The house that Garrett built
There seems to be a trend for chefs to dabble in the music business nowadays. Usually, it's just a hobby but for Graham Garrett, head chef at The House in London, it was a full-time job before he started cooking professionally.
Touring with his band Ya Ya, Garrett supported Queen in the late 1980s, giving him the chance to sample cooking from all over the world before he entered the industry in 1991.
It was after cooking at a series of London restaurants including Rules, Nico Central and Christophe's that Garrett came to The House - formerly The English House, which opened last year under its new name after it was bought by Searcy Corrigan Restaurants.
A largely British menu with French and Spanish influences is produced by a brigade of four. Main courses include roast breast and confit of chicken with liver and bacon sauce, and fried skate wing with shrimp beurre noisette. Among seven starters are salt cod and potato fritters with vegetable relish, and smoked mackerel with piccalilli, French beans and toasted almonds.
Few dishes are ever-present on the evolving menu, with the exception of pan-fried rump-skirt with spinach and sauce bercy. As well as being a best seller, it is one of proprietor Richard Corrigan's favourites. Specials have included pigs' brains, which did not disconcert the genteel neighbourhood of Cadogan Square one jot. "Some of our local customers are adventurous in what they will eat, so brains are no problem," says Garrett.
Puddings include rhubarb, mango and custard tartlet; and Sauternes and almond cake with marinated prunes. Lunch and dinner menus are usually identical in everything except price - lunch is £14.50 for three courses, dinner £23. In addition to the main dining room, which has 26 seats, there are three private rooms seating six, 10 and 14. The average diner spends £20 at lunch and £30 at dinner, including wine, and the restaurant serves about 400 people a week.
The wine list has 14 whites, 17 reds, a handful of half-bottles and four pudding wines. House white is Marsanne, Domaine Virginie 1998, at £13.50 a bottle or £3.80 a glass. Red at the same price is a Cabernet-Merlot Domaine de Limbardie 1998. At the other end of the list are Bollinger 1990 at £95; Chablis premier cru Côte de Lachaix, Daniel Defaix 1994, £39; and Nuit St Georges premier cru Les Damodes, Domaine Remoniquet 1993, £73.
Restaurant manager Dieter Jurgensen gives advice on wine and heads a four-strong front of house team in a dining room with padded floral wallpaper and defiantly unfashionable Victoriana.
The House restaurant, 3 Milner Street, London SW3 2QA. Tel: 020 7584 3002