During the summer of 2023, The Observer‘s food critic Jay Rayner wrote that Simpson’s in the Strand, which never reopened post-pandemic, would be undergoing a total transformation.

As such, everything in what had been a grand, traditional restaurant — initially for chess players — went to auction on August 2 and 3. The auction catalogue has the history and photos of this grande dame of London dining, now dead and buried. My heart broke. My last lunch there was in 2018 or 2019 and it was tremendous, with service to match.

At least Rules, the capital’s oldest restaurant dating from 1798, is still open in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. It was founded by Thomas Rule, hence the name. I have many happy memories of dining there, too.

For those seeking to be transported in time or to another culinary realm, only one place suffices: The Ritz London, in Piccadilly, just outside of Green Park Tube station. The entrance is in Arlington Street.

I have now been there four times as a guest. Our same foursome tries to go for lunch every year in the late summer or early autumn. We missed 2020 for obvious reasons but returned in October 2021, when face coverings were somewhat optional. The hotel staff did not demand that we wear them, so we didn’t. Neither did a lot of other guests.

N.B.: The Ritz London has a dress code for the dining room. Men must wear a jacket and, preferably, a tie. No trainers (gym shoes) or denim allowed.

John Williams MBE

After lunch in 2021, I had the pleasure of meeting the Ritz’s long-time executive Chef, John Williams MBE.

He is the man responsible for the restaurant’s Michelin star, awarded in 2017 and retained today.

My far better half and I saw him in a television documentary before then. We subsequently saw him in a three-part television documentary on the hotel and thought, ‘We have to eat there’.

In 2018, London On The Inside interviewed Williams, who was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in 2008 by Queen Elizabeth II. Excerpts follow, emphases mine.

Williams rose up the ranks the traditional way, via an apprenticeship in 1974, but not before learning culinary secrets from his mother in South Shields, Tyne and Wear:

I’ve loved food for as long as I can remember. When I was at school, I remember refusing to go to school dinners as the food was lousy. I was one of six children and I used to go home at lunch as I hated the school food. I think that shows you my determination for what I liked from a very young age …

My passion for food started at a really young age by helping my mam at home in the kitchen where I discovered the enjoyment of flavour. I have always been interested in trying new foods and tasting different flavours, and my love of food has been an evolution which began here. When I was 14 years old and at South Shields College, I put my hand up to do cooking classes and be taught by a chef. 5 other boys joined me. This was quite unique in those days. I then applied for a job at the Percy Arms Hotel in Otterburn, which was my first job as a cook and started my career. I then decided that I needed to move to London as I wanted to cook with luxurious and expensive ingredients and while I was qualifying as a Chef at Westminster College in London, I started work at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

His advice to budding cooks or chefs is the following:

Do an apprenticeship.
Work in the very best establishments under the very best Chefs.
Listen.
Work hard.
Be brave. And be humble.

I have a copy of Williams’ The Ritz London: The Cookbook, which I highly recommend. The recipes are quite straightforward. This is what he enjoys:

I’ve only dined in The Restaurant 3 or 4 times since I’ve been the Chef here. My menu would be dishes from The Ritz London: The Cookbook – I’d start with Langoustine à la nage; followed by Fillet of Turbot with baby leeks and morels; Roasted Grouse with blackberries, ceps and juniper; Hazelnut Semifreddo and finally Soufflé Grand Marnier. For me there is nothing better than sharing good food in good company.

I couldn’t agree more and can also testify that Langoustine à la nage is not to be missed, nor is the Roasted Grouse, which was part of their Arts de la Table menu in 2019. This year, our waiter told us that if the grouse is not on the Arts de la Table menu, it can be requested given 72 hours notice.

The Ritz London has more on this accomplished chef:

Williams began his culinary career in 1974 as a Commis Chef, while studying for his City and Guilds qualification at South Shields College.

Williams worked his way up the ranks of some of London’s most prestigious hotels ultimately leading to his appointment as Maître Chef des Cuisines in 1995.

In his capacity as Executive Chef at The Ritz, Williams oversees a kitchen brigade of over 60 chefs and is responsible for the seasonal menus as Michelin-star chef for The Ritz Restaurant, The Palm Court renowned for the world-famous Afternoon Tea, The Rivoli Bar and Room Service. The recipient of a Royal Warrant for Banqueting and Catering Services from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in 2002, The Ritz was the first and only hotel to receive this prestigious accolade.

In 2004, Chef John Williams was named Executive Chairman of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, through which he tirelessly promotes the education and training of young chefs.

Under his leadership, The Ritz Restaurant was awarded one Michelin Star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2017 for the first time in the hotel’s history and in 2019, The Ritz London: The Cookbook by John Williams, was published.

Williams identifies his primary objective at The Ritz as running the best hotel restaurant and the finest banqueting in Great Britain. “I have always had a great love of The Ritz and its time-honoured traditions. The forward-thinking methods and beliefs of Escoffier, the friend and collaborator of our founder César Ritz, have influenced my career significantly, and it is a pleasure and an honour to be part of culinary history at this amazing hotel”.

I met John Williams in 2021, when he spent quite a lot of time in the restaurant that afternoon. He was very much a Northerner: hadn’t lost his accent, was perfectly congenial yet was the sort of man who demanded perfection.

Arts de la Table menu

For à la carte customers, Arts de la Table comprises two dishes: one savoury and Crêpes Suzette. Both are prepared or finished at table.

Alternatively, one can order a four-course menu this way:

Indulge in a four-course Arts de la Table menu specially created by our team of talented Chefs, headed by Executive Chef, John Williams MBE, who use the best, locally sourced seasonal ingredients and master innovative cooking techniques, with exceptional attention to detail.

Effortlessly harmonising the expert cooking techniques of the Kitchen Brigade and the classic service skills of the Restaurant team, the guéridon style of tableside service for the Arts de la Table menus creates a dining experience filled with theatre and delight.

Our world-class hospitality seamlessly unites with the warm and friendly ambience of our timeless surroundings so that our guests have a truly memorable dining experience.

For over a century, The Ritz has delighted our guests with our knowledge, skill, and ability to remember even the most minute of details and desires.

This special Arts de la Table menu is available from 1st July until 17th November 2023 for dinner, Sunday – Thursday for tables of two or four guests. Kindly note this menu is fixed and cannot be adjusted …

Priced from £150 per person.

Considering what one experiences, that’s a bargain for four courses.

When I had the grouse on my first visit, a waiter brought out the grouse beforehand, nestled in a basket and surrounded by delicate wildflowers.

When it came time to serve, the waiter wheeled a trolley over with a saute pan to finish the sauce, and placed the roasted bird on a large, angled plank of fried bread. He carved the bird on the bread! It was amazing on two counts. First, it seemed impossible to carve a bird on a plank of bread, yet he did — with aplomb. Secondly, I had never seen such a great quantity of fried bread in my life. He was about to wheel it away, when I asked him if I could have it and share it around with the others at our table. He readily obliged and three of us shared it together. Sublime!

The grouse was perfectly cooked: pink in the middle. The sauce was gorgeous, too. I no longer remember any details about the potatoes or side vegetables, but I enjoyed everything.

Afterwards came the Crêpes Suzette, which I had then and two years later. It is a must. The crêpes are ready to go, kept warm on the trolley. The waiter then makes the sauce in front of you, which takes about 10 minutes and includes flambéeing. Talk about culinary theatre! The dish was absolutely perfect both times. The crêpes come with the Ritz’s homemade vanilla ice cream, which is not to be missed, either.

Our hostess took photos of the waiter as he prepared both the grouse and the crêpes. He did not mind and, believe me, you will want photos to remember.

Faultless!

Spencer Metzger

Until very recently, Spencer Metzger was the head chef at The Ritz London.

Now aged 29, he left the hotel’s employ to pursue other career options.

In 2022, he was made Champion of Champions on BBC2’s Great British Menu which celebrated 100 years of British broadcasting that year.

He was streets ahead of the other chefs and the judges selected two of his to serve at the celebratory banquet at Alexandra Palace, from where the BBC first broadcast. He also got a perfect score for his dessert, but, on the day, the judges selected another chef.

On April 1, 2022, The Times had a feature about Metzger’s food on the programme. The article includes photos of the two dishes as well as one of the Ritz’s palatial dining room.

Excerpts follow:

Over eight weeks of regional elimination rounds the chefs had prepared a four-course meal inspired by the history of broadcasting, with the eight winners competing against each other in a final for the right to cook a dish at the banquet finale.

Only the top-scoring dish for each course — starter, fish, main and dessert — was chosen and Metzger won through with two of his dishes, fish and main, the first time in the competition’s history that a single chef had earned the right to take charge of two courses …

Metzger’s cooking showed the flamboyance necessary to work on TV, but it was nevertheless rooted in classic cooking. His fish dish was called “Be careful what you fish for” and was inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A piece of roasted brill seasoned with curry salt was served with peeled grapes on a plate shaped like a magnifying glass, accompanied by a smoking “pipe” of smoked butter beurre blanc …

Next was his main of stuffed and pot-roasted partridge, inspired by the elaborate Regency dining you might find in the pages of Pride and Prejudice. There were candelabras, silver salvers, potatoes with garlic and truffle and pears poached in Poire Williams liqueur with juniper. “That,” said the head judge, Tom Kerridge, “is one of the best dishes I have eaten anywhere in the world. I’d travel through continents and countries to eat that dish again.” High praise indeed from a man who has twice won the main-course category in Great British Menu.

To be honest, Metzger could have found himself also cooking the dessert course, a chocolate cigar with hazelnut praline and chocolate mousse served in a smoke-filled cigar box in tribute to Winston Churchill. He scored 40 out of 40 in the final heat, but perhaps the judges felt it was time to give someone else a turn.

Metzger told The Times that the Ritz is classic yet relaxed:

“There’s a misconception about hotel dining,” Metzger says. “Certainly here at the Ritz we are a bit different. Yes, our cooking has classic foundations, but the food is actually quite modern. People think the Ritz will be stuffy, but when you sit down and have lunch you find it’s not.”

Yes, there’s the undeniable pomp of the surroundings — there can be no grander dining room in the capital, with its gilt chandeliers ornate cornicing and deep carpets and frock-coated waiters lifting cloches with a choreographed flourish — but the DNA of Metzger’s Great British Menu dishes is there on the Ritz menu. There’s turbot Véronique not dissimilar to his winning brill, and a beautifully glazed Anjou pigeon resembles his pot-roasted partridge, at least until the moment the breasts are removed and the carcass is crushed in a giant silver press to add the juices to a peppercorn sauce that is flambéed tableside. “Our techniques are classic and precise, but the cooking is always evolving.” Metzger says.

Metzger was John Williams’s employee, man and boy, beginning in 2010. This is an incredible story about his first, and until recently, his main job apart from brief internships elsewhere with his boss’s blessing:

Perhaps it’s Metzger’s distinctly uncheffy upbringing that allows him to tread the line between tradition and innovation. Despite the German surname, he was brought up in Chigwell in Essex and food was never a big thing. At 15 he had no idea what he wanted to do, so his mother, a special-needs teacher, suggested he do some work experience in a kitchen because he quite enjoyed home economics.

“We literally googled ‘best hotel in London’, and the Ritz came top, so I phoned up and asked.” The executive chef John Williams set him peeling potatoes and podding peas, and Metzger never looked back. He spent a year at L’Enclume, where Simon Rogan infected him with his own obsession for the best produce. Then he spent three months at Frantzen in Stockholm as a prize for winning the prestigious Roux Scholarship in 2019, but otherwise he has been at the Ritz man and boy.

Last summer [July 2021] he was made head chef and is slowly making his mark. He has reintroduced a classic langoustine dish that Williams was doing 25 years ago, for example, but updated the presentation.

There’s nothing wrong with traditional food done right, he says (crêpes Suzette is one of the Ritz’s most popular dishes among guests who have been coming 30 years or more, “and who am I to take it away from them?”), but any nerves during filming of Great British Menu was the pressure he put on himself.

“It was an amazing platform for me, but also for the Ritz. It was a chance to show a different face.”

Metzger’s father drives a black cab, by the way, and luxurious food is not one of his top priorities:

“There was no hiding it from my mum,” says Metzger, the head chef at the Ritz, “because every day I came back from filming it was, ‘Well? Well? Well? How did you get on?’ But my dad’s not into his food and I just told him he had to turn up to this event, and wear such and such, but I didn’t tell him what it was or that I’d won. He had no idea what it was about and nearly fell on the floor when he found out, he was crying so much.”

The banquet was quite something, and Metzger’s parents showed up quite a lot in the filming. They were very moved, indeed.

In July 2022, Metzger gave an interview to Restaurant Online. They don’t want anyone copying and pasting their content, so summaries will have to suffice. As such, I recommend reading their article in full.

Metzger had just won the Chef to Watch accolade at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards.

He described the challenges of his first ever job at the age of 16, which, in such a prestigious place, was ‘intimidating’. Yes, he made mistakes. Yes, he was told off for them. However, he said that he made sure he learnt from those experiences and did a better job.

The Ritz relies on classical techniques for cooking, especially stocks and sauces. However, he said that the finishing of the sauces has a more modern taste profile.

He said that he viewed his job as part of a ‘theatrical production’ and wanted every guest to have a ‘”wow” moment’ during their meal. He said that the front of house staff undergo a lot of training in order to do the Arts de la Table dishes.

I can vouch for that. This year, my better half and I had the Bresse duck.

The waiter behind the trolley said that he and his colleagues underwent a day’s training in how to operate the duck press and how much he enjoyed eating the leftovers.

He explained that the Bresse duck is not fatty enough to be pressed.

For future visits, he said that, if given 72 hours notice, the kitchen will arrange for pressed duck or pigeon as well as grouse carved at the table.

For pressed duck he said that only the fattest duck will do. He said that 72 hours will allow kitchen staff time enough to find ‘the fattest duck possible’.

The Bresse duck, which at around £63 per person, was rather reasonable, considering it was served as two separate courses.

For the first course, the waiter behind the trolley carefully carved the breasts off the bird and sliced them thinly. Another waiter then came round with our plates, the sauce (enhanced with lavender and honey). A third came with piping hot pommes soufflé, which are to die for.

The waiter then said that he was returning the duck legs to the kitchen for confiting. They arrived after we finished our duck breast. The confited legs were surrounded by a mixed salad with vinaigrette. We did not need dessert after that!

Yes, we had theatre and a ‘wow’ moment.

Back to Spencer Metzger who places a high importance on learning classic techniques. I tend to agree, because he said that many of today’s young chefs rely on reproducing recipes. When asked to prepare a steak or make a red wine sauce, ‘they don’t know what to do’. Learning classic techniques and fundamentals, he said, enables a chef to do anything.

He said that he got on extremely well with John Williams and that, even when he was at L’Enclume and Frantzen, the two talked with each other regularly.

He said that he wants to open his own restaurant one day but did not quite know what his concept would be, although he said it would be rooted in what he learned at the Ritz, even if it would not be classically French.

When we ate at the Ritz this year, we noticed that Metzger’s name was not on the list of the restaurant staff.

When we got home, I found another Restaurant Online article, ‘”End of an era” as Spencer Metzger moves on from the Ritz’. It is dated August 2, 2023.

Metzger posted an Instagram statement saying that it was time to move on after 13 years working under John Williams, whom he called ‘a true gentleman and mentor’.

I cannot help but wonder how Metzger is going to move on. It is difficult when one has already started at the top.

He is facing a real challenge, for the following reasons:

1/ The UK is not known for its front of house staff. He was blessed with Spanish wait staff at the Ritz who no doubt underwent strict training in Spain before coming here. They don’t pull sickies, and they take their jobs very seriously indeed. Imagine him saying to an English-speaking brigade, ‘Today, I would like you to learn all about the pigeon press’. I think they would just laugh.

2/ He would probably want to stay in London, even if offered full rein elsewhere in the UK. I think he would get bored elsewhere after a few years.

3/ He has worked for 13 years in what the French call a palace, the term they give to the highest end of hotels. He is accustomed to sumptuous surroundings and a phalanx of professional staff at all times. Could he work in France heading a palace? He would have to be fluent in French and really understand French culture.

I understand why Spencer Metzger has left the Ritz, but, unlike other young chefs, that place has shaped him from a very young age. Lesser mortals, even with Michelin stars, began their careers much differently and in less demanding surroundings.

I wish him all the best, but part of me fears he has made a huge mistake.

Final advice for enjoying the Ritz

In closing, here are my top tips for enjoying lunch or dinner at The Ritz London:

1/ Choose your dining partners carefully. Only take people you a) really like and b) trust. The last thing you want is a family tiff or friends who won’t eat this, that or the other. That said, the first thing the waiter asks about is food allergies. He’s expecting to hear one or two things, not a laundry list.

2/ Make reservations early. Our host reserves a table two or three months in advance. You can also request where you would like to sit. My recommendations would be either along the wall with mirrors or the long side facing the terrace.

3/ Go with the flow. The staff, from the doormen to John Williams, are there to ensure you have a splendid afternoon or evening. They know what to do to ensure you will have a memory to treasure for years to come. Put yourself in their hands and relax.

4/ Study the wine list ahead of time. The Ritz’s wine list is a thick book. Our sommelier, an Italian gentleman of riper years, told us that it took him a year to learn it. It’s worth perusing a day or two ahead of time, choosing a red and a white, then double-checking with the sommelier on the day. He is quite congenial and most helpful. The Telegraph has tips for choosing wines in a high-end restaurant.

Conclusion

The Ritz London is the best place I have ever eaten to date. Add to that the general atmosphere, and you will be amazed beyond belief. Share it with those you love. It is definitely worth saving up for, with prices to suit every wallet.