The Rib Room Revamped and Relaunched

We went to the launch party of the newly refurbished Rib Room, waiting with bated breath for the beef-on-the-bone ban to be lifted so that this well established favourite could once again live up to its name. No immediate announcement came from the Ministry of Agriculture, in spite of rumours and half promises. We waited the customary month for the restaurant to "settle down", although it looked, at the party, as if it was firing on all cylinders from day one. In spite of all the HooHah from the French, and the endorsement of the lifting of the ban on British beef throughout the European Union, our own government still prevents us from buying beef on the bone.

The great roasted joints of beef for which traditional English establishments like the Rib Room, Rules and Simpson's-in-the-Strand are justly famed (and there are only a few survivors remaining)are still available cooked off the bone, but they are not quite as magnificent, nor quite as succulent when deprived of their underlying structure.

Fortunately, at the Rib Room, there are plenty of other choices, including the finest steaks and boneless roasts from beef that comes from one of Scotland's top herds, belonging to His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch. His Grace's cattle feed only on the richest, most ducal of grass pasture - indeed they are truly the most aristocratic of bovines.

To begin your meal, there is a wonderful cornucopia of seafood in the new (and very pretty) oyster bar. Here, or at your table, you can sample oyster-on-the-shell, crab-on-the-claw or lobster-in-the-carapace without interference from the nanny state! We had what the French (and many pretentious English restaurants) would call assiette de fruits de mer - here it's called Deluxe seafood platter for two and it's none the worse for that either.

There were oysters, (we'd have liked a few more for our £32 for two people), half a lobster, huge crab claws, juicy jumbo prawns and Langoustines. I'd swap the latter for mussels any day - they may not look as impressive as those langoustines that are all mouth and trouser, but they taste a lot more interesting.

Our guests had smoked salmon £12.50, a generous portion that was good and smoky, and Cornish crab with avocado - definitely the posh person's prawn cocktail. With this we drank glasses of the house Champagne, a top class vintage tipple from Ruinart, superb. We carried on with a very nice bottle of 1994 Columbia Crest Semillon Chardonnay £22.50, since two of us were continuing with fish or white meat. Also I had just returned from a visit to their impressive winery at Chateau St Michelle, just outside Seattle in Washington State.

The main course blue fin tuna with burnt tomato salsa was attractively seared and drew admiration from one guest, while the other was pleased to find that her veal chop had been cooked just the way she wanted it - not too pink, but juicy all the same. We don't get enough veal chop (or any other kind of veal) in this country which is silly, as bobby calves are no longer kept in the dark, neither are they confined within those horrid veal crates.

A rack of lamb was beautifully cooked and presented, with a delicious rich dark sauce. My duck had a quack factor of 9 (I don't think I've ever given 10, that's a kind of unattainable ideal!). The sauce was interesting, with a hint of the orient, hoy-sin, perhaps? So I asked the chef, Nicholas Watt who is another of these exciting guys from New Zealand who has done his stint at Nobu London as well as some smart places in Tokyo. He explained how the bird is roasted on the rotisserie, how all the juices are extracted from the carcasses in a manner that would be approved by the great Escoffier, and how the sauce is reduced with a special soya sauce until a dark, slick glaze remains. It must be quite an interesting challenge for a creative Antipodean chef to introduce really subtle fusion concepts without disturbing the traditions associated with a dining room of this calibre.

One area where the chefs can let their hair down a bit, so to speak, is in the pudding department. There are still the old stalwarts like trifle and the "cut fruit platter" which is the new fruit salad, as well as a goodly selection of cheeses (it should be at £9.00!). I enjoyed a baked apple that had been given a thorough going over... It had been peeled, covered with chopped nuts, stuffed with sultanas and braised in lemon juice, with much basting to keep it moist. It came served with a vanilla infused sabayon. The sorbet dish was a real tour de force. It's served in a deep bowl filled with a meringue to build it up. There were three scoops of delicious homemade sorbets - the mango and the lemon were particularly special. It was finally topped with what looked like a wafer thin translucent tuille, but which on closer inspection was the sheerest slice of oven dried pineapple. Truly a deft touch of style.

I think the cooking at the Rib Room is better than it has ever been, even if the price is a bit high, whacked up a bit by the absolute necessity to order vegetable side dishes at £3.00 each. You need a couple of these per person. But this is a very luxurious and smart dining room, with an impressive wine list to match. So many of the classics are there, from top vintages like '85 and '82. I should mention that the meat eaters amongst us drank a wonderful bottle of the Australian Wolf Blass Show Reserve 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon at £30.00 - an effortless task! The service was excellent - we were moved away from a table of persistent smokers with the minimum of fuss, and all our glasses were placed on the new table in the correct order!

The Rib Room is an example of a type of restaurant that's been out of fashion lately, but now finds itself coming rapidly back in. Hard edged lines, blaring music, harshly focussed lights, huge crowds of diners, waiters with attitude and fashion gauleiters barring the door are all very well, but anyone could see that they were a trend that would never last. Nobody has the energy to keep up with it all, and too much social flamboyance can play havoc with the digestion.

Clifford Mould, November 1999

The cost of your meal:
Starters £5.50 Pea Soup - £14.00 Foie gras parfait* Mains £18.00 Roast Duck - £31.00 Fillet steak * Desserts £6.00 - £7.50
The 1992 vintage Ruinart Champagne was £9.00 a glass.

The Rib Room and Oyster Bar at the Hyatt Carlton Hotel on Cadogan Place, London SW1X 9PY

Tel: 020 7235 1234 Hyatt Website