No place like Jerome's in The Capital

Ponchelle, godson of the great cooking mentor Michel Bourdin, 26 years head chef of The Connaught, was being groomed to take over that job in the grand hotel when Blackstone stepped in and decided that the celebrity chef outfit Gordon Ramsay Holdings would be just the ticket.

Having worked with Bourdin on and off for eight years — "He’s got all my knowledge, but he’s got one thing I don’t have: he’s young" — Ponchelle took up a post at the quintessentially English restaurant Wiltons, whose adherents (customers is too base a description) like their food plain.

Now he has the challenge of retaining The Capital’s two Michelin stars and Andrew Turner, the original "grazing" chef, must address the no fancy-schmancy dilemma.

Ponchelle has taken his time easing into his new berth; he was appointed in October. After visiting twice last week, I was contacted to be told that the chef was launching his own menu as of this Monday. When I was there for lunch and dinner, I had asked if it was Ponchelle cooking, and it was. It turns out, unsurprisingly perhaps, that there is quite a lot of overlap between the menus I tried and his new versions.

The Capital, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, was one of the first luxury hotels in London to take its restaurant seriously from the point of view of gastronomy and for the most part fostered indigenous talent. Richard Shepherd, before moving on to Langan’s Brasserie, secured the restaurant a Michelin star in 1974. Brian Turner, Gary Rhodes, Philip Britton and Paul Merrett have all cooked there.

High-end food is easier to produce for a small dining room and at The Capital there are only 32 covers. Eccentrically hideous soft furnishings decorate the wood-panelled space — now mercifully free of a window into the kitchen — but Henry Moore and Picasso prints provide some visual appeal. The crimson velvet chairs are comfortable and the look of the room during the day is maybe what Stephen Sondheim had in mind when he wrote The Ladies Who Lunch.

One of my meals was lunch with two ladies. Caroline arrived early, took her seat and then decided to use the time waiting by going to the loo for a ladylike pee. When she returned to the table, a waitress asked: "Where have you come from?" Apparently owner David Levin thinks the moment for formal service has passed — in the game of musical chairs his erstwhile maitre d’, Christophe Thuilot, has gone to Seven Park Place at the St James’s Hotel and Club — but the young staff, undirected, bewildered and some French, manage to come across as rather snooty anyway.

Lunch is served in dainty portions, which is fine. Seared scallop, just the one but a fat one, served with a froufrou of leaves and sauce vierge, had that sweet edge that burnishing brings and the sauce, championed by Michel Guérard in his Cuisine Minceur, added the allure of raw sprightliness. Tiger prawns with tarbais beans and confit pork was also much appreciated.

A special of the day was steak served with small cèpes and a swoop of spinach for which you might want to substitute the roasted rump of Finnebrogue venison, which appears on the newly launched lunch menu. Grilled halibut with Puy lentils and parsnip crisps has lived on from one menu to the next and so it should.

We stayed with just two courses and in the eyes of the staff seemed to fail in expressing sufficient pleasure and palpitations at the sight of a plate of petits fours. This was partly because the consequent price of tea or coffee (£5 per person) muddies the "value" of the deal.

Being served horrible filter coffee (an espresso was fine) and mint tea when what was requested was green tea also slightly impinged on overall satisfaction, but I would go back to lunch at The Capital.

Dinner fielded one exceptional dish, roasted lobster with chilli and coconut broth, that reminded me of the days when chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten was at Vong at The Berkeley Hotel.

Maybe in the next round of musical chairs, he’ll move back to us from New York. You might want to know that The Capital is open for Christmas Day lunch — £165 for five courses.

Capital Restaurant
Basil Street, London, SW3 1AT