Gordon Ramsay Bar&Grill London (Park Walk): a decent steakhouse

Gordon Ramsay’s Grill is a great way to experience the chef’s cuisine in a simplified version with a friendly atmosphere and affordable prices.

For this weekend with friends in London, it was Olivier, the local, who took care of the choice of restaurants. For this first dinner he booked a table of 5 at the Gordon Ramsay Bar&Grill in Park Walk (there is another one in London).

As a reminder, here are all the articles related to this London weekend.

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#3FlightFrankfurt-London – Lufthansa – Business Class
#4HotelMarriott Kensington London
#5RestaurantGordon Ramsay Grill London
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#8FlightLondon-Frankfurt – Lufthansa – Business Class
#9FlightFrankfurt-Paris – Lufthansa Business Class

The Gordon Ramsay Bar&Grill concept

It is a New York-inspired steakhouse that offers a number of dishes in which the famous chef’s signature is sometimes found.

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The setting of Gordon Ramsay Bar&Grill

A typical steakhouse: simple decor, wooden chairs, leatherette benches. In the evening the lighting is very very dark.

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Neither pretty nor ugly, not particularly sophisticated.

The menu

A short and simple steakhouse menu with things to share, starters, some meats and sides to choose from.

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The dinner

On arrival we are given the menus and asked if we would like to have an aperitif. As not everyone arrived at the same time, we waited to order the aperitif and finally forgot to take one.

The reading of the menu was more than laborious in the darkness of the room. At first I thought that with age my eyesight was really deteriorating but when I saw everyone using their mobiles to light up the map it reassured me.

I’ll have the prawns with pili pili, garlic, toasted sourdough bread and lemon as a starter and then share a beef wellington for two as a main course.

The service is quite fast but in any case the conversations make the time pass quickly. Speaking of conversations, a table of about ten people arrived in the meantime and settled a few meters away from us and they were so loud that we could hardly hear each other.

So here are my prawns.

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Even though it’s a hot dish I found it very refreshing (the lemon effect) and for once a dish is spicy as I like them I am won over.

However, the quantity leaves something to be desired: I only need three or four bites to finish.

This is followed by the beef wellington for two.

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The presentation is appetizing and the meat will turn out to be good and well cooked. But it’s hard to judge: if you’ve ever eaten a beef wellington in a gourmet restaurant, especially at Gordon Ramsay’s, it’s still much less fine, but it’s not the same price.

If I were to compare it with the one I ate at Léon de Lyon let’s say it’s equal: the dish itself is of good quality but less fine than at Léon and the presentation is less premium at Léon, but the quantity is greater here, even if it is for two. But they are two totally different properties in their positioning.

Once again, the restaurant may bear the name of Gordon Ramsay, but it is more of an affordable and friendly (I dare not say low cost) approach to the chef’s cuisine.

On the other hand, the purée will be rather average and insufficient in quantity for two people.

We will not have dessert and will finish with a coffee.

The atmosphere

There were only three catch tables that night and the table of 10 made noise for 50. And as they were close to us it was really unpleasant, we could hardly hear each other.

And I’m not a fan of restaurants where you need a torch to read your menu and a flash to photograph your food.

If we hadn’t been a group of friends I’d be hesitating between saying sad or unbearably loud (as the two can go together).

The service

Excellent, fast and friendly. A very friendly French waitress (as often happens in London).

Bottom line

It’s always complicated when a chef makes mainstream cuisine: on the one hand you can feel his touch, but on the other you know that it’s only a “degraded” but very good version of what he can do. So it can leave a mixed impression.

All in all a good steakhouse but does the Gordon Ramsay effect make it better than any other? I don’t think so.

Bertrand Duperrin
Bertrand Duperrinhttp://www.duperrin.com
Compulsive traveler, present in the French #avgeek community since the late 2000s and passionate about (long) travel since his youth, Bertrand Duperrin co-founded Travel Guys with Olivier Delestre in March 2015.
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