The Midland Grand Dining Room

Experience more of this visit through our video highlights here.

Midland Grand. Another place I have been absolutely dying to come visit and here I finally am. Set inside the absolutely beautiful and grand St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. I have stayed here many times as a guest years ago when I lived in Mallorca and would frequently pop across to London. I have been in this very hotel for a London Open House too, when it was completely empty and run down inside, and of course I had to walk via ‘the stairs’ which anyone of my age group would instantly recognise as where The Spice Girls filmed Wannabe, their first single.

Nostalgia trip over, I walk in and am so blown away by the sheer elegance of the dining room, it’s so beautifully done but it also has an air of feeling quite hip and cool too. Great for a business lunch, date night, family feasting and even a girl’s night out for sure. It ticks all the boxes.

I know Patrick and Charlie from reviewing Allegra a few years ago, and that too has been on my bucket list to venture back to at some stage, but it’s just a little too far to visit often. Midland Grand however is a lot more accessible in Kings Cross, so I have no excuse not to come back. In fact, as I write this I am salivating so much that I have booked a table to return in the next weeks and bring my boys as I know they will love it as much as me. 

Let’s begin. The feasting, oh my word, and what feasting it was.

Roasted scallops in their shell, bacon, sweet and sour beurre blanc. Excellent. A perfectly plump scallop, cooked beautifully, the salty bacon and the sauce, balancing the natural sweetness of the scallop.

Liver Parfait, truffle & Madeira jelly, duck fat Parker House roll. Superb soft bread, and the most delectable perfect parfait, I could have absolutely demolished all of this but knew I had to pace myself. 

Grilled octopus, pickled chilli & Gordal olive gilda. This surprised me, I really loved it, a very tasty morsel.

Barbequed lamb skewer, yoghurt, pickled turnip, mint & seaweed. Equally delicious and I loved the addition of seaweed. The flavour combination just really worked.

Comte gougères, pickled walnut, perfectly delightful.

Morel, pancetta & wild garlic vol-au-vent. WOW I loved this. I must say I think this is the second time I ate a vol-au-vent, the last time was probably in my childhood circa’89 and I hated it and have never touched one since. Thankfully, this has now replaced that memory and holy moly it was so delicious. I absolutely adore Morels and this was just beyond tasty. So much flavour in every single bite.

White asparagus, pickled celery, seaweed beurre blanc. Again, incredible. I could swim and also, quite happily drown in this sauce. All the sauces here were top notch, you could taste how much love, skill and labour had gone into them.

Snail bourguignon, Pomme Paillasson, ‘nduja & guanciale. Very good. My only potato dish, and that certainly helped me not fill up too fast. I do love a little bit of potato and this dish was unctuous and just yummy. 

Spring vegetable lasagne. Oh my word. This tasty little number Patrick brought out, which was not yet on their menu, it was beautiful. The lightest cheese sauce with thinly sheeted lasagne, and fresh vegetables and more morels running through. It was perfect, I struggled to not finish this, despite pacing myself I couldn’t stop eating it. Light, fresh, perfectly balanced. Nailed it.

Barbecued baby chicken, carrot & chermoula. Holy moly, yet again. This was amazingly good, so much flavour and a real depth of flavour, sticky, gnarly goodness, the carrot was saturated in this goodness and I again had to force myself to stop eating because I would have happily demolished the lot.

Dessert next, and usually the time where some places I find, tend to drop the ball, not here.

Banana souffle, caramelised banana, a boozy rum and raisin ice cream. This was insanely good, I almost devoured the lot, the ice cream was everything you could have wanted with it. 

Strawberry and clotted cream Paris-Brest, also amazing, but I managed just one bite.

Chocolate Mousse with crème Chantilly and some fried Beignets, which yes, I absolutely dunked into the chocolate mousse. Just heaven.

All this was washed down with an exceptional wine pairing. I simply loved it all.

My final thoughts. I have no negatives, at a push, it would be the clanging of plates being cleared at the end of the dining room and there’s not much one can do about that when it’s a quieter lunch day. When there’s a full room and plenty of buzz, you wouldn’t even notice. I absolutely adored everything. Sterling service. Great ambience. Firmly it has won my heart and my palate as one of my top three favourite London eats.

There were also some freshly baked madeleines boxed up for me to take home for my boys, which gets extra brownie points for remembering, as when I went to review Allegra in ’22, they served these at the end of my meal and I took them home.

I see a Michelin star firmly to be awarded next year to give recognition for all that Patrick, Charlie and their team are doing. There is also to note, a gorgeous chefs table in the kitchen, you can see it in my images below, and a beautiful outside terrace which is ideal for summer, and late night feasting too.

I can’t wait to go back.

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