Rating
In A Word
Categorical
Cuisine
Modern British
Appeals To
Marlyeboners – I HAVE WANTED TO USE THAT PHRASE FOR MONTHS
I dunno… everybody with the budget to stand it? Expect mid-high prices, a highly likelyhood of consistently good food, a reasonably comprehensive selection of drinks at the bar, and no particular specialism that I can make out.
It’s certainly an impressive place to take a date/client but still stays on the better side of not too ostentatious.
Tasting Britain goes to Marylebone, eats stuff
If your liver was a person, who would it be? This thought creeps into my head as I stare at 108 Marylebone’s well organised and somewhat reflective bar. Mine, I believe, would be a bit like Ned Flanders, generally mild mannered, hard working, generally keeping its shit together, but occasionally prone to emotional outbursts and periods of existential angst.
So why am I talking about my liver like it’s a person? I don’t know – let me tell you about 108 Marylebone instead…
The restaurant recently rebranded and decided to let everybody know about it. This means that the likes of me (not really the kind of person they let into Marylebone without a reason) again finds himself rubbing shoulders with people with side parted hairstyles and wearing pinstripe suits.
We show up half an hour early with my good buddy Ben in tow, completely unsure of what to expect, but pretty sure that there will be a huge selection of wine and whisky (both assumptions happily proven correct).
After being seated, 108’s Marketing Manager comes over and asks ‘which one of you is Jack?’. This reminds me of secondary school and a small part of me thinks it’s going to be the preamble to a bollocking or something, but she’s actually just interested in finding out what exactly the point of Tasting Britain is.
And what is the point of Tasting Britain anyway? Is it food? Who knows.
The waiter is, for lack of a better phrase, extremely ‘bubbly’ and very French – with a bow tie and the habit of bowing whilst referring to me and Ben as ‘gents’ (l3l). His energy is infectious – suddenly I feel like life has meaning and I need to order ALL the dishes, yes! They’re delicious! OK! All the dishes!
Then he disappears for a bit and another waitress comes by. I shit you not, this woman is wearing jodhpurs and a tweed shirt. Have I missed something? Is this a Marylebone trend? Something like Gangnam style (i.e the horseriding thing?) I have never seen the likes of it before.
Costumes aside, 108 plays the kind of low volume jazz music which appears to be mandatory in all swanky London hotel restaurants. Good plan I suppose.
Decor
I guess you might describe the design and layout as ‘spacious’. More of those stained mirrors and luxuriant red sofa thingies that seem to be features in nice places where you can stay the night. The lights are lowered at 730pm for optimal romantic atmosphere.
Ben describes the decor as “antique-y” which is better than what I could come up with. Then again he’s a designer so I guess he should know this stuff.
The Food
They describe their style as ‘modern British’ – which seems to mean taking the best bits of various European cuisines and combining it. Like a ‘Now That’s What I Call Music!’ album, but for European food. *shrugs*
Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs £11.5
As someone with an unnatural interest in salmon, I’ve probably eaten more than my fair share in this two and a half decade incarnation as a human. THIS SALMON THOUGH.
There was something simultaneously creamy and sweet (not a flavour combo I have ever experienced in oily fish before) – this possibly came from the eggs, which were legendary. I am told by our waiter that this is ‘Scottish style’.
Rib eye steak (8oz) £27
A good steak, but not a great steak, that gets better (and less cooked) as I cut into the middle. I’m pretty sure I took a picture of this one but have NO idea where it went.
The hard to identify brown thing served, alone, beside the steak is pure caramelised onion. It is unidentifyable and somewhat worrying in appearance until tasted…and then it is delicious.
It goes great with the wine – the ‘burnt notes’ in the two flavours having sex in my mouth- which sounds terrible, but isn’t (or maybe it is). £27 feels like a lot for an 8oz rib eye.
Honey glazed heritage carrots £4.50
I assume that the dark red ones are some obscure variety of heritage carrot I have never tried before. Al dente, slightly sweet (honey roasted). Good carrots, not great carrots – only really difference in their appearance.
East Sussex heritage tomato £4.50
108 have avoided the trap of slathering their vegetables in butter or some kind of dressing, so you basically get some ripe tomatoes in multiple varieties . So this is a salad that is essentially healthy – sans the 10 billion calories of dressing or mysterious butter that other restaurants like to put on it. …a proper salad!
At this point our waiter comes to clean the plate with a serviette and table knife, which seems like much ado about nothing – that kind of thing they do in fancy restaurants. I am OK with a few breadcrumbs on the table and feel kinda bad that we’ve inconvenienced him enough to have to do this. Go have a smoke or something, bro.
Then an African family with a baby appears. Said baby is completely quiet and I wonder if it is some kind of well trained journalism baby that is more observant than the regular bambino. I don’t get to test my assumption as said family mysteriously dematerialises whilst I’m not looking, leaving not a single trace that they were there…
The Drink
108 has a rather huge drinks menu – literally, the drinks menu is larger than the food menu (as in…physically). They boast a large selection of wines, ranging from relatively low price to the ones that atomize your wallet.
There’s an average sized selection of cocktails. I was given a menu to take home for reference but left it there because I am bad at that kind of thing. And a fair amount of vinos, along with the a relatively small selection of gins and the kinda stuff you expect in a bar.
Zinfandel, Ravenswood ‘Old Vine’, 2010 £48
This one doesn’t disappoint – though at the price I was hoping for something a little better. 14.5% ABV with cherries and dark fruit blasted into the back of your head, it was strong enough to pair with everything (by making the taste of everything its bitch). My kinda wine.
Silver Needle Tea
I ended the meal on this. When you order silver needle, you’re kinda hoping for loose leaf tea and subtle white tea kinda flavours. This is neither, being a bit too bitter and clashing with the lingering taste of red wine. 🙁
Caol Ila 12 £9
Nuked palette cannot be trusted, but nuked palette also says that it’s not as good as Lagavulin 16. Can’t complain about Islay whisky, so ’twas a fine digestif.
The Verdict
It’s not often that I get stuck when trying to define the uniqueness of a restaurant – but 108 has done this. This isn’t a bad thing at all, however – its prices are what you would expect for this level of quality… and believe me – it is quality.
It is genuinely hard to say much about 108 that paints it as particularly quirky, or all that much different from any high end restaurant attached to a large hotel chain. It is, at its core, a hotel restaurant doing the Modern British thing very well.
It doesn’t stray too far from the classy hotel restaurant stereotype, but I guess some people just want to do the Modern British cuisine thing and maybe watch a guy slice bread in front of them. I would happily go back.
Edit: I have been told that they’re planning to hold whisky tastings and so I am very probably AM going back.
The Details
Within The Marylebone Hotel
108 Marylebone Ln
Marylebone,
London W1U 2QE
http://108brasserie.com/