posh “After Eight”.

Everything about The Ritz Restaurant is outstanding.  It is still one of the best restaurants in London.  The food and service are superb, way beyond other multi-starred restaurants that I have visited.

The Menus:

The Rivoli Bar

The Food

 

The Desserts and Tea Infusions

The People

John Williams, Executive Chef, was taught by his mother to cook, and continued with cookery classes at school.  His culinary career began in 1974 with his first position as a commis chef at the Percy Arms Hotel in Otterburn, Northumberland, at the age of 16, as he studied for his City and Guilds at South Shields College.

John qualified as a chef at Westminster College in London, while working at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, and worked his way through the kitchen operation up to chef de cuisine in 1982.  In 1984, he accepted the position of director at the Restaurant Le Crocodile in Kensington.

Then, in 1986, John joined the Savoy Group of Hotels and Restaurants.  He worked with the Savoy Group for 18 years, as premier sous chef at Claridge’s, maître chef des cuisines at The Berkeley, and then headed up Claridge’s kitchens as maître chefs des cuisines in 1995.

John joined The Ritz as Executive Chef in 2004.  Under his leadership, The Ritz Restaurant was awarded one Michelin Star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2017 for the first time in the hotel’s history.  He oversees a kitchen brigade of over 60 chefs and is responsible for the seasonal menus as Michelin-star chef for The Ritz Restaurant, The Palm Court renowned for the world-famous Afternoon Tea, The Rivoli Bar and Room Service.

In 2008 he was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honour List by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to hospitality.  John has catered for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s 70th and 80th birthday banquets, as well as private dinners for the Royal family at The Ritz, and state functions at Buckingham Palace.

John was crowned the AA’s Chef of the Year in 2017, following in the footsteps of Michel Roux Jnr, Simon Rogan, Pierre Koffman, Heston Blumenthal and Rick Stein.

In May 2024, Chef John Williams was named President of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, through which he tirelessly promotes the education and training of young chefs.

In 2019, The Ritz London: The Cookbook by John Williams, was published.