I was invited to the restaurant of the Savoy Hotel as part of a yearly gala involving the Swedish…read moremedical union (yes, I'm a doctor). The invitation was +1 so of course I brought my wife along so we could have a nice evening out both with colleagues and friends, but foremost with each other and no kids tugging in our pants or yelling in our ears. Of course, Serving for over a hundred people at the same time must be taken into consideration when rating, but overall it didn't really fascinate me that much. The place itself is nice with a fairly modern approach to style and furnishing. Especially the bar section is quite cool with an oval shape with the bar being able to serve all 360 degrees. Clever and cool. Also an open kitchen is pleasant if done properly, showing the finishing touches without showing all the sweat and hard work in the back. And this is where this particular house of card starts to falter. The kitchen is too open, shows too much, leaving nothing for the imagination or expectation. Furthermore, the bartenders seemed less confident about making drinks and/or cocktails than your average 5 year-old going bananas in a kitchen. I asked for a simple Gin Fizz and they had never even heard of it. Come on, it's a classic cocktail every bartender should now! Every bartender may not make a really excellent Gin Fizz (almost no one does), but they should at least have an idea. For my wife I ordered a special drink I usually make at home, but even though I explained the recipe it was an utter disaster. Shaking with ice doesn''t mean pouring the spirits over ice, pouring that mix into the shaker and then pouring it back into the glass. I was flabbergasted on how bad it was. Not to forget that my Gin Fizz was like dishwater against my palate.
The dinner itself was, well, under par for the most part. And yes, I have taken into consideration the amount of people being served at the same time. The starter was a seafood ceviche, meaning a raw seafood salad that is served with a decent amount of spices, salt, pepper, chili and citrus such as lemon. It lacked everything. Seasoning, chili, sour, herbs. Bland is the nicest word I can conjure up. The main was a small up-swing with fillet of beef nicely cooked, however under-seasoned both on salt and pepper. It was supposed to have whole roasted baby potatoes, but they were more boiled with absolutely no char on them whatsoever. Some small pieces of roasted paprikas and a red wine sauce that was too sweet (red wine sauce with sugar is an absolute NO) to an almost sickling degree. The dessert was some sort of vanilla pannacotta with sour strawberry gel, berries, crumble and strawberry sorbet. Definitely best of the night paired with coffee and a good 12 YO whiskey. Also, on the positive side, they did have decent wine-selections to the food although they could have picked a bit of a sharper wine for the ceviche starter. One thing that also kept disturbing me the entire evening was the in-your-face, obtrusive, and declamatory attitude of the serving staff. Their attitude really annoyed me. In all honesty, some of them were undoubtedly not qualified for the job. However, boiled down to the essentials, this place is worth neither the time nor the money. Luckily for me someone else payed the bill, otherwise I would have left feeling both unsatisfied and robbed. No I only left feeling unsatisfied.
Two weak knives out of five.
