I’m a huge Gordon Ramsay fan. His MasterClasses taught me to cook some exceptional dishes. And I love the man’s attitude and work ethic.
So I was excited to get the chance of a kitchen dining experience in his Michelin star French restaurant in Knightsbridge, Petrus.
Petrus Restaurant Review
I’m a foodie but not a food critic.
So these are just a few amateur notes from my experience at Petrus.
Great restaurants have a strong element of theatre.
The service and food at Petrus are finely calibrated.
Sitting in the kitchen, facing the chefs as they assemble each dish, feels like you have a front row seat at the Old Vic.
You’re able to see the precision with which the chefs garnish and season each culinary ensemble.
You’re given the chance to witness the military, meditative processes of a kitchen team in harmony.
One of the many things I noticed, along with the kitchen’s clinical cleanliness and the chefs’ surgeon-like focus, was the absence of noise.
Gordon’s swearing and shouting on the TV is clearly just for ratings.
The head chef at Petrus told us that Gordon personally doesn’t like his kitchens like that. And, as someone who was sworn and shouted at when he was coming up as a chef, nor does he.
So the kitchen at Petrus is soothingly silent, save for the conversation of patrons or the introduction of each new course.
There’s a different chef introduction for each dish.
There were seven courses (if you count the coffee and cakes at the end) and each one is accompanied by a different chef.
Each dish is one chef’s speciality and, before tucking in, they regale you with every ingredient that went into it with a sense of pride, intimacy, and anticipation.
Petrus uses a secret set menu.
This, along with the individual chef introductions and kitchen spectator seats, adds a sense of mystery and curiosity to the whole theatrical experience.
Here’s what our meal looked like:
- Canapé: Mango and lobster with avocado purée, edible flowers, pesto, courgette pastry with herbs and cheese.
- Amuse bouche: Gazpacho with green tomatoes, berries, smoked herbs, and escalope.
- Starter: Mackerel, Japanese daikon, red meat radish mixed with mustard root, champagne dressing, mustard, dill, fennel.
- Main: Pork, cocoa bean purée, green beans, mange tu.
- Pre-dessert: Blackcurrant sorbet, redcurrant berries, champagne foam.
- Dessert: Parfait, lemon confit, yogurt sorbet, almond cheese.
Of course, there was a lot of different wine flowing around too.
Our server, who acted as composer bringing all the individual experiences together into one symphony, brought out a bottle of the rare and expensive Petrus (just for show).
A few things stood out about the food. The first being the taste of fennel as a running theme throughout the dishes, like a lingering note acting as a leitmotif in an opera.
Fennel works well with almost anything.
Or so the chefs at the Petrus would convince you.
Tasting fennel in different degrees and combinations makes you realise how under-utilised it is as a flavour.
Foam feels decadent.
Whether it’s the foam atop a mango, lobster, avocado purée, or champagne foam sitting on a bed of berries, the texture is light, ethereal, and elevating.
I don’t understand what “modern French cuisine” means.
The pork fell apart in my mouth and the mackerel and daikon worked beautifully together, but is this exclusively French cuisine?
This reminded me of the fare I’d get back in Japan, albeit with a European twist.
I suppose it doesn’t matter how you define it, as long as it’s delicious.
Style over substance?
I’ve been to my fair share of great restaurants. In almost every instance (bar a few exceptional cases) I prefer more wholesome food and less fancy establishments because the Michelin star lot seem too stuffy, favouring style and presentation over substance.
I was happy that this isn’t the case with Petrus.
It could easily be the case with Petrus.
We marvelled at the beauty of the dishes themselves more than what was served on some of them.
But Petrus manages to side-step the pressing danger of being pretentious by staffing the restaurant with extremely down-to-earth chefs and servers.
The food was tremendous, but what really made the experience was the relaxed ongoing conversations with everyone working in the restaurant.
If you’ve got a great group of people together and are looking for a memorable dining experience, I highly recommend you check out Petrus.