The Square opened in 1991 and head chef Philip Howard is also co-owner. He trained with Roux restaurants and followed that with a spell at Harvey’s (now Chez Bruce). The emphasis of the food at The Square is on elegant French cooking using seasonal ingredients and the menu changes frequently. For over ten years the kitchen at the Square has been headed by Robert Weston and the restaurant currently holds two Michelin stars.

In addition to The Square, Philip Howard is a partner in The Ledbury with Nigel Platts-Martin and Brett Graham. Given the wonderful experiences that I’ve had at restaurants involving current or past Platts-Martin alumni (Chez Bruce, The Ledbury and Medlar) it was only a matter of time before I tried The Square. I had booked to visit in November but major back problems meant I had to cancel at short notice. Despite having a 24-hour cancellation policy in place they did not charge me and this reaffirmed the decision to book again next time I was in London.

The restaurant occupies the ground floor of a fairly unprepossessing building on Bruton Street. The L-shaped dining room at The Square is vast, dominated by white linen-clothed tables surrounded by brown stiff-backed chairs. It’s not a particularly inviting space. Closer to the restaurant entrance is a bar and smaller informal seating area screened off from the main room. Service was attentive and efficient without being friendly as you’d expect from a restaurant like this. The only jarring touch was the card on each table advertising copies of The Square cookbook.

Although extremely tempted to go for the tasting menu. I opted instead for the set lunch largely because I was going to be eating out later too. Even going for the set lunch menu was a difficult choice because everything sounded delicious. Bread came to the table with pats of salted and unsalted butter. The walnut and raisin roll featured a lovely, nutty dough with plump golden raisins providing juicy oases.

This was followed by an amuse bouche of a truffle mousse, chicken Madeira jelly, chicken Madeira foam and truffle foam all topped with a potato crisp. This was a sensational little pot of food with intense flavours bursting through as you dug through each level to the creamy mousse. Lovely.

The warm salad of skate with Jerusalem artichoke, sprouting broccoli and salsify with a walnut, anchovy and grape dressing was a great way to kick things off. There was a lot going on the dish but it all combined for a wonderful mix of flavours. The shredded skate was the most delicate ingredient and could occasionally be overwhelmed by others although this is a mild criticism. The dressing was superb with its hits of anchovy and lemon. The walnut added crunch and a welcome flavour kick. The leeks and beetroot added earthy contrast and the inclusion of anchovy with its contrasting stronger flavour was genius. 

The ragout of John Dory was brilliant. John Dory was combined with cod, leeks, clams, mussels, oysters and chives. Everything about this dish was wonderful from the spinach base to the creamy both and the lovely plump fresh shellfish. Both fish were worthy of their star billing with the cod possibly out-muscling the John Dory. However, the unexpected highlights were the luscious creamy oyster and the superb herby crab, scallop mousse and langoustine claw tortellini. This was a dish that made you feel totally happy with your lot in life.

Dessert was the Seville orange soufflé with cocoa ice cream. The perfectly formed soufflé with its generous dusting of icing sugar had the ice cream added at the table. This blended well with the soufflé as a whole to give the classic orange and chocolate combination. That said, the soufflé didn’t necessarily need the ice cream. The marmaladey flavour of the soufflé with its chunks of orange peel was wonderful in this setting because it prevented the overall effect of being excessively sweet. This was a delightful dessert.

Everything was rounded off with petit fours, a tray of pistachio and hazelnut nougat where the combination of honeyed nougat and nuts added a nicely indulgent end to the whole meal.

Overall verdict
My visit to The Square more than lived up to expectations. The food was excellent throughout with a wonderful mix of flavours in each dish.

Would I revisit The Square?
In a heartbeat. The set lunch was of a very high standard and was excellent value. Next time, I will try out that tasting menu.

Overall Rating - 5/5