OK, so I've been know to have, maybe just a bit of a Groupon habit in my time. It's great for bits and bobs and getting pointless but expensive things done to you hair. However,I don't often buy food on Groupon. It's just a bit too much of a wild card, and surely if a restaurant can serve up anything nice, people will go there anyway. In short, they shouldn't need Groupon. I got tempted a few months ago however when an offer came up for One Blenheim Terrace that caught my attention by flashing the word Michelin around. Not Michelin stared (don't be silly) but 'Michelin Recommended'. Now, I'm still not sure that 'Michelin Recommended' is a real thing, but I read a fairly favourable review on-line which talked about a very traditional 70's British menu but using Heston style molecular gastronomy to jazz it up. It sounded interesting.
Given that my preferred dining partner is not the biggest fan of fancy restaurants, I thought the traditional, plus the sciency side might persuade him through the door. This, plus a birthday coming up (bargaining power) and a cracking deal attached increased my chances further. He grudgingly agreed.
On arrival we were asked for our voucher right away, which I thought was really good. It wasn't mentioned again, it was automatically taken off the bill when we asked for it at the end. I sometimes find it embarrassing trying explain the voucher, get the bill, debate it all, all in the middle of the restaurant. I've also heard stories of people using Groupon vouchers like dirt in a variety of places. This place handled it really well.
We were seated in their nice conservatory. This would have have been lovely for lunch on a sunny afternoon. It wasn't bad on a slightly rainy Thursday evening either. The prosecco I ordered when we sat down was unfortunately served a bit warm. Then, when I sent it back and it took an age to return. However, when it did it was ice cold and went very nicely with the amuse bouche. This was tiny flower pot full of what looked like earth with tiny bits of vegetable poking out of it. The earth was actually some sort of dried out black olive 'soil' and it was all sitting on top of something that tasted like posh mayonnaise. It was the kind of thing I'd been expecting in the molecular gastronomy stakes. Unfortunately it was also the last of this kind of thing we saw.
My starter was a seared beef salad, with leaves, anchovies, croutons and creamy horseradish sauce. It was very nice but lacking in any sort of amazing flavour or innovation. Rhid's duck eggs on toast with HP sauce, was exactly what it said on the tin and really wasn't worth the £8.50 he paid for it.
For my main course I got the largest piece of salmon I've ever seen in my life! It was however perfectly cooked with a delicious crispy skin. It was served along side a poached egg, coated in a lovely creamy mustard hollandaise and asparagus All the flavours went together really very well but unfortunately the salmon was so massive that I finished all of the accompaniments long before most of the salmon. All in all I was a little disappointed because the flavours were fairly traditional, the elements were unbalanced and pretty pricey into the bargain.
Rhid reported his fish cake as being mostly mashed potato but nice enough.
Both too stuffed for pudding we got the bill. Once the voucher had been taken off we were pleasantly surprised by the size of this. The offer made the whole experience worth it but if I was paying full price I'm not sure I'd go back. The nice added bonus was that they gave us a full sized brownie along with the bill. This made us very glad we'd missed putting, even though the syllabub looked delicious.
The final verdict is, a nice restaurant with lots of nice extras, good service and if you happen to be near St John's Wood I'd say pop in. There were quite a few fairly priced options on the menu which would have made it more affordable. They also do breakfast which I'd be tempted to try if we lived locally.
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