Old world charm in beautiful, modern surroundings: Tom Jeffreys is enamoured with The Northall.
It's tough to make a new restaurant stand out from the crowd these days. There's, as far as I can tell, two main options: the Pollen Street Social route, with cutting edge contemporary art adorning the walls and a super-cool clientèle; or the route taken by the brilliant Roganic, with weird foraged ingredients and finickity fireworks. But The Northall, the second restaurant to open in the new Corinthia Hotel on Northumberland Avenue, adopts neither of these headline-grabbing strategies. Rather it resorts to something a little more old-fashioned to ensure its success, and if our evening there is anything to go by, the place deserves to be a tremendous success.
The first thing to point out is how beautiful it is. Housed in a frightfully grand Victorian building, the whole Corinthia Hotel is about loudly whispered luxury. Huge, high ceilings, mirrors everywhere, acres of fresh flowers, glass, brass and some serious statement light fittings: it's a confident, elegant, modern mix, but, with '70s-tinged banquets in caramel leather, it's also comfortable at the same time. Exactly the same is true of the service. Slick, smart and super-professional, with sufficient distance to retain formality but enough personality to put you at ease. From top to bottom this is an extremely classy set-up.
We kick things off with cocktails in the bar – my companion, editor of the New London Cocktail Review, Kina Lillet, opting for a classic champagne cocktail and I the Champagne Mare (both £15.50), which features the recently launched Gin Mare, champagne, fresh rosemary and lavender – subtly perfect matches for the gin's own unusual botanicals.
From there we amble through to the restaurant (there's no sense of rush or fluster about the Northall) and our waiter guides us through the menu, with the passion and knowledge of someone who loves what they do and the food they serve. Executive Chef Garry Hollihead's menu is a straightforward one, with the focus on the personality of the ingredients and their provenance. (Actually, of the whole evening that's the one thing that grates, but then the current obsession with giving the name of the pig whose flesh you're chomping on has never really been my thing.)
Anyway, Ms Lillet opts for scallops – sliced thin and served raw, with lemon dressing, micro cress and violets (£15). It's a deft, innovative little dish and really quite delightful. I meanwhile go all '50s picnic with Monmouthshire ham, egg mayonnaise and celeriac salt (also £15). It's an odd starter, but each bit of it is perfect (even the slightly unusual-tasting mayonnaise) so no complaints there. From there it's Dover sole meunière (£39) for Ms Lillet: rich, delicate, buttery and – leavened with little touches of dried lemon – completely delicious. I opt for the (£26) roast duck (cornfed Goosnargh duck, natch) which is perfectly pink and rich with gooey gravy. The Dauphinoise potatoes probably steal the show though – crisp on top and buttered to death. Heaven.
The sommelier earns his crust at the stage by picking out a glass of Thierry Puzelat's Touraine Pinot Noir 2010 (£12 a glass) the light earthiness of which perfectly complements the duck. Either side of that we guzzle a bottle of Donhoff Riesling Trocken 2009 (£43), whose spine of minerality is entwined with gentle tendrils of honeysuckle. Delightful.
After an exploratory pootle round the rest of the Corinthia's ground floor (the beautiful Massimo restaurant, various ballrooms and function rooms, and the jazz age Bassoon Bar – where the bar and the piano are wittily one) it's dessert time: three excellent ice-creams for Ms Lillet and an exquisite rose, raspberry and lychee pavlova with crystallised rose petal for me. It's a suitably elegant and confidently understated finale to a wonderful evening. Yes the Northall's expensive (including cocktails and wine, our meal comes to £235) but this is old-fashioned luxury, the kind you shouldn't mind paying for. Beautiful décor, simple, expertly executed food, and fabulous service: sometimes the old ways are the best.
www.thenorthall.co.uk
Return to Spoonfed's London food and drink section.
Click here for things to do in London.
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...