- The Service Award 2022
A meal at The Ritz must be one of life’s finest pleasures. To sit and eat among the gilt mirrors, ornate gold chandeliers and pink colour palette (designed to complement a lady’s blush make-up) is to have a dining experience like no other in the country.
Overseen by executive chef John Williams, the restaurant is a standard bearer for opulent dining, with its food nothing short of immaculate. Williams has cooked at The Ritz for almost two decades, having spent nearly 40 years working in the kitchens of some of London’s most prestigious five-star hotels, and has gained a reputation for being one of this country’s finest practitioners of classic French food.
Williams actively pushes back against the notion of ‘traditional’ cooking, which he sees as stuffy, with his approach at The Ritz – one that finally won the restaurant a Michelin star in 2016 – to stay true to classic French dishes but modernise and lighten them where necessary. Diners can opt to eat à la carte or put themselves in the hands of Williams and his five or seven -course Epicurean menu where they can sample some of the most finely-tuned French cuisine this country has to offer.
Although if you really want to experience what the restaurant has to offer then the dishes it serves tableside (arts de la table), including beef wellington; hay-aged Bresse duck as well as the restaurant’s legendary crepes suzette, are a must-have. It’s not cheap but when eating at this level of luxury you wouldn’t expect it to be. But it is truly exceptional.
