Three days, four restaurants: Mission, Dean St Townhouse, La Chapelle, Avenue

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Three days, four restaurants: Mission, Dean St Townhouse, La Chapelle, Avenue

 

Inside Galvin la Chapelle
Inside Galvin la Chapelle

London is full of great places to eat, and I had a particularly good run from Sunday to Tuesday with four restaurant visits in three days.

I’ve acknowledged here before that I make no claims to being a restaurant reviewer. It’s very hard to be a good restaurant reviewer. The best ones manage to entertain and still review the restaurant well. When I try, I find that my writing is just boringly sincere. Still, good experiences deserve to be talked about.

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Sunday lunch was at Mission E2. I love this place. It was a winemaker lunch with Raj Parr and his brilliant wines. At the beginning everyone was a bit nervous and quiet, but after a glass or two people loosened up and the atmosphere was great. The food, which came on plates for sharing, was excellent. The only problem was that it proved very hard to allocate portions appropriately, and one course ran out before everyone had got some. But the benefit that comes from doing this shared plate model is a wonderful informality, which suits the place well. We had lots of courses, and a lot of wines, and it was a memorable time.

Monday lunch was at Dean Street Townhouse. My second visit. It’s a completely different vibe. This is where you go for posh comfort food: British classics that are, I imagine, immensely reassuring for middle-aged public school educated Brits. I had cod on a bed of lentils and bacon, with a side of garlic mash that I didn’t really need – a dish positively experimental compared with the rest of the menu. The decor is similarly conservative. But I really enjoyed the experience. Wine? A cheap bottle of Swartland Chenin Blanc from Riebeek Cellars. Pure, linear, fruity.

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Smoked eel, La Chapelle
Smoked eel, La Chapelle

Then Monday dinner. It was at Galvin la Chapelle. This is an amazing space: a converted chapel in the city. It has a very high end feel to it, and the service is flawless. The food was seriously good: nothing too flash, just brilliantly executed work with good ingredients. I had a delicious starter of smoked eel, and then an almost perfect chateaubriand. I really enjoyed it, but this is an expensive place. It’s probably worth it, though, for the combination of an amazing space and excellent food.

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Finally, Monday lunch. It was at Avenue in St James. This American themed restaurant, part of the D&D group, is excellent. Service is great, and it’s a big, airy, bright, spacious dining room. My only problem is the noise. The acoustics mean that normal conversation levels create a wall of sound, and so you have to shout across the table, which makes things worse. I really enjoyed the food: corn crab and then a brilliant, indulgent, juicy burger of the highest quality. I was having lunch with Marimar Torres, so this was washed down with her impressive Russian River Valley Chardonnays, Albarino and Pinot Noirs.

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