Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ruth Rogers's husband, international
architect Richard Rogers. Friendly, atten-
tive, expert service adds even more to
your sense of well-being, proving that a
restaurant doesn't require you to put on a
suit and tie to make you feel special.
But there's no question, the food must
also be superlative. And on that score, the
River Café delivers too, serving what most
diners consider the best Italian cuisine in
London. Why Italian? Because Ruth Rogers
and her partner Rose Gray set out simply
to re-create the kind of cuisine they'd
enjoyed in the Italian countryside—
divinely simple farmhouse meals with the
freshest ingredients. Don't expect a loca-
vore bias here: The River Café ships in
ingredients from all over the world—first-
spring asparagus harvested in Andalusia
and arriving in London within the day, tiny
bulbs of fennel zipped across the Channel
from France, live scallops and langoust-
ines taken by divers in the icy North Sea,
and a daily shipment from Italy that may
include anything from artichokes to zuc-
chini, whatever's at its peak. Britain's own
rich bounty appears on the menu as well,
in the form of pheasant, grouse, and wild
Scottish salmon. That's not to say it isn't
seasonal—the
bufala mozzarella
starter,
for example, may come with purslane and
young English broad beans in summer, but
shaved fennel and toasted pine nuts in
autumn; the wood-roasted Dover sole
comes with roasted carrots and plum
tomatoes in July, but slow-cooked fennel
and
cima du rape
in November. The River
Café chefs (Jamie Oliver is one of many
culinary stars who started out here) tend
to do a lot of slow roasting or chargrilling
to emphasize the deep flavors of those
stellar ingredients. The cheese selection is
outstanding, as is the wine list, which,
except for its champagnes, is all Italian.
Nowadays, it's easy to forget what an
influential institution the River Café has
been; so many other restaurants have
jumped on the Tuscan bandwagon since
then, and Rogers and Gray's numerous
cookbooks have also helped broadcast
their recipes and techniques. Still, this is
where it all started, and it still outshines all
those lower-priced imitators. With food
this deceptively simple, it's all about sourc-
ing, and nobody does it better.
Thames Wharf,
Rainville Rd., W6,
Hammersmith (
&
44/20/7386-42001;
www.rivercafe.co.uk).
(
Heathrow (24km/15 miles) or Gatwick
(40km/25 miles).
L
$$$
Covent Garden Hotel,
10
Monmouth St., Covent Garden (
&
800/
553-6674
in the U.S., 44/20/7806-1000;
www.firmdale.com). $$
B+B Belgravia,
64-66 Ebury St., Belgravia (
&
800/682-
7808
in the U.S., or 44/20/7734-2353;
www.bb-belgravia.com).
Temples of Gastronomy
139
Le Bernardin
Fishing for Compliments
New York, New York
Most menus are divided into different sec-
tions for different courses—appetizers,
fish, pasta, entrees, desserts, or some-
thing along those lines. But not Le Bernar-
din—Eric Ripert divides things into Almost
Raw, Barely Touched, and Lightly Cooked.
He doesn't have a fish course, because
every
course is a fish course. Oh, except
for one more section, titled Upon Request,
where Ripert sticks a few dishes for people
who don't like seafood. He might as well
have called it If You Must.
