le gavroche

truly amazing. excellent service, romantic setting, food to die for!

perfect for a special treat. this restaurant oozes perfection in every way. the service was impeccable; the decor was rich and ornate, especially with the bouvier sculptures thoughtfully placed throughout the restaurant. we did go for the degustation menu at the time and to be honest, i probably would not go for that again, as i became so full by the end of it. their foie gras was excellent as was the duck and their desserts are a must, as they are a delight for the eyes, not just the taste buds. a very special restaurant that i hope to return to at some point in the future.
food: 9 / 10
service: 9 / 10
ambience: 8.5 / 10

amazing place in london. i love the food. can’t wait to come back here again. congratulations to the staff.

food is amazing. the presentation is just awesome. lovely feeling here. i came over here with my partner. nice atmosphere. we love the atmosphere and food. really a best place to visit

after waiting a long time to go here and hearing so many amazing reviews i was really looking forward to eating here. however, i was a bit disappointed. the atmosphere was very nice and i’m not saying the food was bad, i just had higher expectations. maybe i made bad choices on the night so i’ll need to go back and try again to see if it was just a one off...

my ex-wife left me in this restaurant, so it was a perfect catharsis to go back there a few years after our divorce with my boyfriend, to toast her death in a skiing accident that spring :)

went for a lunch on a friend's recommendation after a visit to the tailor.

at first, the old school interior left me a little disappointed, but the food was everything i'd heard about and much more.

the service was very good, not too obtrusive and lots of time to enjoy each course, but attentive when required.

i hope to become a regular and persuade others to share it with me on their first visits.

this restaurant seems to court news almost as well as some politicians.  in these turbulent times, with surprises at every corner and seemingly impossible situations coming to pass, i thought that i might as well live a little.  while the iron is hot, or perhaps before inflation takes hold of this most pricey establishment, it seemed a sensible time to visit before things became even more dear.

went for a special occasion dinner. food was brilliant, wine choice great, service impeccable, atmosphere perfect for a romantic dinner. nothing to criticize at all. expensive but worth the money. visited nov 2012

i first ate at le gavroche almost three years to the day from this meal. it was at a time when this blog was a distant dream and we ate for pleasure only.  oh, how i miss those days.  it still stands as my favourite ever meal; perhaps not the best food, but certainly the best overall experience.  there was, and still is, something uniquely special about walking underneath the famous signage, through the heavy doors, down the stairs and into that dimly lit basement dining room.  there is ceremony with every nudge of a chair and pouring of wine, and touch of class at every detail with custom made table sculptures, plates, and silverware.  we ate chicken with parmesan risotto, drank our body weight in wine and overindulged michael roux jnr himself in person at our excessive praise of the soufflé suissesse – a long standing stalwart of the menu here so light it threatened to drift back up those stairs and off into the clouds.  i consider myself lucky enough to have eaten at birmingham’s five michelin starred restaurants on many occasions but our pursuit outside of my home town has never led us back to the same place.  now, with phil howard departing from the square there was only ever one option for a celebratory return meal:  three months back we decide to hammer the phone lines at 9am and secure a table at le gavroche.

the michelin star is an award to given to restaurants that abide by a principle of excellence and consistency; restaurants that strive to enhance the experience of the diner, be it through food or wine. hundreds of chefs and restaurateurs all over the world dream of the honour of receiving a michelin star. sometimes, it can take years. other times, it can take just a few months after opening. the only issue is that the michelin guide is slow to take these prized stars away from the restaurants that have had them for years. i suspect this creates a sort of complacency among restaurants with two or three michelin stars (not all though). maybe i had a bad evening at le gavroche but it would seem like they've fallen into the same trap.

lovely lunch at le gavroche. on learning of a visit to london l was lucky enough to book a table at lg the day they opened reservations for may - ie three months in advance. lunch with friends was as spectacular as hoped, albeit with issues on arrival. for this reason l have rated lg 4.5 rather than 5.

lg gets its name from the child street urchin in victor hugo's les miserables. under the care first of michel roux snr and now mr jr, it has obtained three and now maintains two michelin stars.

our arrival was not auspicious. the lady at reception was not hospitable. perhaps groups of street urchins do walk off the street in mayfair and expect to be seated for lunch. perhaps she just misunderstood my accent. but the response was cool and distant and dimmed our experience. that kind of 'welcome' is not appropriate in any hospitality business and certainly not in a venue of this calibre. the salon size is also unhelpful for group arrivals. it did not augur well.

happily, after that little but notable hiccup, everything was spectacular. lg catered for my friends' dietary requirements with skill and grace. the business lunch is excellent value - £56.40 for three amazing courses, a half bottle of selected wines, water, coffee and petit fours. for five of us it came to £400 before tip with a luscious champagne.

gorgeous amuse bouches arrived - my favourite was the salmon roe tart. i chose the lobster ravioli for entree, sublime and perfect parcels with exquisite flavours. beautiful breads appeared with salted butter - simple and excellent. my main of panfried dory was equally wonderful. but nothing prepares you for the jolt of pleasure on seeing the elegant and enormous cheese trolley. i almost fainted with delight. with tea arrived a slim platter of petit fours - exceptional with the crystalised physalis my favourite of all.

service was astoundingly good once we were past mlle at the frontdoor. the latvian waiter & twin austrian maitres d' delighted.

this is the height of luxury in the beautiful dining room and worth saving up for.

there is a saying in football ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’. i think this saying can also be applied to le gavroche. while there are plenty of other trendier, hipper, more fashionable restaurants that pop up every day in london, le gavroche has stood the test of time. in fact, the restaurant will be celebrating its 50th birthday next year. while other restaurants embrace modern techniques and try to reinvent the wheel, the philosophy at le gavroche is to stick true to their classic roots. i think in this day and age of sous vide cooking (which is a lot easier and leads to less wastage), many chefs have forgotten how good food can be when it is cooked the old-fashioned way – you know, like on the frying pan or in the oven.

sometimes you really want to splurge and go all out. for this occasion, it was my partner’s birthday. i gave him a voucher for the tasting menu and wine pairings (x2 because i’m coming along too) at le gavroche, michel roux jr.’s two-michelin star restaurant. after seeing him on masterchef and countless other tv shows, i decided we needed to give the restaurant a try. plus i had done my cooking course with monica earlier in the year (although by the time we got to the restaurant, she had moved on and is apparently starting her own venture that should be open sometime in 2016). he finally decided we should go in late january, and we paired it up with seeing a matinee of the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.

came here with a friend to experience the ambience and tradition of the place . i must say the food and service was exquisite but not my preferred dining style . great for an occasion or at least once in a lifetime .

again food and service excellent