When a new restaurant opens up on Park Lane it's a cause for excitement. When the restaurant is operated by one of the most famous and most successful chefs in the world, it's even more a cause for excitement. And when you see just how much money has been spent on it all, it's positively jaw dropping.
CUT is located within a boutique hotel, 45 Park Lane which itself is owned by the Dorchester Collection. The Dorchester Collection in turn is owned by Brunei Investment Authority which according to the US State Department had at the end of 2009, $30 billion of assets under management; start up funding then was never an issue. And investment hasn't indeed been spared, the finish cannot be faulted and the walls are adorned with Damien Hirst artwork. So it should all be very special and very brilliant, yet for us, the space was in many ways cold. It still feels like the lobby of a very nice (and expensive) hotel and the shape of the room, a galley style restaurant with partial dividers between sections, does it no favours in layering (or in this case hindering) atmosphere.
Then there's the choice of music: Dire Straits (Sultans of Swing, 1978), Elton John (Nikita, 1985), Lynyrd Skynyrd (various I think) and more of the same providing in total a compilation that could easily be coined Now That's What I Call Music For the Over Forties. The prices at CUT however have already made as much as a splash as the food such that the under 40 segment is clearly not their target market so maybe the music is pitched correctly.
Whether against this backdrop it will become London's hottest restaurant hangout, who knows? Immediately after it opened it was said to be fully booked for a month in advance but on our visit today for a 1:30pm lunch, it was perhaps around 75% full on entering and soon thinned out.
And before moving on to the food, a comment on service: it was at best patchy. There were plenty of the staff but that seemed to make matters worse as they huddled together in conversations, and who was responsible for what was never always clear. Sauces that came with the food had to be requested, water poured by ourselves and semaphore flags seemed necessary to get the bill. Fay Maschler's review noted something similar.
CUT is located within a boutique hotel, 45 Park Lane which itself is owned by the Dorchester Collection. The Dorchester Collection in turn is owned by Brunei Investment Authority which according to the US State Department had at the end of 2009, $30 billion of assets under management; start up funding then was never an issue. And investment hasn't indeed been spared, the finish cannot be faulted and the walls are adorned with Damien Hirst artwork. So it should all be very special and very brilliant, yet for us, the space was in many ways cold. It still feels like the lobby of a very nice (and expensive) hotel and the shape of the room, a galley style restaurant with partial dividers between sections, does it no favours in layering (or in this case hindering) atmosphere.
Then there's the choice of music: Dire Straits (Sultans of Swing, 1978), Elton John (Nikita, 1985), Lynyrd Skynyrd (various I think) and more of the same providing in total a compilation that could easily be coined Now That's What I Call Music For the Over Forties. The prices at CUT however have already made as much as a splash as the food such that the under 40 segment is clearly not their target market so maybe the music is pitched correctly.
Whether against this backdrop it will become London's hottest restaurant hangout, who knows? Immediately after it opened it was said to be fully booked for a month in advance but on our visit today for a 1:30pm lunch, it was perhaps around 75% full on entering and soon thinned out.
And before moving on to the food, a comment on service: it was at best patchy. There were plenty of the staff but that seemed to make matters worse as they huddled together in conversations, and who was responsible for what was never always clear. Sauces that came with the food had to be requested, water poured by ourselves and semaphore flags seemed necessary to get the bill. Fay Maschler's review noted something similar.
We started our meal with Big Eye Tuna Tartar, Wassabi Aioli, Ginger, Togarashi Crisps, Tosa Soy, and Austrian Oxtail Bouillon, Chervil, Bone Marrow Dumplings. At least the top end prices for food at CUT buys you a lot of it, portion sizes here and throughout the meal are generous. The styling too is in your face and if this were couture, it would probably have shoulder pads; indeed, from the Miami art deco look of the building, the '80s music and now the food, it all seemed a little too retro, and the feeling that CUT was a period piece never fully left us.
The Big Eye Tuna arrives as a big tartar on an even bigger plate. The problem in our view however is that the tuna is overwhelmed by the quantity of condiments. The tuna itself is never given the opportunity to shine as the wassabi dominates. Less would have certainly been more here.
The oxtail bouillon, the cheapest starter on the menu at £9, is excellent. It too could also benefit a little from something being taken away as there's two big dumplings in there, some beautiful melt in the mouth bone marrow, and substantial quantities of oxtail making it another weighty starter. I do feel like I've got my money's worth here however.
The Big Eye Tuna arrives as a big tartar on an even bigger plate. The problem in our view however is that the tuna is overwhelmed by the quantity of condiments. The tuna itself is never given the opportunity to shine as the wassabi dominates. Less would have certainly been more here.
The oxtail bouillon, the cheapest starter on the menu at £9, is excellent. It too could also benefit a little from something being taken away as there's two big dumplings in there, some beautiful melt in the mouth bone marrow, and substantial quantities of oxtail making it another weighty starter. I do feel like I've got my money's worth here however.
Big Eye Tuna Tartar, Wassabi Aioli, Ginger, Togarashi Crisps, Tosa Soy
Austrian Oxtail Bouillon, Chervil, Bone Marrow Dumplings
Before our meaty mains, we decided to share the Warm Lobster 'Club' Sandwich, Walnut Bread, Herb Aioli, Tomatoes and Apple Wood Smoked Bacon which is listed as a main course item on the menu. It was very good indeed, the lobster in sufficient quantities, excellently done, the bacon just right and an excellent herb note to the aioli. It seemed perfect as a seafood snack before our main, half a sandwich each, and yet I couldn't help but feel that taken as a main course (at £24), it lacked something. And not just the sides, pretty much all of which at CUT are extras, hence it doesn't automatically come with fries, but something more fundamental. Admittedly, £24 is at the cheaper end of main plates here, but ultimately it is just a posh club sandwich and this is Park Lane's newest finest restaurant. At Hawksmoor (from memory), the Lobster Roll is on the bar menu, not the main restaurant menu, which we'd guess is precisely for this reason.
Warm Lobster 'Club' Sandwich, Walnut Bread, Herb Aioli, Tomatoes and Apple Wood Smoked Bacon
as above
For the main course, we both opted for the steak tasting plate: USDA Prime Black Angus (4oz), Casterbridge Angus, South West England (4oz), Australian Wagyu/Black Angus (2oz). The tasting plates come with three sauces: Bearnaise, House Made Steak Sauce and Armagnac & Green Peppercorn. With that we chose the following additional options: 1x bone marrow (£6), 1 x French Fries with Herbs (£4.50) and Creamed Spinach with Fried Organic Egg (£5.50).
If you are tempted by the Wagyu alone, the 6oz version is £70, so valuing our 2oz steak at £23, however, we seem to get lucky and looking at the plate, our 2oz Wagyu looks no smaller than its 4oz neighbours. CUT is also very proud of its cooking method for steaks and tells you in outsize font on the menu 'grilled over hard wood & charcoal then finished under a 650 degree broiler...', this is in line with the ever popular Josper grill that outputs between 400-800 degrees of heat.
But there is a problem here, at that temperature the meat cooks very quickly, and trying to cook smaller steaks (ie, 4oz or 2oz) to perfection has only the smallest margin for error compared to longer cooking times on larger steaks. The outcome is that the steaks were generally medium, not medium rare, and had dried out a little as a consequence. That was a shame. Flavours were still present with the Casterbridge Angus the best of the bunch, even beating the Wagyu that while nice, failed to offer anything more, and would have surely upset us a great deal if we had in fact stumped up the £70 for the full size version.
Of the sides, the creamed spinach was really excellent. The fries meanwhile come in super size portion and are okay though hugely over-salted. Oh, and as well as the sauces, there are four mustards brought to the table so no two mouthfuls ever need be the same.
If you are tempted by the Wagyu alone, the 6oz version is £70, so valuing our 2oz steak at £23, however, we seem to get lucky and looking at the plate, our 2oz Wagyu looks no smaller than its 4oz neighbours. CUT is also very proud of its cooking method for steaks and tells you in outsize font on the menu 'grilled over hard wood & charcoal then finished under a 650 degree broiler...', this is in line with the ever popular Josper grill that outputs between 400-800 degrees of heat.
But there is a problem here, at that temperature the meat cooks very quickly, and trying to cook smaller steaks (ie, 4oz or 2oz) to perfection has only the smallest margin for error compared to longer cooking times on larger steaks. The outcome is that the steaks were generally medium, not medium rare, and had dried out a little as a consequence. That was a shame. Flavours were still present with the Casterbridge Angus the best of the bunch, even beating the Wagyu that while nice, failed to offer anything more, and would have surely upset us a great deal if we had in fact stumped up the £70 for the full size version.
Of the sides, the creamed spinach was really excellent. The fries meanwhile come in super size portion and are okay though hugely over-salted. Oh, and as well as the sauces, there are four mustards brought to the table so no two mouthfuls ever need be the same.
Tasting of New York Sirloin
French Fries with Herbs
Creamed Spinach with Organic Fried Egg (yolk broken by us)
Mustards and salt
Sauces
The dessert menu offered temptations across its totality and we finally settled for 'Banana Cream Pie', 10 Year Chocolate Sauce, Banana Ice Cream as well as Pumpkin Donuts, '50' Bean Vanilla Ice Cream, Pumpkin Seed Brittle.
The banana plate was much lighter than it looked, a good job really after what had already been a substantial amount of food. The banana flavours were also very full on and it came together as a pretty good finish to the meal. We're unsure why the chocolate sauce receives such large billing on the description though as it's little more than a smear on the plate. The pumpkin donuts however failed to excite us, a touch dry even and adding nothing in our view to good old fashioned traditional donuts. Still, at £9, the desserts are the bargains of the meal.
The banana plate was much lighter than it looked, a good job really after what had already been a substantial amount of food. The banana flavours were also very full on and it came together as a pretty good finish to the meal. We're unsure why the chocolate sauce receives such large billing on the description though as it's little more than a smear on the plate. The pumpkin donuts however failed to excite us, a touch dry even and adding nothing in our view to good old fashioned traditional donuts. Still, at £9, the desserts are the bargains of the meal.
'Banana Cream Pie', 10 Year Chocolate Sauce, Banana Ice Cream
Pumpkin Donuts, '50' Bean Vanilla Ice Cream, Pumpkin Seed Brittle
This was a pretty good meal but two questions arise. One, was it good enough to justify the final bill of £250 (drinks included in this were two bottles of water, a virgin cocktail and a glass of wine)? Second, does the restaurant deliver above the best of London's incumbent steak houses such as Goodman?
Despite the vast sums of money spent at CUT, the atmosphere and ambience at say Goodman is for our taste as good, if not better. Arguably, CUT overly relies in many respects on purchased character while its basic flaws remain naked. But CUT needs to make a return on all that invested capital for the BIA so your final bill will also reflect the fact. That in itself pushes up the price, hence, assuming identical food quality and food margins, CUT will always be more expensive. But is CUT doing better food?
There were no real boundaries pushed today at CUT with the food edging towards comfort rather than ground breaking. But this is expensive comfort food and should therefore be stand out but it rarely was. With around half the bill accounted for by the steaks, it's here arguably that it's make or break. What's more, with competitors like Goodman already sourcing first class beef and using the Josper to great effect, the bar is set high. Clearly CUT do likewise on sourcing and grill, and the seasoning and char were excellent, but was it ultimately any better? Honestly, no.
The next time we get a steak craving, we know how we'll scratch that particular itch, with a visit to Goodman or Hawksmoor. 45 Park Lane sadly doesn't do enough to make the cut.
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Related links
Goodman City review
Despite the vast sums of money spent at CUT, the atmosphere and ambience at say Goodman is for our taste as good, if not better. Arguably, CUT overly relies in many respects on purchased character while its basic flaws remain naked. But CUT needs to make a return on all that invested capital for the BIA so your final bill will also reflect the fact. That in itself pushes up the price, hence, assuming identical food quality and food margins, CUT will always be more expensive. But is CUT doing better food?
There were no real boundaries pushed today at CUT with the food edging towards comfort rather than ground breaking. But this is expensive comfort food and should therefore be stand out but it rarely was. With around half the bill accounted for by the steaks, it's here arguably that it's make or break. What's more, with competitors like Goodman already sourcing first class beef and using the Josper to great effect, the bar is set high. Clearly CUT do likewise on sourcing and grill, and the seasoning and char were excellent, but was it ultimately any better? Honestly, no.
The next time we get a steak craving, we know how we'll scratch that particular itch, with a visit to Goodman or Hawksmoor. 45 Park Lane sadly doesn't do enough to make the cut.
Return to homepage
Related links
Goodman City review
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