It is one of most people’s dreams, and certainly one of mine, to have a local neighbourhood restaurant that is friendly, serves good ales, does not show sports or play loud music, has an enticing selection of bar snacks, and most importantly has a restaurant attached. And that restaurant needs to have a menu full of the dishes which, if your mother did not actually make, you imagine that she would have done if only she were a classicly trained chef with access to the finest of ingredients. A sort of culinary equivalent of the perfect summer morning, or gently autumn afternoon, that never has or will exist.
Well, if the storied denizens of Belgravia were not privileged enough in life, they now have on their doorstep somewhere that gets very close to making the dream real.
On the site of the old Ebury Wine Bar, the Lunar Pub Company, who are the team behind The Hunter’s Moon gastropub in Fulham (aka The Lunar Pub Company) have launched Ganymede, named after the largest moon of Jupiter. The Lunar Pub Company is owned by Oliver Marlowe and Hubert Beatson-Hird, who bring with them exceptional hospitality experience.
On one level, is indeed the classic British pub of dreams, with a thoughtful selection of beers and ales, and some nifty cocktails on offer, and nice spots to nestle in, including some prime outdoor tables in summer. Not do not dally there, even though the bar snacks are in fact as good as they sound. For the action takes place in the calm, elegant dining room behind the bar.
There they have created a restaurant that takes you back in time in a very good way. The food is a reminder that perfectly executed dishes, generally with a nod to British or French origins, can be sublime, and are exactly what you often actually want from a restaurant: not some edgy take on a Korean-Ghanian fish pancake, but food to luxuriate in. To my mind, the test is often how many dishes on the menu you would like to order. The answer here was every single one. Without any hesitation.
For starters, we had tuna sashimi with whipped avocado, pickled ginger and truffled ponzu dressing and seared hand dived scallops with mussel and champagne velouté, roast garlic crisps and chives. The tuna was fresh with a tang of salty sea and a beautifully contrasting earthiness from the truffled ponzu. The avocado was not so much whipped as massaged into a state of unrivalled creaminess, and with the sharpness of the ginger the dish was perfect both for feel and taste. Matching it in the envy stakes, the scallop dish was a roll call of delicious, luxury ingredients that again managed to be better as a sum of the whole.
For the main course, I rarely order chicken but here had no regrets in doing so. A fowl that had clearly led a happy, free range life (it tasted of…. actual chicken!) was moist and flaked on the fork in the way that you always want it to. My friends salmon was exceptional with a wonderfully piquant dashi source, and only outdone by the prawn gyoza accompaniment – I would have happily devoured a plateful of these.
Puddings are indulgent to say the least, and the firm yet rich texture of my crème brulee perfectly ended a meal that was utter indulgence from start to finish.
Sometimes, and more often than we might admit in London, what we really want is classic food, with modern hints, perfectly cooked, in an elegant dining room staffed by friendly, helpful but never obsequious staff. And when that is what you really want, I highly recommend going to Ganymede.
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