Funny lot, foreigners: in a nice way, of course. London’s indigenous restaurateurs often come up with rather ‘safe’ restaurants. ‘Elegant’, ‘understated’, perhaps even ‘cool’? But if you’re looking for a touch of ‘joie de vivre’ enlivened with a soupçon of ‘je ne sais quoi’ or even the surreal? You often have to look across the Channel and beyond.
No one exemplifies this better than Mourad Mazouz, the inspiration behind the Moroccan fantasy Momo, and more recently the famously expensive Mayfair extravaganza, Sketch. What strikes you when you enter the dark lobby of this palatial townhouse, with its huge kinetic artwork, is that it is a place like no other. It’s certainly a place where the bean-counters do not rule.
Sketch has four places to eat: the über-pricey Library, the evenings-only Gallery, the daytime Palour, and now, in the former West Bar, the Glade. Oddly-proportioned and oddly-dressed, the room seemed aimed fair-and-square at the fashionistas who seem destined to make up much of its clientèle.
The idea behind the place, as explained by the maître d’, is to offer a taste of the Sketch experience without the associated costs that have so delighted headline writers. In this, it seems a success.
The food – from a ‘light’ menu which doesn’t offer a great deal of choice – is interesting and wittily presented. Sometimes flavour does seem to have been sacrificed for effect, but only at the margin. And reasonably priced? The surprising this is that, by trendy Mayfair standards, it really is. The staff are invariably charming and solicitous too. Perhaps it was just the day two effect, but they really seemed to care.
