Kensington Place
Above: Kensington Place: a new look and a new menu
Much praise has been heaped on Le Café Anglais, the new home of chef Rowley Leigh, but what of the place he left behind? Kensington Place, the audaciously designed restaurant on Kensington Church Street which defined the modern London brasserie seemed in danger of lurching into anonymity when Rowley upped sticks, taking many of KP’s staff with him to Whiteleys.
Kensington Place was always known for three things: the jolly good food, the deafeningly noisy acoustics and the deeply uncomfortable chairs. New owners D&D London (formerly Conran Restaurants) have tried to recapture the first, while sorting out the other two. The chairs are certainly an improvement and the tables now boast tablecloths – whether to lend an air of formality or to act as acoustic sponges I am unsure – but (and I realise this makes me a heathen to minimalists) I rather like the new look.
Dinner started well enough, perched at the bar with a Campari and soda and some excellent, crisp green olives. Our table by the window recalled the old days of conspicuous consumption, when half the top brass of the BBC could be seen though the plate glass as they drank their way through our license fees.
New chef Henry Vigar’s menu is full of toothsome-sounding dishes which keep a firm eye on the seasons: lamb sweetbreads with artichokes, broad beans and smoked butter, for example, or chicken with gnocchi, Alsace bacon and braised lettuce. The problem, on our visit, was that the kitchen seemed a little unsure how to cook them. Our main courses took rather longer than they should to arrive; when they did, my companion’s John Dory was overcooked.
My lamb – rather haphazardly-sliced loin of spring lamb, with flageolets and broad beans – was better: richly flavoured meat nicely offset by peppery watercress, but we had the feeling that the kitchen was overstretched. The menu may be a little ambitious for the number of covers, or perhaps it was just an off night. There were plenty of good things, though. The aforementioned sweetbreads nicely captured the fugitive flavour of that most delicate of offal, and mackerel with sweet shallot tart and tapenade was a happy combination. Puddings showed a sure hand in the pastry section, and the wine list is an intelligent selection.
It need not cost a fortune, either: unusually, the two-course set-price menu is offered at dinner as well as at lunch, I suspect to make sure the restaurant is reasonably full. At £14.50 it’s a bargain, and perhaps the best way to test KP’s new regime. There’s life in the old dog yet.
Kensington Place, a la carte dinner for two with wine, around £90