Guinea Grill is another restaurant where the menu doesn't change much for if it did, there would surely be uproar. With food centred around its grill products and famous pies, Guinea Grill has a very distinct offering which is well loved by its recurring client base: when booking a table a few days earlier, there was only a single reservation slot left (at midday) with the table required back for 2pm. Admittedly, Christmas is just two weeks away and this a firm favourite for the hedge fund workers who inhabit the area but when we've been there before, it's never been anything but busy.
So it seems like 'old pub week' here: having previously blogged The Grapes which dates from 1583, The Guinea trumps this claiming a history dating back to the 15th century. With the well to do Berkeley Square just up the road, The Guinea originally provided a public house for the servants and stable-hands to gather. The grill opened in 1953 (originally in a tent out back apparently), but now, while the pub part remains excellent, the restaurant is very much the draw.
Occupying two rooms in the back part of the building, you pass the grill on the way to the table and can see the day's meat offering displayed in a glass fronted cabinet. This stems from the early grill days when there was no menu, you looked into the cabinet and pointed. Today though, they are somewhat more obliging and menus are forthcoming.
In the restaurant itself, while the tables aren't close on the Relais de Venise scale, this is an expensive part of town, a small pub where space is at a premium and a venue in high demand, accordingly, they do make use of every inch of space within the dining area which is either snug or crowded depending on your point of view. Walls are wood panelled up to a height of about four feet after which, prints of hunting, the English countryside and other art that befits a gentleman's study are displayed. In many ways, the place seeks to take you back a hundred years or more and so root you in its own tradition of old English taverns and old English food, an aim it broadly achieves.
Service is provided by a loyal group of waiters all of whom are extremely polite (I think a total of seven waiters wished me goodbye as I was leaving) and throughout the meal service was efficient and friendly. Smart too, the waiters all wear suits and ties as do the majority of the customers. The sommelier who I have seen on each of my visits over the years is especially entertaining and always makes me smile with his enthusiasm and engagement. Accordingly, the venue is far from stuffy, this is a pub after all. Perhaps my one issue with the dining room is that with the small space, crowded with diners, noise levels are really quite high sometimes making it difficult to hear what my dining companion was saying (no Mrs CC on this occasion).
So it seems like 'old pub week' here: having previously blogged The Grapes which dates from 1583, The Guinea trumps this claiming a history dating back to the 15th century. With the well to do Berkeley Square just up the road, The Guinea originally provided a public house for the servants and stable-hands to gather. The grill opened in 1953 (originally in a tent out back apparently), but now, while the pub part remains excellent, the restaurant is very much the draw.
Occupying two rooms in the back part of the building, you pass the grill on the way to the table and can see the day's meat offering displayed in a glass fronted cabinet. This stems from the early grill days when there was no menu, you looked into the cabinet and pointed. Today though, they are somewhat more obliging and menus are forthcoming.
In the restaurant itself, while the tables aren't close on the Relais de Venise scale, this is an expensive part of town, a small pub where space is at a premium and a venue in high demand, accordingly, they do make use of every inch of space within the dining area which is either snug or crowded depending on your point of view. Walls are wood panelled up to a height of about four feet after which, prints of hunting, the English countryside and other art that befits a gentleman's study are displayed. In many ways, the place seeks to take you back a hundred years or more and so root you in its own tradition of old English taverns and old English food, an aim it broadly achieves.
Service is provided by a loyal group of waiters all of whom are extremely polite (I think a total of seven waiters wished me goodbye as I was leaving) and throughout the meal service was efficient and friendly. Smart too, the waiters all wear suits and ties as do the majority of the customers. The sommelier who I have seen on each of my visits over the years is especially entertaining and always makes me smile with his enthusiasm and engagement. Accordingly, the venue is far from stuffy, this is a pub after all. Perhaps my one issue with the dining room is that with the small space, crowded with diners, noise levels are really quite high sometimes making it difficult to hear what my dining companion was saying (no Mrs CC on this occasion).
Blue cheese, celery and pear salad
On the starters menu, seafood offers several options such as oysters, prawns, smoked salmon and crayfish (with avocado salad or as a cocktail with crab, chilli and mango salad) while veg is represented by a choice of Caesar salad, asparagus, and a Shropshire blue cheese, celery & pear salad. This is what I had attempting to be healthy before consuming several thousand calories that I knew would be my main. The salad, which was Rocket based, was a fantastic starter with strong flavours coming through the blue cheese and the freshness of the pear cleaning up each mouthful. My friend had the soup offering - white bean with truffle oil and poppy seed croutons - and enjoyed it.
their famous steak and mushroom pie
It's the mains though that people come here for. The grill selection give a good range of meats including the usual sirloin, fillet and rump but also offers bone in ribeye. Lamb chops, which I had on a previous occasion and were excellent, surf & turf and a mixed grill complete the selection. Worth noting though is that while this is a gastro pub, it's certainly not a cheap option. The 10oz sirloin is £29 as is the ribeye. The fillet is £33. At this price the quality should be first rate and it is, with all beef from Aberdeenshire and the Orkney Islands, dry aged for 28 days. In fact, The Guinea is a founding member of the Scotch Beef Club who exist as 'ambassadors for fresh, well produced scotch beef'; other restaurants in the club include Le Gavroche, Racine and The Connaught. My friend had the bone in ribeye - it looked excellent and reported by my friend to be so.
The Guinea Grill's other claim to fame is its pies and this was my choice. The menu lists them as 'three times National Steak & Kidney Pie Champions' and around the place you can see framed certificates all relating to their pie quality and awards won. I've also been told that these pies contain around 2,000 calories but I don't know if that's true. The pie option is also a relative bargain at £14.50 and on the infrequent times I come to the Grill, being famous for it's pies, I'm always inclined to have one.
Alongside the prize winning steak & kidney pie, they offer a steak and mushroom pie too which I go for. The pie comes out in its own bowl wearing a ruffle to make the dish pretty and with a golden crisp pastry top, it's very pretty indeed. The pastry top is fun to break into and reveals a packed interior with plenty of meat and a deep rich gravy. You also eat this pie with confidence because you trust the quality of the beef that's used to make it. I finished the pie and disappointed to come to the end, I started picking at whatever small bits of pastry were left burnt onto the bowl edge; this is comfort food at its best. Despite my attempt to extract more, it wasn't because I was hungry, it's a good size pie and was totally filling. I was tempted by the dessert menu (Christmas pudding featured) but knew I'd be eating for the sake of it; for once, I thought I wouldn't
The Guinea Grill's other claim to fame is its pies and this was my choice. The menu lists them as 'three times National Steak & Kidney Pie Champions' and around the place you can see framed certificates all relating to their pie quality and awards won. I've also been told that these pies contain around 2,000 calories but I don't know if that's true. The pie option is also a relative bargain at £14.50 and on the infrequent times I come to the Grill, being famous for it's pies, I'm always inclined to have one.
Alongside the prize winning steak & kidney pie, they offer a steak and mushroom pie too which I go for. The pie comes out in its own bowl wearing a ruffle to make the dish pretty and with a golden crisp pastry top, it's very pretty indeed. The pastry top is fun to break into and reveals a packed interior with plenty of meat and a deep rich gravy. You also eat this pie with confidence because you trust the quality of the beef that's used to make it. I finished the pie and disappointed to come to the end, I started picking at whatever small bits of pastry were left burnt onto the bowl edge; this is comfort food at its best. Despite my attempt to extract more, it wasn't because I was hungry, it's a good size pie and was totally filling. I was tempted by the dessert menu (Christmas pudding featured) but knew I'd be eating for the sake of it; for once, I thought I wouldn't
I've made several visits now to Guinea Grill and enjoyed it each time. The pies are delicious and after a pie here, most pub pies will never again compare. I've never had a steak here (because I usually go for the pie) but the full dining room of repeat customers suggest it's worth doing even if it is expensive - next time. There's a lot of suits of a lunchtime and most of these lunches are surely going to end up on an expense account, and I can't think of many places noisier, but the overall atmosphere is one of people enjoying food and drink and giving the place the feel of one where you can relish the naughty things in life. The waiters too, constantly moving to efficiently service this density of tables give life and pace to the room but never in a challenging way. Ultimately, it's a fun place to be with a traditional menu, heaps of comfort food and friendly staff. You know exactly what the Guinea Grill experience is going to be and that's why you return. In a changing world, the Guinea Grill is a reassuring constant.
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