2 min read

REVIEW: THE BILTMORE MAYFAIR SPRING MENU

Lobsters and Steak at the Five Star Hotel's Luxury Café Biltmore

A liveried doorman welcomes us into the grand cathedral to luxury that is The Biltmore, in Mayfair.

It’s hard to believe that this five star, Grosvenor Square hotel was once the tired, three star Millennium Hotel.

But after a two-year, £80 million refurbishment, it was reborn in 2019, into the grand marble, chandelier and flower-festooned destination we now find ourselves in.

A guest’s £1 million, blue Ford GT supercar is casually parked at the back, with various Bentleys beside their Veuve orange, garden walled outdoor terrace. Staff are busily dressing the hotel with fresh flowers and artfully arranging cushions when we arrive.

It’s a Wes Anderson-esque, soft pink womb of symmetrical opulence.

We’re here to try their restaurant, Café Biltmore’s new Spring menu and are led through the sleek, Art Deco space to our table.

The seasonal menu is a mixture of Modern European and Pan-Asian dishes: grilled meats and fish, inventive wok dishes and lighter meals like salads, soups and particularly fancy sandwiches or burgers.

I start with the homemade, cornmeal arepa - crunchy, light and golden cakes, stuffed with braised, featherblade beef and a zingy tomato and parsley salsa. The waitress smiles approvingly at my well-cleaned plate and says this is her favourite dish on the menu.

My partner has the prawn and chive dumplings to start - teeth pulling on the firm and pleasingly stretchy skin before the salty pop of seafood inside.

One of their signature dishes is the Native Lobster, so I order this as my main and high-five myself for excellent decision making.

The giant, rock lobster tail curls seductively across my plate, sprinkled with samphire and oozing with a rich, sambal sauce.

The lobster cracker provided with the dish is purely for decoration, because the sweet, juicy and tender white meat pops out of the shell with one, gentle prod of my fork.

The grilled meat is moreishly smoky and pairs beautifully with the barbecue flavours of soy, chilli, shallots and lime in its sweet and spicy, Indonesian sauce,

My partner has the 40 day, dry aged Lake District Rib Eye. The hotel is famous for its steaks, which are stored in Himalayan salt chambers and cooked over coal on the Josper grill.

He grudgingly shares a chunk with me and it’s the perfect, Millennial pink inside, with a rich, charred exterior and sweet, beefy flavour, which lingers on the tongue.

It would have been delicious alone, but was made sexier still by the Béarnaise - silky, smooth, creamy and pastel yellow from the rich butter and yolks.

This is served with fries, which are fluffy on the inside and crispy, salty and golden outside, as a top chip should be.

The restaurant was originally launched by Michelin-starred Chef Jason Atherton, but is now run by Executive Chef Luis Campos, who has confidently filled his shoes (and diner’s plates) with inventive, beautifully plated and seasonal dishes, which gave us our first, delicious taste of Spring.

Cafe Biltmore, The Biltmore, 44 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London W1K 2HP