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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Chris Blackhurst's rating
Reader rating
Description: **STOP PRESS** Note (February 2008): The restuarant has been bought by the Hart brothers, and will re-open in the spring as an establishment modelled on the hotel grill rooms of old. **STOP PRESS** The Soho veteran is set to re-open in late-spring 2008, under the ownership of the Hart brothers of Fino (etc) fame; the style being aimed at is the sort of old-fashioned hotel grill which even hotels don't do any more!
Food: 
Service:
Ambience:
Phone: 020 7437 9585
Website: http://www.whitestarline.org.uk
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri 12.00-14.30 (closed Sat-Sun). Dinner Mon-Sat 18.00-23.30; Closed all day Sunday.
Dress code: Suits, unless you are Damien Hirst in which case you wear what you like
Good for: Business, Good food, Ambience.
Payment options: All major cards
Successful siblings: restauranteurs Eddie (left) and Sam Hart with head chef Jean-Philippe Petruno
The last occasion I visited Quo Vadis on Dean Street, then owner Marco Pierre White was in his pomp. There was a faintly mad air to the proceedings. We went for lunch and had a clearly unmemorable meal because I can’t remember much about it. What I can recall, though, is the art on the walls (it was during Marco’s spat with Damien Hirst, when he’d replaced Hirst’s pictures with his own) and joining Marco for a drink or two afterwards at the table by the downstairs bar. He was puffing away on a cigar and putting the world to rights.
Someone had dared to write an article critical of him and he didn’t like it. He’s quite an experience is Marco in full flow — it’s not for the faint of heart. Afterwards, staggering out into the light of mid-afternoon Soho was quite a relief.
The original Quo Vadis was founded by Peppino Leoni in 1926 in a building once lived in by Karl Marx. Under Leoni it became a Soho institution — famous for its showbusiness clientele as much as for its food. Leoni would have been a celebrity chef today — he introduced lasagne verdi to Britain and liked to serve chicken Sophia Loren (fried breast of chicken stuffed with Bel Paese and Parma ham).
For him, a dish wasn’t a dish unless it was smothered in sauce, usually one made with butter, or was set alight (sir-loin flamed with whisky was another favourite). His autobiography was called I Shall Die on the Carpet, and if he had lived we would today hail him as an unreconstructed treasure (and another, Michael Winner, would declare his appreciation).
Sadly, post-Leoni, Quo Vadis went downhill. It never quite hit the heights of which Marco was capable and for which some of his other establishments were famed. Marco, it seemed to me, created an ensemble of a top restaurant. He borrowed the designer and Fernando, the maître d’, from The Ivy, threw in a bit of Damien Hirst and offered a menu of MPW hits.
Such painting by numbers doesn’t work — diners aren’t stupid. The whole thing felt rather cynical. Then, last December, Quo Vadis was sold to another restaurant group, Conduit Street, which promptly sold it on again to Sam and Eddie Hart.
The Hart brothers, sons of Tim and Stefa Hart, owners of the much-garlanded Hambleton Hall country hotel, have won plaudits for their two Spanish restaurants in London, Fino and Barrafina.
Mad about Spain, they have built their reputations on sourcing superb ingredients and obsessive attention to detail. One of their fans is Jeremy King, cofounder of The Wolseley. When I told him I was visiting the reopened Quo Vadis, he volunteered: “I admire the Hart brothers because they are real restaurateurs, not restaurant owners. I have got a feeling they will make it work.”
The familiar theatre-style red neon sign is still outside; the stained-glass windows inside, keeping gawping pedestrians at bay, also remain. The downstairs rooms have been refreshed — we knew this because in our corner the smell of paint lingered.
They haven’t gone down the Spanish route this time but instead have opted to recreate an English grill room. Their belief is that such places are today rare. While it’s true that hotels (with the honourable exception of Brown’s) have virtually given up providing authentic, familiar fare, it’s not the case with restaurants — The Ivy, Scott’s, Le Café Anglais and indeed, The Wolseley, have all gone down the English brasserie route.
Nevertheless, the Harts’ decision to stick to English in the capital’s most fashion-conscious quarter is to be commended. So too is their aim for a target average spend of £50 a head.
There is something exclusive about being in Quo Vadis when the streets of Soho are rammed. Out there it was chaotic, with bars overflowing on to pavements. Inside, it was quiet and roomy.
We went late last week, very soon after the reopening. Possibly too soon, because there was a lack of practice to the service. But with both brothers in watchful attendance, it can’t be long before mistakes are rectified. Watching them, I couldn’t help but admire their courage. It’s risky enough launching a restaurant at the best of times but in the teeth of a downturn? That takes nerve.
There’s no question, though, that they know what they’re doing. It also helps if you already run two established winners. So their head chef is Jean-Philippe Petruno from Fino.
We ordered crab mayonnaise (£9.40) and brown shrimp on toast (£7) to start. The crab tasted as if it had only just left the sea, the mayonnaise was light. As someone who grew up on Morecambe Bay I’m used to my shrimps potted and encased in butter. The Quo Vadis version sees them accompanied with a sauce of olive oil, chillis, red pepper and thyme — their natural sweetness deliciously offset by tangy sharpness.
Mains were rack of lamb (£17) with L’Ami Louis potatoes (£3.50) and green beans (£3.50) and slow-cooked shoulder of pork (£15.50), chips (£3) and tomato and fennel salad (£3.50). The meat was perfect and sumptuous. It’s in the dishes like the salad that the Harts’ love of Spain shines through — there will not have been many English grill rooms, if any, down the years that have been able to call upon tomatoes of that quality.
Profiteroles (£6.50) were feathery without a hint of heaviness. The only negative was the treacle tart (£6.50), which was cloying and gave the impression of having stood around.
From the wine list we chose a midrange, delicate and fruity 2002 Arbois, Cuvée des Geologues, from Lucien Aviet in the Jura (£41).
Upstairs, the Harts are creating a private members’ club. They’ve hired Hannes Wolters, formerly of the Groucho, just along the road.
The restaurant trade is well used to seeing famous names fade and eventually succumb. But this one has been given a new lease of life. Welcome back.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
