After much anticipation, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant has finally opened its doors in West Hollywood. Yay!!! I will no longer need to fly across the globe or the U.S. to be able to eat in his restaurant and that is wonderful news.
We got slightly lost on our way to restaurant, which is situated inside The London hotel. The hotel is located right next to the Sunset strip, but the entrance is on a side street, San Vicente Blvd, which we missed cause we did not see the hotel, so we went down the next street and made 3 right turns, even then the entrance was still a little hard to see. Parking was valet only and there were different prices depending on if you're staying in the hotel or visiting the restaurant; I think we paid $10.00 for restaurant valet parking.
We were a little worried before we walked into the restaurant because we read that more than a few people had trouble or confusion with their reservation. We never received a confirmation call from the restaurant, either, but the host had all of our information correctly and seated the two of us right away. Maybe they worked out the kinks, or maybe because it was 4th of July so there were not as busy to confuse themselves. Whatever it is, it was good for us!
The service was what I would expect from a fine dining restaurant: wonderful and courteous. Our server was very helpful and knowledgeable of the menu. Our passion fruit ice tea were never empty and tasty I might add. After each dish were served, there was always someone to come check up on us after a few minutes.
You can order from two menus, there's the a la carte menu and a 6 course chef tasting menu; I read from other people's review (after we dined there) that the whole table should all have the chef tasting menu or all should order from the a la carte menu, and they needed the chef's approval to deviate from that rule, but that was not our experience. We were interested in having the chef's menu, but there were so many other dishes that I had my mind set on, so when our server came to take our order, we told him that my boyfriend was going to have the chef's menu and I will order a few plates a la carte. He told us that is not a problem and advised us that he would recommend us to order 4 dishes as the plates are quite small.
So here is what we had that day, I took pictures of all the dishes we had. The pictures on the top is from the tasting menu, and the bottom side is what I ordered from the a la carte menu. The kitchen paced out our dishes and arranged my a la carte plates to come out from light to heavy.
Our first unofficial course, the amuse buse is a cold chawanmushi with edamame and crispy duck tongue. For those of you we are not familiar with chawanmushi, it is a Japanese egg custard dish steamed in a tea cup. It was very flavorful and the crispy texture and flavor of the duck tongue is very reminiscence of bacon, which makes everything taste good, everything maybe except dessert.
Here's comes our first course. On the top is the Tuna with pickled daikon with sesame soy dressing. I believe the little dot on the third slice of tuna from the left is the crab beignet which is barely noticeable. The tuna was very fresh and with the daikon and soy on the bottom make it taste almost sashimi like.
On the bottom is my chilled almond soup. I am an almond nut (heehee.. get it? almond nut, cause you know, almond is a nut and I'm nuts for almonds. yes.. yes.. I'm a big dork, I know.) So you see why I have to order this soup when I saw it on the menu. The texture of the soup is a little grainy, probably from the ground almonds. The almond flavor was there but light, it was savory and a little tangy. The prawns were sweet and tender. Very interesting flavors and was definitely something new to me.
Top: fresh mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes, cape gooseberries, basil pesto.
A very refreshing second course and a palate cleanser. I love how sweet the cape gooseberries was and it goes so well with the cheese and tomatoes. It was a perfect pair with my duck breast, which is a much heavier dish in comparison. I am very big into balance, for instance, when my boyfriend orders a decadent chocolate cake, I would order a fruit tart to balance it out so we won't get tired of a richness of the cake. So after I had a few bites of my dish, it was nice to to sample this dish, in fact, I think I enjoyed it more than mine.
Bottom: Apple-cured duck breast and crispy tongue and foie gras.
As I said before, it is a much heavier dish and was beautifully presented. It looked like a work of art! The square with striped pattern on the bottom is the duck breasts. It was sliced paper thin and if it was not sliced by a machine, the chef certainly is extremely skillful with the knife. The foie gras is rich, smooth and creamy And of course when you eat each components together the crispy duck tongue gives it a nice crunch and adds another dimension to the dish.
Top: Hand-dived sea scallops
We were looking very forward to the scallops, especially because it is my favorite shell fish and we always watch people say how great the scallops are on Hell's Kitchen. The scallops are perfectly cooked; lightly seasoned, seared, very delicate and sweet. I just wish there were more of them.
Bottom: Smoked pork belly with roasted Scottish langoustine
Aww... the star of the evening! I ordered this dish because of the langoustine, but fell in love with the pork belly, and obviously so did my boyfriend, because I gave him a little taste and he pretty much jacked my dish and devoured it. We almost ordered a second one and he has demanded that I re-create this dish at home or go buy Gordon Ramsey's cook books for the recipe.
The pork belly was smoky, sweet, tender, and has a crispy skin. You can pull it apart with just your fork! This was one of those dish that when you take your first bite, it is so good that you will roll your eyes to the back of your head, and let out a tiny moan, much like another feeling that people experience sometimes, well except the moan part might not be tiny. :P
Top: Beef fillet and Kobe short rib
A very juicy piece of steak and the short rib was extremely tender as you would expect from a Kobe class beef. The only part that I was disappointed was that the short rib was so small. Somehow I expected it to be larger and to be more of the main part of the dish, rather than an accompaniment to the fillet, but then.... the beef fillet is listed first on the menu, isn't it?
Bottom: Honey and soy roasted quail, sautéed foie gras with pear chutney
Not to say that this dish was not good, but I wish I had the pork belly as my last dish. It was very tasty and well cooked, but I guess I was expecting something more refined from a fine dining restaurant. The quail was a little bit on the dry side and the sauce was quite heavy. I did enjoy the sauteed foie gras very much though, it was one of the best that I ever had. (My favorite is from La Foret in San Jose, CA)
My favorite part of the meal has come: DESSERT! This is part one of the two desserts that comes with the tasting menu. It is a olive oil gelato with confit Meyer lemon and basil gelée and sable breton on the bottom. I have never had olive oil gelato before so this was an experience; the gelato was light with a little nutty and grassy taste, and the gelee really adds something to the overall taste.
Bottom: Rose water sabayon, mandarin orange four ways and cinnamon ice cream
Overall, I am very pleased with my experience at Gordon Ramsey at the London. I know some people commented on how small the portions are and they are like tapas style, but in my opinion, I think the portion is comparable with other fine dining restaurants; I have been to other restaurants that serves even smaller portions. One in particular comes to mind is Chez TJ in Mountain View, CA, which has a two star Michilin star rating, and after twelve courses of food, we were still hungry and we paid more money. At least in Gordon's restaurant, we left with our tummy full and content. This restaurant is definitely on our return list, and we might stay at the hotel next time, too.
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