11 101 111 11111 1H 111111 11 1 IF this is the Design Age, then Sir Terence
Conran is its guru. A quarter of a century ago he opened Habitat and took flop sofas, shapely lampshades and chicken bricks to the masses. He is the man responsible for the awakening of a generation to afford- able chic — or that's how it seemed then. Suddenly everyone was eating off oatmeal china and holding dinner parties to show it off. Whole scenes in Fay Weldon novels were furnished by him, and he breathed life-style into countless colour-supplement articles.
Just across the road from that early design-shrine lay an even earlier one: Michelin House, which Conran admits he stared longingly at and has now bought. With the publisher Paul Hamlyn he paid £8 million for it, and spent as much again in restoring it to its former glory and adding more of his own. (But be warned: you, the customer, will have to be similarly prodig- al.) The building was opened in 1911, de- signed by Francois Espinasse to pay hom- age to the Michelin firm: the result was a celebration of advertising and flamboy- ance. Who better than Sir Tel to take it over and make it his own?
For the purposes of this column, its main feature of interest is the restaurant it now houses, Bibendum (581 5817), named after the motto chosen, strangely it now seems, to advertise the tyres, Nunc est bibendum — 'Now is the time to drink'. The approp- riately pneumatic Michelin man sits fatly on ashtrays, is etched on the plates and peers down from restored ceramics and recreated stained-glass windows. Conran himself designed the bulging blue chairs which emulate his fat form.
It's a large restaurant, and effort has been made to maintain an atmosphere of space and comfort. It seats 72, though other restaurateurs might well want to double that figure in the existing room. One of Britain's most talented young chefs, Simon Hopkinson, runs the kitchen. He comes from not far down the road, Hilaire, in Old Brompton Road. His menu here indicates a return to older, more classical dishes. None of the poise or brilliance has gone, but perhaps a justified confidence has led him away from more complicated confections.
You get here what you might find in any good Parisian brasserie, only more of it and more expensively. The dinner menu offers 22 starters, 19 main courses, 12 puddings and cheese. After years of re- fined assault from the fashionable frippery of so many restaurants now, here is a menu to warm the heart. Starters include a rich ochre-coloured fish soup, saucisson aux lentilles, calves' brains with capers, oeufs en meurette (poached eggs with a red-wine sauce with bacon and baby onions, on croutons), salade de museau, oysters, gra- tin de moules aux epinards and pork rillettes. Most menus these days seem to peter out with the main course, but it is here that Simon Hopkinson really gets into his stride: fillet of sea bass, sauce vierge (the sea bass grilled and spiked with salt, with a sauce of olive oil swimming with fresh basil and diced raw tomatoes), tete de veau, sauce ravigote (sensational), tripes Lyonnaise, ris de veau, beurre noisette, boiled bacon with split peas and carrots and grilled rabbit with mustard sauce. This is a haven for jaded palates. The only pity of it is what it'll cost you. I can't see the point in charging £5.25 for sausage and lentils or £11 for half a dozen oysters. There are not many main courses for under £10, either, and that can take the edge off your appetite. Puddings are £3.50, which I suppose is the going rate. Simon Hopkinson's speciality — or one of them — is his bavarois, so it might be wise to choose that.
There is an excellent wine list, though one for reading rather than drinking from (nunc non bibendum sed legendum est), since prices are astronomical. It is impossi- ble to find a really good wine for under £20, though the house Rhone (admittedly at £9.50) is delicious. My bill for two, with 15 per cent service charge added, came to £71. This may be what you have to pay for good food in a fashionable restaurant nowadays, but it shouldn't be. But if your wallet is as well-padded as the Michelin man himself, it is, assuredly, worth the detour. Nigella Lawson
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