The food is good, service flawless and as for the place itself… Simply decadent perfection.
All in all we had a lovely evening at Kettners and I’d definitely recommend it, especially if you’re going for dinner with a girlfriend and don’t want to spend an absolute fortune.
Wine wise we went for a carafe of the Pinot Grigio, and then swiftly found ourselves having to order another. Having demanded a bite I can agree with her on that front. Seared Yellow Fin Tuna Salad with New Potatoes, Anchovies & EggĬhar ordered a Fillet Steak with Béarnaise Sauce – which at £34.50 was a lot harsher on the wallet than my £13.95 tuna – and assured me it was tasty. I feel confident saying that as it’s a dish I’ve eaten probably hundreds of times and hundreds of different places and tried, unsuccessfully, to cook myself. It may not be exactly the most complicated dish in the world but there is in fact room for the whole thing to fall apart – overcooked tuna, cold tuna, soggy overdressed tuna, undercooked potatoes, excess anchovies etc etc – and the chefs at Kettners nailed it. For my main course I opted for the most obviously “me” choice imaginable, the Seared Yellow Fin Tuna Salad with Green Beans, New Potato, Egg & Anchovies. We kicked off with the West Mersea Oysters with Shallot Vinaigrette which were perfectly tasty and very reasonably priced at £13.50 for half a dozen. Ok, so we didn’t try everything on the menu (I wish) nor am I actually a professional food critic (soz guys) but Char and I both thoroughly enjoyed our meal and had we not had to dash off, would definitely have stuck around for pudding and a digestif or three. I’m not going to come out and say that the food is the best in London because that would be a downright lie but judging from my experience there, the more scathing reviews I’ve read are unjustified and perhaps more down to their writers fond memories of a pre revamp Kettners than the grub they were served when they visited. Once we’d forced the charming barman to take about fifteen pictures of us and just about finished being totally over excited and hyper in the way that you are with your BFF who you haven’t seen in ages, we decided it was high time to move our party of two into the restaurant. I actually massively prefer wine to champagne but when you get a glass of the good stuff, it really is delectable. Or at least, she’s wrong now that the menu and service have had a major revamp.Ĭhar and I kicked off our trip to Kettners the only way that would have been appropriate, with some of their finest fizz in the downstairs bar. Think jazz age deco glamour, the perfect combination of decadence and elegance with eclectically mismatched antique furniture in the bar, ornate tables and a white baby grand piano in the brasserie and an upstairs private drinks area so splendidly opulent you expect Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan to pull up a bar stool and pop open a magnum at any second. That sounds like an exaggeration I know but Kettners is seriously, seriously gorgeous. Despite the fact my mum had told me repeatedly that while she used to frequent the place in her twenties (I won’t repeat the rest of her tales of her Soho carousing days as she’d kill me) but the food was distinctly average, the decor is so utterly exquisite that they could have served me gruel for all I’d care. In the past I’d only been to Ketterns for drinks do’s and had been dying to dine there for aaaaaages. On the flipside, it’s also an excellent spot to pop into for an excellent yet inexpensive dish served promptly by charming staff before heading on to do your debauchery elsewhere… Or, y’know, going home to bed, but where’s the fun in that? One could very happily spend a long evening at Kettners and plenty of hard earned dollar on their legendary champagne selection. Having been first opened in 1867, by Napoleon III’s chef no less, the place is nothing if not iconic and now plays host to jazz nights, kabaret and all sorts of deliciously debauched antics. Well you may be pleased to learn that this one isn’t like that. The kind of destinations where you only go if you’ve got cash to splash and want to spend a whole evening indulging on multiple courses, waddling out some hours later with only one thing lighter, your wallet. Time for another restaurant review, mes amies! I know the past few have been of the ultra expensive variety.
0 kommentar(er)
