Month: December 2015

Another outpost from the stable of Gordon Ramsey!

On wet and windy Friday evening, we ventured out to another of Groden Ramsey’s  restaurants, this one was Maze, on Grosvenor Square, London. I am sure that most of you will have heard of Gordon Ramsay, be it from his multitude of appearances on Television, or by visiting one of his many restaurants, around the world. He currently has 14 Michelin stars, in a total of 36 restaurants. ( 13 in the UK, 10 USA, 5 Europe and 8 in the rest of the world, mainly middle east and Asia). He has held three stars at his flagship restaurant in Chelsea since 2001.

But we went to Maze, which has one star ( I think that at one stage it had 2) . We had bought the meal as part of a charity auction and so the basic meal was prepaid.In the set up at Maze there is more than one venue, there is Maze grill and Maze sushi bar, a bar and the restaurant. However,it seems to be more openplan  than one would imagine, hence the noise level is high, especially as the decor is minimalist.  The bar was overflowing with trendy folks and the background music was more foreground than background and it was ( I think) techno music, maybe better than elevator music, but neither would be my choice.

From the start, the staff and the service was impeccable ( including the doorman, and I would not envy his job, on such a night). Maze is renowned for serving French classics infused with Asian flavours and the kitchen staff  are obviously trusted with his reputation and  certainly deliver.  We had bought the five course tasting menu, which in fact became a six course as it included a soup and a sorbet. Apart from the soup and the sorbet, where there was no choice, all of the others, were an either, or option, so we did take one of each so that we could share and compare.  See for yourselves. 

  

the modern take on the wine list, via an ipad. Not suprisingly at the auction, we also bid via an ipad!
 
 
The pumpkin soup was delcious, served with pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and Pumkin seed oil ( the green stuff)
 
 
basically beef carpaccio served with smoked ponzu and pickled mooli, Nice enough.
  
I normsally do not like Octopus, but this was wonderful, slow cooked for hours before being grilled, Yum Yum
 
 
cured salmon with pineapple, coriander and avocado, not my favourite, flavour a bit lacking !
  
Lobster dumpling, salmon, tiger prwans and dashi, again not a lot of flavour, sadly.
 
 
beef fillet with braised cheeks, turnips and marrow bone, yummy !
  
Suckling pig belly, cracking, mandarin salad and pork jus, Yummy but crackling could have been crisper.
 
 
A theatrical bit of silliness, frozen carbon dioxide, plus a bit of water to create this efect. However Himself, said, adds to Global Warming !!!!
  
A pretty lemon Meringue pie, but just a lemon meringue pie.
 
 
And finally my pet HATE, a de constructed dessert, this time it was labelled Cheese cake with white choclate, lychee and peppercorn. BUT it said n0thing about deconstruction YUK YUK, though the lycee ice cream was very nice indeed!
 
Will we go back, maybe, there is no doubt that Gordon sets the bar high, but here, given the noise, maybe not, but that will not stop us from sampling any of his other establishments when the occasion arises.