Gordon Ramsay's York and Albany

I conveniently live a 10 minute walk away from the York & Albany,  one of Gordon Ramsay's portfolio of restaurants.  This place is quite unique in that it exists as a small boutique hotel as well as restaurant. It is situated neatly opposite the north east corner of Regent's Park and more or less at the end of Camden's Parkway, which itself is full of interesting eateries. I had not eaten here for 2 years and since some of Gordon Ramsay's shows have cemented themselves on Italian television, I thought it would be interesting to take  my in laws from Italy, who were over in London for few days, and check out some of Gordon's food. 


 The interior's decor and feel certainly matches its classic Georgian exterior. Stylishly decorated, I really like the open feel. Airy in summer, cosy in winter type of place. You have, depending on how busy they are, a choice of three different areas to sit and enjoy your food: a very comfortable front bar area, or the spacious conservatory or the atmospherically low lit downstairs seating area which has an added interest in that  you can see the open kitchen in action. Each offers a different feel, all equally pleasant.

Service was as expected good. Friendly and welcoming, we were soon seated and the pleasant waiter did a good job throughout the meal bar not explaining particularly well what Spatzle were (a type German pasta we later found out). 

The menu was varied though for vegetarians definitely a bit limited. To get things rolling, I very much recommend any of the 2 starter plates of either nuts/olives + Manchego cheese or Hummus/Aubergine dips. The bread too was delicious. However, when it came to the main courses the only options on offer were the ubiquitous pasta or pizza, the latter supposedly cooked in a wood fire oven. Shame really since the other main meat/fish courses looked a little more sophisticated. Still maybe the pasta would over deliver. 

We were in four and our unofficial judging panel consisted of an Italian-American (who went for the burger and fries), a  Italian die hard pizza lover (who went for the Margherita pizza), a second more adventurous Italian (who opted for the salmon) and my good self (Orechiette pasta with broad beans, mint and Spanish artisan cheese). The choices were varied to say the least and it would be interesting  to see how well the Y&A delivered.

Verdicts: 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down.

The burger though visually impressive with its generously sized burger meat was under seasoned. I tried one of chunky French fries. Its consistency was unlike anything I had before. Not in a bad way just very different.The pizza was supposedly cooked in a wood fired oven but when leaving we had a peep at the room next door where the pizza is prepared and the oven looked nothing like the classical Italian wood fire oven you find in pizzarias all over Italy. The slice of pizza kindly offered to me to sample was unfortunately distinctly average.I have definitely had much better.

The salmon was by all accounts very good. The celeriac and samphire complemented nicely, though again I thought the portions were on the small side. The pasta of Orrechiette with Spanish artisan cheese was very good. It left me wanting more…much more. I wished I’d ordered the larger option instead of smaller and side salad which was disappointingly meagre and badly dressed. I wish restaurants would offer salads that actually fill a decent sized salad bowl.

                                                      

The dessert options were really tempting. So to sample, a dish of poached peaches, blueberry financier and almond ice cream made its way to our table, and unsurprisingly, was soon polished off.

And so to wrap up the meal, a god coffee and the bill sat side by side on the table. The coffe was good but the bill felt as pleasant as a kick in the nuts. Pricing is where York and Albany felt short. If they are looking for repeat custom then surely customers have to be delighted with the food and the experience. We are after all buying into Gordon's reputation. For me the York and Albany delivered but did not delight enough to justify their prices.If they are looking to fill the place then they need to increase their portion sizes or reduce their prices. Granted it was Tuesday lunchtime but we were the only ones in there bar a couple of tables in the front bar. I bet any of the other Parkway restaurants down the road were much busier. A bit more generosity with the pasta, a bigger salad and an extra scoop of ice cream would have wooed me. This is after all  probably the type of place where you might come for a treat. So upon reflection, York and Albany is a place where you definitely need to to opt for 3 courses or you will leave hungry or pissed with the bill...maybe both.


As someone stated, there are better ways of spending £100 for burger/fries, pizza, bowl of pasta and a small piece of grilled salmon especially bearing in mind that no wine was ordered and only one dessert taken . All of which makes me think that you'd eat just as well for half the price  a few yards down Parkway at any one of the other busy eateries.

Ultimately I felt we were paying for the name as well as the food … which was a shame because I’m not really into labels.