Pattersons

Food

I started the day with some yummy bread and a Glass of Rioja, Heredad Ugarte, Crianza 2004 (£6.00). We had to order 3 courses to get the special, so…

• Slow Roast Belly Pork, Red Cabbage, Cauliflower Puree with a Seared Scallop and Thyme Jus - was a bit dry, the meat overwhelmed with flavour. The scallop is the usual tasteless offering. The cabbage was like sauerkraut, but pleasant.
• Squab Breast, on Potato and Apple Parmentier, with Foie Gras Parfait and Madeira Jelly - definitely the better entrée, although Slokky did manage to drop half of the squab onto the floor. The Foie Graf parfait was very strong, it comes with bread sticks for dipping, but I think works best paired with the gamey yet tender squab.
• Fillets of Dover Sole with Langoustine, Confit Leek, Jerusalem Artichoke Mash, Wild Mushrooms and Sauce Duglere - I love this dish, and I think if I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t think this restaurant was so good. This was easily the best fish dish I’ve had for awhile in London, and that includes Le Gavroche (but I am not comparing this to Tajima-Tei as that wouldn’t be fair). The fish was very succulent, but the accompaniment and sauce simply blew me away.
• Prime Sirloin of Beef with Celeriac, Stewed Shallots and Chestnuts with a Braised Oxtail and Potato Puree Gratin - the steak was cooked a bit more than medium-rare, but that suits me as I like medium. The beef was well cooked, but certainly not the best I’ve eaten. The sauce was too salty as well. I found more interest in the oxtail, wonderfully stewy and meaty, and the celeriac mould was interesting, sweet and savoury, yet with the texture of potatoes.
• Chestnut Soufflé Tart with Vanilla Ginger Ice Cream - I was really looking forward to this but was so let down. The flavours just didn’t really go together, and even the ginger ice-cream didn’t save the day.
• Valrhona Chocolate Fondant with Iced Double Cream - This was much better than the chocolate cake from Wet Fish Café, the shell had been hardened, and good quality molten chocolate filled the centre. The ice-cream was a letdown again.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Strange. I am not so sure if the décor is to my taste. On one hand, everything is quite modern, if a bit boring. However, they have a huge fish tank in the front room, and other aquatic colour scheme happening. It makes the place look a bit like a hotel lobby, and actually detracts from the elegance of the room.

Rating - 2

Service

I was very impressed by the excellent service by a very professional team who were also friendly and warm. They took our coat, readjusted the table for the cancellation, and was humble, with no trace of pretensions, even though we weren’t behaving as expected, throughout.

Rating - 4.5

C-factor

It definitely wasn’t that cheap, even with our 50% off offer, but the food was great and the service first rate.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 15

Info

4 Mill Street
London
W1S 2AX
Phone +44 (0) 20 7499 1308
Website