A New Lease Of Life For The Dining Room At The Goring

6 months ago

London’s best beef wellington is back

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When The Dining Room at The Goring closed some months ago, it was with the promise that bigger and better things were coming. Olivia Emily pays a visit to the all new space, featuring reinvigorated interiors and a refreshed menu to boot.

Review: The Dining Room, The Goring

Stepping inside the hallowed hall that is The Dining Room at The Goring has always felt like an undeserved pleasure; rubbing shoulders with the nation’s – nay, the world’s – most elite never seemed to be on my cards. Yet here I have been for breakfast, agog at the all-cream and -white interiors, terribly fearful I’ll somehow knock a coffee all over the crisp white table cloths or traipse the dust of the Victoria line from my shoes to the thick white carpet with my entrance.

Visiting last night for dinner, I was taken aback once again – but this time, for a different reason. Gone is the stuffy (dare I say tired?) sense of decorum wrapped up in the overly dignified furniture, and instead ushering us into the room – through the delightfully windowed door, after carefully peeling off our jackets – is a palpable warmth. The room hums with it (or maybe that’s just the lively mid-Atlantic jazz music floating from secret speakers).

Raspberry sorbet float. © Ben Carpenter

It’s early evening, and dusky light pours through 180 degrees of towering grille windows from Victoria’s streets beyond, each draped with a grand tasselled green curtain, drawn on either side. As my gaze climbs higher, I light on the soft glow emanating from twinkling chandeliers as well as the ceiling’s subtle cornice lighting, bathing the decorative floral rings of white and gold moulding in a gentle radiance. Soft pools of light bounce across each of the few tables (14 at most, by my count) in the form of small lamps, which I notice refracting in the windows, too.

It’s cocooning and pairs pleasingly well with the rest of the refreshed room. Begin with a beetroot amuse bouche and a glass of fizz from a glimmering silver trolley wheeled over by a sommelier in a chic red velvet jacket, and soak up these Russell Sage designed surroundings (which are said to have cost, along with the transformation of the kitchen itself, upwards of £2 million). The floral carpet is a sumptuous red, while the alternating sage and beige (which appear softly golden) chairs are made with the plumpest of cushions. It’s all wrapped up in a bespoke floral green wallpaper designed by Fromental. Look closely and you’ll spot small, whimsical hand-painted features: a monkey stealing a lobster, a snake ready to shed its skin, representing this new era of The Dining Room. On the feature wall, a stunning mantelpiece draws the eye, flanked by portraits of people significant to the hotel for varied reasons, backgrounded by glimmering mirrors. On the far left, spot the hotel’s longest serving doorman donning a peace sign.

Orkney scallop. © Ben Carpenter

Executive Chef Graham Squire’s menu is pleasingly concise, fronted by a playful silver spoon donning a chef’s hat. Now to be seasonally rotating, the opening menu at The Goring’s Dining Room features the likes of Roast Orkney scallop, Wye Valley asparagus, and the iconic Goring Eggs Drumkilbo with native lobster, aged caviar and roasted tomato. Naturally, there’s also the option to begin with a round of caviar and/or Jersey rock oysters. I opt for the buttery soft scallop, served with a flourish of peas, leaves and flowers; it’s mouth-wateringly tasty, the brown butter creating a delightfully comforting feeling (have scallops ever before been described as comfort food?).

For mains, guests can find the likes of Dover sole, Cured Cornish monkfish, and the famed Goring native lobster omelette, subtly updated to secure its place on this rejuvenated menu. The real show-stoppers, however, are the Stuffed turbot and the Longhorn beef Wellington, both prepared tableside and served from a silver platter by one of the coterie of smart-jacketed waiters.

My amber-handled knife glides through the thick pink beef fillet like butter, and the meat – accompanied by golden flakey pastry and a swipe of rich jus – melts in the mouth, too. It’s truly divine, without a doubt the best beef wellington I’ve ever had the pleasure of dining on, and reason enough to pay The Dining Room a visit. It’s accompanied by a rich crispy-topped yet cream-smooth dish of mashed potatoes with more beef lurking at the bottom for another surprise dose of rich goodness.

End, as always, with a sweet treat: the single origin chocolate mousse cake is truly divine, served with hazelnut praline and salted caramel. Elsewhere on the menu, the Yorkshire rhubarb and lemon shortbread tartlet and Classic rum Baba FLAMBE beg to be sampled; the latter is the most theatrical of the bunch, prepared in The Dining Room with theatrical flames.

Finishing with a peppermint tea from a shiny silver pot and a selection of petit fours, the whole experience epitomises everything The Goring stands for: grandeur, Britishness, class, exceptionality. But now, with an added dollop of playfulness and warmth, The Dining Room is better than ever.