It is widely known that only three things that are important when it comes to property: location, location and location. The Park Lane Hilton, while never likely to win an award for aesthetics, nevertheless sits among London's prime Mayfair real estate but has its real advantage bestowed by being one of the few tall buildings in the vicinity therefore offering spectacular and uninterrupted views across London. Taking full use of the fact, the 28th floor of the building is given over to Galvin at Windows, the Michelin starred restaurant, together with Galvin at Windows bar. Between the two, they pretty much offer the full London skyline with St Paul's, The City and Canary Wharf visible looking east from the bar and from the restaurant, Park Lane, Hyde Park and Kensington. It's a spectacular backdrop for lunch.
Also at Galvin at Windows is Fred Sirieix (Twitter: @fredsirieix1), General Manager and of course star of the recent BBC programme Michel Roux's Service. Fred is a champion for the service and hospitality industry being a genuine career choice for young people, something we fully endorse and support. Furthermore, he's also the driving force behind Galvin's Chance, a charity that offers an 'into work' programme for disadvantaged young people aged 18-24. If you don't know about Galvin's Chance, we'd urge you to click through on the link and find out more about this very worthwhile endeavour.
While an unfortunate emergency on the part of one of our guests somewhat delayed our meal, staff were incredibly understanding about the fact and we used the time enjoy the bar and relish the view. On returning to the restaurant, our table again afforded magnificent views of the park and we set to the food.
We started with Cured Loch Duart salmon, Cornish crab, avocado cream & fennel compote, together with Risotto of wild mushrooms, pickled walnut & pecorino emulsion. The salmon presented a lively plate with bold splashes of green from the avocado cream, fresh white crab and alluring scoops of caviar. It worked really well as a dish, all the ingredients tasted first class and the dish overall was lively, fresh and quite moorish. The risotto was similarly tasty, perhaps a little more al dente than our usual preference but still a very good dish.
Also at Galvin at Windows is Fred Sirieix (Twitter: @fredsirieix1), General Manager and of course star of the recent BBC programme Michel Roux's Service. Fred is a champion for the service and hospitality industry being a genuine career choice for young people, something we fully endorse and support. Furthermore, he's also the driving force behind Galvin's Chance, a charity that offers an 'into work' programme for disadvantaged young people aged 18-24. If you don't know about Galvin's Chance, we'd urge you to click through on the link and find out more about this very worthwhile endeavour.
While an unfortunate emergency on the part of one of our guests somewhat delayed our meal, staff were incredibly understanding about the fact and we used the time enjoy the bar and relish the view. On returning to the restaurant, our table again afforded magnificent views of the park and we set to the food.
We started with Cured Loch Duart salmon, Cornish crab, avocado cream & fennel compote, together with Risotto of wild mushrooms, pickled walnut & pecorino emulsion. The salmon presented a lively plate with bold splashes of green from the avocado cream, fresh white crab and alluring scoops of caviar. It worked really well as a dish, all the ingredients tasted first class and the dish overall was lively, fresh and quite moorish. The risotto was similarly tasty, perhaps a little more al dente than our usual preference but still a very good dish.
Following our previous gastro-week we again steered clear of venison and beef choosing instead Braised brill, baby leeks, grilled octopus, gratin of clams & seaweed as well as the Cotswold white chicken, tortellini, chestnut & truffle jus. Both dishes were excellently cooked and worked well at the ingredient level and dish level. Always easy to fall down on the octopus, we had no issues here and importantly, no chewiness. The chicken was delivered with equal aplomb with the truffle aromas easily and jealously picked up on by the person sitting next to me. Succulent, flavoured and well cooked chicken complimented by a rich chestnut & truffle, an excellent main.
We took some cheese and then while tempted across a few desserts, (hot souffle of banana, chocolate & caramelised peanut sounded especially fine to me), none of us could resist opting for the Manjari chocolate ganache, halzenut & salted caramel. This was a monster chocolate dessert and those hoping that the salted caramel indicated a sweet-savoury balanced combination were sadly wrong; choco-philes meanwhile cleared the plate with relish.
Overall, this was good food, well cooked and food that made sense on the plate. It easily deserves its star and delivered a far more satisfying meal than its similarly one starred neighbour Texture where we had eaten at earlier that week though perhaps more comparably, it also delivered more highlights than newly elevated Gauthier Soho. Spectacular views then, great food and a congenial environment, we very much enjoyed our meal at Galvin at Windows and look forward to Fred's magic touch again next time.
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