Quelle surprise: AA Gill likes award-winning smoked salmon
If Times reviewer AA Gill knew he would be basing his judgment of the kitchen at Lutyens on a handful of dishes, it probably wasn’t a good idea to make one of those choices a plate of Sally Barnes wild smoked salmon. He could have guessed that award-winning smoked salmon from Woodcock Smokery was “unimpeachably excellent and well sourced” without having set foot in the restaurant. Ordering the bourride de lotte or rognons de veau with sauce diable instead would have given his readers more useful information – such as the missing observation that this new Terence Conran dining spot in the former Reuters building on London’s Fleet Street is largely a French restaurant.
Posted: July 19th, 2009 under London, critics watch.
Comments
Comment from Dan
Time 20 July 2009 at 11:16 am
@Gastro1 Thanks for sharing these Reuters recollections. Like many I wish I could squeeze my eyes shut, only to reopen them to the sights, sounds and smells of Fleet Street in its heyday.
Comment from msmarmitelover
Time 20 July 2009 at 12:29 pm
Gerald Long was Toby Long’s dad wasn’t he? I went on a couple of dates with Toby.
BTW Mr Y&F your comments thingy drives me mad…a whole palaver to comment.
Comment from Mark
Time 27 July 2009 at 9:28 pm
Interesting report, yes there would have been many more informative things for him to order. Salmon has been done a ton already, evyerwhere!
Comment from Dan
Time 28 July 2009 at 10:46 am
Thanks for the comment, Mark. It’s kind of like his reviewing an acclaimed wine, isn’t it? There’s not much the restaurant can do to the wine itself to make it taste differently.
Comment from Gastro1
Time 19 July 2009 at 8:48 pm
I would be amazed if the food here is better than what was served in Reuters Executive Dinning Room under the tenure of the legendary Gerald Long a well known gastronome who ran Reuters very successfully from 1963 to 1981 taking into profitability and then hyper growth. He then went on to work for Rupert Murdoch as MD of The Times.
He was also involved in a into an acrimonious correspondence with Albert Roux over cheese in The Times . This cost Gerald his job.
I have found memories of visting my father at 85 Fleet St during the periods he was London based.