The Gilbert Scott

Had an absolutely lovely mid-week business meal here, overall was well worth the money.

To start with, who wouldn't love walking through the entrance at the St. Pancras Hotel....the interior is gorgeous, which is a fantastic start for the overall experience. You immediately feel fabulous! The dining area features high ceilings, and overall elegant decor & lighting. As for the menu, the fact that they focus on serving British food should be applauded; it's a great portal for tourists to discover that British food isn't just fish & chips or pies. 

Service was excellent but not overly fussy.  I had a white asparagus with fried duck egg main which was perfectly done, light and delicious.  My companion had the salmon & rocket main which she said was excellent.  The wine list seemed varied & plentiful, but as this was a business meal I didn't spend too much time staring at it and I stuck with a modest glass of Pinot Noir, light & flavourful, and not a bad price (here) at £6.50 for a 175ml glass. If you are looking to choose somewhere nice to go in the station I recommend this restaurant above the nearby St. Pancras Grand Brasserie.  The food there is very good but the service doesn't match The Gilbert Scott.  I'm looking forward to returning, perhaps to savour their enticing Sunday roast menu. 

Where to start with The Gilbert Scott. Lets start with the venue, situated in St Pancras, the grand entrace leads you up into the reception through revolving doors into the bar area where you are greeted with some of the finest Art Deco fixtures and restoration of the original interior you’ll find in London. The Maitre d could not have been more welcoming and showed us to the bar where cocktails are the order of the day. Myself and Fiancé ordered a couple of ‘eye openers’ that certainly hit the mark. The barman was very helpful and slick, but had none of the flair bartending that you see in so many ‘crap cocktail bars’ – straight down to business and delivered a couple of excellent drinks.

So far, so good…

We were booked into the ‘early evening supper’ and was shown to the grand dining hall, think more of the same as the bar area but with much more space…this is where the Gilbert Scott took off. The staff were excellent. Make no mistake, there is helpful in a desperate way, and there is helpful in a ‘helpful way…luckily TGS staff fell into the latter category. After reading the very British Menu (good for them)…we immediately changed from a set menu to the full restaurant menu because the set menu had only whetted our appetites to try more. My Fiancé ordered the Potted Shrimps and I ordered the Dorset Squid and Chorizo (farmed locally) – bothe dishes were fantastic and portioned very well. The mains were ’fish and Chips’ and Hallibut with Razor Clams – again, everything was cooked to perfection. Destert was a Lancashire Cheese, Welsh Cakes and Apricot Chutney and Eton Mess – both were, as the previos courses, excellent. This was all washed down with a cheeky red from New Zealand that although red, went so well with our fish heavy meal. A desert wine and a port rounded off one off the best experiences I have had in the Capital for a while. We also inquired about the Chefs Table and were shown into the kitchen where we met the chef and had a look around. Something we may consider for the future when we have £800 – but, that consists of a seven course tasting menu, personal waiter and Sommelier – all this for 10 persons takes that to £80 a head, minus wine but consider that to some other Chefs tables where you wont get change out of £1500, puts the Gilbert Scott into perspective.

The bill was not cheap, I didn’t expect it to be, but it was worth every penny and we left with smiles on our faces and a promise to return again in the near future.

My only minor critique would be the courses came rather fast – this may have been because of the time of day 19.00 ish – we would normally eat 20.00 onwards. And the wine was not cheap – I think the cheapest bottle was £40 – which is on the high side…perhaps we need something around the £25 mark.

All in all, this place deserves the credit I hope it gets. Providing it can continue to produce the quality of food and delivery and bring the wine list down a bit, TGS has the potential to be up there with the best places in London. I only hope it doesn’t become a victim of its own success and drops its standard because a D List celebrity is seen there. I can’t wait for Winter when the menu will change!

Keep up the good work.