Restaurant Review: Gauthier Soho

I don't think I've ever spent £400 on a meal for two before...!

Let's get that out of the way first. We decided to go out to celebrate our wedding anniversary, the completion of my MSc, Liz being appointed to a committee, and... you know what? Fuck you! It has been a bastard of a pandemic and we wanted a night of ridiculously extravagant luxury dining - and boy did we get it!

Gauthier is a vegan dining experience like nothing I've had before. We took the "Grand Dîner" tasting menu. 11-courses of delicious morsels. Each one an exercise in molecular gastronomy, subtle flavours, and inventive creations.

The dining room itself is unpretentious. Cosy tables, soft lighting, friendly staff. Because it is a set menu there is a slight air of a factory line about it - as the table next to you gets a course, you get to hear the waiter's patter about the ingredients and pairing. Then they visit you and you get to hear it again.

The staff were informative - giving detailed descriptions of the food and wine. They were happy to answer questions and made the whole experienced relaxed and delightful.

It's impossible to convey just how gorgeous the dishes are. There's only a mouthful or two, but I certainly wasn't left starving by the end of it. I'm not a wine snob so, despite the best efforts of the sommelier, I couldn't recall any of their names. But each glass worked to complement the flavours of the dishes in front of us.

Over the course of a couple of hours, we tried:

• Shiitake / Kombu lemon caviar & Tapioca / Sweet Potato, Smoke and Lime
  • The most exquisite crunch of a cracker paired with the intense flavours of the toppings. A perfect start to a meal. Crisp and sensuous. A note for the humourless "we want plates" crowd - this was served on a box of moss. Deal with it, haters.
• Lettuce, Watercress, Brioche Crunch, Herbs
  • The brioche was luminous green inside, with a faintly greasy texture. It did the job of mopping up the foam which was also green. But, again, a great pairing of flavours. It felt odd to be sat in a high-class establishment while tearing at such a cartoonish piece of bread. But each bite was just perfect - especially when sampled with a delightful white wine.
• Jerusalem Artichokes - Hazelnut - Chive
  • I've never had an artichoke like this. Cooked until tender, almost melt-in-the-mouth. Plated and portioned with care so that none of the strong flavours overpowered each other.
• Roscoff Onion - Parsley - Sea lettuce
  • Onion three ways! Pickled, marmaladed, and... look, I was 4 glasses of very agreeable wine in by this point and my concentration was starting to slip. As a medley it worked wonderfully - really showcasing the versatility of the humble onion.
• Truffle - Dashi, Soft Berlingot
  • I adore freshly shaved truffles. None of this synthetic truffle oil nonsense, this was the real deal. The pasta was fresh and perfectly al dente. I only wish it had come with a tiny square of bread so I could mop up the remainder of the sauce. This didn't seem like the sort of place where you could run your finger around the plate!
• Charcoal, Samphire & Nori, Juniper Hollandaise
  • This dishes started getting more inventive and flamboyant at this point. Yes, it's huge plates with tiny portions - but they're such a treat for the eyes as with as the mouth. A tiny jug of sauce was elaborately and skilfully poured around the dishes at the table.
• Cube - Swede - Carrot - Horseradish
  • Now! This was interesting. A deconstructed roast dinner which came with a cube of 3D printed "meat". I've written before about the Redefine Meat Fake Steak - it's a strange experience. Liz and I argued over whether it was the same product served here. The waitress was happy to confirm that it was Redefine. How did this compare? Whereas the Unity Diner served a steak that had been seared on the outside, giving it a chewy texture, Gauthier's was much softer. It felt fattier and the individual strands parted easier. The flavour was much stronger. A result, we were told, of it being slow cooked for 24 hours.
• Waldorf
  • I'll cheerfully admit that, between the discussion of the steak and a wine-glass which was replenished between every course, I couldn't tell you a damned thing about this dish! I have memories of a blue-cheese style dressing which gently coated slivers of green apple. And a hazy notion that I wanted to steal the gorgeous bowl it was served in. Why, yes, I will try a drop more of the dessert wine! Let's see how it pairs with...
• Ice & Green - Citrus - Clémentine - Lovage
  • I like ice-cream, perhaps a little too much. So I was slightly disappointed with the size of this trio - a thimbleful each. But, again, this menu exudes quality over quantity. And quite right too! The citrus sorbet was somewhat unremarkable, a good palate cleanser. The clementine was the distilled essence of a thousand fruits packed into a delicate mouthful of chilled wonder. It was almost rude just how intense it was. Joyful. As for lovage? A savoury ice cream? Turns out that it is also perfect. I might have to petition Ben & Jerry to make me a tub-full of this. Do I have room for one more dessert? Well, as I'm here...
• Pear Chocolate Mirror
  • An outstanding finish. Whenever I make food with agar-agar it always ends up tasting mostly of agar-agar. But, in this, the pear was rich and fruity. The gold leaf on top was superfluous - but we're not at home to Mr & Mrs Cynicism tonight. Let's just accept that gold and biscuit go together and not have any argument. A sweet, salty, rich, chocolate, fruity explosion. So intense that I was glad that there were only a few forkfuls of it - otherwise I'd have been too full for...
• Petits fours
  • A couple miniature cakes, plated on a bed of cacao nibs. A superb end to a spectacular meal.

And, with that, we stumbled back into the night surrounded by the Soho revellers. Heads spinning and wallets aching.

The "Grand Dîner" is £95 per person. We also took the optional wine pairing, which was £75 each. Add a bottle of sparkling water and a tip, and there's very little change left from the thick end of a monkey.

Is that worth it? If you are looking for the most calories per quid, no. But that's not what you're here for. Utterly perfect flavours, wine that blows your socks off, little bites of perfection. Fundamentally, this is food that you'd never be able to recreate at home.

Would I eat at Gauthier again? If I had something worth celebrating, 100% yes. Their food is a well deserved present that you gift to yourself for a hard-won victory.

Reservations, unsurprisingly, are required.