The beautiful Stafford Hotel has graced historic and elegant St James in London for over 100 years, and is something of a grand old lady of the district. But now its popular dining room The Game Bird has been given a fresh twist with the arrival of celebrated Michelin-starred Lisa Goodwin-Allen, pictured above, who has overseen a new menu which showcases the finest British produce and supports many artisan producers, drawing on Lisa’s experience from Michelin-starred Northcote in Lancashire.
The Stafford says that ‘Together, Lisa and Executive Chef Jozef Rogulski have created a menu overflowing with an innovative combination of familiar favourites and delicious surprises’. We were not disappointed….
We entered The Stafford on a chilly autumn evening and found the welcoming Game Bird restaurant tucked just to the left, a stylish jewel of a room with colourful furnishings and artworks which create a splash against the neutral décor and the fine wood panelling of the imposing old bar.
Over a nostalgic Sidecar cocktail we examined the menu, which is a mix of the traditional and the unexpected. We could have started with a selection of H. Forman & Son smoked salmon, served tableside from the restaurant’s bespoke trolley, which looked impressive, or an interesting sounding Gala’Pie’,with pressed pork, beer onions and brown sauce, or Lancashire three beets, with frozen Dorset ash goat’s cheese and roasted hazelnuts. After much deliberation and slow consumption of the Sidecar, we chose the crispy day boat turbot with warm tartare sauce which was exceptional and very pretty on the plate, and a melt in the mouth disc of hand cut aged beef tartare with charcoal mayonnaise.
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