Bottom of the class
Drones: formerly a fictional club for flaneurs frequented by arch-loafer Bertie Wooster; latterly a swanky joint owned once by Marco Pierre White and now by Ben Goldsmith (Jemima Khan's bro). But, my dears, how Goldsmith's latest outlet has traduced the name.
Posh restaurant in posh shop - what on Earth is there not to like? Well, most of it, as it happens. If, instead of Drones at Fenwick, you had told me I was sitting in a Gordon Ramsay dusted-up cafeteria at Bhs, I would have been inclined to believe you, because this place is dripping with absolutely no class whatsoever.
The 'restaurant' - such as it is: serried ranks of tables; a short bar; a few banquettes - isn't even separated from the store. We ate our crab salad (minuscule, fridge-cold, slapped on sliced apple, tasting of bugger all, 12 quid) in full view of sales browsers. Ditto a 'chicken pie': chicken and flabby mushrooms in a pot-gravy sauce with a square of pre-cooked pastry dumped on top; and my tuna, requested medium rare, which arrived a uniform shade of grey and with no sign of its alleged ginger, lime and soy. Butter, yes; aromatics, not a sniff. In-store restaurants can be things of beauty; not even Botox could make this one a contender.
A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £70. Fenwick, 63 New Bond Street W1. Tel: 020 7409 2030. Tube: Bond Street/Oxford Circus
Drones @ Fenwick
63 New Bond Street, W1A 3BS
