So, this weekend saw me don my finery and head off to The Ritz to celebrate my boyfriend’s mum’s wedding. There is no doubting that The Ritz has the wow factor – even if it is a bit dated for my taste, but that is the beauty of The Ritz. You get catapulted back to ‘years gone by’ and can get lost in thoughts of ladies from the 1930’s wandering the halls and sitting for tea.
I won’t get into my first impressions too much as this is a food blog after all, but let’s just say waiting two hours for a room at The Ritz wasn’t something I expected to happen. Staff seemed a little lethargic, which was a shame as you really expect all the bells and whistles when you visit....anyway, enough of that!
After the beautiful wedding service, we were escorted to a marble lobby where we were served canapés and champagne. Not too shabby for Kelly! (My particular favourite was the lobster roll. It was so delicious, I could have quite happily parked by behind on the baby grand piano that was in the room and scoffed the lot!)
After we had thoroughly had our fill of bolly bubbles, we headed off to the main restaurant where we had a couple of tables reserved. The dining room was low lit, with over the top lamp shades and window dressings. The tables were beautifully laid with silver and gorgeous crockery which took your peepers a while to absorb. (So Shiny!)
We had very attentive table staff who took care of our every whim. One gentleman was specifically allocated to wine and he matched each course perfectly - I was a particular fan of the chablis.
We were given an amuse bouche courtesy of the chef which immediately got me excited. Sadly this mini treat wasn’t to my tastes. It was apple jelly with a layer of mushrooms, topped with mushroom foam. (For the meat eaters, the mushroom was replaced with chicken flakes!) Not quite the palette cleanser I had hoped for.
For my starter I ordered onion soup with cep and truffles – when all of waiters circled the table ready for the big reveal, imagine my dismay when I was greeted by what looked like a lump of chicken…..with no sign of any soup. Thankfully a lovely waiter was hovering near by to pour on the soup. It was a very rich tasty soup which was unfortunately pretty salty. (Which sadly was a running theme throughout the evening.)
For my middle course (yes, middle!) I went with pumpkin ravioli. It was beautifully presented and was served with a beetroot garnish. Sadly this arrived cold and the pumpkin stuffing contained my arch enemy – roquefort cheese.
For my main course I went with stuffed peppers with basil and fennel. Now, not only was this the smallest potion of food I have ever seen, but it was by far the coldest. The bonus was the way in which the basil was served (pureè) which was really delicious. This dish isn’t something I would normally go for, but when confronted with the obscure concoctions that resided on the veggie menu, this was by far the most interesting!
Finally – dessert! My saviour! (Or so I thought) I went with cinnamon parfait. Sadly the parfait’s texture felt pretty stale, but all of the bells and whistles that came with it were truly delicious.
So, I feel like i've given the restaurant a right bashing here - I think The Ritz is a beautiful setting for formal events and apart from my initial encounter with their customer service; they really are on top of their game. The waiters are dressed in bow ties and tails and really make you feel special. In terms of fine dining – I’m not sure if it’s too dated or too futuristic. It is however, pretty pretentious, but that is what The Ritz is about, so you can’t blame them for that – however, I do think if they spent less time carving a vegetable into an unidentifiable shape, they might get your dinner to your table before it gets cold.
Good for – Glam from years gone by and decent Chablis. Food for show rather than eating.
Bad for –Hearty grub with no frills.
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