A NEW RESTAURANT INSIDE A LEGEND, AND TEN MINUTES AT THE PASS WITH A PAN OF LOBSTER.
THE PLACE
Dante is the new restaurant at Claridge's, in the heart of Mayfair, a room with a hundred years of London glamour behind it and a brand new kitchen writing its own first chapter. I went to check it out the way I check out every restaurant that matters: by getting into the kitchen.
IN THE KITCHEN
The team let me step in and cook. That is the fastest way to understand a restaurant, faster than any tasting menu. You see the mise en place, you hear how the pass talks, you feel whether the room runs on fear or on pride. Dante runs on pride.
THE PASTA
We cooked lobster pasta together, their dish, their way: sweet lobster, a sauce built with patience, pasta cooked to the second. I am not giving you the recipe here, because it is theirs. What I will say is that when a kitchen this young already cooks with this much calm, you book the table.
WHAT STAYED WITH ME
Hotels like Claridge's do not gamble on restaurants. They brought in a team they believe in, and an afternoon in that kitchen told me why. The dish is Dante's, the welcome was generous, and London gets another dining room worth dressing up for.
SHOP THE STORY
Their pasta, my pantry rules: great olive oil, a proper apron, and a cookbook that treats pasta with respect.
Toujours Faim Cookbook: $39.95 CAD
TF Olive Oil x La Belle Excuse: $34.95 CAD
Classic Apron: $60.00 CAD
By Laurent Dagenais.
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