IN postwar London, half a century ago, the finest restaurants
were found in Mayfair, Piccadilly and St James's. Curzon Street had the Mirabelle; Arlington Street, Le Caprice; Berkeley Street, the Empress; with Le Coq d'Or around the corner in Stratton Street; L'Ecu de France presided in Jermyn Street, and for fish one went to Prunier in St James's, As a child I visited them all on holiday treats from generous relatives, and was duly impressed. Now most have gone for ever, though sometimes the site still contains a restaurant of a dif- ferent character, like Langan's at the Coq d'Or premises, and a highly priced Japanese where Prunier used to be. Two, however, are still trading under their origi- nal names: Le Caprice in Arlington House, under the ownership of Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, and now the newly reopened Mirabelle, owned and directed by the amazingly energetic Marco-Pierre White, not just one of London's finest chefs but also fast becoming Britain's most successful restaurateur, all while still in his thirties.
Le Caprice under its original manage- ment closed in 1975 and, after vagaries of ownership passed into the hands of two young men in the restaurant business, King of Joe Allen, and Corbin of Langan's, who redesigned its premises at the bottom of a block of service flats, and reopened in 1981 in cool, Manhattan-style chrome and glass with David Bailey photographs on the walls. With its modern, undaunting cook- ing, immaculately prepared and served, it has remained one of London's hottest table reservations ever since, another being the Ivy in Covent Garden, which King and Corbin acquired, refurbished and reopened a few years later.
After the magnificent Mirabelle closed in 1988 and sold off its legendary cellars at a memorably high-riding auction, the restau- rant passed into Japanese hands and gained a teppanyaki bar, as well as trying to main- tain a luxury French restaurant. But the Japanese did not entice the crowds, the restaurant went back on the market, and Messrs King and Corbin were known to be interested. However, a Caprice-Mirabelle link was not to be: the advancing legions of White, by now in charge of the Oak Room at the Meridien Hotel in Piccadilly with three Michelin cooking stars, as well as the Criterion, the Café Royal Grill, Quo Vadis in Soho and MPW down at Canary Wharf, marched in and snatched the glittering prize.
Eighteen months later the refurbished Mirabelle has just reopened, designed by Marco himself and by David Collins, designer of his first London restaurant, Harveys in Wandsworth. Clean and cool in the modern minimalist idiom, the new Mirabelle brims with glamour. The premis- es are semi-basement, and through recep- tion, off which are two gorgeous private dining-rooms, is a long, cool bar with chairs and tables spaced well apart. This leads to the main restaurant, a long rectangle divid- ed loosely into two, with plenty of sloping, frosted-glass skylights and generously spaced tables with gleaming white napery. There are fine paintings — some trompe l'oeil — by Pierre Letan on the walls, and the dining-room leads to a gorgeous inner- city walled garden surrounded by mysteri- ous, dimly lit Curzon Street windows and filled with chairs, tables and white parasols. It's truly a dream of a place.
Marco's aim, he told me, is to offer `affordable glamour', and so far he has emphatically succeeded. There is glamour in abundance, yet prices are far from high for anything but the most venerable and aristocratic wines on an encyclopaedic list, which includes 50 vintages of Château d'Yquem, rising, to a cool £30,000 for the 1847, though you can always economise with the 1989 for a mere £300! The menu is the old Mirabelle pale ochre card, with the wines listed inside, and reads temptingly. Prices are not high, ranging from £6.50 for soups and omelette Arnold Bennett (impeccably executed Savoy-style) to £12.50 for lobster mousseline beurre cham- pagne and £14.95 for foie gras en terrine, gel& de sauternes amongst starters; and main courses from £11.50 for smoked had- `Something for the weekend, Sir?' dock and Jersey royals, to £12.50 for calf's liver and bacon, braised pork cheeks, or roast chicken with herb stuffing risotto (at £25 for two) to grilled lobster, herbs and garlic at £22.50. Cheese and all desserts, including caramel soufflé, cost £6.50, and espresso coffee is just £1.75. With a modest wine, such as sauvignon de Tourainc (£15), or Chilean Los Vascos cabernet sauvignon (just £14.50), two people could eat a full meal, with coffee and wine, and have change from £80; long may such value last.
Under the young joint head chefs, Lee Bunting and Charlie Rushton, both from the Oak Room, and at present under Marco's watchful eye, the cooking is impressive. When I went there with 'grand gourmet' David Damant, a Mirabelle habitué since 1958, who arrived clutching menus and bills from the Sixties, only his foie gras troubled by tasting too salty, but the crab millefeuille, with perhaps just a touch too much tomato, the superb lobster mousseline, the caramelised skate with win- kles, capers and beurre noisette, the gor- geous braised pork cheeks — a true `relais routier' dish — the cheese selection and the luscious caramel soufflé were all greatly enjoyed. On a subsequent visit I had the utterly delicious, bright green trufflcd pars- ley soup, with a poached egg floating in it to great advantage, and a superb confit of salmon wrapped in Parma ham, with endive and fennel, plus a memorable creme bralee with wafer-thin slices of Granny Smith apple encircling it, and a purée of Granny Smith keeping it company. Truly there is `affordable glamour' at the Mirabelle: not daunting `haute cuisine', but state-of-the- art contemporary cooking, brilliantly con- ceived and impressively executed.
The decor at the Caprice may seem a lit- tle faded after the sparkling new Mirabelle, but it still has great style, and the room buzzes as le tout Londres enjoys itself. A post-opera supper last week found service and cooking on top form, and La Traviata's tears were washed away first by a splendid amuse-bouche of langoustine, scallop and pommes mousselines, kindly offered by Chris Corbin, and then by excellent buffalo mozzarella atop roasted aubergine for me, and brilliant risotto with zucchini and pecorino cheese for food- and opera-loving Ron Hall. He then moved on to Caprice's idiosyncratic but delicious char-grilled squid and Italian bacon, with rocket and pimento salsa, while I enjoyed the Caprice `signature dish' of perfectly executed eggs Benedict with hash browns, ideal for the time of night. We shared their gorgeous cappuccino bailee to end, and, with the decent house red from the Herault at just £9.95, our bill came to an entirely accept- able £62 for a most agreeable supper.
Mirabelle: 67 Curzon Street, London Wl; Tel: 0171 499 4636. Open all week.
Le Caprice: Arlington House, Arlington Street, London Wl; tel: 0171 629 2239. Open all week
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