Maze
10-13 Grosvenor Square
London, W1K 6JP
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 20 7107 0000
Overall rating: 7.5-8/10
Date of visit: February 2009
This meal took place before I started taking pictures.
Maze is part of Gordon Ramsay’s empire, but the chef at my time of visit was Jason Atherton, as Ramsay’s affiliation has never been more than the name as far as I know. Ramsay’s name has now become a brand rather than the name for one single personal restaurant. Most of his restaurants serve the same type of food, but Maze was slightly different as it focused more on smaller dishes, often a bit more modern and inspired by Spanish tapas, so the restaurant recommend going for at least four or five dishes. I chose four and was overall very happy with the food. Seen in retrospect, I should have chosen more dishes as I left the restaurant a bit hungry even though I made sure to eat plenty of bread (my appetite at the time was really ferocious though). Alas! At the time I was trying to spend as little money here as possible (especially since I knew that I was going to Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Chelsea just a week later). Including service charge (12.5%) my bill was around £45 (no wine, only water).
As I’m writing this review almost four years later, it’s difficult to remember exactly what I had and how good it was, so the rating is not quite as accurate as in my other reviews.
What I do remember, however, was that the food was mainly creative, well-cooked and with top-quality ingredients. Even thought the dishes were small, they consisted of several elements. The pork belly I had is still some of the best pork I’ve ever had (possibly only surpassed by the one at Osteria Francescana). I’ve had good octopus several times in Spain, but none seem to surpass my memory of the one I had at Maze. For dessert I had marshmallows. It might seem dull, but both the flavour and the texture was really wonderful, and I really remember this dessert as being top-notch.
There were a few combinations that didn’t work too well – especially raisin and saffron pure.
The foie gras was simply not cooked quite enough and thus was very blubbery. The foie gras my then-girlfriend had at Ramsay’s restaurant in Chelsea a week later really had a lot better texture.
I believe the price was around £45 (€52) for four small courses and water (no wine) and service charge.
If I go back to London this is a restaurant I would be very happy to revisit.
