It was with particular excitement that your reviewer recently returned to Corrigan’s to enjoy a very civilised working lunch at this well-established Mayfair venue. When Gourmand Gunno first started writing restaurant reviews in 2012, Corrigan’s was the first location subject to his – in this case, somewhat critical – assessment. A lot has changed in the last eight years: not only in terms of the London dining scene in London, but also with regard to the maturity of your reviewer’s approach in considering what makes restaurants work.
With Corrigan’s, you’re in Mayfair and sitting in the flagship London venue of Irish celebrity chef, Richard Corrigan. Of course, then, you should expect to stump up for the experience, but you get here what you pay for. This is refined elegance combined with top-notch cooking. As is the trend, the website for Corrigan’s stresses that diners should expect “the best from land to sea” with a strong emphasis on seasonality. However, this venue was advocating these principles long before others jumped more recently on the bandwagon. Whatever criticism you might want to throw at Richard Corrigan, he has always been true to the cause of provenance and the general approach to cooking at this venue reflects the chef’s more humble and rural Irish upbringing. It takes a certain flair turn the (relatively) basic into fine dining, but Corrigan’s does pull it off.
Bread and butter provide a lead-indicator into what to expect later and the homemade butter combined with traditional soda bread set the bar high. The amuse-bouche selection were both playful and sophisticated. Onto the food proper and the seasonal menu (comprising three starter and main choices) constitutes a relative Mayfair bargain at £32., as well as showcasing what the venue can deliver. My Cornish mackerel, smoked eel, endive and leek salad looked beautiful and contained a lovely saline tang that lingered on the palate, although sceptics might assert that presentation was prioritised over quantity, which could only be described as stingy. By contrast, a quail starter that one of my comrade’s ordered off the a la carte menu hit the right notes both in terms of flavour depth and quantity. At least, there were no complaints for my guinea fowl main and if it is game that you are after, then this is certainly a venue to consider.
Full marks too for the wine list. Don’t necessarily expect value here, but our 2017 Crozes worked beautifully as a food pair and showed remarkably soft tannins for a wine so young. The best was saved to last. Order the tarte tannin (pictured): apple caramelised in sugar and butter for the uninitiated, and deliciously decadent. Diners in Mayfair on an expense account can do a lot worse than visiting Corrigan’s.