Pullman Delights. A Miss in Soho. Smithfield News. Critics & More.
Tim reviews McDonald's. (Really.) Ellis misty at the Regency. Grace butchers Toum. Charlotte goes to the Lyonnaise.
Hello! It’s nearly the end of January. For me, the month has flown by. February awaits. Spring will be here before you know it.
Welcome to the influx of new readers. I’m really pleased and grateful that you’ve subscribed. Thank you! I hope your diary is full of interesting lunches.
Before we get to this week’s update, can I ask you to take a second to share Professional Lunch with friends and colleagues or mention it on your LinkedIn or other social media? The Guide is often a good thing to pass along, and I’ve updated it this week to reflect recent reviews.
This week’s review will be out on Thursday, and it’s a special feature about my recent visit to Florence.
But we start with a guest contribution this week, and proof that train food can be very good, indeed.
Lunch Hits the Rails
A Long Professional Lunch on a Classic British Pullman
A guest contribution from my friend and frequent lunch companion James Whatley, author of the supremely brilliant Five Things on Friday newsletter.
As Marshall well knows, I am a fan of the professional lunch. Having gone freelance last year, the opportunity for professional lunches has only increased; however, the invites to official Christmas lunches have notably dwindled (staff only, etc).
So me and a few friends decided to take matters into our own hands and throw ourselves a Christmas soiree via the Festive Lunch on the British Pullman.
The pitch: board the British Pullman at 1030am at London Victoria, departing at 11am and arriving back into London Victoria some five hours later, having invariably seen various stops and sights of the Kent country and seaside.
Let's be clear: the food was fantastic (and I don’t even have to add ‘for a train’ before that sentence). We started with mulled wine-cured salmon, followed by winter squash and wildflower honey soup, then a ballotine of Norfolk Turkey (the roast potatoes were excellent), and then chocolate yule log.
There was cheese too, but I forgot to snap that.
That forgetfulness may have been because of the wine. Now look, wine options were available for those that wanted to have a bottle of something specific, and I’m sure the list was great. However, we were well advised to take the house selection as our train host/attendant could be, in his words, 'friendlier with the accounting' — which, given the season, was music to our ears.
And so the wine came — delivered in a picnic basket — and the journey was in full swing.
If, like me, you knew very little about the history of the Pullman before going, then you'll be in for a treat. The people that work on the train are the same people that care for it. They know everything about its history and its rich assortment of previous passengers — and they’ll happily regale you with those stories should you so wish.
If, like some of my friends, you know an awful lot about how incredible this piece of history is, then you'll probably get even much more from it.
At £485 a ticket, this is one to file under ‘client entertainment’ (and a favourite client at that), so get your expenses approved beforehand. Tell finance that the price includes your train ticket, food, and of course the wine, and you’ll be on firmer footing, I’m sure.
One word of advice, the magic number for this professional lunch is four. With four you increase your chances of having your own cubicle instead of being sat out in the open carriage. Both are wonderful but if you'd prefer your own private experience, get four tickets booked together.
Other things happened on the train — unexpected, fun, Christmas celebratory things — and I wouldn't want to spoil it much further than that. All to say: it was a hit, and if you've been considering the British Pullman for this or any other reason for a (six hour) professional lunch, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
Finally, dress up. Not just smart. Up. They say you cannot be overdressed for the British Pullman. But there's no harm in trying.
Smithfield & Billingsgate Traders Find a Home
Following the announcement that both historic markets would close, The Corporation for the City of London and the traders’ associations for each markets have reached an agreement to relocate both to an as-yet unspecified location “inside the M25.” According to London on the Inside, “Smithfield Market Tenants’ Association (SMTA) say that 70% of its members have agreed to relocate to ‘New Smithfield’.” Similarly, “The London Fish Merchants Association (LMFA) has confirmed that 90% of traders will continue to operate when Billingsgate market closes and that the search is on for a new location.” Both Associations are firm that the new locations will not be owned by the Corporation for City of London, which seems sensible. Important to note that all of this still requires an act of parliament.
Hits & Misses
Mini-reviews of places that were either (a) good, but not quite good enough to do a full review and add to the Guide, (b) had a flaw or two, or (c) that I revisited following a prior review.
Miss: Randall & Aubin
It started as a butcher’s shop in 1911, and became a restaurant in 1996. But somehow, I’d never made it to the Soho seafood institution that is Randall & Aubin. So I headed there last week for a professional lunch.
First impressions were good. Dark wood floors, glistening tile walls, and granite counter seating. An active, open-kitchen and raw-bar. A busy, vibrant, buzzy atmosphere. And the staff were fantastic. Attentive. Quick. Anticipating rather than reactive.
Except I couldn’t get in my seat. My stool backed up to a woman behind me, who couldn’t get her knees under her counter because of a silly ledge. So I spent lunch uncomfortably wedged in place. And we can’t blame my mid-section for this. The thin guy next to me didn’t fit either.
As for food, when I looked at the selections, I got excited. The specials board offered “Maryland style crab & lobster cake,” which is among my favourite things to eat. In Maryland, crab cakes are held together lightly with a little egg and a few breadcrumbs, then broiled or pan-fried. They are never, ever breaded and deep friend like an English fish cake. This one was, and the breading was far too thick. I’m also not sure about the lobster and crab combo. The two didn’t really go together. And the béarnaise sauce accompanying was delicious on its own but utterly the wrong partner for the crab cake. There were strangely sweet onions and weirdly sour rocket. Ugh.
My main was cod, which was fine. Fractionally under cooked, but nothing to complain about. It was served with well-spiced broccoli and a “prawn & potato toast,” which was the highlight of the meal. As a whole, it was okay but unspectacular. The dessert list looked great, but I passed in deference to my waistline.
I really wanted to like Randall & Aubin, and it’s tailor-made for a professional lunch. Indeed, virtually everyone in the place seemed to be with work colleagues. I suspect if I had stayed away from the crab cake, I would have enjoyed it more. I’m sure it would be a great place to have a dozen oysters and survey the Brewer Street scene.
But here’s the problem: Soho is full of first-rate places. So the next time I plan a lunch there, it’s unlikely I’ll consider Randall & Aubin.
Critics Wrap-Up
✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.
✍🏻 🍽️ David Ellis (Standard) offers his best-written review since taking over the beat in September. It’s a reflection on the Regency Cafe and the nature of London. “The Regency is not just in a different league, but playing another sport.” … “Change keeps things going. In the end, Father Time catches us all; those standing still only make the job easier.”
✍🏻 Tim Hayward (FT) writes my favourite review of the week, recounting a long-term, secret love-affair with McDonald’s, and how it’s come to an end, his head turned by Greggs. What drove the change of heart? “It’s the biggest, overarching trend [at McD’s] that has been the most disturbing — dwindling human involvement.” While the subject may seem iffy, this is some of Tim’s best work, in my very humble opinion.
✍🏻 Grace Dent (Guardian) plucks and butchers Toum, the Lebanese chicken place off Regent Street. “I will never forget the aubergine schnitzel vegetarian option, featuring a half-aubergine steamed — or had it been boiled? — to the texture of a bloated sanitary towel… It felt like vegetarian cooking by someone who had been emotionally wounded by a vegetarian — this was personal.”
Giles Coren (Times) targets two unsuspecting Chinese places, Dim T in Hampstead and Chinese Cricket Club in Blackfriars. Dim T seems to suffer thanks to its proximity to Giles’ house, while Chinese Cricket Club offered food that was “bland, generic, loveless and tasted to me as if it had been frozen.”
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) has a more pleasant and less contrived Chinese experience at Hunan in Pimlico. “We also lost our hearts to a wok-fried dumpling filled with diced vegetables that took only seconds to enjoy but must have taken far longer to prepare.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) explores the backstory of the River Cafe as part of review of its smaller, lighter spin-off, the River Cafe Cafe, which he adores. “For accomplished balance, flavour and an historic lesson in getting it right this café is so good they named it twice.”
Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) celebrates the return of the French bistro with a visit to Josephine Bouchon in Chelsea and passing mentions of several others. “Is this not, when it comes down to it, what every meal should be? Pure and simple. The French got it right centuries ago and we’ve been fiddling in the margins ever since.”
Jay Rayner (Observer) heads to the Blue Stoops in Kensington and finds “a group of seriously experienced hospitality professionals, who like both their food and their beer, have come together to create their version of a welcoming pub, while attempting not to look like they’ve been trying too hard to get it right, even though they have.”
Tanya Gold (Spectator) ventured to the Savoy at Christmas time and reports that “its new restaurant, Gallery, is not a success, but the Savoy will survive it.”
🍽️ Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) tries Jackson Boxer’s new place, Dove in Notting Hill. “I'd have happily eaten any of these sexy numbers.”
Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) also checks out Dove. “If this is the direction that London's restaurants are going in - moving to slightly more casual but innovative and interesting take, then sign us up. We could happily have worked our way through the entire menu at Dove.”
Andy Hayler (independent critic) revisits Sola, the California-inspired Soho spot that I visited with Nick Lander. “The kitchen at Sola uses very high-grade ingredients, a rarity in London even amongst the multi-starred restaurants. The service was very good.”
🍽️ Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) test drives Breadstall, the new by-the-slice pizza joint in Soho. “Central London really needed a New York-style pizza by the slice restaurant and Breadstall fills that gap perfectly.” I can’t understand why there aren’t more by-the-slice places in London.
- (Braise) asserts, as part of a review of Sonora in Stoke Newington, that London “has a small Mexican fine dining scene that I’ve heard unexpectedly good things about, and better tacos than it has any right to.” He’s right. And Sonora is a brilliant addition. “If London’s best tacos are found in Sonora, then the best of the best is the beef barbacoa.”
Alex Larman (The Arbuturian) visits the Don in the City, which has benefited from a menu refresh under the eye of consulting chef Rowley Leigh. “This is an operation not just running on all cylinders, but serving up limitlessly excellent food with inordinate brio and style.”
“Cara” (Foodepedia) reviews HERA in Stratford. Named for a Greek goddess, the experience was heavenly. “I couldn’t help but reflect on how seamlessly it balanced simplicity and grandeur. The dishes rooted in humble ingredients, feel refreshingly honest.”
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) was in Kenya.
Thanks for reading Professional Lunch. Please subscribe if you haven’t already, and let me know your best recent lunch in the comments.
I particularly enjoyed the advice about getting your expenses across the line for the train costs!