City
Café Westminster, London SW1
Hotel
dining rooms used to be rather anonymous
affairs, serving insipid, overpriced
food that left an awful lot to be
desired. Certainly in the Capital,
things have changed for the better,
and some of Dine Online's favourite
restaurants are now located in hotels. City
Café Westminster, which is the
dining room at the City Inn Westminster is
a very contemporary and impressive
establishment. It has an uncluttered,
modern feel, with glass walls, elegant
and tasteful furnishings, low lighting
and partitioned seating areas - creating
a feeling of both space and intimacy.
What I also didn’t expect was that
the place would be packed on a Monday
night - but then again, this is a
part of town where the residents
must be rejoicing that, at last,
there is somewhere decent to dine
out! Also, this restaurant has become
a favourite haunt of MPs and parliamentary
pundits.
 The
kitchen is in the good hands of ex
Bank head chef Peter Lloyd,
who has reworked the menu, giving
it a brasserie style theme. Split
into several sections it includes
an inspired Garden menu for vegetarians,
a City Café classics and grills selection,
an a la carte menu and seasonal menus
the latest of which will be for Valentine's
day.
After
some deliberation we settled on the
a la carte menu, I commenced with
a Gloucester old spot pork and pistachio
terrine with shallot and kumquat
compote. This was superb, with a
good pistachio and bacon flavour
throughout, the compote adding a
fruity kick. My guest’s chicken liver
and foie gras parfait was deemed
very autumnal in flavouring, the
combination of meats being light
on the palate with the chutney proving
a fine complement, whilst an accompanying
glass of Gewurztraminer provided
theperfect match.
There
were five different choices of main
dishes - I had the orange braised
lamb shank, served with creamed pearl
barley and glazed root vegetables.
This was tender and substantial,
a rich and warming dish for a cold
December evening. My guest had an
incredibly tender, aged beef fillet.
It arrived drenched in Roquefort
butter and came served on a huge
bed of spinach. She said it was beautifully
cooked and tender, with a lovely
flavour. From the side orders we
had some buttered leeks, chestnuts
and prunes, some red cabbage with
a real taste of Christmas about it
and hot and crisp French fries. We
washed this down with a bottle New
Zealand Pinot Noir, Pencarrow, 2002,
the colour belying the taste as it
appeared very light in the glass
but was soft and silky on the nose
with a heady hedgerow nose and a
fullness on the palate - all for
just under £30 a bottle.
For
pudding, there were several choices,
including a sticky toffee pudding
with toffee sauce and whipped cream
and an assiette of pear William which
is served in three ways - a pear
tart, a poached pear in brandy and
a thick pear ice cream. My guest
had the valhrona dark and white chocolate
fondant with buffalo milk ice cream
- a wonderful fluffy cloud
of amazing silken goo with a lovely
bitterness about it - totally wicked!
To lighten her palate she finished
with a glass of orange Muscat desert
wine, which proved a refreshing palate
cleanser, the perfect end to the
meal.
When
we left around 10.30pm, replete and
well sated, the dining room was still
humming with life, proving that the
right formula in the right part of
town can only result in a sure-fire
success.
Louise
Elgin. Christmas 2005.
Dinner
for two with water, wine and service
is around £50 a head.
City
Café Westminster, 30 John Islip Street
London SW1 Tel: 020 7932 4701
www.citycafe.co.uk
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