The Greenhouse is a fine dining Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair. It’s been on our list for a while so I thought it would be a good place to try for dinner during my gentleman companion’s birthday weekend.
It’s down a quiet side street and you could easily walk past the entrance. Walk through the gates however and you’re faced with a beautiful garden. It felt very fancy indeed.
Our welcome was warm from the ladies on the front desk and even though we were twenty minutes early we were shown straight to our table. The dining room was very formal; white table cloths, immaculately dressed staff and hushed tones from diners were all present. It was also very dark.
For dinner the menu is far from cheap; we opted for the a la cart which was £75 for three courses. Two tasting menus priced at £90 or £110 were also available – we’re talking serious money!
Three stunning amuse bouches got things off to a winning start. A beetroot meringue had a hint of horseradish, a long thin biscuit was topped with a curried mussel paste and a teeny steak tartare tartlet had buttery flakey pastry; all three were heavenly.
Bread was also good and we were offered a generous selection. My favourite was the chorizo and Parmesan roll which tasted as good it sounds. Two types of butter; unsalted next to a mound of Maldon sea salt and some chilli butter which had a real kick to it were both divine.
Yet another amuse bouche followed which was a watermelon soup with tiny cubes of pancetta. It was an odd flavour combination which went surprising well. A frothy watermelon foam topped the soup which was also lovely.
To start I went for the beautifully presented veal sweetbreads which featured artichoke, caperberry, coffee and Parmesan. There were a lot of bold flavours present in this dish; bitter coffee gel and sour salty caperberry but they worked really well with the soft fatty sweetbreads.
My gentleman companion wasn’t quite as bowled over by the presentation of his Cornish crab. The curry and mint jelly flavours were slightly lost, possibly because of the fridge temperature of the dish and the main flavour was that of the crab. It was pleasant – but due to the large portion he couldn’t quite finish it.
For main I took advantage of the season and went for the Scottish grouse. Again, it looked stunningly pretty. The bird had been roasted on the bone then filleted – there was loads of meat. The subtly tangy beetroot was a great accompaniment but the purée in the middle (couldn’t tell you the ingredient) was a little too bitter for me.
My gentleman companion was very happy with his Welsh organic lamb and I’m not surprised why. There were two great big cutlets and a strip of lamb with beautifully crispy skin all drenched in a rich meaty jus. It was served with a side dish of giant cous cous with sweetcorn which was an unusual but tasty addition.
Our waiter then appeared holding a dish which had dry ice cascading from it which looked rather impressive. We were asked to each take a lollipop which was a mohito flavoured granita encased in white chocolate. As pre-desserts go this was a delicious one.
My gentleman companion being too full for a dessert I decided to opt for the praline, coffee, popcorn and cocoa. It was a really delicious pudding; the chocolatey mousse contained a hidden caramel centre which was as unctuous as it gets and some chewy caramel popcorn added texture. It was worth the calories let me tell you!
Some petit fours served on a little mound of grass were made to look like mushrooms which was rather charming and a lovely end.
We had a great time at the Greenhouse. Service was friendly from beginning to end and the food was absolutely delicious. The restaurant was at the posher end of fine dining and it had a price tag to match. The bill, with a bottle of water, half a bottle of wine and two glasses of dessert wine was nothing short of astronomic – then again we were in a Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair. If you’ve got the dollar, I really would recommend it.
8/10
You might also like: