Cut at 45 Park Lane

45 Park Lane, London, W1K 1PN, 0207 629 8888

Cut! If one restaurant had been hyped more than any other by one of us then this was it. Cut at 45 Park Lane, opposite the Dorchester, is Wolfgang Puck’s premier steakhouse. Throw in the Dorchester connection as well and you think plush, expensive, surely must deliver! Having mistakingly gone straight to the Dorchester first we were directed back passed the array of beautiful cars across the road to Cut itself. Set on Park Lane in Mayfair this group of four boys, DC missing tonight unfortunately, had come a long way from the initial local curry houses! And with that so had our tastes and expectations. Being Mit’s favourite restaurant, admittedly that changes with the weather having been Maze and Barbecoa previously, the gushing praise that hit us on entry was as if he had just looked up ‘amazing’ in a thesaurus!!!….. “Wow look at how he opens the door for us!” , “isn’t that ceiling light stunning!” , “OMG just look how beautiful the cloak room ticket is!” Etc etc. This continued the whole night until he had exhausted every positive adjective known to man! Admittedly everything was polished and finely tuned, and after our professional friendly welcome we were expertly taken to our seats! Everything oozed class and yes our first impressions were very good.

The menu continued with the high praise including “look at the branding on those paperclips!…. No expense spared there!” What I liked was that it catered for everyone. From Wagyu A5 (the ‘best’ outside of Japan itself) to corn fed USDA Angus beef to Aussie and Devon cuts too. But every other meat was available as well, not forgetting some delicious sounding sea food options.

For starters the selection was no less impressive. There were seasonal white truffles from Italy, cooked one of three ways, to warm veal tongue for the adventurous to some delicious sounding salads.

As with every classy steakhouse which means business we had the option of seeing the meat board, and although we know our fillet from our sirloin, we still enjoy the theatre of it especially when explained passionately and intelligently like it was here. The most interesting cuts being of course the various Waygu offerings.

Before I could finish reading the full list of culinary temptations we were quickly brought out our first taster – a spicy Tuna Amuse-Bouche. Tuna tartare is not something I’d order but with it being free I felt it rude not to! It came in a mini cornetto cone and looked delightful. Wasn’t my thing but others found it very tasty indeed.

Still debating our wine selection we were surprised by another taster offering. This time mini Wagyu burger sliders! They had hit the nail on the head with these! Bite sized tastes of meaty heaven! Too good! If they were on the menu then they would swiftly run out!

In between these two preliminary courses were more adjectives from Mit and some bread sticks and bread puffs. The bread puffs being nice, the sticks average.

The wine list however was as enticing as it was plentiful. With it being tough to decide we plumped for the Wolfgang Puck Sauvignon Blanc. A bit more minerally than most SBs…. it was good but made better when we were told about how every bottle sold generated money for an Alzheimer’s charity associated with Puck’s mother. Good on him.

A particular ‘mocktail’ worth mentioning was the, with hindsight, aptly named ‘Double Happiness’. Perfectly sweet and fruity, this passion fruit and pineapple with almond syrup concoction did as it suggested….. May need to pinch the recipe to avoid future disappointment with our girlfriends!

Having been tempted by the Pork Belly I went instead for the Lobster and Crab ‘Louis’ with spicy tomato horseradish, knowing that someone else would have it and I could pinch a bit!! Mine was extremely tasty with beautiful bits of shellfish but when I inevitably tried the pork belly I knew I had made the wrong choice! It was bite perfect. Starter-Envy!

Swiftly followed by Decanter-Envy!! The table beside us had two of the most gorgeous striking decanters I had ever seen! One had a ‘throat’ of over a meter! To try to get our own we ordered a Pinot Noir called ‘Moobuzz’ from Monterey. Not a fan and probably with it being at the lower end of the list we didn’t get our own special Riedel! But we did get proper red wine glasses with our proper steak knives. The little touches get our big seal of approval.

It would be plain wrong to come to Cut and not order steak on your first visit…… 3 USDA Rib Eyes and a Fillet please. Oh, not forgetting a delicious sounding array of sides, sauces and toppings. Never had Yuzu Kosho Wasbi sauce… Won’t again… but the ‘house’ special steak sauce was very tasty, although really it was just posh brown sauce! Shaf’s Stilton topping received rare rave reviews from one who is particularly hard to please! The Rosemary crispy roasties, egg mixed cream spinach and good old stodgy Mac’n’cheese were also very good and come highly recommended. But, and this is a big but, the steaks were, well, OK. Nothing worth writing about! Compared to STK from a fortnight before or the classic benchmark of Goodmans they, unanimously, received a sigh from all, such were our expectations. Bill not even finishing his which is rarer than his football team winning something.

One thing worth mentioning was the selection of mustards which impressed all when brought to the table. The French Violet being new to everyone and provided a fruity alternative.

We had two main waiters / hosts…. One who was professional, attentive (especially when one of our forks fell off the table he seem to replace it before it hit the floor!) and obviously took great pride in his work. The second a typical Dublin boy called George who exhibited all of the above but brought also a confidence and humour that had us smiling all night. Thanks guys.

As with the main menu the desert offerings were equally appealing. Three of us going for the obvious warm dark chocolate Valrhona Soufflé – beautifully presented with hot dark chocolate sauce, creme fraiche and or hazelnut ice cream expertly added if wanted….. However it was too big and too rich! Not complaining but no one finished it! I felt as though I had let the chef down! Mr Cheese – Shaf, having been bold earlier going for the Veal tongue, again pushed the boat out and went for the lemongrass and passion fruit baked-Alaska….. Looked and tasted immense! Fortune favours the brave!

With delicious petit fours, and coffees with cookies following, not to mention several more abstract adjectives from Mit, who was clearly scraping the barrel and running out of superlatives now, still trying to seek high scores, we were all more than satisfied and very happy with our feast in the plush surroundings.

Cut offers the perfect ‘occasional treat’ Mayfair dining experience. Stunning setting, on the most sort after Purple Monopoly board square, with beautiful food from a great menu, and the professional service you would expect. It will be very high on the leaderboard and one I return to….. Just won’t have the steak next time.