Dinner @Kettner's - London

 
Oh… LOOK… IS GRAHAM NORTON!!!!

View from outside

That was me nearly screaming at the dinner table as I had just seen Mr Norton entering the restaurant where we are about to finish our diner.

We were having dinner at Kettner’s… Kettner’s? I hear you ask, YES THE Kettner’s restaurant in Romilly Street.

When I was told that we were having dinner, I mentioned that to my colleagues and they thought ‘ooh haa, you will see it is really impressive’. Some thought to have seen this restaurant in Made in Chelsea…. Really? I didn’t really care I had never heard of it.

Since checking out this place, I seem to notice it mentioned everywhere I look. It is a bit like, when you decide to buy the most original pair of shoes with the weirdest colour, you start noticing everyone is wearing the same pair… So, since we had dinner at Kettner’s, I have noticed it in the Square Meal’s venues & events magazine. The very same week, I open ESmagazine and et voila! Graham Norton is there. I actually got to know what he was doing there with all those people…. An after premier’s dinner.

So, back to the mundane bits. Kettner’s is situated in Romilly street, I knew that street before, but having heard all the good things about Kettner’s, I was very disappointed by its location. See pic… someone who isn’t sure might actually walk pass the restaurant in the day time without knowing.
When we entered restaurant, we were greeted by two receptionists posted on the tiniest reception desk I’ve ever seen, and who directed us to the bar was as we were a bit too early….According to Square meals mag, Kettner’s  has  one of the best champagne bars in London town… I can see why (photo too rubbish to post).

The best mozzarella ever

When the time came, we were led to one beautiful room where the tables were laid for our group of 18 dinners… in both ends of this small room which also contained weirdly, some old wooden chairs was a white piano… Loved that detail. Each seat had a place table with the dinner’s name and preselected menu…. What a beautiful touch. I had practically forgotten what I wanted to eat.

Two waiters were allocated to our group and their politeness and great genuine smiles added to the already beautiful settings. At this point, if the food had not been up to crash, it would not have mattered, because the ambience worth the price of the dinner. As we ordered our drinks the pianist took his seat and started to play some ambiance tunes… this “in between” room was entirely allocate to us with, behind us a much bigger and much much more sophisticated room which I promised myself to go check out with a date in the future. The room seemed much more seclude, with dimmer lights, but bigger than the one we where in… It reminded me of a French restaurant near Montparnasse in Paris.

As our dinner plates started to make their appearance, we all whipped out our camera and anyone passing through could hear us ooohing and uuuhhhmmming at the beauty and taste of the fantastic mozzarella that most of us had ordered for starters.

Then, dish number two came, mine was a lemon sole. I could not taste the lemon in my dish but, the softness of the fish and the delicate julienne of vegetables covered for that minimal sin.

Then came the dessert. Mine was a pavlova with a passion fruit coulis. I usually avoid meringues, hate cheesecakes, and crème brulee which were the other desserts on offer.

This pavlova tasted great and somehow wasn’t as sugary as I remember meringue to be. The one on my plate vas delicately baked and with a chewiness once you brake in the light outside… by the way, how do you make sugar less sugary? I’ve got no idea. If I was to eat a pavlova again, it’ll be at Kettner’s definitely.

As we emptied out dessert plates and commenting joyously about the whole dinner experience, I looked out of the window and there was Graham Norton! I am a big fan! We all got distracted by the big number of the faces we could recognise from the TV… What’s going on? Someone asked… we couldn’t ask the waiters… as we were a bunch of chavs venturing out of our usual “cercle”. We didn’t want to be seen as not being in our place, so, we did not ask what was going on as we saw all that “beau monde” retiring upstairs in the function room which we imaging was much more magnificent that were we were seating.

The dinner at Kettner’s was a great experience and at on under £45pp including drinks, it was worth it.

One disappointment though the stair and the ladies loos.

Get rid or change the paint

The stairs leading to the loos and upstairs function rooms are so tiny that if you are slightly tubby, I doubt you’ll feel comfortable utilising them. I wonder if Kettner’s is in a listed building. The ladies are a bit odd and slightly out of place in my opinion… there is random boudoir like seating in ladies loos’ entre-chambre, then, the actual deco is doesn’t follow through… Sort it out boys and girls please…

I won’t let that spoil my experience. I’d give this on 4.5 stars of 5. See you there sometime.

Visit http://www.kettners.com/ for more info about Kettner's.

 

The Reviewer