Nathan Outlaw left The Capital hotel a few months ago and made the short move down the road to The Goring, where he has just opened a brand new restaurant called Siren. The combination of a big name chef and one of London’s most luxurious hotels (a favourite of the Queen’s no less) is hard to ignore so we were straight down there to check it out.
The Goring already has the Michelin-starred Dining Room restaurant, which has been there since 1910 so Nathan’s new place fills a more casual role in the hotel’s food line-up. Siren celebrates the Goring family’s and Nathan’s links with Cornwall with a menu that showcases the best Cornish produce. There’s a few nautical themes in the design too, which has been led by Russell Sage Studios, and features plaster-cast mythical sea creatures on the walls. The dining room itself is very nice, a light conservatory that has windows that open right out on to the Goring’s secluded little garden; during the summer it’s very nice indeed.
Fish is delivered daily from Cornwall and there’s no doubting the quality of the produce on offer here. We kicked off with a Cornish crab risotto, super smooth and creamy and with nice big chunks of crab meat in there too. If you’re a fan of oysters we can also definitely recommend the crispy deep fried oysters which come with cabbage and oyster salad cream. Next time, we’d go for the lobster and pea tart too, which looked incredible on our neighbours’ table.
We thought that there could have been some fresher, lighter options for the main courses as everything was quite heavy with cream, oil or butter. One of us went all out anyway with the battered turbot and crisp potatoes, pretty much the poshest fish and chips you’re likely to find – this is The Goring after all. The other main was red mullet with devilled shrimp butter and chicory which was great but maybe a bit too heavy on the butter – if the fish was still alive it probably could have swum away in the pool that collected on the plate.
There was nothing heavy about our dessert however, a very pretty and light strawberry tart with yoghurt sorbet, that was a perfect finish on a summer’s evening.
15 Beeston Pl, London SW1W 0JW
thegoring.com