The 1st choice by James was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Alyn Williams at the Westbury – and we were all very excited to try out the first restaurant being picked by James.
We arrived at the restaurant slightly early after a few cocktails revisiting the excellent Mr Foog’s just around the corner. Straight away we got directed to an excellent round table in a corner, which left us with plenty of space – so immediately we had a good feeling about this place.
The standard tasting menu was 9 courses with the options of adding Lobster Tail with caviar and the Cheese board at something extra, which we couldn’t resist – so ended up all of us went for the full 11 courses. The service was really great and we got some nice recommendations from the sommelier as well about the wines. You could see the sommelier was passionate about his job when he told us a great story about the logo on the red wine.
The highlight was when the 1st course got served – as it was served by no one else than Alyn Williams himself. That was quite a surprise and we were really pleased to meet the master chef at our table. Also managed to get a photo with him and the guys, which was a nice memory from the evening. Pleased we insisted on getting the photo though – as Alyn first said we could get one later with him in the kitchen. However at the time where we were allowed to go and see the kitchen – it was very quiet and Alyn had already left the restaurant – so good we didn’t wait for that opportunity.
All the food was really nice – but I guess I was waiting for the really wauw experience, which never came. There was also a bit too much beetroot served with the main pigeon for my taste – but to be fair to the waiter he did offer to replace the dish if I didn’t like it – but I felt I was having enough food already – so just went with it. On top of the 11 courses we got treated to both 4 tasters before dinner and 4 small sweets after dinner – so for sure we had more than enough to eat and no one was leaving hungry.
Overall I can say that the atmosphere and whole experience was really nice and we spent nearly 5 hours in the restaurant so really enjoyed it. Also felt a lot more like this should have been a 2 Michelin star place instead of just a 1 star – so can only hope they would be considered for a 2nd star soon.
