Capital Hotel: big disappointment

Now that I'm working in the restaurant industry, I have the painful task of having to check out the competition at other fancy schmacy restaurants (any excuse). Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge is definitely fancy schmacy - one of the only 8 restaurants in London with 2 Michelin stars, and even on the way there, we managed to spot about a dozen Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis, including weirdly 3 matt painted ones. I'm obviously not at one with the fashions in the posh car industry.

I've only ever been to one other 2 starred place, the wonderful wonderful Pied a Terre on Charlotte Street, way back in 2004. Back then I was a poor student at the LSE, and in return for taking notes at a conference was 'paid' with a tasting menu. The food was tremendous, but it was definitely the first really posh meal I ever had, and I was probably a bit overcome with the setting as well as the food. This was Pied a Terre pre-fire, and I loved the plush interiors which was cosy and romantic (a shame I was there with a bunch of LSE bods).

The room at Capital, however, was really very unimpressive. It is in a bit of an awkward narrow space at the front of the hotel, to the extent that you feel like you're in the middle of a hallway. The decor is hideous - the curtains don't match the blinds, and wall to wall there is flimsy panelling in a rather unattractive colour that is not that dark and not that light. It also didn't help that we were sat right next to the emergency exit even though the place was less than half full. (And for the benefit of the GUers, I think there was carpet, but I can't remember. There were some very big cushions though).

But onto the food. Their menu reads very very well with a nice range of starters and mains, all looking at quite reasonable prices for the pedigree (£55 for two courses, £63 for three), but both Peter and I had already decided on doing a degustation (£70) even before we stepped in the place. Matching wines also available at £55.

To start was a pre-starter of salmon confit with enoki mushrooms and creme fraiche dressing. This was a very nice change from the veloute/soupy pre-starters you normally get served, but it was a bit meh - reminded me of the free tuna appetiser you usually get when you order from Hazuki when you're working late at Uncle B:

The first official starter was a scallop with a sauce vierge (spelling?). The best thing about it was probably the wine that came with it - a white Burgundy, it was by far my favourite of all the matches. The scallop itself, unfortunately, was a little overcooked and tough. It may have to do with the fact that it was huge, nearly two inches in diameter - I'm not convinced that with seafood that big is always best. Peter also thought there was just far too much going on on the poor little scallop.

Second starter was a ballotine of fois gras with cherry foam. I liked this very much - the fois gras wasn't just pressed into a terrine, but you can feel all of its fibrous beauty. I also love the combination with cherries. Only complaint was that I would've liked a bit more of the pistachio toasty thing that came with it:

The fish course was apparently our waiter's favourite main course, which led us to really question his taste buds. If I had had the a la carte menu, the John Dory with baby squid with white bean and chilli salsa would have been my first choice for main, but this was really not a success. First off, the bit of toast on top (chef Eric Chavot appears to be obsessed with topping everything with a tiny bit of toast as you can already see) was quite burnt, and the white bean as well as the chilli salsa as well as the pepper sauce just do not all hold together. It did feel like there was panic to see what else they could put on this plate. What a shame as the presentation was beautiful:

But the second main course was much much better, probably the best course of the whole thing. The veal with asparagus, mushroom and ricotta gnocchi will not set the world on fire in terms of originality, but definitely the best dish in terms of execution and combination of flavours. Having said that though, the veal was still on the tough side despite being still pretty rare. It made me wonder whether the kitchen just has a bit of a heavy hand - several of the dishes were a little bit overcooked:

Our pre-dessert looked very much lik yoghurt and granola, but in fact was a lemon jelly with coconut foam with crunchy bits on top. The coconutty bit was actually quite thick, reminded me of the coconut jelly cake you get at dim sum (椰子糕). This was the second dish that featured jelly, and there is one more to go:

Our first dessert was apple foam with sorbet and vanilla, and it was truly truly vile. The foam was just rank, tasted almost stale, and the coldness of the sorbet really clashed with the creaminess of the vanilla. Again, there was also just too much stuff in this dish; the more you dig, the more you find, including some biscuity bits, some marinated melon (absolutely absolutely vile), and the ever ubiquitious jelly. Foul!:

At this point, we were the only people left really in the restaurant, and the service completely went to pot. The sommelier had disappeared, and the maitre d' actually gave us our dessert wine. Also the cheese waiter morphed into the food waiter, and gave us our final dessert without actually telling us what it was (the menu itself is very vague on what you're going to get for pud, just has 'a selection from the patissier'). Some more jelly, this time cherry we think, accompanied by a cherry and cream filled chocolate ball. I actually quite liked this, but a heavy slant on cherry in two courses was a bit much:

Neither Peter nor I have much of a sweet tooth, so we skipped out on most of the petit fours, as well as the handmade chocolates they come round with (an intriguing selection including honey, lavender, and cinnamon):

Overall, very disappointed. Given the lack of ambience or decor, you would think that the food would massively make up for it, but nothing really wowed me, and that's not counting the dishes that weren't really very well executed. There is also the small matter of the ladies' toilets, which are decorated in completely bad taste. The taps are actually dragons, and water flows from the dragons' mouths.

I know that the Capital was supposedly one of London's first boutique hotels, and it got its 2 stars a long time ago, but it all feels very dated to me. It does have the crown as the cheapest 2 star menu you will have in London, but I do question whether it is 2 star quality. For me, I would go back to Morgan M (with zero stars) ten times over before going to Capital again.