The Chancery

4 Reviews on “The Chancery”

• TheFoodaholic

  So, apparently fine dining is dead, white linen table cloths are out and Skechers with a matching tight waistcoat are still in. What a load rubbish is what I say to that. The last thing I want is a grubby wooden table, someone clearly in the 40/50s dressing like a twelve-year-old and quite frankly, anyone who thinks its cool to squash up next to me on my table to take my order should be sacked immediately. believe it or not, these really are all past (and recent) experiences Ive had. When I made my way over to The Chancery in Holborn however, none of this happened. These guys know what fine dining is, how to do right and thankfully, know how to dress. The only downside is the dining room is in desperate need of a makeover.The Chancery opened in 2004 and as of late 2014 has appointed a new head chef in its kitchen, Graham Long. Graham has a stellar CV and has worked for with the likes of Mark Sargeant and Gordon Ramsay at Claridges. All that training with top chefs over the years has certainly paid off, because the food here at The Chancery is really rather spectacular. We started our meal here with a glass of chilled Krug Champagne something I havent had in some time and completely forgot about its mind-blowing viscosity and buttery richness. We opted for the tasting menu too and it kicked off with a beautiful heirloom tomato salad with creamed mozzarella, dried black olive and basil. An incredibly fresh and vibrant dish with had a nice sweet and sour tang to it a great way to get the mouth salivating.The one thing I love about the food here at The Chancery, is the precision that goes into creating each course and each having their own personality, with a slight asian influence coming through something Grahams picked up along his travels. An absolutely stunning dish of thinly sliced raw hand dived scallops, cucumber jelly, avocado cream, sesame filo and shiso dressing. Every mouthful was bursting with flavour, lots of textures were playing around with each other and the shiso dressing really brought everything together with its ever so slightly menthe flavour. Then out came the dish that always wins me over foie gras. Here it was cooked to perfection and soft to the forks touch. Paired with flavours of blood orange, sherry jelly, sunflower seed and bitter leaves. Personally I thought the leaves added nothing apart from getting in my way. Otherwise, this zesty and rich dish which was almost faultless.Service throughout our meal was immaculate, our waiter was professional (not wearing converse shoes) and the perfect host. The wine menu here is rather excellent too in fact its huge and they have a large selection of premium wines by the glass, using that rather handy Coravin wine fresh system. Dishes continued to wow us and with what turned out to be my highlight of the meal. Smoked Cornish haddock with Jersey royals, peas, bacon and watercress. Perhaps the smoking of the fish was a little ambitious, but personally I loved it that way, especially against the creamy tart sauce and meaty flavours from the bacon. Herb crusted new season lamb on comparison came served with crispy tongue and belly, roasted aubergine and a red pepper with cumin salsa style mix. In short the dish was phenomenal, full to the brim of flavours which I wouldnt usually think of pairing together, but in fact I couldnt find a single fault. If you come here make sure you eat this.By this point during the meal I was both a little tipsy and had to loosen the waistline because wed got through a lot of food. The one thing they certainly dont do here, is hold back on portion sizes theyre very generous. Desserts still continued on a high, although one dish was enjoyed a lot more than the other. The charred pineapple with pink grapefruit parfait and honey jelly was a perfectly good dish but actually I felt its flavours (which sounded rather intense) were a little more subdued than Id hoped. You may have noticed a deterioration in photos too, but Ive a good excuse it got dark outside. Last dish to arrive from our tasting menu was a chocolate caramel and peanut tart with yoghurt sorbet and malted nuts. After taking one mouthful of this insanely good square of chocolate cake, Id only one thing to ask myself is this the best dessert Ive eaten this year so far? I think it may well be. Rich, indulgent, perfectly balanced it doesnt get much better than this.The Chancery in Holborn was a lovely surprise and one which Id happily return back to. Prices here are on the expensive side and in some cases of a one/two Michelin pricing point, which is ambitious but the tasting menu at 68 however is much more competitive. When it comes to fine dining, these guys know exactly what theyre doing in terms of wine choices, service and food but I can see The Chancery struggling in the near future if the dining room decor doesnt sort itself out. Its not that its hideous or necessarily bad its just tired and old. Pristine white glossing, ultra modern light grey walls and a bit of copper this place could be excellent because the food is already here, waiting for a room to showcase it off. The Chancery is a hidden gem. thefoodaholic.co.uk

  August 14, 2015, 3:06 pm

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• Sketchy Cat

  A solid restaurant with good service and even better with the taste of london card. 2 courses for 25 for quality food and good service is hard to beat. Make sure you book to avoid disappointment. Worth the trip every time.

  November 20, 2011, 2:30 pm

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• Julian

  Decent enough. Reasonable value lunch menu if you are doing business in that part of town. Does everything you would expect for the money

  May 12, 2011, 8:47 am

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• L'appetito

  Enjoyable in parts.. The Chancery prides itself as ‘one of the cities fine dining restaurants offering value for money cuisine’, according to its website. The fine-dining is apparent when we walked in for dinner: the room is intimate with white linen draped tables accessorised with a candlelight and a potted green – altogether quite classy. The restaurant operates a fixed price ala carte – 3 courses @ 34 for generally above average food & some memorable extras. The menu reads very appealingly, suggesting the kitchen’s ambition. While the food was textbook skilfully executed, we found the dishes lacked fine-dining balance & finesse. For example, my monkfish & prawns were nicely timed but tasted bland because the accompanying peperonata was not robust & bold enough. By contrast, the lamb dish was packed with, albeit one-dimensional, meaty flavour. The good quality meat and well made jus was let down by an ill judged mint pesto that had just too much pine nuts in it. Another companion’s beef main had both thumbs of approval. Desserts too were hit & miss. A flourless orange cake was very good, enriched by some marmalade on the side, but the additional fig compote was poorly conceived. While the fig compote shamefully brought down the overall dish, it went brilliantly with a separate cheese board! I struggle to remember our starters, but what did make a lasting impression was an exceptional pre-dessert of blueberry sorbet with poached peach. Everything was perfect in that spoonful that I could have happily ate more as a main dessert. The bread was also well made. Service was friendly & engaging, but dishes were repeatedly delivered to the wrong diner. It isn’t really an issue for me but it shows a lack of attention & detail for a restaurant that has fine-dining aspirations.

  December 22, 2010, 1:59 pm

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