The Game restaurant that Rules

10 April 2012

This review was first published in September 1999

Any restaurant that bids for your attention with the boast 'London's oldest restaurant - founded 1798' sends a shiver down the spine of anyone wary of tourist traps. Rules comes with 200 years of baggage, some of it good and some of it bad. Your parents, even grandparents, may have been to Rules. Long-dead people, like Dickens and Thackeray, dined here. And what of those who follow in their wake?

Earnest American tourists and nervously giggling Japanese ones are all drawn to Maiden Lane by the prospect of dinner served with a chunk of history. A look around will confirm that if you're a stressed-out suit with foreign colleagues, overseas customers or even long-lost Antipodean relatives to entertain, Rules is the number-one choice. What a fierce burden of expectation to put on any restaurant - the responsibility for carrying the torch for British food. Particularly as British cuisine has for so long had so little to be proud about.

Twenty-five years ago, Rules (then a mere 175 years in the business) was a shabby, musty, formal sort of place. The food was OK and the customers put up with a lot of shortcomings due to inexplicable pangs of loyalty. But today things are very different. Rules is now in the hands of John Mayhew (believe it or not, only the fourth proprietor) and he has brought in David Chambers, formerly executive chef at the Hilton on Park Lane. The menu is still long, and still trad, but game is to the forefront and a good deal of it comes directly from Mayhew's estate in the High Pennines, Lartington Hall Park near Barnard Castle in Co Durham.

From an old and sleepy place, the restaurant has turned into a busy and bustling one. There seems to be a spring in the step of the waiting staff and it feels less clubby and more like a brasserie. The decor has remained the same (the last time they tried to mess with Rules, John Betjeman lead the fight to save it). With its stunning glass ceiling, serried ranks of cartoons, and faded red velvet, the main dining room features all that was best about Victorian and Edwardian style.

The menu is long. Under the banner 'We specialise in classic game cookery' the headings read: feathered and furred game; freshwater and sea fish; prime Aberdeen Angus beef. Starters include: a well-executed terrine of foie gras and pigeon served with walnut and raisin bread; mussel and scallop soup with saffron and vermouth; and a very fine carpaccio of venison - the venison is very good.

Unsurprisingly, the fish dishes are traditional. It's a delight to see a palpably French couple quietly dissecting a 28-ounce Dover sole with studied concentration and obvious delight. The there's the poached Finnan haddock in mussel and saffron broth, with basil, tomato and olive mash. The mash may not be strictly British - but it is delicious and when you taste it you'll forgive it for immigrating.

The game is good. Roast grouse, with game chips made from deep-fried root vegetables. Simply roasted partridge. Exceptionally good 'Wild Highland Red Deer', served with a celeriac and potato gratin and honeyed parsnip - very tender meat, an aeon away from the shoe leather of yesteryear. Or there's fallow deer and, verging on the trendy, 'shank of venison'. As the season progresses there will be pheasant, woodcock and snipe.

And, there's draught beer in silver mugs and a decent house claret which comes to the table old-style, in a claret jug. Puddings are comfortable and traditional, neither the steamed pudding nor custard will become endangered species while Rules is prospering. Wend your way through to the heading on the menu offering 'cheese and savouries'. Look over a whole Stilton wrapped in a napkin, or stretch for mushrooms on toast with walnuts.

There's something of a watchword among foodies that one of the keys to eating well is to start with top-quality ingredients and then not spoil them too much in the cooking. David Chambers and his team at Rules understand this ? and the result is a succession of good, simple, traditional dishes. And not a stick of lemon grass in sight.

35 Maiden Lane, WC2 (0171-836 5314). Daily noon-midnight.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in