The Midland Grand Kings Cross
Permanently Closed
Regal French fine dining with flaming seafood, lobster bisque, crab toast
Regal French fine dining with flaming seafood, lobster bisque, crab toast
"Even if the words ‘tweezer-y, new-age French tasting menu spot in King’s Cross’ prompt a throbbing eye-twitch for any escargot classicists, we promise that Victor Garvey At The Midland Grand is by no means boring. Lighting is seductive, a champagne trolley cruises around a room fit for the next Antoinette-coded glamathon drama, and the seafood boudin noir is set alight tableside. Don’t expect to leave in under two hours, even if you kick it a la carte—the seats are too easy to sink into and bidding adieu to the exceptional lobster bisque is no easy feat." - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, daisy meager, sinead cranna
"The Midland Grand is a grandiose dining room that turns every diner into a one-time member of monocle-wearing aristocracy. The restaurant, attached to the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in King’s Cross, is palatial but avoids veering into naffness while serving an elegant modern French tasting menu that matches this lofty energy. Every dish—like lobster with a brilliant seafood sausage, or a delicate gazpacho consommé—reinvents something familiar and perfectly complements the room’s OTT luxury." - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, sinead cranna, rianne shlebak
"The Midland Grand is a French fine dining restaurant inside the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel that makes most National Trust stately homes look like drive-thru McDonald’s. Aristocratic setting aside, the food served is also excellent and anyone who’s been to the chef’s Soho restaurant Sola is bound to be a fan. There were plenty of things that impressed us when we went, but a lobster dish that involved Thai-inspired bisque and a seafood boudin noir set on fire tableside was particularly memorable." - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, sinead cranna
"Victor Garvey At The Midland Grand is one of the few London restaurants where a frilly collar wouldn’t go amiss. It’s a French fine dining restaurant attached to the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel that’s as regal as a National Trust home and serves a flaming seafood boudin noir fit to ascend the throne. There are plenty of chi-chi fine dining restaurants in London, but few serve food as good as this one. By early evening this opulent room is full of disposable income and a legion of staff ready to try and accommodate any request. A menu that’s strictly tweezer-y, new-age French fine dining could make for a snoring combination with an affluent crowd, but is avoided thanks to the lights seductively dimming, the champagne trolley rolling, and explosively delicious dishes like native lobster with a faintly Thai-inspired bisque. photo credit: Jake Missing video credit: Jake Missing photo credit: Jake Missing Pause Unmute You can stick to a la carte or twist on two tasting menus. Either way, you’re unlikely to be getting out of The Midland Grand in under a couple of hours. The carpet is too plush and the seats too easy to sink into. A devilishly simple snack of a slice of tomato with sorbet and gazpacho consommé sets the tone for what’s ahead. Still, elegantly cutting a firm tomato with a spoon is no mean feat. We showed our lack of finishing school by getting the bread knife involved. If you aren’t one for vinegar foams or the occasional tableside flamethrower silliness, then The Midland Grand will probably still fall into the stuffy category for you. It’s not somewhere you can let loose (even if Gothic Bar next door sounds like it’s pumping on a Friday night) but it’s something that’s even rarer these days: a three-figure restaurant experience that’s worth every penny. Food Rundown Menu Experience This smaller seven-course tasting menu is likely to change but here are a few highlights that we ate: Le Tourteau A bowl of green sorbet and pistachio-coloured foam should (rightly) strike terror into anyone after a good meal, but this bowl of crab is one of the most delicious and creative fine dining dishes we’ve eaten in a while. The sweet pea sorbet is gentle, the Devon crab buttery, and the seaweed vinegar foam gives a subtle bit of zing. photo credit: Jake Missing Le Homard The Thai-inspired lobster bisque is the highlight of this plate. It’s got an ocean’s load of depth. Although the seafood boudin noir (a sausage made with the offcuts of lobster and scallop) that’s set on fire beside you is close behind. “Careful” the server will say, “that’s a hot rock”. PlayMute video credit: Jake Missing L’Agneau A single lamb chop that seems to channel the flavour of every bleating lamb the world over, this is another dish that results in every last smear of sauce being wiped up. photo credit: Jake Missing L'Opera If we were in the kitchen, we’d throw in the towel and slice up a Viennetta at this point. Not here. It’s a mixture of rich 80% chocolate, coffee, and almond. A classic combination that comes in the form of rich glistening spheres, smaller creamier ones, a quenelle of ice cream, and hours of painstaking technique that we demolished. photo credit: Jake Missing" - Jake Missing
"The St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel—home to moody drinking den, Gothic Bar—has a new restaurant, Victor Garvey at The Midland Grand. The Michelin-star chef will be taking over The Midland Grand Dining Room and bringing a revamped French haute cuisine menu with him. Expect dishes like onion gratin soup with wagyu cheek and four-year-old comté, plus a 13-course set menu for £199 that includes ‘grapefruit textures’." - team infatuation
