The beef short rib would make me a devotee. This is the cure to whatever ails you, comfort and contentment on the plate
With every good restaurant, there’s one thing that will draw you in at first. Lorne’s initial hook for me is its pedigree: partners Katie Exton (sommelier and front of house) and Peter Hall (chef) have between them worked in some serious restaurant royalty: the Square, where the duo met, the River Cafe, Chez Bruce, Brawn and San Francisco’s hugely celebrated Benu. Phil Howard, formerly of the Square and now at Elystan Street, has a slice of it. CV-wise, it’s hard to better. But it takes more than the hook to encourage customers to come back time and time again.
It’s Exton who would make me want to be a regular. I haven’t met someone with such an evolved service ethic in a long time; she could moonlight as a mind-reader. As soon as you think of a niggle without even voicing it (“Umm, not that keen on this table”), she’s on it, moving us from a two-top squashed beside other customers who could hear our every bitch and snark to a larger table where we can spread out and set about ordering from an intriguing menu. Hugely knowledgable about wine from a splendid list, without being spoddy, she’s the dream hostess.
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