
The dining room itself has a sense of prestige and is comfortable rather than fashionable in the way that say Dinner by Heston is. Service is professional and efficient and the a la carte menu is presented on a single page but still offers an interesting and diverse range that hints at classic with a modern twist. As we decide, canapes of salmon crepe, and foie gras are excellent.
We follow with an interesting prestarter of asparagus bavarois with parmesan foam offering good flavours while ticking the seasonal box. With four of us around the table we get to see a good selection of food today and our starters cover three of the six offered on the menu. We both go for the Ravioli of cornish crab, etuvee of leek, Avruga with Champagne veloute. This is simply excellent. The central ravioli is big (possibly too big?) but the pasta is thin, it's cooked nicely and consistently through and the Champagne veloute is delightful in its own right. The green herbs on top added a further dimension to the dish though the quantity placed on each showed marked variation. Small complaints though, this was a dish to be savoured.
Elsewhere around the table, the intriguing 'Cheese and Pickle': Salad of pickeld vegetables, Montgomery cheddar with oat and biscuit crumble caused everyone to exhale a little 'wow' as it was brought to the table given its wonderful presentation and offered a vegetarian starter that is sufficiently interesting to appeal to all. The ever reliable Tom Harrow (@winchapUK) declared it to be excellent.
In the kitchen behind the excellence is Head Chef, Toby Stuart. Toby was previously at Galvin at Windows and one rests easy knowing that if Toby has been hand picked by Michel Roux Jnr, his cooking is going to be very good indeed. Toby's right hand man in the kitchen is sous chef Steve Groves who won Masterchef the Professionals in 2009 on which of course Michel Roux is also a judge. Perhaps then little wonder that what's come out of the kitchen today has been so good.
And despite the name above the door, this is not a Le Gavroche facsimilie and was never meant to be, which means instead that it is original in its own right and that's to be celebrated and enjoyed. Three courses chosen from the a la carte will cost around £50 which is more than fair given the quality of the offering. With a big name above the door but a less obvious choice of location, we weren't sure what we'd find at Roux, but what we did find was a good time centred around great food and we loved it.
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