Berner's Tavern

As the Gordon Ramsay restaurant group changed its approach in moving towards more populist concepts, it seemed to coincide with the likes of Angela Hartnett, Jason Atherton and Mark Sargeant branching out on their own. While the Hartnett and Sargeant approach has been slow growth of the number of places under their control, Jason Atherton has been positively hyperactive in terms of new openings. Building from the experience at Pollen Street Social, he has opened three restaurants in Singapore, two in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. Closer to home, 2013 was a big year for the group in London with three openings including Little Social and Social Eating House. Most recently Berner’s Tavern was established in the London Edition hotel after an extensive and expensive refit of the hotel.

There are two routes into the restaurant. Directly from the street or much better going through the very impressive hotel lobby with its high windows and ornate carved ceiling. Going that way also gives the full effect of going from the relatively dark lobby into the single dining room that comprises Berner’s Tavern. 

And what a room it is. A massive space with an intricate ceiling and two huge chandeliers modelled on those at Grand Central station in New York. In terms of spectacular they’re no challenge to the chandeliers at the French in Manchester but they’re still quite impressive. The walls are amazing with every spare square centimetre covered with framed photographs and paintings. Also impressive is the roof-high bar that was across the room from my table. The back-lit shelves of bottles draw you in like moths to a night light.

The central part of the room has two banks of U-shaped banquettes backing onto each other. The shelf behind them has innumerable tall glass shades with flickering candles to give a homely effect. The perimeter of the room has different types of tables to accommodate different party sizes from the lone diner (hands up) to a table for 10. My round marble veneered table with its two leather chairs had round Berner’s Tavern imprinted paper placemats and table service in place. 

The kitchen is under the charge of Phil Carmichael who worked previously with Jason Atherton at Maze in London with further time at Maze in Prague and Cape Town before joining The Atherton group and helping set up Esquina in Singapore and Little Social in Pollen Street.

The staff had a variety of uniforms adding to the smartness of the operation. The receptionists wore black shirts & trousers with white jackets while the wait staff wore white shirts with black trousers, waistcoats and ties topped with white aprons. The music was loud at the beginning of the evening blending Motown and other 50s and 60s music. The high ceiling gives the room a real buzz especially as the dark wood flooring won’t absorb sound. 

With the order taken a metallic tray with baguette and brown sourdough was brought to the table accompanied with a pat of butter on the brown wooden spatula that seems to be a feature of Atherton restaurants.

The first dish was Carroll’s potato and parsley soup with Dorset snails, Stornoway black pudding and a Breville brioche toastie. The bowl placed on the table stacked snails and cubes of black pudding and the rich green soup was poured on at the table. The texture of the soup was much lighter than expected and the first hit was that of lovely fresh parsley. The mix of the chewy snails with the spicy cubes of black pudding was a great way to underpin the soup and the whole thing was a delightful blend of flavours. The toastie, delivered in a crisp linen napkin, was superb. The mixture of cheese and subtly spicy black pudding in the crisp toastie was wonderful. Elizabeth Auerbach (@elizabethonfood) had recommended that I go for this and she wasn’t wrong. It was very tasty indeed.

Next up was the Berner’s Tavern take on egg, ham and peas. A deep-fried Clarence Court duck egg was paced on mushy peas and combined with crispy strips of Cumbrian ham. The mushy peas were actually garden pea based. The purée benefitted from lovely intense fresh pea flavours with extra pleasure from intact peas popping in your mouth. The crisp ham was great dipped into the yolk. The egg was delightful but the amount of purée meant that the yolk got lost you once cut into the egg. Overall, this was a lovely blend of flavours. 

The starters were great but they were firmly in the shadow of the main course of rack of Romney Marsh lamb with braised neck, spiced aubergine, apricot couscous and hispi cabbage that was quite excellent. The flavour and consistency of the lamb rack was sensational and each of the other ingredients combined exceptionally well with it. The mild curry flavouring in the aubergine added a subtly spicy accompaniment while the apricot in the couscous kicked in a sweetness that made the dish sing. The braised neck was incredibly tender and the nutty flavour of the juicy charred cabbage was tremendous. I was very happy with this dish.

Unfortunately I just wasn’t capable eating a dessert so had to pass. On the basis of the food I sampled here I would happily go back to Berner’s Tavern any time. Thoughtful balanced dishes that were just different enough to make them rewarding. The front of house staff were efficient and happy to talk adding further to the enjoyment.

But there was one niggle for me. The sensational room is one of the strengths of Berner’s Tavern but it was also a liability for me. The room had a consistent buzz from conversation and the loud background music and after a while the cavernous space and the noise got overwhelming. It just didn’t feel like an inviting place for the lone diner. I will definitely go back but maybe lunchtime would be a more fitting time. Or I need to find some friends.

Overall Rating – 4/5