CUT
The London restaurant scene is so effervescent and so varied; you might wonder what a Californian chef has to bring to the table, other than a splash of sunshine.
In the case of Wolfgang Puck, the answer is a lot. Though less well known in Europe, Puck is one of the titans of the American food world. Even his Shakespeare-meets-Mozart moniker is redolent of his culinary prodigy. Puck presides over about 20 fine-dining restaurants, including one at the revamped Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, and he’s best known for movie-star spangled Spago and his Oscar after-parties. He owns over 50 Wolfgang Puck Express venues, and he peddles everything from ready meals to cookware. Forbes estimates that his food empire is worth over $400m.
CUT, at 45 Park Lane, is Puck’s first European outpost, and I am here one April afternoon for lunch with my old pal Phil. When menus are heavily flesh-focused (as CUT’s is), Phil is my number one partner-in-crime; the experience would be wasted on my vegetarian fiancé.
Meat – more particularly beef – may be the menu’s mainstay, but steakhouse this is not. Steak palace more accurately describes the opulent, high-ceilinged space that CUT inhabits. A Damien Hirst sits behind us, whilst shimmering blimp-like chandeliers droop down gracefully from above.
Décor pales into insignificance once the food arrives. My companion’s crab and lobster cocktail was much the best dish of its kind I have tasted. The portion was colossal; the vibrantly fresh seafood mingled happily with great avocado, the Marie Rose sauce and the ensemble was hugely enlivened by fresh basil and a spicy tomato horseradish. My Austrian oxtail bouillon, chervil, bone marrow dumplings, was a hearty and authentic nod to Puck’s central European roots, and a nice segue to the steak.
The steaks are as fine as any you will find in London. They are right up there with Hawksmoor and Goodman: not necessarily better but more refined -- posh and almost ladylike in their elegance. If you want a bit of spice, the Armagnac and green peppercorn sauce will give you a little body heat. If you’re feeling more butch, the house-made steak sauce is as assertive as a drunk in a pub.
The seasoning is spot on, dish after dish, and the meat arrives well charred and as pink as you like in the middle.
On your behalf, I also tried the top-priced New York steak 6 ounce Australian Wagyu, Black Angus. This is soft and buttery and might melt your heart as well as your wallet; I cannot recall ever having cut steak with a spoon.
The sides of tempura onion rings are brilliant -- crisp as a cash-machine fiver -- the French fries with herbs are exemplary, and the wild field mushrooms, Japanese shishito peppers are tops. The desserts are big and American and inventive; though somewhat conquered by the feast we’d just enjoyed, we elected to share a chocolate brownie with peanut butter and white chocolate ganache and yoghurt sorbet; it was a triumph.
The wine list offers the best American options I have come across in London and they are not all expensive. Vanessa Cinti is a sommelier I would trust with my cash. She’s a Puck veteran, as are most of the chef’s team, headed by Executive Chef David McIntyre.
Excitingly, breakfast and brunch, offering contemporary interpretations of classic breakfast fare both from England and the United States are available, for the first time at a CUT restaurant, in the London establishment. With delectable fried brioche and slow poached organic eggs lavishly topped with rich black truffle emulsion juxtaposed with healthier options such as grapefruit granite; CUT is arguably the new power breakfast hotspot in London for both business and pleasure.
CUT serves some of the finest food in the UK, with great ingredients perfectly cooked and expertly seasoned. It’s the kind of quality achieved only with a lifetime of experience and months of practice.
CUT at 45 Park Lane, W1K 1QA.
To book, call +44-20-7493-4554
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