Le Gavroche
Mayfair French stalwart Le Gavroche is a must for fans of the l’hexagone. Opened by the late Michel Roux and his brother Albert, it is now in the capable hands of Michel Roux Jr. The restaurant will reopen on 7 July, and will serve two tasting menus, including an eight-course option available for lunch or dinner, and a four-course menu, which is available in the evening. There will be a smaller menu of individually priced dishes, and the restaurant will continue to offer its famous set-price lunch menu during the week.
Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown:
Michel and Albert Roux’s culinary French flag-bearer opened in 1967 on Lower Sloane Street and relocated in 1981 to Upper Brook Street without losing a day’s trading. It became the first restaurant in the UK to receive a Michelin star in 1974, garlanded with three stars in 1982; today, it holds two under the tenure of Albert’s son, Michel Roux Jr, who added a bijou chef’s table.
Le Gavroche has had a huge influence on the quality of food in London, giving rise to chefs, Monica Galetti, Rowley Leigh, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing, Gordon Ramsay and Roux’s daughter, Emily who opened Caractère, Notting Hill with partner, Diego Ferrari who was Head Chef at Gavroche for three years.
Now in his third year at Le Gavroche, head sommelier, Rémi Cousin, began his career at Paris’ Le Meurice, moving to Hotel du Vin, York then Bristol, before joining The Fat Duck in 2008, where he worked for eight years.
Running to over 2,500 bins secreted wherever space allows, including the alcoves beneath the Mayfair pavement, the list predominantly holds a torch over ready-to-drink icons of L’Hexagone with well-picked incursions into Italy and Australia. Flights include Mas de Daumas Gassac, Grange des Pères, Hermitage Chave, Romanée-Conti and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. Recently, Cousin increased the offer from “the very much under-rated regions” of Alsace for its grand crus, and the Loire.
At £76, the generally sold-out set lunch, inclusive of half a bottle of wine (beer is also available), mineral water, coffee and petits fours continues to offer benchmark value for a restaurant of this calibre, longevity and international repute, with vinous options including a Côtes du Roussillon Villages collaboration.
