The Capital Restaurant – Fine Dining At Its Best – Reviewed By Angela Lau

The Capital Restaurant
22 Basil Street
LONDON
SW3 1AT
Tel: 020 7589 5171

WEB: http://www.capitalhotel.co.uk/restaurantbar.html

Date of visit: 16 February 2008

As a way of background, we were three 20 something professional females
trying a 2 michelin star restaurant for the first time as a farewell for
one of us leaving London.

We were running 15 minutes late because there was a police incident at
Knightsbridge tube, however the restaurant were OK with it and took us in
with no problems.

Before we were provided with menus, we were asked if we’d like
champagne… this felt a little strange so we asked what kind of champagne
they had. It all sounded very French but we heard the word “pink” and
decided that’s what we wanted. And it didn’t disappoint, it was a light
and refreshing shade of pink and tasted like it looked.

When the waiter came around with the menu, I informed him that one of us
was vegetarian (me actually), and he recommended the Goats Cheese and
Apple Salad (from the menu) and an open vegetable lasagna (not on the
menu). My mates ordered the seared scallop and the same salad as me.
Before our entree came, we received a pre-entree of tiny mushrooms with
balsamic vinegar and other condiments which I can’t quite put my finger on
(limited fine dining experience). It looked so cute and tasted amazing.

Our entrees all came at the same time, and was presented very beautifully.
I’m not normally a goats cheese fan, also not a fan of fruit in salad, but
it was so light and the sourness of the apple (in various forms, jelly,
cooked and sauce) played down the richness of the goats cheese which was
fluffy and understated.

Out mains came after that – the lasagna was not covered in cheese or
bechamel sauce! It was light, fresh and surprisingly flavourful. It had
baby carrots, green beans, small parcels of herb infused cheese and other
seasonal vegetables. The pasta sheet was light and moist and I was
completely overcome by the individual flavours of its contents.

Before dessert we were presented with a pre-dessert of small portion of
lychee sorbet. It tasted like puree lychee, that is it was incredible…
it even had lychee bits and pieces in it.

My dessert was Granny Smith and Ginger Caparccio and it was so light and
delicious. It was a perfect way to finish off a very light and
scrumptious meal. We were ready to get the bill when we were presented
with Petit Fours which were actually 18 different types of sweets,
including chocolates, jelly, nougat, little sponge cakes with chocolate
bits and mini macaroons.

So we decided to order the tea (Silver needle) which went very well with
the sweets which we couldn’t finish as all of us were too full!

It wasn’t cheap but it was worth it.