The Hotel Café Royal by Piccadilly is a wonderful building. Within its confines are striking meeting rooms with interiors influenced by the 60s, and majestic dining areas, like the renowned Oscar Wilde Bar and the eponymous Café Royal with its wide range of delicious pastries, but my destination for the night was Ten Room. It is a beautiful area of the hotel with gorgeous Art Deco décor and marvellous artwork adorning the walls.
Salmon
To start, my dining guest had the Café Royal pink Himalayan smoked salmon. A unique feature of the salmon is that it is sourced from the south of England and is seasoned with pink Himalayan salt, which distinguishes the salmon served at the Hotel Café Royal. The salmon itself was light tasting and didn’t have an especially smoky taste, which was refreshing. Additionally there were several dressings to accompany it, such as cream cheese, a quail egg, caviar and dill. Each was absolutely delicious.
Duck terrine
I had the terrine of duck, foie gras and smoked magret served with a side of brioche toast. The terrine was perfectly packed and looked like intricate brickwork. The foie gras tasted silky smooth and the duck had a wonderful, intense nutty taste to it, no doubt due to the pistachios within the terrine.
Chicken ‘Royal’ with asparagus, pancetta and salsa verde
For our mains we opted for the chicken ‘Royal’ with asparagus, pancetta and salsa verde for 2, which was plated and served in front of us. I felt this was quite exciting and really added to the thrilling spectacle of dining at the Ten Room. The Hotel Café Royal prides itself on acquiring fresh and quality ingredients and the quality really shines through in this corn-fed chicken. It was perfectly moist and the skin was full of flavour. The asparagus wrapped in pancetta was cooked exquisitely but my absolute favourite element of this dish was the salsa verde. It had this incredible savoury taste which paired extremely well with the chicken.
Honey parfait
For dessert I had the honey parfait with soft toffee & Earl Grey cream. The parfait was very sweet and creamy, but the real highlight was the Earl Grey cream. It added an unexpected twist to the dish and was extremely complimentary to the rest of the dessert.
Chocolate brownie with caramel popcorn and muscovado ice cream
My dining partner had the chocolate brownie with caramel popcorn and muscovado ice cream. The brownie was rich and easy to cut into and the muscovado ice cream – oh my! – was divine.
Cherry pavlova
We were also treated to a dessert that is to feature on their upcoming menu, a cherry pavlova with cherry ice cream, white chocolate cream and a cherry reduction. This was without a doubt my favourite dessert of the evening, the cherries and white chocolate worked in perfect harmony, the divine ice cream was almost sorbet-like in its taste and the meringue appeared to have white chocolate combined into it, which was a pleasant and welcome surprise.
Dining at the Ten Room at Hotel Café Royal is an experience that needs to be had. The quality of the food is apparent but that is only half the story. The service is impeccable and truly adds value to a magnificent evening. To quote my guest “everything about it put a smile on my face”.
Ten Room at Hotel Café Royal
Hotel Café Royal, 68 Regent Street, London, W1B 4DY
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