Jan Moir Are You Ready To Order

When we rang to reserve a table (for one) at Ambassade de L’ile, the receptionist would only take the booking if a credit card number was supplied. What a cheek. The place had barely opened its doors. It reminded us of the early days of Sketch, when would-be diners were asked what they did for a living before being considered worthy, or otherwise, of a table. The Ambassade were equally firm. ‘If you don’t turn up, £80 will be deducted from your card,’ we were told, which seems harsh, not to mention inhospitable. In the haute French stratosphere where this restaurant firmly places itself, kinder and more civilised manners tend to prevail. Neither Le Gavroche nor the Waterside Inn requests a card number from small parties, although Gordon Ramsay has more bullish ideas. At his Royal Hospital Road flagship restaurant, £150 per head is deducted for no shows. If nothing else, it is a useful indicator of what restaurants have calculated their minimum customer spend to be. And while we all understand that restaurants, especially small, expensive ones, need some sort of guarantee against financial loss, what guarantee do customers ever have against a bad, shoddy or preposterous meal?

Answer came there; none.

At least Ambassade de L’ile, the sibling of a celebrated two Michelin star Lyonnais restaurant, has started as it means to go on. How remarkable that in the teeth of a recession, this new restaurant has opened in London bearing no concessions, absolutely none, to the credit crunch. The prices are staggering. The confidence borders on arrogance. The menu is barded with bon mots about ‘aristocratic’ red mullet and the effect summer fruits have on younger diners. ‘The last berries make children happy,’ it claims, yeah, right, monsieur. Sure they do. Especially when served in the form known in this country as ‘a strawberry Mivvy’. Yet the Ambassade will realize soon enough here we have newspaper restaurant critics to supply the public with an endless stream of ropy analogies and clunking, flowery language about balmy days and ‘a thirst for summer’. If you don’t mind.

The restaurant is situated in South Kensington, on a site which was most recently home to the much-loved Danish restaurant Lundums. The new owners have stripped out the clean lines and pure, Scandinavian colour scheme and replaced it with lashings of purple paint, mirrored walls, padded leather screens, black carpet and white leather chairs. If any passing James Bond villains need a new lair, they need look no further. Behind the scenes, chef Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex has assembled a team of crack young chefs and produced a menu unlike any other currently available in this country. The food sounds astounding and although the prices are high, there is absolutely no skimping on quality ingredients. Dishes include pike mousseline and frog legs with garlic nougatine; slowly braised veal sweetbreads with grapefruit and petit pois; large Scottish langoustines with water melon gazpacho and avocado puree; and rib of milk fed veal with girolles, spinach and potato gnocchi. On our lunchtime visit, two gentlemen at the table next to us order duck foie gras ‘au torchon’, wrapped in a toasted mousseline brioche; a luxurious preparation that costs £48 for two to share and has them whimpering happily into their whiskers .

Budget conscious Are You Ready to Order? is looking for a more economical deal, and Ambassade offer a set lunch deal of £30 for three courses, with an option to augment this with two glasses of wine, coffee and mineral water for a further £12. The set menu changes at least once a week, and includes two choices in each course, excepting dessert. The meal begins with a stack of tempura herbs and vegetables; a sublime form of crisp, lacy snack to eat while perusing the shag carpet and wondering if purple can ever really work as an interior design feature.

Our lunch begins with an oyster soup with slices of scallop, previously marinated in lemon olive oil, floating on top. The Colchester oysters have been chopped into small pieces and poached in the smooth, fish stock. The result is sensational; a soup that is silky and rich, without being cloying, and deeply flavoured. After this, a fillet of sea bream with a crispy skin and firm, juicy flesh which is cooked perfectly. It comes with a kind of crunchy ratatouille, the cubed aubergine and tomato pepped up with some chopped celery. Dessert comes straight from the a la carte menu; apricots fried with rosemary and served on a Breton sable, with ice cream alongside and is also superb.

The inclusive drinks are two large glasses of good quality Chablis, a bottle of Hildon mineral water and a good cup of coffee, served with raspberry popcorn and handsome macaroons.

To be honest, we are completely taken aback by the excellence of Ansanay-Alex’s cooking. The frosty reception we first endured and his reputation in France as a cutting edge chef inspired the deepest dread. Yet in this 40 seat restaurant, he somehow manages to serve classic dishes with a modern slant in a way that will not alienate diners who seek the traditional or those who ache for the innovative. We long, long, long to return to try his aged beef fillet with soufflé potatoes (£38), the pigeon stuffed with mild spices and the ‘contemporary bouillabaisse. Not to mention the white peach soufflé at £19. Yes, that is indeed a lot to pay for hot air, but sometimes, you know, it just might be worth it. THIS RESTAURANT HAS SINCE CLOSED

• Ambassade de L’ile, 119 Old Brompton Road, London SW7. Tel: 020 7373 7774. Business lunch for one, excluding drinks and service, £30. A la carte dinner, £140 for two, excluding drinks and service.