Brooklands by Claude Bosi (Hyde Park)

A quick word on the restaurant first.  It is located on the the 8th floor of the hotel with a chick bar (also called Brooklands) on the opposite side of the hotel on the same floor which has stunning views of Wellington Arch, Hyde Park and the major sites of London.  Brooklands itself is a reference to the old racetrack for classic cars which the Hotel’s founders have strong, historical connections to.  The decor also proudly showcases the hotel’s connection to Rolls Royce via a huge Concorde overlooking the restaurant (which had Rolls Royce engines).  Whilst a little sterile in feel, the restaurant does have a trump card of its terrace which is open on select, warms days in the summer months and the modern pop music in the main restaurant helps to make the atmosphere non-stuffy.

The head chef is Francisco Dibenedetto who was the head chef of Bibendum (as well as Hibiscus before this) and was provided the opportunity to fly the Bosi flag on this second venture.  The menu follows a very similar modern style to Bibendum in a swish environment has a wine list that I would recommend specifying your budget cap of what you would like to ideally spend on wine with the very capable sommeliers.  The cheapest Sancere by the bottle I could find was £95 which is high, although our Italian sommelier looked after us with alternate suggestions very well.

Our first snack was a punchy tartlet of broadbeans, cured egg, feta cheese and mint that worked very well and had a strong hit of mint.  We were then treated to an absolute array of amuse bouches and canapés.  The crowning glory of these was the chicken amuse bouche.  Two things in this world I absolutely adore – one is coronation chicken and the other is any liver parfait.  Imagine my endorphine levels when I was presented with a chicken liver ice cream (parfait like in texture) sat on a bed of coronation chicken espuma with fabulous Roscoff battered onion topping? Of course, it could have been bad, but this was utterly sensational.  The liver was silky smooth, the coronation chicken a delight and not too overpowering with the finest onion pieces giving the texture and sweeteness that was needed to compliment the richness of this little serving.

All of the other snacks and pieces were super as well – the mushroom, foie gras and potato tuile toast was light, delicate and explosive in mushroom umami.  The delightful Oreo-like Welsh rarebit bite was another winner – thin slices of crunch holding a wonderful béchamel interior that was strong in mustard but not overwhelming, all decorated in Parisian flowers; a sumptuous bite.  Then a haddock custard with pike roe and Granny Smith apple pearls was also a wonderful combination, the apple giving just what the custard and salt needed for balance and everything worked very well altogether.  These was an outstanding start to a meal, probably of the best I have ever had and in fact and is a seriously worthwhile presentation to come back for.

Sourdough bread was Brough in from Coombeshead Farm and came with nicely salted, cultured and non-cultured butters. The two starters were the asparagus and the recommended duck jelly.  The asparagus “Benedict”, came with pickled quail egg yolk and a magnificent hollandaise and beautiful ‘Good Earth Growers Leaves’ and bean salad; the latter adding floral prettiness but more importantly the needed acidity for the rich yolk and hollandaise.  I opted for the marvellous duck jelly with Roscoff onion emulsion filled with Exmoor caviar.  This was outstanding and a delight to have a crinkle cracker to break off in pieces to enjoy it with for textural crunch.

For the mains, I enjoyed turbot from a decently sized 7Kg fish, served with Blackmount (cheese), blanquette sauce with Argan Oil. This was the only aspect of the meal I thought was a tad ‘over’ in that the saltiness from the sauce made with Blackmount cheese and I thought this could be toned down. Thankfully there was a beautifully decorated salad leaf to provide saline relief. However, it was a lovely piece of turbot and good to do a new sauce with it. My dining companion had the absolutely sumptuous Herdwick lamb from the Lake District served with mint and pastrami with a wonderful dill taco.  The lamb had superb flavour and fat rendering and reduction that was one of the very best I have ever come across – I had no choice but to drink the remains of this from the serving dish.

A pre-dessert of lemon granita with fennel ice cream and white fennel seeds proved to be novel and refreshing.  The desserts themselves were a combination of British Cheeses with malted bread with oats and an apple dessert. The apple dessert was entitled “The Best of The British Apples and Wild Meadowsweet” which was an Apple broth inside frozen apple using six kinds of apple including Goldrush, Pink Lady, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Bramley and Cox apple varieties.  These were all used in different forms including ganache, compote and sorbet to great effect. This was clever, refreshing and had a number of textures that ultimately showcased apple brilliantly.  An array of petit fours were then served after with difference coffee which was a very agreeable finish.

The bill came to £300 per person but this was with pre-dining cocktails and champagne and good Sancere through the meal.  It is possible to dine here for around £160 per person incl service with no alcohol or coffee. Either way, this meal had the best canapes of any meal I have ever had and I am already looking forward to having another meal here as I know it the sort of food that will please.

Food Grade: 89%