London,

Murano

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Cuisine: Italian

20-22 Queen Street, W1X 7PJ


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Description: On the site that was Zen Central (RIP) -- this new Italian (set to open in spring 2007) is another Ramsay-empire venture, and the new home of his well-regarded henchwoman, Angela Hartnett (formerly at The Connaught).

Food:    Service:    Ambience:   

Phone: 020 7629 8089

 

 

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Murano goes back to roots

 

Winning team: Angela Hartnett has worked with Gordon Ramsay for 14 years

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It was the first day of service. “Gordon’s been on the phone but he’s not coming. He’s in LA,” said Angela Hartnett with a faint look of relief. Hartnett is the chef who joined Gordon Ramsay’s brigade at Aubergine 14 years ago when he worked in one kitchen full-time, 24 hours a day probably. It was pre-history: before he became a TV celebrity and started swanning around the world. The lady is a loyal survivor and possesses, as fellow chef Marcus Wareing has observed, true grit.

It was at The Connaught, where Hartnett opened a restaurant for Gordon Ramsay Holdings in 2002, that she was given, if not free rein, then dispensation to reveal her roots — she grew up with dishes made by her Italian grandmother. Murano, the island in the Venetian lagoon renowned for its glassmaking, and the name of the new restaurant, allows more light to shine on them.

Leaving aside the gastropubs, Murano is the first GRH enterprise in London, apart from the Royal Hospital Road flagship, to stand outside a hotel. As if to gloss over this fact, Richmond International, a design company that specialises in hotels and recently worked on Ramsay’s Versailles branch in the Trianon Palace Hotel, was hired to convert premises that previously housed the Chinese restaurant Zen Central.

The narrow, rectangular space is now better ordered but the overall effect is international anodyne posh, not helped by being too brightly lit. The designer had the wit to install two chandeliers that use Murano glass but they evoked the Sixties design by Dennis Lennon for the QE2 which, admirable as that was, was perhaps not the intention.

The menu, priced at £55 for three courses — comparatively reasonable at this end of the market and in this part of town — is an enticing read. I have been twice to Murano, partly because the first time was during a soft opening period but also because there is so much begging to be tried.

Amuses-bouches include supple wafers of a fabulous cured ham, better balanced in flavour than even the ham Hélène Darroze, Hartnett’s successor at The Connaught, is slicing. On different occasions arancini (deep-fried balls of truffled rice) and salt cod croquettes also delighted. The wooden box of bread includes notable focaccia and also carta di musica for those who like to think they don’t eat bread.

Roasting watermelon seems a daft, not to say impractical, ambition but it worked and was a fine accompaniment to a salad of scallops garnished with Joselito ham. The Cromer crab that provided the stuffing for one large, fat raviolo served with baby leeks and celeriac purée was seasoned in a bold way that brought out and magnified its innate sweetness. Carnaroli risotto with two-year-aged Parmigiano Reggiano, rocket pesto and roasted pine nuts was simply a perfect risotto.

A dish of oven-roasted San Marzano tomatoes with burrata (cream-filled mozzarella), basil purée and Manni 2004 olive oil had noble simplicity but maybe a bit too much so for a fancy-pants restaurant. Also San Marzano tomatoes never quite let you forget that they are the variety commonly found in tins.

The Michelin Guide, before which, unfortunately, most ambitious chefs genuflect, puts a stamp on meals, not just in composition but also presentation. Meats tend to arrive in slices surrounded by a reduced sauce and vegetables are sidelined or otherwise pulverised into decorative swoops of purée. The Italian way would be to serve meat as a proud piece with probably not much at all in the way of garnish.

Michelin wins out here. Gressingham duck breast, fillet of Scottish beef, rack of Welsh lamb and roasted Anjou pigeon all arrive looking like fanned-out hands of cards, the lamb rather unsettling in its identical oblongs of meat. However, what vegetables there are, such as stuffed baby artichokes, shredded cabbage and earthy beetroots, are beautifully prepared and make you want more. Fashioning a purée from baked potatoes — it comes with the beef — is a terrific idea.

Fish are mercifully allowed their natural shape. Cornish red mullet, a magnificent beast, came with quite a lot of peas crushed with mint. Halibut steeped in olive oil to make a sort of confit served with an apple and white onion purée was also extremely impressive.

Sanjay Gore is the Indian pastry chef whom Hartnett first met when working at Ramsay’s Verre in Dubai. He has been with her now for seven years. His craftsmanship is a wonder to behold. I would especially steer you towards apricot soufflé with Amaretto di Saronno ice cream (dropped in at the moment of service); English strawberries with white balsamic jelly and mascarpone sorbet; and spiced, glazed figs, which come with a copper pan of zabaglione.

An array of tiny scoops of many sorbets on a two-tiered stand outshines the chocolates that follow. Rolled pralines of different flavours and small glasses of tiramisu are unassailable but they are just too much sweetness in the wake of dessert.

The staff has yet to work as a team. Their apparent disconnection with one another made me wonder if GRH works a system like construction companies of old who would pick up workers each morning according to need. Maybe an unwritten Michelin rule is that female staff should wear their hair scragged back and be dressed in waistcoats and ties, but it is not very kind.

I rather wish that Angela Hartnett could find a sugar daddy who would back her in her own enterprise. Then she and her food could shine out in the sort of joyful context they both deserve.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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