I popped into Dover Street with a friend I’d not seen in ages some time back. She suggested we tried somewhere “on Taste London”, which sounded good to me, so Dover Street (surprisingly situated on Dover Street in Mayfair) was our choice.
A name as daring as this suggests the place will do exactly what it says on the cover. It is a restaurant called Dover Street, so it must be on Dover Street. It is a restaurant so it must serve food. Sounds kind of robotic, right? Welcome to Dover Street.
Dover Street is quite a big place which is a bar, restaurant, music venue, cabaret room, theatre, members club, game room, opium den… Well maybe not all those things. But it is too big. And confusing. Empty, too. I found the experience a little lacking when it came to any kind of proper restaurant ambience.
Parts of the meal were good, like the beginning: some asparagus risotto served with some seared foie gras. (Not everyone is as greedy as me, and my friend was happy to pick at my starter and dessert.) For the price and the season, the dish was quite acceptable. Relatively fresh, well-combined with some mild cheese sauce and not overdone. Not too heavy either, which can happen with bad risotto.
With main courses, they clearly decided that more = more, which fits right into the clinical precision of the place. Ridiculously over-stuffed plates of rack of lamb (dull) and cod (slightly less dull) were placed before us by our waitress. (Who, by the way, I think was doubling as security, given her attitude, attire and fancy earpiece.) The lamb was dry, tasteless and poorly presented and the cod was swamped by two mounds of mashed potato.
I decided to try an apple tart tatin for dessert which wasn’t bad. Again, Dover Street serving up exactly what is on their charter. It’s hard to say much more than that because the dessert was fairly representative of the meal: unspectacular, functional and a bit bland, if not bad.
My companion remarked that she wanted to go back to Dover Street on one of their jazz nights, indicating the place ought to be more bustling with some live music on a Friday night. That’s almost certainly true, since given the place’s location (on Dover Street, right?), it’ll be full of workers on a Friday night looking to get nicely sloshed.
That might be the problem with this place though: it’s a faceless city bar/club that has been plonked in the middle of Mayfair, and now is trying to maintain the aching surefootedness of the former whilst acquiescing to the upper-class whimsy of the latter.
Maybe I’m looking at it from the wrong way though: it’s been here for thirty years. Given how dead and uncharismatic the place is, that surprises me. Perhaps my friend is on to something: you do need to be there for the music. Either way, I’m interested in the food, and that is not up to snuff at the moment. If they could try a few more dishes like the risotto to start, they might be on to something.
What I think they do need to do is separate the restaurant from the hollow bar area and start taking their food seriously. It’s not great (or even very good) yet, but one day the food at Dover Street might match the reputation and musical stature of the place.
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