Boulestin, 55 St Jame’s Street, London
SW1A 1EF
29/09/2013
She said: We visited Boulestin when it
had recently opened and before the run of newspaper reviews (which have since
come out with all sorts of high falutin analyses). First impressions were good.
You enter through a causal but inviting café which serves a selection of the
restaurant dishes in a more informal setting and pass into an elegant, calm
restaurant with green banquettes and crisp white tablecloths. A long skylight
creates an open and bright space to the room. Service was friendly and
attentive. The menu had a wide choice of dishes for all tastes and prices were
reasonable for Mayfair. I ordered a mushroom risotto for main as I had my eye
on a chocolate dessert. While we were waiting the maitre d’ chatted about the
new space and expressed disappointment on some luke-warm reviews which he said
had criticised the ‘concept’ which confused me as this place didn’t involve
rocket science: dining room; food; service; price. Nothing profound to get your
head round. Anyway, my risotto was fine. A decent serving but nothing to write
home about. He pre-ordered the ‘Tarte legere aux pommes’ which takes 20-minutes
which I ended up swapping my chocolate terrine with. The terrine was fine, a
chequer-board of white and dark chocolate atop a chocolate sponge – it’s just I
prefer less sponge and more chocolate. The apple tart was yummy. Boulestin is a
lovely space with good service and an interesting menu but at £35 per head for
a main and desert (and his main salad portion was tiny!) and the absence of a
set lunch menu option, I’d need to think twice about coming back.
He said: Boulestin is the perfect St.
James’s restaurant. Classic and classy but with none of that Wilton’s
establishment thing, which is as passé as that grand dame is old. For an area
which is authentically old school, it’s remarkable how few ‘proper’ restaurants
there are in St. James’s. Maybe the old boys just like eating at the club
better. Me, I have no club and a lot of meetings in the area, and I’m often
stuck for somewhere that doesn’t have bondage photos on the walls (Wheeler’s), is not in hotel, or is not
incredibly noisy (most places). This is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea,
but I love that Boulestin doesn’t play any muzak; sonic ambience has it’s time
and place, but I do like being able to have an actual conversation with
someone. Now the food: the bloody Mary was spot-on (no ice!); the main
artichoke salad was so mean at £12.50 that I did wonder if it was physically
possible to serve as smaller starter version; my tarte aux pommes was so
exactly what I wanted that I ordered it with the main, except that I didn’t get
it because She pounced on it. Woe betide the poor knave who is nearby when She
has had a disappointing desert day! Since we’d only had two courses each,
coffees, and drinks, I was actually surprised when the bill came in at £72.
Lunch is currently Boulestin’s cash cow, so I can understand not discounting
with a set lunch, but that’s a big mistake. Still, (small) warts and all,
Boulestin is my favourite place in that neighbourhood.
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