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Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal

London, Soho - French - Restaurant - ££££

Overall Rating: Very Good

Uniqueness:Does the establishment stand out in the context of the local area? Very Good

Deliciousness:How delicious is the food? Exceptional

Warmth:How warm is the service and the hospitality in general? Good

Strength of recommendation:How enthusiastically and widely would you recommend the establishment? Very Good

The transformation of the Café Royal, where once the likes of Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf and Max Beerbohm lived it up, into a five-star contemporary hotel feels like a logical enough step. Its protected architectural features are intact, and in a muted dining room with grey upholstery and a mirrored ceiling, it boasts the culinary magic of Alex Dilling. Having previously taken the Greenhouse in Mayfair into orbit, Dilling brings a style of technically dazzling, modern French food to an address that was offering an ancestral cousin of the same idiom when it opened in 1865. These days, every dish on a tasting menu is expected to astonish, and too many perhaps don't, but here the touch is assured, and the intricacy and precision on offer is never short of thrilling. A composition of oyster tartare and cream is lushly blanketed under a layer of aged caviar, a sure-fire arrangement of luxuries, although more prosaic ingredients are alchemically transformed too – witness cured ...

The transformation of the Café Royal, where once the likes of Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf and Max Beerbohm lived it up, into a five-star contemporary hotel feels like a logical enough step. Its protected architectural features are intact, and in a muted dining room with grey upholstery and a mirrored ceiling, it boasts the culinary magic of Alex Dilling. Having previously taken the Greenhouse in Mayfair into orbit, Dilling brings a style of technically dazzling, modern French food to an address that was offering an ancestral cousin of the same idiom when it opened in 1865. These days, every dish on a tasting menu is expected to astonish, and too many perhaps don't, but here the touch is assured, and the intricacy and precision on offer is never short of thrilling. A composition of oyster tartare and cream is lushly blanketed under a layer of aged caviar, a sure-fire arrangement of luxuries, although more prosaic ingredients are alchemically transformed too – witness cured mackerel and poached cuttlefish adorned with contrasting pearls of ink and buttermilk. The multi-layered gentrification of pâté de campagne, incorporating Ibérico pork, boudin noir, foie gras and set mushroom consommé, is a textural triumph. While we felt the Dover sole wrapped in fish mousse with shrimps and gnocchi was a little too processed for its own good, a main-course serving of truffled Limousin veal sweetbread with puréed celeriac and a pugnacious peppercorn sauce was outstanding. The principal dessert, hazelnut from Jura, 'arrived looking like a white hedgehog that had just returned from the hair salon' – all praline, mousse, caramel and cream, served with an almost chewy ice cream chock-full of vanilla. Front-of-house was in something of a transitional frazzle when we were there (a situation that has surely been rectified), but the wine mark-ups have retained their power to depress. Nobody is expecting economy in such confines, but when there is next to nothing under £60 (and some of that sold out), the business model starts to feel all-too-familiarly cynical. Still, the Savoie Altesse (£69) was very drinkable.

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VENUE DETAILS

68 Regent Street
Soho
W1B 4DYGB

020 7459 4022

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OTHER INFORMATION

Accommodation, Wheelchair access, Credit card required

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