My wife and I were taken by a very kind friend of ...

My wife and I were taken by a very kind friend of ours who was visiting on business and asked us for a recommendation. We hadn't been before but it has a 3* Michelin rating so we figured it must be pretty good. He likes to go all out in such settings, so we had the seasonal tasting menu with truffles shaved on one or more dishes, and the most expensive wine pairings (including the two rare supplemental wines).

The service was impeccable and The Dorchester is a beautiful setting. The restaurant itself is understated and classy.

The tasting menu had seven courses and sadly I can't say that any of them were memorable. The food was perfectly nice although the dessert of preserved (?) orange rind was, shall we say, 'unusual' and I was glad they bought round chocolates & petit fours afterwards so that wasn't the last taste I had. Two of the dishes - fish and beef - had sauces that seemed very similar, and as a whole nothing in the menu was particularly interesting. It was perfectly good, but I am truly surprised that they have three Michelin stars.

Of the wine pairings, the dessert wine we had really matched the food but the others didn't really seem as harmonious as other wine pairings I've had in other restaurants. One white wine in particular was almost 'smoky' and not all that nice.



I should stress that the food was all good, but when you're one of only two restaurants in London with three Michelin stars - and charging these prices - expectation is very high.

Sadly it wasn't met.