'It's an honour': Victor Garvey to relaunch the Midland Grand Dining Room

Chef Victor Garvey is to relaunch the Midland Grand Dining Room at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in London, with new menus designed to bring a fresh perspective to French classics.

 

The opening of Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand will see Garvey partner with businessman Harry Handelsman, who owns the hotel.

 

It will soft launch under Garvey’s stewardship on 25 February.

 

Garvey, whose Soho restaurant Sola holds a Michelin star, told The Caterer he and Handelsman have ambitious plans for the venue.

 

He said: “I’m really excited. Harry and I had been friends for a while, and we’d never discussed business. Then, one day he came to me and said, ’Victor I want you to take over the Midland Grand Dining Room’.

 

“Harry had been thinking a lot and said he wanted to have a Michelin star here and for it to be one of the best restaurants in the world and one of the best dining rooms in the world. I thought – I’m pretty sure I can do that.”

 

In developing the menus, Garvey looked to classic French cuisine before applying modern techniques and ingredients.

 

He said: “The idea for me is ‘old world, new ideas’. By that I mean thinking about what Escoffier would do if he had access to all the technology, produce and information we have today.

 

“So rather than recreating old dishes I’m looking at the philosophy behind those old French dishes and thinking about the machines, knowledge and information we have that can make a better, more refined dish.”

 

Garvey’s menu will include lobster tempered in butter and served out of the shell with its own roe and a little spiced carrot. On the side will be a boudin made in-house with scallop, lobster, langoustine and a carrot sofrito. Garvey will also serve a condiment of pointed pepper and physalis as well as a sauce américaine infused with lemongrass and osmanthus, the addition of which he said would make it “lighter and more exotic”.

 

Garvey added: “These are all very traditional French things but we’re making it sexier, we’re making it lighter. We’re making it a bit less ornate and a bit more streamlined. We’re going back to the root of all these things and saying how can we make them relevant for 2025.”   

 

The lobster will be served tableside using an antique silver lobster press. Several trolleys will be used in service, which Garvey said would be “focused but very fun”.

 

Another dish Garvey is excited to serve is red tuna served with white peach, roasted leek and a green almond sorbet, which will be complimented by a sauce of roasted tuna bones, soy and sweet wines.

 

The chef said: “You’re going to eat it, and think, am I eating sashimi? Am I in Cannes? What’s going on here? We’re bringing that umami flavour of raw fish that people love and putting it in a French context.”

 

Garvey said the design of the restaurant would not change and the menus will be designed to match the interiors of the historic space.

 

He added: “It’s an honour [to take on this space]. A chef only gets an opportunity like this, where they are offered a big dining room, once or twice in their life. It happened to Joël Robuchon to Alain Ducasse, all the big guys, and I’m very excited.”

 

The Midland Grand Dining Room was previously overseen by Patrick Powell, who left the business in July last year.