Review: Petrus, 24 April 2008

A trip to Petrus was part of my planned celebrations for The Darling G's xxth Birthday.

First thing to say is that it wasn't particularly easy to get a reservation - and even with over 4 weeks' notice, the only time they could fit us in was 2215 on the Thursday night, which was quite amazing really. That said, we did get called the day before and offered a 2115 seat, which was much more bearable!

As for a review - what can anyone say about this place that hasn't already been said?

We went for the 8-course 'Tasting Menu', which started with an astonishing Jerusalem Artichoke soup and then took us through Foie Gras, Turbot with Liquorice, Saddle of Venison and many more.

The food was just beautiful, however the most amazing thing about the restaurant wasn't the food - it was the service! It seemed that there were individual waiters not for each table, but for each activity - so one waiter would remove our plates, another our glasses, a third would bring the fresh wine glasses, the sommelier bring the next glass of wine, then a runner would appear with your dish on a tray, and he would wait for the Head Waiter, who would then place your plate in front of you with a theatrical flourish. It made for great entertainment.

One word of warning - normally when you have a tasting menu, there are 'matched wines' and you get a small amount of the Sommelier's recommended wine with each course. While this isn't something that is specifically offered at Petrus, they will happily match wines for you - however they give a full, large glass of each wine with each course, which meant that by dessert our tastebuds were more than a little blunted by the quantity of alcohol!

As we were Petrus virgins, we were thoughtfully given a copy of the Menu, signed by Marcus Wareing himself, which is a lovely touch and will no doubt bring back memories in the future.

All told, then, an absolutely stunning meal and experience - but equally stunning was the final bill, which came to a heart-stopping (if not sobering) £396 including service! My bank account will be feeling dinner at Petrus long after my stomach has forgotten it...

So - a beautiful place, wonderful food, fantastic service. But definitely, given the cost, a once-in-a-lifetime meal.

Petrus Restaurant
The Berkeley
Wilton Place
Knightsbridge
London
SW1X 7RL
Tel: 020 7235 1200