What is it with our innate prejudice towards hotel restaurants? Overseas, they are often the lifeblood of the local culinary scene. But London? We are more easily seduced by the pirate ships that are the independent restaurants, which boom and bust with passion and without compromise.
Now, Kitchen is a restaurant within a hotel. However, you walk straight in from Baker Street through the cocktail bar into the dining room. No reception, no concierge, nobody dressed as Buttons from the panto. It’s a generous and elegant design, somehow combining cozy with private, with a view through to the kitchen at the rear. We were greeted and seated by the manager Costas (an Albanian polyglot) who has been here for 20 years who talked us through the menu.
Our ‘cocktails de jour’ were a Spiced Paloma and a Negroni. The Paloma was suitably grapefruity though not so spiced aside from a smear of paprika on the outside of the glass. The Negroni was in need of a holiday, made with Martini Rosso instead of Punt e Mes as advertised, looking and tasting more like an Aperol Spritz.
Head Chef, Stefano Motta’s menu has a pan-mediterranean flow, much as you might find on the Côte d’Azur, and we picked out a few starters to get a feel for it.
Asparagus with whipped feta and pistachio dip was a good as it sounds, perfectly crunchy and appetising as an appetiser should be.
Hoping for a Moroccan moment, Ras el Hanout Beef arrived very finely sliced and raw with a dusting of the Hanout spice, served with broad beans and crispy finely sliced shallots, along with frisé lettuce on a bed of artichoke tahini. It was delicate, pretty and delicious.
Grilled squid is always tricky. Its cooking journey takes it from rubbery to perfect to rubbery again in just a couple of minutes. There was a good colour to it although it was chewier than you’d ideally want. Served in a green salsa with salmon eggs and cucumber, it too was a well presented dish.
For the main event we went surf and turf.
My guest understandably chose the lobster linguine (because she doesn’t ‘make it at home’), which is always a good litmus test for a kitchen. The bisque was deep in flavour, the linguine perfectly al dente and the lobster well handled, with a fair amount of actual lobster for a London-reasonable price of £37.
I ordered my ribeye blue, as it should be. It was accompanied by a dark, rich, red wine sauce, and a wonderful crispy rosemary garnish. Chips are medium-bore French fries, skin-on (remember peeling potatoes? Me neither), and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole dish. We added a green salad and heritage tomatoes to the table as sides
A bottle of Les Mugeottes pinot noir 2023 medium bodied from Pays d’Oc, fruity and smooth meant that we could share. That said the lobster-eater needed a glass of crisp Gavi di Gavi just to nudge it all along.
For dessert we opted for Tiramisu and a Strawberry tart. True or not, both came across as having been prepared in a separate kitchen from the other dishes, maybe one serving the local Raddison properties. They were just about okay but probably not worth the calories, and not at the same level as the rest of the meal.
A glass of Di Saronno seemed a polite way to conclude the evening – surely one of the classiest “stickies” available. That said, I once accidentally visited Saronno on my way to Como, and disappointingly it’s a one-horse town that’s worth avoiding. Far better having a glass here in an elegant dining room in a bit of town that nowadays is very smart indeed.
So how to conclude? It didn’t feel like a hotel, the menu is enticing, the team are well trained and attentive and overall, it was a good night out, and we never felt like we were eating in a hotel restaurant, which somewhat paradoxically is the highest compliment I can pay to a hotel restaurant.
Kitchen at Holmes can be found at 108 Baker Street, London W1U 6LJ – Kitchen at Holmes
Opening hours: Sunday & Monday 12:00 – 15:00, Tuesday – Saturday 12:00 – 21:15