Notting Hill Brasserie
Above: Above: Notting Hill Brasserie
Notting Hill Brasserie is one of the area’s few real ‘occasion restaurants’ – a place where you’d be as comfortable celebrating your parents’ anniversary as you would bringing clients for a slap-up business meal. Although its interiors are modern, the overall feel is quite traditional, especially as service is old-school (in a good way) and live jazz adds sophisticated ambience.
Long-time head chef Mark Jankel is now also overseeing the kitchens of sister establishments The Ebury in Pimlico Road, Maida Vale’s The Waterway and The Running Horse in Mayfair, so day-to-day cooking here is left in the capable hands of Karl Burdock, who used to be second in command. Regulars can therefore expect to find some familiar dishes on a menu that’s also evolved into more elegant territory.
If you, like us, were a fan of Jankel’s straightforward way with quality ingredients, you might find that some of the dishes carry a few cheffy flourishes too many these days. But, overall, it’s food that suits the classy surrounds.
The likes of lobster and freshwater prawn cannelloni with cepe purée and shellfish velouté make for lovely celebration food, as would the roast venison with glazed root vegetables, if its presentation wasn’t so overworked. Elaborately served up across two separate plates – poncy and impractical, even though table space here is generous – this dish seemed to divorce rather than marry the flavours of its component parts: a shame, as these were a great match for the velvety Pinot Noir suggested by our waitress.
Our meal ended on something of a low point when we poked a spoon through our lush-looking hot chocolate fondant to discover its overcooked insides were solid, however such disappointments wouldn’t keep us from coming back. Notting Hill needs antidotes to the scruffy-chic scene that otherwise dominates the area and this grown-up operation provides exactly that.
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