Heinz Beck is best known for La Pergola, his three Michelin-starred restaurant at Rome’s Cavalieri Hotel, which has attracted an apparently endless amount of acclaim and attention. His first UK venture, Apsleys at the Lanesborough Hotel, was hugely anticipated, and won a Michelin star early in 2010, confirming its reputation as one of London’s top Italian restaurants. It makes a pleasant change for a restaurant in a luxury hotel to take Italian, rather than French, cuisine as its base, although the quality of the cuisine here defies simple pigeonholing.
The first thing that strikes you entering the dining room is how richly ornate and grand it is; the impression is of continental and timeless style rather than the faint impersonality that you often get from hotel restaurants. The second impression you receive is the friendliness and charm of the staff, who seem genuinely pleased that customers – who, after all, aren’t embarrassed for choice around the Park Lane area – have chosen to visit Apsley’s. And the third, and most vital, is the quality of the cooking.
The a la carte menu includes many of Heinz Beck’s specialities – helpfully marked with an ‘HB’ symbol – or the tasting menu offers a five or seven course overview of the kitchen’s highlights, amongst which a deliciously delicate poached lobster with avocado and tomatoes, a perfect pasta dish of red tortellini with aubergine and smoked ricotta and a tender venison course on a bed of red cabbage are just a few of the star attractions. Unusually but pleasingly, the lightness of the courses mean that the delicate cuisine never becomes overwhelming or de trop. It helps that the wine list – which includes some eye-poppingly expensive and rare vintage wines – has a very good selection by the glass that can be matched to the various dishes.
London isn’t short on top quality Italian restaurants by any means, but if you fancy trying some really innovative and exciting cooking, unafraid to take risks and innovate while remaining entirely true to its roots, there are few better places to try than Apsleys.
The Lanesborough, Hyde Park Corner, SW1. www.thelanesborough.com/apsleys
