londoner2304
Google
This was a sixth visit to the rapidly growing group of eateries owned by George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev. I have now come to expect beautiful interiors and Fantomas definitely lived up to this, with its earthy tones and fully exposed kitchen including a prime view of Chris Denney in action providing a very nice setting for our meal (note there is a second section of the restaurant which has no kitchen views). While clearly high end the atmosphere remained comfortable and casual on this wintry Saturday evening.
As a family of 2 adults and 2 young kids we ordered the focaccia, chicken liver parfait, mutton salami, pear, scallop, lamb shoulder ragu, veal sweetbreads, John Dory, and 2 of the beef fillets. For dessert we tried the Gariguette strawberries, creme caramel and the chocolate bar. The food was excellent and we particularly enjoyed the chicken liver parfait, John Dory, the beef, and most of all the strawberries and creme caramel desserts, both of which we ordered a second portion of! (in fairness the portion sizes are on the smaller side across the menu). I also enjoyed a couple of their wines by the glass, most notably the 1999 Tokaji served with my dessert.
Service was another strong point. We were very well looked after by the friendly staff and the food arrived at a speedy pace which is our preference. The bill for our family dinner came to a whopping £501, of which £120 was spent on drinks. Deceivingly high prices is the norm within this group of restaurants but today was the clear “winner” of the six venues we have tried to date! That said, they have somehow found a winning formula of ticking all the boxes across food, service and ambience, to the extent that I’m happy to keep returning. Even the little things like giving us tables with more than enough space or providing colouring pens for the kids (quite rare for restaurants at this price point) show the level of detail that has been put into enhancing the experience for their guests. I would certainly return to Fantomas, which is now in my top 3 of the group alongside Lita and Belvedere, but before that there’s still Pinna to try out and apparently there’s yet another new venue in the pipeline!
