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