A lesson in red cred

10 April 2012

This review was first published in February 2001

Nowadays even landlords are getting in on the branding act. Shaftesbury plc, which is redeveloping the area positioned a while back somewhat hopefully as WoHo (west of Soho), have named its project Carnaby (www.carnaby.co.uk).

The 34 restaurant, bar and café units currently in their portfolio benefit from corporate publicity, which is how I first heard that chef Robert "Bobby" Gutteridge is cooking at BAR RED AND RESTAURANT which opened in Kingly Street just before Christmas.

Gutteridge cooked memorably at the English restaurant Alfred and he has brought a similarly straightforward, vigorous approach to the menu at Red, a self-consciously designed ground floor (bar) and basement (restaurant) premises which, when more or less empty on a cold Monday night, makes you wonder what the owners considered would be its particular allure in a street packed with bars and restaurants. The female bouncer outside the door had no one save us to bounce but, notwithstanding (that was her job), she let us in graciously.

The dishes we tried were well prepared. Special mention goes to roast Jerusalem artichoke, wild mushroom and bean salad; pan-fried tender calves liver with creamy mash, sweet casseroled red cabbage and spinach; short-horn rib steak with a large pat of horseradish butter and roasted root vegetables. Chips looked great but didn't taste that way. Service was intelligent and efficient but, with no one else eating, not put to the strictest of tests. The wine list, not compiled by rote, rewards careful study. Mineral water at £3.80 a bottle requires measured drinking.

House cocktails explore the colour red, eg, Red Rose - Absolut Mandarin, Mandarine liqueur, blood-orange purée, sugar syrup with a float of Perrier Jouet - as does the decor with its specialist finish red plaster walls, red-tinted glass frontage and red leather-effect panels framing the downstairs wine store. It's as good a theme as any, I suppose.

Red Bar and Restaurant
5 Kingly Street, W1

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