Roux at the Landau

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Roux at the Landau and I had extremely high expectations. I am an avid follower of Michel Roux on television and at various food festivals, and was hoping he would be present during our meal, alas we were not in luck.

My friend and I booked onto the set menu, and were seated promptly at 7pm. It was a Thursday, and my friend was not too busy. I noticed it was extremely quiet, quite a sober atmosphere (felt very grown up compared to my usual haunts!).

Despite pre informing the restaurant that I was a vegetarian, I was surprised this wasn’t picked up, and I had to ask for the vegetarian menu. The great thing about the set menu was that I could substitute all courses from the vegetarian menu. This is something I always appreciate, rather than being left with one option, which may or may not be to my fancy. My friend chose from the a la carte.

We were brought out a delicious truffled polenta chip as an appetiser, prior to our starter. We both went for the mushroom soup, which was not only presented beautifully but absolutely delicious! Alongside we were provided with a range of breads, the fig roll in particular was delightful.

By this point in the meal, the service seemed to deteriorate. We were left for 15 minutes before starter plates were cleared, and our mains took a while to arrive. For mains I went for a cauliflower and truffle spaghetti dish. Being a truffle lover I was very excited by the sound of this dish, however was disappointed. The sauce was congealed together and the truffle flavour was really non existent. I found it a chore eating this dish, and to be honest actually disliked it. It was not presented well, and arrived luke warm, which I think was half the problem, and really affected the texture  of the dish.

 

My friend had ordered the venison dish from the mains, which she very much enjoyed.

Again before deserts were served, we waited another 20 minutes, with none even coming over to the table to check we were ok. However finally, once the desserts arrived we were not disappointed.

            

 

I had ordered form the set menu, the dessert pictured above. A lovely light choux pastry with a creamy filling decorated with nuts and caramel. My friend went for the signature bitter chocolate and salted caramel millefeuille which was simply amazing.

Overall I must say the ambience and food quality (bar my main) was something I had never experienced before. I was very appreciative of the vegetarian menu, which made for a better meal for me. I was disappointed by the service, for which my expectations were very high. Overall a very enjoyable meal, let down by my main course and the delayed service.

Food Quality 8/10

Service 7/10

Ambience 8/10

Veggie Options 9/10

Value for money 8/10

 

Maze by Gordon Ramsey

Special occasions call for special tastebud experiences at special establishments! To celebrate my lovely husbands birthday, we took a trip down to Maze, in Grosvenor Square.

I booked onto the set menu, which has to be taken slightly earlier. The reservations team were extremely helpful in accommodating our dietary requirements. It is fantastic that they have a separate vegetarian menu, from which you can substitute into the set menu. It is great to see this, and these aspects set restaurants miles ahead in the eyes of vegetarian foodies. Who wants to be stuck with one option for each course ?  Boring.

A few snaps from the evening below:  

Maze Vegetable sushi platter, mixed selections of maki and nigiri – good variety, notably the lotus root nigiri.

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Wild Mushroom Risotto, Baby Onions

Confit Charlotte Potatoes, sweetcorn, miso, fried onions.

Delicious sorbet selection

 

£33 gets you four courses, a seasonal Bellini and petit fours, very good value in my eyes! We left the restaurant feels content and satisfied with the food, service and value for money. What really came through was the fusion of British and Japanese flavours, which worked extremely well.

Food Quality 9/10

Service 9/10

Ambience 10/10

Veggie Options 9/10

Value for money 9/10