Rating: GGGGG
Gunpowder was thrilled to be invited to dine at Kanteen with a 'k', the in-house restaurant at the gorgeous K West Hotel & Spa - we'd heard so much chatter about it in the press, it was high time we checked it out for ourselves. Situated along Richmond Way in Shepherd's Bush - yes, a bizarre location for a sumptuous design hotel, admittedly - the K West is as out of sync with its dreary surroundings as the royal family is with its people. A mass of shiny glass and sleek silver, walking through the revolving doors is like walking into the foyer of a very posh, very modern city-centre hotel.
Kanteen is situated on a mezzanine level above the lobby, past a rather swish-looking cocktail bar flanked by suits and up a snazzy staircase manned at the top by the very charming maître d'. As regular readers of G-Review will know, Gunpowder reviews are very much focused on the décor and ambience of a place, with the food taking a back seat. With that in mind, it wasn't a good sign that we didn't fall head over heels in love with Kanteen's look; a mish-mash of separate design ideas as opposed to one cohesive concept. Tables are scattered casually around the place as if in a canteen (perhaps this is the point?), while bench-style seating runs along the back wall. This is back-lit with neon pink. And green. And almost every other colour in the rainbow. Granted, the soft leather seats are comfortable and chic, but it doesn't scream superstar style. Then there are the wall hangings; none of them particularly gorgeous, and one - a close-up of Love Heart sweets - was, we hate to say it, bordering on tacky.
Having reviewed the décor, our attention turned to food; Kanteen has recently introduced a fun new 'Saints & Sinners' menu to its creative cuisine, with saintly food on one side and devilish delights on the other. It's a quirky concept, and one that has seen hungry journalists from all kinds of publications come to test it out, forks in-hand. We tried out a starter, main course and dessert from both menus, partly because we wanted to give it a fair review and partly because we're plain greedy (hey, at least we're self-aware). Thus, our two starters consisted of a naughty-but-nice camembert dish smothered with redcurrant chutney and a rather more slimming choice of crayfish and salmon timbale served with melba toast. Next up were the mains; a slab of mouthwateringly tender rump steak, paired with chunky chipped potatoes, grilled tomato and garlic and served with a creamy peppercorn sauce, and a more virtuous plate of slow-poached chicken fillet stuffed with spinach and mushrooms and served with crushed celeriac, steamed green beans and a red wine reduction. While neither of the two dishes sounded partiucularly mind-blowing on paper, they went down a treat and left enough room in our expanding bellies for dessert; a diet-busting sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch-crunch ice-cream and a lighter option of lemon tart with beautifully bitter raspberry sauce. We seriously thought we'd died and gone to heaven.
In short, Kanteen has all the makings of a destination restaurant, but it's interior is lacking the x-factor that would truly wow its patrons. While it's undoubtedly a trendy choice in the area (the BlackBerry-clutching media types dining on the night of our review was testament to that), its aesthetic could certainly benefit from a few tweaks here and there. Food-wise, we couldn't complain; Head Chef Sylvan Chevereau clearly knows what he's doing, and it's not his fault his fabulous fare isn't consumed in more striking surroundings. Then again, when your eyes are rolling around in the back of your head after a mouthful of something scrumptious, do you really notice God-awful Love Hearts on the wall?
www.k-west.co.uk / Images: K West Hotel & Spa
