Hidden, but only a step away, from the hustle and bustle of Leicester Square is Whitcomb’s, the ground floor restaurant inside The Londoner Hotel, on the south side of the square. The hotel lobby, and Whitcomb’s, is a place of calm tranquility that will transport you to a whole new level of peace and zen. And upon making a quick right after you enter the hotel is Whitcomb’s – sleek, modern and ah so very stylish, and as the restaurant bills itself – it’s a corner of the French Mediterranean.
I had the Portobello mushrooms bathed in a pool of balsamic vinegar as a starter and the marinated grilled Baby Chicken as a main course, which was a generous portion of three pieces, which was served with a half a lemon. My dining companion had smoked duck carpaccio with spicy orange dressing which was the unique selling point – nice and citrusy – delicious dressing!
Sticking with the citrus theme, the Pan-fried sea bass had white wine, shallots and lemon sauce – orgasmic pretty much describes it. The sea bass was a very generous portion, but the sauce made this the star dish absolute heaven – while the bass was gently browned on both sides and tender and moist in the inside. The other main course option was the Gnocchi with San Marzano tomatoes and basil, which while we didn’t have, sounded very underwhelming.
Redemption came in the form of the desserts – three to chose from but we had the Apple Crumble which was warm apple compote – crunchy vanilla crumble with a scoop of delicious mulled wine ice cream. The Coffee Crunch that my friend had was served with Chantilly crème fraiche, coffee crème and pear sorbet. The apple crumble was just perfect, a decent size, coupled with the very unique tasting and flavour of the mulled wine and was a very nice cap to the meal, while the Coffee Crunch was large (perhaps too large), with heavy coffee cream sandwiched in between three butter wafers. It was decadent – but as mentioned was a bit too much.
The restaurant offered us the Gusbourne Brut Reserve, at £75 a bottle, and was worth every drop. Subtle and not too sweet and not too fruity, we were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed every drop and was equally more satisfied after one of the servers explained to us that it is a classic expression of chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, brimming with orchard fruits and toasty flavours. It won us over at hello! Extremely lovely tasting, no bitter aftertaste, and we could’ve drank another bottle of it, but didn’t (we hadn’t thought of booking a room upstairs in the hotel, but maybe next time!).
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention their A La Carte menu which has much more to offer – a few salad, pasta, fish and meat options (including a mouth watering rib-eye steak) with prices not too different than any other high standard restaurant minutes away in Central London. Or otherwise pop in for a drink and dessert after a show – with Whitcombs right in the heart of the West End you’d be a fool not to!
www.thelondoner.com/restaurants-bars/whitcombs
