42 | squaremeal.co.uk
MARCUS
The Berkeley, Wilton Place, SW1X 7RL
020 3544 6065 Price £88
With a decade at The Berkeley under his
belt, and a new 10-year contract in the
bag, Marcus Wareing has revamped and
rebranded his agship dining room as
MARCUS. The chef may believe that prerecession
ne dining has had its day, but
don't come here expecting informality: tables
are still dressed with spotless linen and wines
from an epic list are decanted by suited sta .
What has changed is the look of the dining
room: the severe, maroon-toned colour
scheme has given way to soft greens and
chestnut browns, more tables mean a more
upbeat atmosphere, and sta have been
instructed to adopt a friendly, American-style
attitude (with varying levels of conviction).
Menus have also been refreshed so that
it's now possible to have a couple of courses
if you don't fancy the full tasting blow-out,
although the food is still about precision and
playfulness, matching formidable technical
prowess with bold Anglo-French avours.
Standouts range from deeply avoured
Anjou pigeon accompanied by a pair of
deep-fried legs for handheld nibbling to
the more subtle pleasures of clean-tasting
scallops with cauli ower and cucumber or
sweetbreads with lettuce, pea and ham - a
dish of such well-rounded balance that it
looks set for stardom. To conclude, don't
miss Wareing's spin on warm chocolate with
salted caramel ice cream.
We've always been fans of Wareing's
achievements and this reboot shows he is
evolving with the times - but the jury is still
out on whether it's an improvement.
THE LAST WORD Still a winner for Wareing, but fans of
the old dining room won't � nd a huge change for the better
Fischer's
50 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HN
020 7466 5501 Price £49
With the launch of Fischer's, Chris Corbin
and Jeremy King are continuing a love a air
with Viennese café society that began with
The Wolseley. The new venue's all-day
o ering is also a perfect t for Marylebone, a
district that still has local residents as well as
a business community.
Fischer's certainly looks the AustroHungarian
part, with a rich brown-and-black
palette applied to the leather banquettes,
tightly packed bentwood chairs and shiny
table tops; there are nicotined tiles climbing
the walls and an austere clock face hanging
from the atrium window frame. The styling
and attention to detail is faultless but,
happily, there's a carefree atmosphere that
would be completely out of place in Vienna
but feels utterly at home in London.
Since they revived The Ivy and Le Caprice
in the nineties, Corbin and King have always
been keen on sociable, feel-good food -
and Fischer's proves the point. Our starters
of white asparagus with Black Forest ham
and a salad of beetroot and goats' curd
were both pleasant without setting our
pulse racing. To follow, juicy, lightly battered
Wiener schnitzel would have been better
without a stridently avoured ligonberry
compote, but devilled veal sweetbreads
with tartare sauce were spot-on - a vast
portion to match the £26 price tag. After
that, sugary carb-fest puds proved why
patisserie is Austria's gift to the food world.
Service is slick, if not exactly warm, but
time-pressed diners will appreciate the
well-oiled e ciency of the whole set-up
(especially at lunchtime). And there's the
rub: while its owners may love the Viennese
concept, Fischer's feels like somewhere to
admire, rather than take to one's heart.
3 more…MADE IN MARYLEBONE
L'Autre Pied
020 3589 2099
Orrery
020 3589 2087
Trishna
020 3589 2113
THE LAST WORD Another polished performance from
The Wolseley's Corbin and King, albeit a tad formulaic
Jarvis Cocker
at Fischer's