Restaurants which aspire to fine dining really do give you so much more than just a dandy plate of food. Somehow they even bring out the finery in you.
You won't turn up to Le Gavroche in ripped jeans, flip-flops and a musky wife-beater would you? (Actually, you couldn't even if you wanted to: Micky Roux is pretty hot on his obligatory jacket dress requisites.) If you're eating fine, then you want to dress fine.
And when you're seated: it's shoulders back, elbows off the table (you wouldn't want to crease the 900 thread-count ironed tablecloths). If you're eating fine, then you want to project some finery.
... and the bubble of conversation from your table... it's unlikely to recall Sunday's X-factor results punctuated with a litany of F-bombs. Let's, instead, effervesce with chatter of Puccini, of Proust, of Titian and of Linekar (OK, some things don't change).
Finally, the food... oh, this will be fine.
It’s not often that a meal requiring you to take out a second mortgage is worth the money, and while we wouldn’t recommend you use up your life savings on a meal, in the case of Le Gavroche, it’s true. Michel Roux Jr.’s superb cuisine, coupled with service that is second to none ensure this restaurant continues to be an institution more than 40 years after opening.
Mouthwatering modern French food combined with one of London’s most breathtaking settings (it’s housed within a Victorian chapel), and let’s not forget the never-ending, highly informative wine list. This is undoubtedly gourmet heaven.
David Moore opened this fine French eatery in 1991, and it has firmly established itself as one of London’s premier haute cuisine restaurants. The menu has thoughtful flavour pairings like scallops with toasted hazelnuts, caramelised celeriac and confit of Buddha lemon, and a very broad selection of European wines.
