Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley

To step into Marcus Wareing's restaurant at the five-star Berkeley is like slipping through a fault in the time-space continuum. Designed by the in-demand David Collins, presiding guru of the present era of British restaurant design, it is an unfashionably dark, enveloping cocoon, the deep wood panelling, claret seat upholstery and crepuscular lighting a welcome change after the monochromatics of so many other high-end eateries. They do things differently here. In a parallel world to Knightsbridge bustle, oceans of space separates the tables, the no-man's-land between them patrolled almost soundlessly by trolleys offering petits fours, cheeses, ancient brandies, whatever the heart desires. An astonishment of choice is offered on the menus too, not what we might expect at this rarefied level, when every dish is so painstakingly wrought. Wareing is a Lancashire boy made good, who understands that what we want from top-drawer cooking primarily is sheer flavour, rather than fleeting delicacy. Thus we might begin with a large piece of seared foie gras, its refinement offset with basso profundo notes of gingerbread, chestnuts, Lapsang tea, rhubarb and quince, the whole coming together in remarkable harmony. Principal dishes such as sea bass with broccoli, Chantenay carrots and dauphinoise, the last superbly rendered as a purée, or Welsh suckling pig cooked round the clock and served with braised chicory and pommes mousseline, may sound more straightforward than the preceding, but lack for nothing in unanswerable impact. The salty caramel now so popular at dessert stage appears here wittily in the form of a jelly, alongside peanut parfait, with peanut and rice crispie brittle and a spume of raspberry. In among all this are a cavalcade of appetisers, amuses, pre-desserts and fantastic breads, a regimen that somehow stops short of the tipping-point to excess, because it is all so precisely, finely judged. This is, among other things, what five Rosettes are about.

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Nearest station: Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner

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