The Goring Dining Room

Exquisite Dining: Where Service Shines

On my recent rendezvous with gastronomic expectation at The Goring Dining Room, I discovered a bifurcation of experience which, like any good theatrical piece, stooped but didn’t quite fall. Let's start with the set—refurbished within an inch of its venerable life, it strives for elegance but just about clings to familiarity. Curtains wave politely from afar as if to deny what’s roaring right in front: blaring with techno EDM jazz that could easily awaken one’s past life. One can almost envision dear Aunt Mildred clutching her pearls over this modern audacity. Nevertheless, among elegantly spread tables where voices murmur in pleasure more than in disbelief, it's apparent that The Goring does cozy intimacy better than flash.

But then comes the Cesar dressing of a dining evening, the staff, whose attentiveness rivals that of doting parents on prom night, ever poised to ensure smiles both start and end the occasion. First off, the much-celebrated Beef Wellington arrives cloaked in smokey mythos but only delivers a whisper of drab flavours at center stage—a curtain call warranted perhaps, for a Ramsay-styled revival. The infamous omelette, though, sees redemption shimmer back into view courtesy of its gooey lobster duxelles melange, inciting spontaneous content nods from savvy patrons. Surely, the wine charmer sauntered with choice Sancerres to wash ambivalences away—empathy and cabernet wine merged in sommelier nirvana. All in all, set sail towards The Goring if divine hospitality sails the wind northwards in your seafaring heart; expectations might mix feelings more than oil does with vinegar, but adventure stirs with assurance still to beckon a worthy glare. — Penelope Savory