Dining inside a department store is always something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, if the department store is located within a city’s most iconic shopping area, there will be a sense of grandeur and raised expectations, especially if the restaurant is lurking on one of the top floors of the shop. On the other, the establishment is faced with all the usual challenges of opening a top-end restaurant – attracting the right clientele, making sure that the menu is top-notch, having a superb atmosphere and a real buzz to it – which can be exacerbated by the knowledge that they will be working within an existing space that can only have so much done with it. In other words, it’s a challenge, but an exciting challenge, and a great establishment will do something magnificent.
I’m happy to report that the latest opening within Harrods, The Grill on the Fifth, is indeed magnificent, and against stiff competition is one of the most exciting and successful carnivorous restaurants that I’ve eaten at in recent memory. You have to negotiate the various departments of Harrods in order to get there (top tip? Head straight to the Hans Road entrance, and go straight up to the fifth floor in the lift), but once in, you’re assured a memorable, hugely accomplished meal that’s taken from the realm of excellence to something even better thanks to the genuinely tireless efforts of the hugely accomplished staff.
When I turned up, I realised that, in a moment of carelessness, I had managed to book for a month hence: a degree of foolishness that many restaurants would have been annoyed by. However, nothing is too much trouble for the team at the Grill, and it was a matter of a couple of moments before I was sequestered in a corner table overlooking the open kitchen, with a particularly fine bourbon-based Old Fashioned sitting snugly in my hand, and the promise of a couple of snacks appearing imminently.
These duly arrived, in the form of short rib croquettes and a couple of baked oysters that had more than a passing resemblance to Oysters Rockefeller – a touch of luxury at a thoroughly reasonable price, and it duly set the tone for what I hoped would be a stunning meal.
Thankfully, I was not to be disappointed. Perhaps conscious of the rivalry that the ever-reliable Hawksmoor down the road offers, the Grill is an exercise in a game being upped. The starters are perhaps lower-key than the mains – the sea bream crudo is excellent, and the ‘faux meat fruit’ is a vegetarian take on the dish popularised by Heston Blumenthal at Dinner over the road, and just different enough from that one for the restaurant not to consider suing – but the fireworks really come with the mains.
There is a remarkable variety of different cuts of steak on offer, which vary from a fine British fillet to a truly delicious USDA rib-eye, and they’re served with three different kinds of sauce, including the best bearnaise I can remember having for months, to say nothing of both bone marrow mash and Koffmann fries. In a nod to something that isn’t either meat or pure carbs, we order a side of carrots that come complete with a kind of dukkah; they’re sublime.
And when we ask the sommelier for a recommendation on the wine list, his suggestion of a 2018 Chateau Potensac Medoc is about as perfect an accompaniment as could be imagined. This isn’t just good, it’s great. And the presence of a well-known A-list actress on the next door table (propriety dictates she shall remain nameless, but think Succession and Ted Lasso and you’ve got it) was the icing on this particular cake.
We were close to bursting point, talking of cake, but we just about managed a couple of superb puddings, a selection of tiny chocolate bonbons and a neat twist on a tiramisu that packed a coffee-laden hit that meant that the obligatory accompanying espresso martini was almost, but not quite, overkill. “Would you like anything else?” our excellent waiter asked, but we were hors de combat. Still, as we happily left, there can be no doubt that Harrods has another winner here, and that, sometimes, the sublime can be found in unlikely places.
The Grill on Fifth, Fifth Floor, Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7XL. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.harrods.com.
