When I hear the name Villandry it always makes me think of grand houses in France, so imagine my surprise when investigating this review, that I find that is exactly what it actually is, and is named after Chateau de Villandry in the Loire Valley that is renown for having the largest walled vegetable garden in France.
Villandry has three very different restaurants at present, two in London and one in Bicester Shopping Village in Oxford, and my wife and I visited Villandry St James's, near to Pall Mall, on a Sunday lunchtime in February, and rather than having the place to ourselves there was an incredible buzz from the many diners who were availing themselves of the unlimited Prosecco Weekend Brunch (£35), which has proved extremely popular.
The St James restaurant is situated on the corner of upmarket Waterloo Place and Pall Mall in an area known for having some of the most impressive architectural buildings in London. The restaurant is split level with the lower level set out in a cafe´ style and the other a more stylish art deco restaurant boasting 1970’s style lamps that I know my parents would love. Both levels have soaring ceilings and are bathed in a warm light from the impressively large windows, making it a perfect location to while away a couple of hours with fine wine and good food. Indeed,Villandry’s purpose is to provide its diners with delicious quality food, ‘fait maison’, at affordable prices with a light and sunny style, in comfortable casual Grand Cafe´ surroundings, and these surroundings are certainly ‘Grand’.
Villandry opens at 7am for breakfast, providing a dazzling array of breakfast fare, and at another time I will surely come back, but as it was lunch time I focused my attention on the lunch and dinner menu which is equally appealing.
The starters are what you would expect from a high class French cafe´/bistro, with Spiced Squid with fresh chillis and harissa mayonnaise (£11) and Dressed Crab (£11.50), but my choice was the Salt and Pepper Squid (£11), which had thin and crispy strips of squid accompanied by a lovely homemade crunchy tartare sauce. My wife fancied two of the mains so asked if they could do a starter portion of the Seasonal Risotto, and like the good restaurant that they are, their kitchen was able to accommodate the request. Risotto on the face of it appears easy to cook, as it is just rice with a few additional ingredients, right? Wrong, risotto, although simple, is actually very hard to do properly, but our portion made us wish that we had just had the larger main portion as the rich and moist mushrooms complemented the just crisp rice to give us a perfect risotto. The main courses are equally enticing and I wanted something I wouldn’t normally choose but that would satisfy my hunger. I scanned the menu and there was only one choice, a Smoked Haddock and Wester Ross Salmon Fishcake with Salmorejo sauce, spinach herb and tomato relish (£16), with a side of Villandry Aspen chips (£6.50), which were light and crispy chips tossed with parmesan and white truffle oil. When I cut through the fabulously crispy outer shell I was rewarded with flaky white haddock interlaced with pink salmon, and the tomato relish was refreshing. This was accompanied with crispy fries subtly flavoured with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese. Truly marvellous! My wife opted for the Villandry Burger with cheddar cheese on a sourdough bun served with salsa and chips (£14), and I think this must be one of the best burgers she or I have had. The meat was well-seasoned and so succulent that the juices seeped out into the bun making it delightfully gooey. A little difficult to eat genteelly, but perfect on your taste buds.
Villandry also doesn’t disappoint with its dessert offerings, with Irish Coffee Cre`me Brulee (£6.50), very tempting, but my wife selected the Warm Chocolate Fondant (£7.50), which was a bundle of rich chocolate fudge joy, and I plumped for the Villandry Pudding Platter (£11), which offered a small piece of a number of desserts. This was nice, but I realised that although I got to taste a mouthful of a number of the desserts, in many cases that wasn’t enough, so no more hedging my bets in future and I will just select one.
Villandry has an extensive wine list, as you would expect, which caters for all tastes and budgets, and as mentioned it has an unlimited prosecco weekend brunch offering, where staff ensure your glass stays full for the whole two hours. This offer includes a select choice of offerings from the breakfast and dinner menus as well as a cake platter and choices of pastries. As well as prosecco there is unlimited tea, coffee and orange juice. Other special offers include a steak night on Friday (£20), three small plates and a bottle of prosecco for (£26), or two beers for (£18.50), Monday to Saturday between 5 and 7pm, and on Monday you can celebrate the start of the week with Lobster Night where you can get a whole fresh lobster with chips and salad for £24.
Villandry St James's is a super place to meet up with friends and enjoy good food and fine wine which matches the palatial surroundings, and don’t forget the pastries/cakes as they are totally moreish.
12 Waterloo Place, Mayfair, London, SW1Y 4AU Telephone: 020 7930 3305
Website: www.villandry.com/st-james
