What a difference a few months makes. I headed down to one of Jason Atherton’s latest restaurants, Sael, in the sleek surroundings of St James’s Market when it opened last October, with high expectations. Atherton has superseded his former mentor Gordon Ramsay as Britain’s restaurateur par excellence and has managed to keep a degree of consistency and excellence high across his many international restaurants.
After a highly enjoyable meal at Mary’s est 2024, on the site of his old Pollen Street Social flagship, I hoped for greatness, but what I got instead was a mixed bag, a sense of the restaurant still being in soft launch mode. I left slightly underwhelmed, admiring the room, the excellent staff and the ambition, but feeling that it had somehow not quite hit the mark.
Yet something funny happened. People who I respect kept telling me how good it was, and how Atherton, along with his head chef Dale Bainbridge – the former head chef at Pollen Street Social – had pulled something truly remarkable off; a mid-priced bistro-brasserie in central London that offered Michelin-quality dishes at fair, even generous costs.
As the murmurs gradually built to a roar, and after several disappointing experiences at much-hyped new places that lacked Atherton’s reassuring pedigree, I called up my friend Simon, who had originally visited Sael with me, and said “Look, we have some unfinished business to attend to. Are you game?”
He was, and so on a warm, unseasonably pleasant Thursday evening we headed over to Sael once again. First up was a cocktail in the upstairs bar, The Blind Pig, and immediately it was apparent how matters had changed since our first visit. Initially, we went into an atmosphere-less room where a startled barman asked “Are you friends of Jason?”
Now, it had the convivial hubbub of one of central London’s finest drinking spots, serving excellent cocktails with aplomb. My white chocolate and cinnamon Old Fashioned was superb, mixing sweetness and the kick of spirits to brilliant effect, but Simon’s Passion Berry & Apricot Sour was even better; the perfect curtain-raiser for what we had increasingly high hopes for.
They were met, and then some. The menu has been tweaked and massaged since our first visit, and it was gratifying to see that the dishes that worked well the first time have been kept on, while many of the ones that didn’t have been quietly jettisoned. Snacks of Marmite custard tart – complete with Umai caviar – and Koffmann potato with smoked cod’s roe could easily have come from the Pollen Street Social menu (where they, in fact, would be served up as canapes) and, accompanied by a glass of Hattingley sparkling English wine, it’s a superb start.
Things swiftly get even better with a couple of ‘proper’ starters of roasted figs with stracciatella and a fine, plump Orkney scallop, served on a bed of clams and smoked leeks. Accompanied by a glass of 2022 Ghislain Kohut Bourgogne white wine, this is as good as contemporary London dining gets.
We were promised a couple of surprises for the main course, and this duly arrived with two contrasted dishes that sum up the Sael experience in miniature. The ‘conventional’ dish is a beef and bone marrow pie that comes complete with snail ragout and mashed potato. It’s not attempting to reinvent the wheel but is nevertheless as good a pie as you’ll eat anywhere in Britain at the moment.
The slightly wilder other dish we tried was a lobster, prawn and scallop lasagna, as good a fish serving as anything that we’ve sampled for aeons. “This”, my chum opined between mouthfuls, “isn’t just good, it’s great.” What with the side dish of Koffmann chips with salt and vinegar – the chippie classic of your dreams – and a well-chosen 2023 Dolcetto d’Alba by the glass, Sael had, it is fair to say, redeemed itself and then some.
We somehow just about had space for a pair of excellent puddings, a jam ‘roly poly’ that resurrected the nursery desserts of an imagined youth and a Venezuelan chocolate tart with milk ice cream, accompanied, respectively, by a glass of Sauternes and a fine 20-year old port. Then it was just time for a Guinness-infused espresso martini (a treat left over from St Patrick’s Day) and then, a couple of very happy hours later, we were being thanked by the excellent maitre’d Giacomo. I cannot say how glad I was to have returned; to coin a phrase, it was the Sael of a century.
Chapeau, Monsieur Atherton, you’ve done it again.
Sael, 1 St James’ Market, London SW1Y 4QQ. For more information, including details of The Blind Pig and their Spotify selection, and for bookings, please visit www.saellondon.com.
