If you are looking for a restaurant serving classic, British dishes then Hunter 486 at The Arch London hotel near Marble Arch is a great choice.
Let me explain further: with their latest menu for Summer, Hunter 486 is embracing seasonal British ingredients such as Dorset crab, samphire, lemon sole and raspberries to inspire light and fresh dishes. Read on to see more from my recent visit!*
The Arch London
The hotel is spread over the mews on a very traditional London street
Located just behind Marble Arch, only a short walk from Oxford street shopping and Hyde Park, The Arch is ideally located for a weekend visit.
Very luxurious rooms which, very importantly, all have Nespresso machines!
With only 82 rooms, it’s small and perfectly formed and even kid and pet friendly! (Pets even have their own menu, I didn’t try that one)
A whole box of toys for little and big kids!
The martini lounge – I knew I liked this place!
The suites include this one – just made for me with a name like that
I adore the outside space the suites have in the mews at the back of the hotel – great swing chair!
Hunter 486
At the restaurant on the ground floor, there is a very clubby feel with lots of leather and dark colours, offset with lots of unique lighting to brighten it up.
I love the leather booths in the restaurant
There is an open kitchen at the back of the restaurant where I could see our meals being prepared.
The menu – a selection of traditional British and Italian inspired dishes. All revamped for new the new season
The restaurant does a good selection of ‘classic hotel’ food, with burgers, steak and even pizza available. However I was more interested in the new season inspired dishes.
The pizza oven in the open kitchen
The open kitchen – everyone hid when I got the camera out though!
Starters
Bread with butter and oil and balsamic were served up first.
hmm fresh bread, be careful not to fill up on the warm soda bread and salted butter
One of my favourite dishes is stuffed courgettes. I first tasted them in the Italian lakes on a family holiday and these certainly lived up to my memory and expectations. Though to be fair I adore goats cheese in all its forms, so this was always going to be a winner!
My starter was the courgette flower stuffed with goats curd
The courgette flower was perfectly cooked – crunchy with the goat curd smooth in the middle. Served with a pea puree, classic mint, tomatoes and all drizzled with honey, this was a lovely fresh starter, definitely recalling that summer holiday! The goat’s curd was not too strong in flavour and balanced the sweetness of the honey.
Anne had the chicken terrine with leak, girolles and truffle cream
Anne was surprised that the terrine was not served with crackers, however we did still have bread left over! The truffle cream on this dish elevates it from something day to day. All the ingredients are mainly British and the menu references this, with the Norfolk Black chicken called out. In addition to the dishes we tried there was Dorset crab with avocado and pink grapefruit, ham hock and sage croquettes and asparagus soup. I could have grazed on all the starters, however I had a mission to sample the whole menu!
Mains
As well as rack of lamb, fillet of stone bass and the British classic of beer battered haddock, there were summer inspired veggie dishes including risotto and sun dried tomato polenta. I think the mix of British ingredients and Italian influence comes into the menu more in the mains.
For my main I chose the Norfolk Black chicken with sweet potato gnocchi and a fresh tarragon sauce
I loved the idea of sweet potato gnocchi – despite the fact that my main was very filling, I totally could have eaten more of them! As you can see the sauces are rich… this wasn’t the healthiest choice for those on diets…. but I didn’t mind!
Anne picked the classic lemon sole served with Jersey Royal potatoes, samphire and potted shrimp butter
It’s lovely to see ingredients like samphire being used and the potted shrimp sauce was a twist – combining two classic dishes together. Anne was surprised by the small size of the shrimp, however in the UK is this normal for ‘shrimp’!! (They are different to prawns lol!)
Dessert
By the time we got to dessert I was quite full! But a taste of the trifle was in order!
Mini raspberry and pistachio triffle
Isn’t it so pretty! I love this individual trifle served in a glass, definitely an aim for my own #dinnerpartygoals. The only change I would make on this is to add more booze! (Gin of course, I’ve been brought up to expect that trifles are boozey creations).
Isn’t this a summer dessert to die for? Orange, pomegranate with mascarpone sorbet and toasted almonds
I adored this dessert – worth saving space for! The mascarpone sorbet was a revelation – smooth and rich, but also very refreshing and light. The orange and pomegranate was flavoured with a blossom water – a mix of middle eastern and Italian flavours, which made it delightful!
By now I didn’t need anything more to eat, but I had to try these petit four… in the name of a full review obviously!
The Verdict
I really enjoyed my meal at Hunter 486. The menu selection was very inviting and the execution of the dishes very good. The stuffed courgette flower and the orange dessert with the mascarpone sorbet were definitely my favourite dishes. Next time I’ll try more of those tempting Summer starters!
We enjoyed my favourite table: in the booth! #GirlsDinner
After dinner Anne and I were perfectly placed to join friends in the West End for a night out. The Arch really is a good find in Central London.
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