The meal started at the bar downstairs where the amuse bouche was offered: Gambret (thigh) from Aquitaine pigs was served as Charcuterie (from SW France), fed on acorns, similar to Belota pigs from East Spain (Iberia).  Mixed vegetable and herb bouquet was offered to be brushed in an asparagus vinaigrette with koji which had a very gentle and aromatic aroma and taste. The butters were wonderful – burnt leak, cultured and chicken butter served with spelt rye sour dough.  Serious effort had gone in to these small, introductions which is always a very good sign and sets the tone frankly for the whole establishment.

Moving upstairs, to the kitchen, I was introduced to the head chef, Theo Clench who introduced me to the first bite of aged blue fin tuna Otoro (deliberately 9 days of ageing as opposed the longer times of 40 days) from Spain on heated Himalayan salt with a ponzu sauce.  The fresh wasabi was from Japan, giving a lovely and more gentle spice, with umami from the aged foie gras from Londe and melted for extra fat with shiso flower and a cherry blossom vinegar juice to finish. All very delicate and a very nice presentation to be given in the kitchen.

Once sat in the illustrious, private dining area I was able to look at the wine list which is strongly influenced from the biodynamic and organic echolocation of wine making.  What was also very pleasant to see was 171st edition cuvee of Krug (based on the 2016 vintage) served by the glass at £49 which was a no brainer.  Not many places will serve Krug or Dom Perignon by the glass because of the risk of losing the remaining content obviously, but it is lovely to see when this is done and especially when I believe exactly the same stratosphere of Krug is served by the glass for £90 in Raffles, London for example.  The premium Rosi Schuster, Grüner Veltliner from Burgenland, Austria at £25 for the glass was a fairly pleasing option, but in retrospect, I should have bought a bottle of more normal champagne and offer what I wouldn’t be able to  finish / other half of that to the staff.  My sommelier kindly arranged a number of tastings however, to try and gain the best match without any frustration, which is another sign of a quality restaurant. 

Back on to the parade of canapés: a 36 month Comte and pickled walnut canapé was lovely, with just the right hint of vinegar to balance the fatty and slightly chewy, warm Comte. Raw hamachi (yellowtail tuna) came with sweet and sour pear and sesame which had an umami, fatty and lovely sesame finish.  Duck liver and red pepper was an absolute knock out moment with superb, brittle crispy outer shell and deep flavour – beautifully done. 

BBQ eel from Devon came with a warm cucumber sauce, herb oil and N25 caviar – this was a variation from oyster and had a wonderful amount of umami, salty creaminess and sweet from the buerre blanc with very well sourced caviar (one of the best suppliers).  Beremeal, sourdough was a take on soba noodles made with a rare wheat only grown on the Orkney Islands for thousands of years. The broth from all sour dough, chive, hazelnut and roe was not my favourite initially in its graininess, but enjoyable as something different nonetheless less.

Confit scallop (from the Isle of Skye) came with tomato, Myoga (type of Japanese ginger),  confit in wagyu, fermented tomatoes, shellfish sauce, roe of scallop powder on top.  A lovely, foam sauce decorated this scallop. Turbot from an 8Kg Brixham fish came with lettuce, sake lettuce sauce, fish bone and caramel sauce.  This was one of the prettiest and clean-cut dishes I have seen for turbot and the sauces went superbly together without drowning the magnificent piece of turbot that it was, all able to be mopped up with a beautifully light, mini white loaf on the side.

Hereford beef was 70 day aged and served with a sea buckthorn, preserved winter truffle (from Australia), BBQ Maitake mushroom was frankly a masterclass of umami beef dish in every way.  There was nothing to not love here and the surrounding elements complimented the beef superbly.

A pre-dessert of apple, olive oil and shiso pre-dessert was an extremely good palette cleanser – fresh, vibrant and the way it should be done.  The actual dessert was a 70% Chocolate tart with raspberry sorbet in the form of an aerated and mousse like chocolate on pastry with an intense and smooth raspberry sorbet.  I thought these worked very well together.  Petit fours were likewise very well presented with a lovely canelé with brown butter mousse (superb), a fermented raspberry fudge sandwich (fine) and an agreeable 30% Dark chocolate Bon Bon.  All came with Difference coffee, again, one of the best suppliers in their field.

The bill with premium drinks by the glass came to £315 which can be toned down from the wine selection. Be prepared to pay upfront to gain your seat here and you will have a very good return on skill, ingredient sourcing and flavours.  The price tag perhaps prohibits going for date night here each week for most (including me!), as each outing would probably be £600 for the host of two, but I think is worth it for pushing the boat out if you desire well-executed dishes of quality that in the main create some serious moments.

Food Grade: 87%

I arrived just before the evening opening time of 6pm in order to take pictures of the venue without any other diners (to avoid being in their faces with a camera) with another guest in front planning a future visit.  I think I was waiting behind for about 4 minutes with all other staff ignoring another person waiting before being asked if I could be helped.  Errr, yup, do you have a seat for one available, please? After being shown to the bar the menu and specials on a board were shown: 6 small plate and 2 main (priced) dishes and 5 snacks on the board to choose from which did seem a little slim on choices even considering the smaller sized kitchen.  The bread was charged at £3.50 which I found disappointing when considering it is bought in from Dusty & Knuckle and not made on the premises.  This is not to suggest it was particularly bad, but when you have bread as superb as the hand made brioche with lardo from Tim Allen at the Flitch of Bacon which is not charged at all, I see this as cheeky in comparison.

Celeriac remoulade was served with freshly made mayo, mustard, lemon, capers, chives, pepper and was simple enough, followed by a steak tartare.  The latter was again simply served with an aioli emulsion.  Bavette was used for the meat which was salted for 20 minutes and mixed with the usual shallots, chive, Worcestershire sauce and pepper, served on grilled sourdough.  It’s a personal favourite of mine which is why I went for it, but this version had a significant amount of pepper and kick to the extent that my nasal cavity felt as if it was under attack, just too much to enjoy the otherwise simplified version.  More presence of egg yolk would have been better here I feel.

Onion and rainbow chard with Parmesan was simple and good.  Butter and water are boiled down, and thickened with zantham and mixed with a specific vinegar to create a pleasant dressing with a dash of mustard on base of the plate, parmesan and olive oil drizzled on the top for the finish.  I actually really enjoyed this dish and have replicated it at home for interest and is not too hard to do as a bonus.  As this was essentially a plate of wilted and grilled vegetables however, I found the £10 price a little optimistic based on the ingredients not being at the upper end of the expense spectrum.  

Chocolate dessert was interesting as it was a pleasant ganache with ‘boozy’ prune and creme anglaise as a classic combination but, on asking if the anglaise had been made with vanilla (as it usually is and arguably should be), the answer was that it wasn’t.  Understandable when there is a world supply shortage of vanilla currently, but again why not just call it custard or cream in this case?  I refrained from tea or coffee as this would have only pushed the bill up more for predictably not much more return on the experience.

I actually asked why Ellory was called its original name as I always wanted to know and the answer I got back was, “I’m not sure….he’ll know (pointing at the owner) though if you want to ask him…”.  Cool(!), but I wasn’t sure of the reason stopping the waitress doing that on my behalf as a simple hospitality touch.  Sorry, I don’t gel with this; you can be an informal restaurant and still cater for the diner in simple courtesy and I find this lazy and too blasé.  I foraged for the answer which turns out to be a play on the name of a building (Leroy House) that was opposite the old restaurant and to keep a semblance of the brand, this name was adopted properly for the reopening.

All in all, the aspect I enjoyed the most on this visit was the vegetable plate but for all the rationale above, I can’t see the price justification here, let alone the awarding of a Michelin star.

The arancini had a good sense of truffle (which I presume is the synthetic kind found in oil rather than real truffles) but were altogether a little dry.  Steak tartare which is a personal favourite was acceptable but just a little bland and flat for £19 irrespective of the cut of meat used (striploin). I was a little disappointed to see that tabasco was used instead of more homemade choices and the shallots, parsley and cornichons did not boost it enough either.   The chips on the side here are absolutely as basic as they come but thankfully are £3.50 which, is ludicrous when one looks at the mark up of being ready-made and bought in but thankfully not as expensive as they can be in restaurants.  There is scope to make these better as is a simple chip and to have a poor outer coating and barely heated mash inside makes this a bit of a strange offering to have at such a seemingly glitzy venue.  Perhaps it is the same at West Street which I will ask when next in.

Tuna carpaccio was satisfying with its ponzu dressing, avocado puree and coriander shoots.  Seared scallops came with risotto nero with Sicilian lemon salsa and was reportedly fine as was the lamb shoulder on mashed potato.  This is fine, but not a patch on places such as Whitebrook and those within the Joel Robuchon chain.  Tempura prawns came with cucumber, edamame, green papaya and green matcha sauce which was a very good sauce to have but sadly there is just no comparison for this type of tempura to how it is prepared in Japan.  The Ivy would not be alone here however, it can’t but help be a slight let down when it is and is a golden opportunity for The Ivy to be different from the rest.  Zucchini fries were ok but a little cold on arrival – appreciating they have a short heat life, they need to come out to the table immediately.

All in all, it was ok and is a lovely place to visit, but as mentioned, it simply does not have the uplift of food that the impression that the shiny exterior gives.