If you know me well, you’ll know just how much I love a good hotel restaurant. The service is always impeccable, something about making your way through the hotel hallways to find just about anything is exciting and there is always a bar in the hotel to retire to afterwards. And all of that was present at my recent discovery – GBR London. A brand new restaurant inside Dukes Hotel London which takes over from the former restaurant Thirty Six by Nigel Mendham. Inside it’s looking rather fabulous and unrecognisable to what it looked like previously.
The new GBR Restaurant is still looked after by the talented Nigel Mendham and I must say I was very impressed. I visited Thirty Six under his guidance previously and my reviews were always mixed, but now I’m completely satisfied. Perhaps this Norfolk born chef has found his niche? We started our meal with two lovely starters. My favourite being the prawn cocktail which wasn’t very traditional in presentation, but was in flavours. Large tiger prawns with crushed avocado, shredded lettuce and a lovely home-made cocktail sauce with a good acidity.
The crispy cod cheeks came served with a korma spiced sauce, puffed rice and a garnish of coriander. The cod was great, very moist and the crunchy coating was golden and well seasoned. But my only gripe was the sauce – it needed more of it. With such a generous amount of crispy cod, more sauce was needed for dipping. Perhaps serving it on the side?
Main courses were yet again very satisfying and like our starters very good value for money. A really lovely seasonal dish was the new seasons lamb. You could really taste the freshness and quality and it’s accompaniments were so well suited. A smoked aubergine puree, leaves of wild garlic and confit heritage tomato. Presentation wise it didn’t give much away – but in flavour it gave absolutely everything. Our house red we were drinking went very well with the dish too, a fruity Vega from the Douro in Portugal.
Just as delicious was the piece of 250g rib eye steak. Succulent, juicy and very smokey. Cooked to my requested medium-rare and seasoned to within a perfection of its life. I don’t know where they buy their steaks from – but I want to find out. Served with a side of peppercorn sauce (or béarnaise if you like) and matched with some sides of triple cooked chips, cauliflower cheese and my favourite – broccoli with almonds and pancetta.
Desserts were perhaps even better still and left us with a lingering temptation to come back. First out was the lemon curd parfait with lime leaf cream and crispy meringue. It looked good and it tasted like a mouth-watering dream. Star of the show was the dark chocolate mousse dessert. A rich and very indulgent mousse with hazelnuts and a bitter chocolate crumble. It doesn’t get much better or satisfying than this.
I actually recently visited GBR in Dubai, though only for a drink but it was great to finally experience the restaurant and see exactly what was on offer – and also to see what Nigel Mendham had up his sleeve. I really enjoyed the previous restaurant on this site before, but loved GBR London a million times more so and I think it may well become my new favourite restaurant. It’s the perfect place to drink too many martinis and eat till you can’t eat anymore. GBR London – we’ll see you soon.
NB: I was invited and my meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight
