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Phone: 020 7318 7778
Up on the roof: the tented restaurant has a spectacular view over the West End
Sometimes a project catches the mood of the times perfectly and during the recent London Restaurant Festival Pierre Koffmann’s renaissance as chef at the Restaurant on the Roof at Selfridges quickly grabbed the limelight.
Originally planned for a short season (8-13 October) the organisers were unprepared for the stampede of bookings and have extended Koffmann’s run until the end of the month.
Who would have thought it? A publicity-shy Gascon chef in his sixties comes out of retirement to cook some of the dishes that were all the rage in a Chelsea restaurant that he left behind in 1998 — and instantly he, and the restaurant, become the talk of the town.
Part of the appeal is the sheer madness of the project. Build a tent on the roof of a five-storey department store and turn it into an attractive restaurant with huge glass windows and an amazing view. Get a monster crane and lift a 40ft-long event catering kitchen onto the roof.
Sort out the plumbing, electrics and refrigerated storage. Selfridges committed several hundred thousand pounds to this short-lived but glorious project and it deserves full marks for élan and style.
So if the logistics were daunting, what about Koffmann’s cooking? Eat out today and you’re in a world of foams and folderols, of complicated food that must be arranged on rectangular plates made out of slate. Surely simply presented, honest French cooking would seem rather old-fashioned?
Koffmann’s 2009 menu poses a severe challenge to anyone who ate at La Tante Claire in the Eighties and Nineties … do you order the trotter? Proust may have had his Madeleine moment but it would mortifying to order the pig’s trotter stuffed with veal sweetbreads and morel mushrooms only to find that it came off second best to the cherished rose-tinted memory of the original.
Would it be more sensible to have the roast Challans duck; or the wild seabass; or the Royale de Lièvre? Good news, take the plunge — the trotter is every bit as sticky, unctuous and delicious as it ever was.
Reading through the starters also raises more questions than answers — I tend to approach menus in a reductive fashion. I conscientiously go through the list deciding which dishes I am definitely not going to have. Koffmann’s menu makes a mockery of such discipline — there isn’t a single starter that can be dismissed. Pan-fried foie gras with a potato galette and Sauternes jus was smallish cubes of foie gras, just the right size to have a crusty coat and a melting interior — skilful stuff. The cocktail of Scottish lobster and avocado with a lime jelly is served in a martini glass, layered like a fantasy savoury trifle, beautifully balanced. Our table didn’t order the pressed leeks and langoustines with a truffle vinaigrette or the hand-dived scallops with squid ink but a friend who is a respected chef went on about how they good they were for so long that it almost became irritating.
The fricassee of wild mushrooms and snails with bone marrow was excellent, served in a trough made from a split bone.
The final option, a game pithivier with jus Corse was delightful: first-class pastry, light and crumbly, with a rich filling, for all the world like a sophisticated sausage roll.
The puddings carried on the theme:a Toscano chocolate mousse, orange compote and muscovado ice cream; Gascon apple pie; an immaculate pistachio soufflé with pistachio ice cream. Everything considered. Everything understated. Everything delicious.
It may only be what fashion would now have us call a “pop-up” restaurant, but the Restaurant on the Roof has real panache — friendly service, a lengthy wine list and, above all, delicious, well-seasoned, well-balanced, skilfully prepared food.
Gloriously unpretentious, they are the kind of dishes you would expect from a gourmet peasant. The meal from Monsieur Koffmann was the best food I have had all year.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
