Room with a view

01 January 2000
Room with a view

The Tenth restaurant at the Royal Garden Hotel has been brought sharply up-to-date following a two-and-a-half year refurbishment. The 90-seat restaurant is now more akin to the trendy restaurants of the 1990s than the classically designed restaurants of London's other five-star hotels.

Glamorous suede chairs in purple, blue and red, and a dazzling multi-coloured carpet replace the tired wooden panelling and chintz of what was previously the Royal Roof Restaurant, while a back wall disconcertingly changes colour throughout your meal. What, of course, has not changed is the breath-taking panoramic view across Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.

The hotel reopened in April following a complete refurbishment and new executive chef Steve Munkley has been given a clean slate to produce the menus. As well as the Tenth restaurant, he is responsible for the Park Terrace and the Park Terrace Café. He also oversees the banqueting operation, which has a maximum of 700 covers, and provides room service to the hotel's 405 bedrooms.

Flagship restaurant

It is the Tenth, though, that will be the flagship food operation of the hotel, now owned by the Singapore-based Goodwood Group of Hotels. Here, Munkley works closely with executive sous chef Paul Farr, who looks after the day-to-day running of the Tenth's kitchen. They collaborate on all the menus from the fixed-price lunch menu (two courses for £15.95, or three courses for £19.95) to a selection of à la carte menus, available at both lunch and dinner. In the restaurant, manager Anne-Mette Madsen, who previously worked at London's Mezzo Café and the Hyatt Carlton Tower, heads the front of house staff.

The food reflects the decor - modern, sharp, definite flavours, with a strong leaning towards Mediterranean influences. Flavoured oils are predominately used in place of reduced sauces.

A favourite main-course dish is the supreme of halibut (£18), which is brushed with grain mustard and layered between sheets of filo pastry. Blanched salsify, tossed in butter, is served as an accompaniment, and the dish is finished off with a drizzle of olive oil.

Also popular is grilled corn-fed chicken (£12), which is served on a bed of blanched fennel with a salsa verde made from garlic, olive oil, Parmesan, and soft herbs such as chervil, dill, tarragon and basil. Here the accompaniment is a purée of aubergine and garlic, topped with thinly sliced aubergines, deep-fried and then baked to dry.

Although every main-course dish is complete in its own right, the menu also offers a choice of side-dishes at £2 each. A table of six and over will tend to order a couple of these dishes to share between guests. They include green beans with shallots, caramelised carrots with thyme, crushed new potatoes with olive oil, mate fame potato (diced potato cooked in olive oil and topped with chopped mushrooms), and polenta chips.

Desserts are the brain-child of pastry chef Nick Hollands, who was previously at the London Hilton on Park Lane. Many are traditionally based, but with a slight twist, such as the lemon meringue tart, which has a warm filling, and a spring version of summer pudding using rhubarb, gooseberries and plums.

Listening to customers

Munkley and Farr are listening closely to comments from customers about the menu, and making adjustments accordingly. For example, the main course dish of steamed aromatic salmon with black mustard seed crust (£12) has been toned down after several complaints that it was too spicy; and one dessert that was not selling well, a tulip basket of pineapple, has been replaced with a pineapple crème brûlée with deep-fried cookies.

The wine list is also being gradually revamped, following suggestions from customers. The intention was to offer a straightforward list of about 50 wines from around the world, printed on two pages of the menu, with nearly half costing less than £20. A wider, more expensive menu was deemed to be too reminiscent of more traditional hotel restaurants, which the Tenth is aiming to eschew. However, the request has been for more exclusive, and therefore more expensive, wines. As a result, an extra 20 or so wines are being added to the list, including classics from Château Margaux.

The Tenth, Royal Garden Hotel, 2-24 Kensington High Street, London W8. Tel: 0171-937 8000

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