After finding out about the ₤50 voucher for a meal for two at Sketch, I was super excited and booked my table immediately. One of the most unusual and beautiful restaurants in London, something I needed to experience for myself at least once. The prices are quite steep so I decided in advance to order a few sharing dishes and just enjoy the venue.
The dining room at the Gallery is as impressive as the photos. The original artwork on the walls and the ongoing pink theme makes it all quite magical.
Cute little pop up forks inside the menu just draws the attention for the effort put into detail, which was interesting to see, as I am not a regular customer of high end restaurants.
Our first and easy choice was the escargot. Meaty and tasty, it came with black garlic and spinach gallette, salty but in a good rich way. I have had "snails" before but nothing compares to this and easy to see why it is considered a delicacy.
The morel ravioli was super creamy and flavorful thanks to the hint of coffee and easy to finish. Perhaps a bit too familiar, I must say that the cream overpowered the dish a bit and made it slightly heavy, which is surprising in a small portion.
The pig's trotter with kimchi was an unexpected big portion but only because the amount of kimchi was quite high. I love kimchi and could eat it for days but cannot understand the need to use so much of it, especially in big chunks that were not at all easy to cut. Let's just say it went very well with the trotter's meaty but light flavour, although we could do with a more balanced quantity.
Having said this, I am glad we asked for some bread to help us finish the plate, dark and airy, making sure we wouldn't leave the premises hungry.
Guess the toilets are one of the most attractive sights at Sketch Gallery. Very peculiar, made me feel like I was in a sci-fi film. Sadly the door closed enough to let me peak outside. Not comfortable at all! The place was empty, luckily.
I left Sketch with many mixed up thoughts. First, the place is indeed beautiful. Something quite unique in London that I am happy to have visited at least once. Second, the service is very attentive and nice. Maybe they have a lot of staff for a Monday night but we were being very well catered for. Maybe a bit too much? There was one person whose role was to top up the water glasses, and would do it as soon as we had our first sip. Every time. So if you want privacy this might not be the ideal location. Finally, the food. The execution seems quite simple to me. It's the ingredients that make the prices so high. I appreciate the fact that they look for the highest quality components for their dishes but cannot say I was impressed. Overall, my idea is that this restaurant exists for the novelty of the place as you would not go there solely for the food.
9, Conduit Street
W1S 2XG
