The Peninsula hotel in Belgravia, London, has partnered with a big-name chef to climb straight to two Michelin stars
Ascending in a lift designed as a hot-air balloon from the lobby of the Peninsula hotel, having already passed a vintage Napier-Railton racing car, diners know they are in for an experience at Brooklands by Claude Bosi. When they arrive at the eighth floor and step into a corridor lined with replica metal car panels before entering an airy, space-age room with a replica Concorde on the ceiling and a carpet covered in flight paths, expectations really take off.
At the helm of this project at the new Peninsula hotel are chef director Claude Bosi and head chef Francesco Dibenedetto, who have devised a menu that takes classical British flavour combinations and gives them a supersonic twist. It is the first time the hotel group has partnered with a named chef and it has set its sights high by teaming up with Bosi.
"They were clear that the DNA of the place had to be British motoring and British produce," Bosi explains. "The whole experience and the way the hotel has thought about it has been incredibly detailed. They are really making sure it's an experience and you're not just walking through the lobby of the hotel."
Bosi has taken the same approach and detailed cooking that he is recognised for at the two-Michelin-star Bibendum, but instead of a focus on classical French combinations it is a British approach, though with the occasional French detail. This is emphasised on the menu itself, which features an illustration of the UK pointing out exactly where particular products are sourced.
So instead of devilled kidneys, the menu includes the likes of devilled snails (which features on the three-course menu for £150 as well as the tasting menus) along with a variation on coronation chicken. Like many of the dishes, the snails arrive in two parts with a dish of chopped snail in two sauces – one garlic and parsley and the other devilled – accompanied by a delicately presented bowl of snail shells and foliage on top of which sits a snail tartlet stuffed with micro leaves.
The coronation chicken comes as part of the selection of amuse-bouches on the tasting menu (£175 for five courses or £195 for seven courses). Only faintly resembling the most English of creamy chicken dishes, the familiar flavours arrive in the form of a chicken liver ice-cream in an emulsion of curry and raisin, topped with fried onions.
Those familiar with Bosi's food will have experienced the pine nut ‘nosotto' at Bibendum. At Brooklands he has taken the same technique and applied it to celeriac, which is cooked in the same way as risotto rice before being served with a coconut and crab sabayon.
"The crab is cooked just before service at a low temperature and we use it so fresh that it is never from the fridge," Bosi adds. "There's nothing better than fresh crab. The idea is that we want some dishes to link both places. It's the same philosophy but different dishes."
Another dish that echoes Bibendum (where it is served with kid goat) is guinea fowl and razor clams served with a strikingly green sea beet sauce at the table. But if you're going British it's hard to avoid the roast. And at Brooklands by Claude Bosi the chef has gone headlong towards those flavours with lamb cutlet accompanied by lamb pastrami and a fresh mint and herb salad. A perfectly pink cutlet is paired with a sauce of vinegar and mint, served with a separate plate of tongue and dill taco. The execution and technique is perfect, with recognisable combinations served in surprising ways.
Bosi says: "It's like a traditional Sunday lunch that the British would have with an overcooked leg of lamb. The flavours are comfortable. There's nothing better than if you eat a dish and the flavours take you back to a familiar place."
Though there might be familiar flavours on offer, Bosi has really put his foot down on the execution and has already got this Brooklands purring.
From the menu
Starter
- Nottinghamshire Stichelton, pumpkin, hazelnut and autumn truffle
- Exmoor caviar, roscoff onion and duck jelly
- Dorset snail, devil-style
Main course
- Devonshire monkfish, smoked eel, red pepper miso
- Lake District lamb, mint and pastrami
- Racan guinea fowl, sea beet and Scottish razor clams
- Great Fen farm celeriac nosotto, crab and coconut
Dessert
- Scottish cep, banana and crème fraîche
- The best of the British apples and wild meadowsweet
Three courses, £150
The Peninsula London, 1 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7HJ www.peninsula.com/en/london/hotel-fine-dining/brooklands
