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From left: bartender Jorge Branco, owner Majid Elghzal, head chef Oliver Ruiz and manager Edward Knight |
Dune and out in the West End
GREAT news for theatregoers and people looking for a good bar and excellent food.
The large bar is cosy with plenty of space to sit at stools or chairs.
Well stocked, it offers a wide range of wines, Martinis, shooters, champagne and frozen cocktails – Winter Grasshopper crème de menthe, crème de cacao and cream blended with ice for £5.50 and the less common Maraschino Dune: blue vodka, raspberry liqueur and cherry nectar (£6) and Golden Aura: fresh ginger and lime topped with Bacardi rum (£6).
The excellent food offered at the restaurant can also be enjoyed at the bar in the form of appetisers of Mediterranean origin with names such as Sicilian, Italian, Catalan, Spanish and Provence ranging from £2.95 to £4.95.
They include grilled mini brochette of pork, tuna, tomato and quail egg and a grilled mini fish kebab marinated in lemon and coriander.
The bar set menu at £12.50 for two courses and £15.75 for three include: terrine of foie gras with wild mushroom, guinea fowl and figs or mozzarella, asparagus, tomatoes and rocket salad; grilled maigret of duck with pomme fondant, tomato confit and rosemary sauce or duo of sea bass and salmon with rice pilaf, spinach and butter sauce. Owner Majid has worked in the industry for many years and with the Dune he has fulfilled his ambition to own a restaurant.
Married with four children, Majid met his Belgium wife in Morocco in l975 as a student. Since then he has been planning the perfect restaurant.
When he saw 11 Haymarket he reversed the layout and positioned the bar in the front with the restaurant in the back.
A wise decision – the contrast between the front bar with music and the quiet ambience of the restaurant is stark and works extremely well.
Flanked by two cabinets – one housing champagne and the other collectors’ bottles such as a Chateau Ausone 1960 — you enter a long room in the shape of a nave with high ceilings and three imposing chandeliers in the middle.
Custom-made wall lights, table settings with embroidered long cloth mats and matching napkins and an imposing Egyptian painting, all add to its opulent surroundings.
My friend and I reviewed the imaginative menu and chose Moroccan cromesquis of goats cheese with a ragout of beans and smoked duck breast for £7.25.
Millefeuille of smoked salmon with parmesan served with a cucumber and mint crème fraiche salad for £7.50.
Fillet of pork bayonne marinated in garlic served with figs, fondant potatoes, porcini and a sauce diable (£15.75). Medallions of veal blanquete with spring vegetables and porcini mushrooms (£18.75).
From the breads (white, brown, anchovy and nuts) baked on the premises to the poached pears for dessert, everything we had was superb in quality and presentation.
Young chef Oliver Ruiz is a star. The well balanced menu includes exotic dishes with fish, chicken, veal, pork, lamb, steak and a beef estouffade a l’Italienne marinated in red wine with wild mushrooms and black olives £17.95 but the chef will prepare a grilled fillet of dover dole or fillet steak to order.
With a good selection of wines by the glass we chose the Chateau La Cote de Mons, Cordier Bordeau (£3.90) and Don Jacobo Rioja Blanco (£4.15); Veramonte Merlot (£4.50) and Fortius Reserva Navarra, Spain (£4.75).
The wine list included my favourites Sancerre Rose Le Rabault at £29.75 and Louis Roederer Cristal Brut l997 £250.
Dune Restaurant and Bar
11 Haymarket, SW1
020 7839 2424 |
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