Les Saveurs, Criterion, Quo Vadis JUST a few years ago
Marco Pierre White, a young Leeds-born chef who had never been to France, was causing a sensation as chef-patron of a small French restaurant on Wandsworth Common called Harvey's. Tales spread both of superb French cook- ing and of impatience and rudeness on Mr White's part, with protesting customers being thrown onto the street. While the gossip columns found him fertile material, Marco Pierre continued to cook like a dream to a full restaurant, and then began to spread his wings. First came a partnership with Michael Caine at the Canteen in Chelsea, though that ended not long ago; then he took a franchise on the Restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel, where prices were set sky-high and, despite that customers continued to flock and admire. Then, very recently, he acquired three more restaurants — Les Saveurs, the Criterion Brasserie and Quo Vadis in Soho. He has also bought the ailing Mirabelle in Curzon Street, though currently only the Japanese operation is continuing there, and Mr White is in the process of arranging the financial side in order to start a luxury French restaurant there in the autumn.
Pending the reopening of the Mirabelle and a visit to the Hyde Park, it seemed a good idea to investigate Marco Pierre's three latest creations, so off I went with the advertising director Judith Frame for a Power lunch at Les Saveurs in Curzon Street. This could not be said to be the most inspiring room in London: a base- ment with pale panelling, unexciting furni- ture and decorations and a hushed air. But at least the tables are well spaced and the Chairs comfortable, and Les Saveurs offers a three-course lunch with coffee and petits fours for a reasonable £19.50. There is also a menu gourmand, only available for the whole table, at £35, and an a la carte at £47. Having ordered glasses of champagne overpriced at £8 each — we decided to take the set lunch, which offered two choices per course. At this point we noticed Marco Pierre White tucked into a corner with a Chum, but refused to feel nervous.
Judith started with a foie gras and chick- en liver parfait with Poilane toast, which Was satisfactory, if unexciting, and I had a delicious, very light but fully flavoured pike quenelle in a sublime champagne sabayon. This showed the chef, Gary Holyhead, at his considerable best, and at this point I was unmasked by Marco who had seen me taking notes. Having confessed to being there on behalf of this journal, I congratu- lated him on the pike only to have him proudly proclaim that he himself had fished it from the River Kennet the previous weekend. Our lunch continued with an agreeable fillet of brill with a ragoOt of mussels and shallots in a tomato jus (slight- ly under-flavoured) for Judith, and an entirely acceptable pork belly confit with good parsnip purée and roast root vegeta- bles for me. Judith ended with a rather nondescript tarte Regina, and I with an excellent raspberry souffle, with hot rasp- berry jus added on serving it. With good coffee and petits fours and straightforward red and white wine coming to £33.50, our bill, without service, totalled £88.50 for a good, but not spectacular lunch in agree- able if uninspiring surroundings.
My next stop was for dinner at the Crite- rion at Piccadilly Circus with the writer Clare Colvin. This is a gorgeous room with magnificent art nouveau decor and a glori- ous gold-tiled ceiling. Not even the pres- ence of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and assorted sidekicks at an adjacent table could entirely spoil the view. The atmo- sphere was good, the menu inviting, but somehow the cooking lacked lustre. The chefs, Peter Reffell and Richard Philips, have worked in other White establish- ments, but currently they seem to lack grip. Clare started with terrine of foie gras, duck confit and potato with truffle dressing which turned out to be much more confit than foie gras, the dressing not being noticeably truffled. My beignets of oysters with a celeriac remoulade were better, hav- ing a good, positive flavour. Clare's next course was a disappointment. Supposedly grilled tuna with tapenade, confit of fennel and aubergine caviar, it came without either tapenade or aubergine caviar, though the rather confused young waiter did try to convince us that the amorphous fennel on top of the fish was the tapenade. A great pity because the tuna itself was impeccable. My roast suckling pig with black pudding, apple sauce and jus marjo- ram suffered from having limp crackling and was dull. We ended with pleasant fruits in champagne jelly for me and slightly understated white chocolate mousse with orange confit and Cointreau custard for Clare. With a ridiculously overpriced COtes du Rhone Villages at £21, coffee and 12112 per cent service the bill came to £89.49, which seemed excessive for a large brasserie with unremarkable cooking.
Prices were similarly overstated at Quo Vadis in Dean Street, Marco Pierre's most recent acquisition. I went there with my old school chum Sir Tim Rice, who was only marginally miffed that the paparazzi and minders on the door were there for Pamela Anderson rather than him. We had a simi- lar meal to that eaten at the Criterion but more skilfully cooked, and the wines were even more ludicrously overpriced: the Fleurie fancied by Tim cost an appalling for a Beaujolais —£33. Tim's ballotine of salmon and rib-eye steak and my grilled sea scallops and roast rump of lamb Provencale were all accurately cooked but somehow lacked sparkle. My marquise of bitter choco- late, however, was impeccable. But such a meal should never have topped £100 for the two of us. With just mineral water and coffee — no aperitifs or digestifs — and with ser- vice, it totalled £109.41. Outrageous.
Les Saveurs: 37a Curzon Sweet, London W1; tel: 0171 491 8919. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
Criterion Brasserie: 224 Piccadilly, London W1; tel: 0171 930 0488. Open all week. Quo Vadis: 26-29 Dean Street, London Wl; tel: 0171 437 9585. Open all week `Talk about repressed memories ... there's no way I can remember being a caterpillar.I had a different head.'
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