AN INTERESTING aspect of the London restaurant scene is how
a restaurant can remain on the same central site and retain its name while owners, management, chefs and style all change, so that the present establishment would be unrecognisable to a customer who had only known it a decade or two earlier. Such a case is L'Escargot in Greek Street, Soho. When I was a student in the Sixties it was called L'Escargot Bien- venu — but what's in a welcome — and it was distinctly French ancien regime. Hanky- like lampshades hung from plain bulbs, held down by snail-shells knotted at their corners; furniture was creaky banquettes and straight wooden chairs; there were plain, darned white tablecloths, the paint- work was grubby and the carpets tired. It was lovely. The menu specialised in snails, of course, served traditionally a la bour- guignonne, and offered such traditional bourgeois cuisine as entrecôte, pommes frites, carbonade flamande, coq au yin, oeufs en cocotte and filets d'hareng, pommes a l'huile. I much enjoyed going there: with such cuisine, plus grumpy French waiters, you could pretend you had already crossed the Channel.
By the beginning of the Eighties Phillip Monnickendam had sold out to Nick Lan- der, the `Bienvenu' had disappeared, and the formidable Elena Salvoni had arrived from Bianchi's in Frith Street to do the greeting. Sue Miles and Alastair Little came to cook for an inexpensive brasserie downstairs, a trendy, elegant restaurant on the first floor with a snail trail carpet, and private rooms above at which most London media parties seemed to happen. Lander's consort Jancis Robinson was at hand to advise on the wine, and L'Escargot fast made a name as London's first restaurant to offer a serious selection of wines from the New World. But all good things come to an end and, by the close of the Eighties, L'Escargot was no longer trendy and passed, through bankruptcy, into the hands of the Lebanese-restaurateur and financial wizard, Jimmy Lahoud. By 1993 he had installed two of London's brightest young chefs, David Cavalier and Garry Hollihead, one to cook in each of the dining-rooms.
L'Escargot still belongs to Jimmy Lahoud but, once again, there have been changes of chefs, decor and style. Billy Reid is now executive chef, responsible for both rooms but in fact cooking in the Ground Floor Restaurant, while Andy Thompson cooks for the Picasso Room upstairs. I have recently eaten in both, upstairs for dinner and downstairs for lunch. Both kitchens are producing impressive cooking, but I pre- ferred the Ground Floor, not least because its newly executed decor, with leather ban- quettes and bolsters, colourful paintings and attractive light fittings, feels more relaxed than above, with its hushed atmo- sphere, over-stuffed furniture and a pletho- ra of Picassos on the walls.
I dined in the Picasso Room with a Rus- sian law student, Zarina Korolova, who cer- tainly found the comfortable surroundings to her liking. The present formula at dinner is a prix fixe three-course meal for £42, plus coffee, with lunch offered at £27.50 for three courses, both prices seeming high for Soho, despite the comfort and the cooking.
For her starter Zarina chose seared scal- lops with shallot puree and anchovies in a rosemary jus, and I selected a small tart of snails with poached egg in a red wine sauce. Both dishes offered a good combination of flavours, were commendably light and much enjoyed. Next Zarina went for fillet of sea bass with Maxim potatoes, baby leeks and a crab veloute, the fish admirably fresh, the flavours precise. My choice was Waiting for the milkman Bresse pigeon with confit cabbage, foie gras ravioli and thyme jus, which, though enjoy- able, I found rather rich: perhaps one flavour too many.
Zarina's dessert was fresh fruits in a champagne jelly, surrounded by a prettily patterned coulis on its Picasso plate; mine was crème brillee, served with both an orange sorbet on top and a warm compote of oranges below, and, supposedly, ginger, which I found hard to discern. Again, too many ingredients.
There is a serious and long wine list with fine clarets at stratospheric prices, but we were more than happy with a red Loire, Saumur Champigny, fairly priced at £26.50. There is no disputing the quality of the cooking in the Picasso Room, the sur- roundings are luxurious and service impec- cable, but I do wonder whether £100-plus for a meal for two is really what the place requires.
The Ground Floor Restaurant at lunchtime was a rather different story. While the Picasso Room had been well filled for dinner, the clientele seemed to be on their best behaviour and had kept pretty quiet. Downstairs most tables were occu- pied for lunch, but the atmosphere was much lighter and the customers much more of the kind that used to patronise L'Escar- got in Elena's day: media folk enjoying a good lunch with plenty of chat.
I went there with Ron Hall, now of Conde Nast Traveller but of the Sunday Times in L'Escargot's heyday, and we both much enjoyed our lunch. We went for the menu du jour rather than the carte, with starters at £6.75, main courses at £12.95 and not a few supplements. The menu came at £14.95 for two courses, £17.95 for three, with two choices per course. We made a point of choosing differently, so Ron began with fine marinated salmon and a salad of mixed leaves and herbs, and I had a delicate but admirably intense cream of watercress soup, which on a warm day might have benefited from being offered chilled too.
Next, Ron ate chump of lamb, roasted with leeks, truffles and rosemary jus, served with good pommes purées. The lamb came distinctly pink, which was to Ron's liking: just as well, as nobody had asked. My baked fillets of red mullet with roasted provengale vegetables were superb: fresh, succulent fish, delicious fennel, aubergine, courgettes and peppers roasted in olive oil — a memorable dish.
To end, Ron had cheese, a pre-ordained selection of five little wedges including goat but nothing blue: underwhelming. My thin banana tart, served warm with praline ice cream, was more the business. With Cam- pari, kir and an excellent bottle of '95 Chenas, the bill came to a perfectly accept- able £62 for a thoroughly agreeable lunch. I shall return downstairs.
L'Escargot: 48 Greek Street, London WI. Tel: 0171 437 267916828. Closed Sundays.
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