David Ali is probably best known for his days working as head chef of the Canteen, the restaurant launched by Sir Michael Caine, Claudio Pulze and Marco Pierre White that was one of London's hottest nightspots in the early 1990s. In his new role as executive chef of the London Marriott Hotel Park Lane, he hopes to make a name for himself again and, more importantly, to turn the hotel's restaurant, 140 Park Lane, into a similar magnet for a wide clientele.
"We want everyone from business people to local Mayfair residents to come, and certainly want it to be far more than merely somewhere our residents come and eat," he says.
The 76-seat restaurant, along with the rest of the 157-bedroom hotel, opened its doors on 20 November, and has already built daily covers to an average of 25 at lunch and 40 at dinner. Ali cooks for these diners in an open kitchen, supported by a 14-strong brigade, who also handle room-service orders and the hotel's private-dining operation.
"Working in an open kitchen does take some getting used to, and we have to bite our tongues sometimes," Ali admits, "but it makes a great visual impact on the restaurant and creates a bit of theatre for diners, so I'm really happy with it."
Diners choose from a broad menu that boasts nine starters, a five-strong pizza and gnocchi selection, four fish mains, four meat mains, a selection of grills, six desserts and three so-called "cocktail desserts".
Starters are selling evenly, with options including velouté of wild mushroom and tarragon with crayfish (£6) and parfait of chicken liver and foie gras with grape chutney (£10).
For example, Maine lobster salad and black olive couscous, red pepper pesto and confit lime (£12) involves contrasting colours and textures to stunning effect - tiny, bright red dots of pesto encircle a dramatically dark disc of couscous that's crowned with juicy, glistening chunks of pale-pink lobster flesh. And the flavour lives up to the dish's good looks, the couscous being intensely piquant and the lobster moist and rich.
Similar artistic flair is also evident in main courses, with fricassée of monkfish and veal sweetbreads with morels and tarragon (£18) brought to the table in a small copper saucepan and placed on a slate in front of the diner. This dish, too, is flavour-packed, with a rich sauce laden with morels, baby leeks, carrots and turnips, setting off the top-quality fish and meat.
Ali confesses that he enjoys coming up with unusual and dramatic ways of presenting his dishes, and thinks this will be an important way of distinguishing 140 Park Lane from all the other hotel restaurants in Mayfair. "I think we're offering a more modern, fresh approach with our dishes here, and a bit of spectacle," he says.
Classic desserts, meanwhile, make up most of the options to finish - caramelised lemon tart and crème fraîche (£6.50), for instance, or bitter chocolate tart and raspberry sorbet (£6.50). But the cocktail desserts - Remy Brülée, Blackberry Puff and Cheesecake Desire - offer an innovative alternative, each of them a sweet, creamy, alcohol-laden drink.
140 Park Lane Restaurant & Bar, London Marriott Hotel Park Lane, 140 Park Lane, London W1K 7AA.
Tel: 020 7647 5678
What's on the menu
* Oak-smoked salmon, crab and apple rémoulade, grilled soda bread, £9
* Salad of roquette, asparagus, roasted red onions and pecorino cheese, £7.50
* Parma ham and bresaola, marinated peppers and smoked artichokes, £8.50
* Sea bass en papillote with braised fennel and sauce antiboise, £17.50
* Confit rabbit leg and black pudding, carrot and parsnip tarte tatin, Madeira jus, £14.50
* Beef bourguignon with stuffed cabbage and root vegetables, £15.50
* Pistachio brülée and marinated cherries, £6.50
* Pear tarte tatin and caramel sauce, £6.50
* Panna cotta and winter compote, £6.50
Chef's cheat
"Always use a non-stick pan for cooking fish," advises Ali. "Doing so gives a good, crispy finish to the skin. I'd certainly be lost without my non-stick pans. We use the Contacto range here, which are expensive but really good."