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Review

Homage

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Homage, the new restaurant at the Waldorf, is exactly that. The intention was to recreate the “grand café” European dining experience in London, with a bar, a patisserie and “grand salon”. It’s a fine idea – particularly when you’ve got a big chunk of high-end hotel to fill – and, while we can’t yet comment on the patisserie and the bar, there’s a lot to recommend the “grand salon” dining room.

If my schoolboy French is correct, “grand salon” translates as “big room”. They’re not kidding. The space is huge – it’s a former ballroom – and made even bigger by the enormous mirrors that seem to cover most of the walls. However, canny lighting softens the potentially cavernous nature of the room while some surprisingly decent jazz instrumentals lend a certain atmosphere. The background music is surprisingly loud but not overpowering: perhaps another trick of the space? Whatever, you can certainly hold a comfortable conversation with your fellow diners (and I could listen to good jazz 24/7).

Another plus point is that it doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant, so don’t let the Waldorf address put you off. While so many hotel restaurants feel like they’ve been constructed in whatever space remained – the otherwise excellent Mju is a case in point – or defy even the best interior designers to give them some soul, Homage has managed to avoid such problems. Indeed, in order to give them even more of an independent identity, they’re shortly getting their own entrance off Aldwych. Service too is impeccably friendly and attentive but never once feels like someone’s watching you. You know the sort of fussiness – where every time you take a drink, someone passes by and tops up your glass, as if you’re being monitored on close circuit TV : “table three has taken a sip of wine! Wine waiter to table three! Wine waiter to table three! Go! Go! Go!” There’s none of that OTT attitude here though, which probably also helps to make things feel calmer.

In fact, the only disappointment – aside from the A3 sized, cream cardboard menus, which seem incongruously modern in this setting - is the food. Well, some of the food. A starter of Scottish langoustine salad, baby artichokes and asparagus was deemed satisfactory and huge – it’s certainly decent value at £12. After a lot of deliberation and general dithering – the menu is a testament to the joys of simplicity and, as a result, there’s not a thing on it I wouldn’t eat – I went back to the first thing on the menu: French Onion soup with shin of beef, gruyere crouton (£5). It was… pleasant. The shin of beef was a fine addition, and there was a lot more gruyere than crouton – a huge, molten lump of the stuff, in fact - but the whole thing lacked a certain “oomph” and depth of flavour.

Never mind. Things got better. My companion’s Whole Dover Sole, grilled (or pan-fried) was another highly satisfactory dish. Good value at £19 too, and a fine piece of fish. It did, perhaps, lack a degree of excitement but that’s probably true of any Dover sole. No such qualms over my Fillet of beef with a green peppercorn sauce though. How would I like that? Rare. How did I get it? Rare. And perfectly so. The edges were grilled just the right side of charring but the centre was deep purple – those boys at the Buccleuch estate know how to hang their beef – and the whole thing cut like butter. Happily, it tasted as good as it looked: certainly one of the best steaks I’ve had in London and, at £18, exceptional value. Vegetable dishes – good value at £2.50 to £3.50 for a generous bowlful – were well executed too, particularly the potato puree and green beans with shallots and Parmesan.

With my companion acting as the voice of conscience, dessert was a shared Chocolate fondant, Valhrona sauce, orange ice cream (£6). It was extremely good, with a satisfying chocolate punch and the richness undercut efficiently by the well-flavoured orange ice cream.

A good value Fleurie – Domaine de Prion 2002, £25.50 – provided excellent light liquid support, with strong fruit rather than that slightly metallic edge that’s shone through the last couple of bottles I’ve tried. That took the final bill to around the £90 mark, which seems a reasonable price to pay for a meal that occasionally hit such admirable heights. Admittedly I might go straight for the steak next time, but there will be a next time and that alone puts Homage above 80% of the places I’ve visited. With a little tweaking here and there, the Waldorf’s dining legacy may yet extend beyond a certain salad.

Type of food: Modern European

Average cost per head, including wine - £40

Rating: 3.5/5

Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Value for money: 3/5/5