Ancient and modern
THE perception that the Grill Room - a restaurant that has become an institution during its 95-year history at the Savoy, London - offers little more than traditional British fare such as steak and kidney pie or roast rib of beef and Yorkshire pudding could not be further from the truth. Take, for example, one of the dishes on the restaurant's latest seasonal menu - seared bluefin tuna with confit peppers and black olives "Fallon". The dish is named after and inspired by a Mr Fallon, who has been a regular customer at the Savoy Grill for more than 30 years.
"We developed the dish after the customer asked for bluefin tuna one day and he now asks for the same dish every time he comes in - which is usually two or three times a week," says head chef Simon Scott.
So, while it is true that many Grill Room customers are regulars and creatures of habit, a host of dishes offered to them on the quarterly changing menu are new to the restaurant.
When Scott arrived nearly two years ago at an establishment which some customers treat almost as a second home, he found it quite a daunting experience. At lunch, the Savoy Grill can be like an extension of the Houses of Parliament, with cabinet ministers, lords and ladies vying for the best tables, along with high-fliers from the City and industry. And in the evening, theatrical heavyweights rub shoulders with royalty. Sir Winston Churchill dined here regularly, and his table - number four - was left empty for a year after his death as a mark of respect.
"I had my own idea as to how the food should develop," says Scott. "But I was careful to ask customers for their comments and get feedback straight away."
By keeping the customers on his side, Scott has achieved a menu that successfully combines the traditional with the modern. Now an increasing number of customers are turning to the newer dishes. At lunch, when as many as 90% of the clientele may be regulars, orders are likely to be divided equally between the traditional and contemporary choices, whereas at dinner up to 70% of customers may choose Scott's new dishes.
Scott was not new to working in a culinary institution, having spent four years at the Ritz under David Nicholls (now at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park), latterly as premier sous chef. Before that, he spent two years in France working for Jean-Claude Aubertin at Restaurant Aubertin, Villeneuve-les-Avignon.
Newcastle-born Scott moved to London at the age of 18, spending the early part of his career at the Regent's Park Marriott, Britannia Inter-Continental and Basil Street hotels. "I originally intended to stay just for one year, but soon realised London was lively, happening and the best place to be for food," he says.
It was his time in France that inspired him most, particularly over the freshness of local products. "I learnt how to take only the best seasonal ingredients and use them to produce simple dishes, keeping the number of ingredients down to the barest minimum."
The flavours of Provence, picked up from his time in France, shine through in the dishes he has created for the Grill Room, providing a contrast to the largely British classics for which the restaurant is so famous.
Tweaked and lightened
But Scott has not ignored the traditional dishes on the menu. He has tweaked and lightened many of them, replacing any flour-based sauces with intensely flavoured reductions. Lancashire hotpot (£16.50), for instance, now receives a longer and slower cooking time, which turns the middle neck of lamb into a tender, confit-type meat. The meat is cooked in its own juices with onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes and black pudding, with a thinly sliced layer of potatoes on top. Once the cooking is complete, the liquid is drained off and reduced separately to produce a rich, sticky sauce.
The hotpot is one of the traditional selection of dishes served from a trolley. One or two different dishes are offered from the trolley each day - they vary depending on the day and the service. At dinner on Monday, for instance, the trolley offers roast sirloin of beef with a red wine shallot sauce (£19.50), on Tuesday it's roast best end of pork with gooseberries and apple (£18.50), and on Wednesday, fillet of beef "en brodquin" (£19.50) is offered.
Roast saddle of lamb (£21.50) is available on the trolley throughout the week. "We get through five saddles of lamb every day," says Scott. "That's about 25 portions between lunch and dinner."
Apart from the trolley, customers can choose from a selection of plated dishes, including a number of classics that are always on the menu, such as Caesar salad with warm hickory smoked salmon (£9.75), dressed crab "Savoy Grill" (£15.50), beluga caviare with warm blinis (£62), and omelette Arnold Bennett (£11.50).
For the Caesar salad, Scott smokes the accompanying salmon to order in a mini-smoker on the stove. Each portion takes three to four minutes to prepare. Then there are the grills, including Dover sole (£24), fillet steak (£23.75) and calves' liver and bacon (£19.50).
Finally, there are the dishes through which Scott can show his flair and innovation. In particular, there are the dishes that are marked on the menu as specialities of the chef - crisp Provenáale tart with rocket salad (£9.75), pan-fried supràme of salmon with wild mushroom risotto and Parmesan disc (£20), and roast vegetable "cracquant" with ratatouille jus (£15.50).
The "cracquant" is a big hit with vegetarians. It is a kind of roulade with a filling of Provenáale vegetables such as onions, fennel, peppers, aubergines and tomatoes, which have been roasted with pesto to a soft confit. Thin slices of partially roasted Desirée potatoes are wrapped round the vegetable confit to create a roulade, slices of which are pan-fried to order. The finished roulade, which has a crispy, potato exterior and a melting vegetable interior, is served with a ratatouille jus.
From the choice of seven fish and seafood dishes, Scott picks out crusted fillet of halibut with cocoa beans and confit shallots (£25) as a favourite. The fillet, coated with a thin layer of salmon mousse to bind a herb breadcrumb topping including tarragon, chervil and parsley, is pan-fried on its skin until very crisp on the outside but still moist inside. The fish is served on a bed of mustard creamed spinach into which the white, haricot-type beans are combined. A garnish of confit shallots completes the dish.
Desserts (£8) are served from a trolley - a tradition in the Grill Room which Scott has thought long and hard about changing. "But then I decided that everywhere else in London does plated desserts, so why should we follow suit?" he says. "There are probably only a handful of restaurants that do good trolley desserts and we pride ourselves on being one of them."
Mainstays of the trolley
Classic desserts such as bread and butter pudding, fruit tarts, crÁ¤me brÁ±lée and rice pudding are the mainstays of the trolley, while one special dessert of the day is served plated at dinner. This may be an apple tarte tatin, lemon and fraise des bois gratin, or chocolate fondant with a fromage blanc sorbet.
Scott particularly enjoys the creativity of devising desserts. Although he has a chef de partie, Vincent Farini, heading the pastry section, he has a major input himself in formulating new puddings.
As well as looking after the demanding Grill Room - the 96-seat restaurant is always full at lunch and serves between 100 and 150 covers from 6-11.15pm at dinner - Scott, supported by sous chef Neil Wilkins, is also responsible for the 38-seat Upstairs restaurant at the Savoy and the American Bar, which serves snacks and light meals. Five chefs out of his 19-strong brigade are usually designated to these other areas.
The Grill Room's kitchen is run separately from the Savoy's main kitchen, which is headed by the hotel's executive chef, Anton Edelmann. There is some centralisation of mise en place, but Scott writes all his own menus, does his own ordering, and works to his own gross profit. But he is grateful to Edelmann for his initial help: "He helped ease my way in here." n
