From January 2005 100 Very Best Restaurants
For luxury and intimacy, nothing matches this restaurant formerly called Elysium, located in the Morrison House Hotel, possessor of the coveted Relais & Chateaux hotel insignia. Brass chandeliers and paintings of the English countryside set the tone in a room that holds just nine tables. (Smokers can be seated in another dining room, which boasts a lively piano bar.) Traditional service–very good traditional service–has replaced a system in which the chef came out from the kitchen to negotiate a list of courses with each table.
Standouts at a recent meal were a carpaccio of beef with sweet-corn kernels, arugula, and shaved Parmesan cheese; a tempura of tiger prawns with buckwheat groats and a roquette coulis; a poussin with a terrine of pumpkin and a red-pepper coulis; and a filet of Black Angus beef with red-wine-infused butter and a parsley coulis. A rack of veal might be recommended were it not for the undersalted and overcooked tagliatelle accompanying it. The delicious chocolate cake beat out a good field of desserts. The wine list is enterprising, with such unusual choices as a Maranges Premier Cru from Burgundy.
