Marcus Restaurant, The Berkeley Hotel, London, UK, 3,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (18-07-2018 by Nenad Jelisic)
Marcus Restaurant at the 5-star The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge in London belongs to one of nine London's two-stars Michelin Guide restaurants. The restaurant is owned by the famous chef Marcus Wareing who in addition to this restaurant owns two more restaurants: The Gilbert Scott in the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in King's Cross St. Pancras and Tredwells in Covent Garden. Marcus Wareing had worked at among other hotel Savoy, Le Gavroche Restaurant and Gordon Ramsay Restaurant. Since 2014, when Marcus replaced the famous chef Michel Roux Jr., he is one of the main judges of the very tough and very TV-popular cookie competition MasterChef The Professionals. So far, Marcus has released seven cookbooks. Taking into account all of this, my expectations were extremely high, but unfortunately, I experienced that the restaurant was not near my expectations.
During the visit in November 2017, an eight course menu (Taste of Autumn) was tasted in combination with eight wines recommended by the restaurant's sommelier. The eight course menu got an average rating of 3,0 NJP due to that: 1. I never got a wow-experience that one should get if one eat at a very exclusive and very expensive restaurant, 2. I experienced "72 hour short rib, yoghurt, vindaloo spices" as almost inedible, 3. I experienced parts of "Saddle of venison, beetroot, liquorice, parsnip" as very fat and dry and 4. I do not understand why one have sourdough bread (course number 1) on the menu of an exclusive restaurant. The eight recommended wines were rated without food (average 3,0 NJP) and how they matched the eight dishes (average 3,5 NJP). What pulled down the rating regarding how the eight recommended wines matched the eight dishes was the last wine that was too sweet to fit a sweet dessert.
Below you will find both the eight course menu and the eight recommended wines. To not lose something in translation due to that the eight course menu consists of both English and international food words, it was decided not to translate it into Swedish.
Shauna’s sourdough, cockle butter
Mackerel, coriander, chimichurri, caviar
Sharpe’s Express 1900, girolles, Tunworth, truffle
Octopus, chestnut, parsley, beef tea
72 hour short rib, yoghurt, vindaloo spices
Saddle of venison, beetroot, liquorice, parsnip
Smoked milk & mandarin
Toffee, peanut, milk chocolate nougat
Levin, Sauvignon Blanc, 2015, France
Furmit Bott Frigyes, 2015, Slovakia
Domaine Grivot, Meusault, Premier Cru Les Perrieres, 2011, France
Rosi Schuster, Gruner Veltliner, Aus Den Dorfern, 2016, Austria
Viña Ilusión, Rioja 2011, Spain
Venica, Merlot, Collio, Italy
Clos de Lapeyere, Jurancon, 2016, France
Moscatel Dorado, NV, Chiponia, Andalucia, Spain
Shauna’s sourdough, cockle butter
Upon entering the staff's treatment was brilliant, both at the entrance and in the restaurant itself. But when I started to eat food and drink the recommended wines, I immediately started to feel both supervised and pushed by the staff to finish the dishes and drink the wines as quickly as possible. A glass of champagne, order of food and wine, an appetizer, two dishes and two wines went on an incredible 36 minutes. The second-last dish, "Smoked milk & mandarin", I did not get the chance to finish. If one is ready to pay over 3,000 SEK (over 260 GBP) for a dinner for a person then one wants to enjoy every second and does not want to feel pushed and supervised all time. Therefore, I give 0,5 NJP to the service.
I give 5,0 NJP to the restaurant's interior, atmosphere and cleanliness. One thing that I would improve is the strength of lighting, it should be reduced.