There’s nothing messy about this place! Gallery Mess which opened in 2009 is a modern restaurant attached to the Saatchi Gallery on the Duke of York Square on Kings Road in the heart of Chelsea, London. Serving up modern British cuisine with a French and American twist, the food is as smart as the venue itself.
The restaurant with its vaulted interior, arched large windows and decadent modern wall art is truly impressive. The brick walls in contrast with the white table linen give the restaurant a clean and modern feel. The atmosphere is sophisticated and classy, almost like a quiet sanctuary coming straight from the noisy Kings Road.
My guest and I are seated along one of the brick walls and are presented with the menus by a friendly waiter who takes time to talk us through the dishes.
At 7.30 pm the restaurant is fairly light on guests, however an hour later and the place is buzzing and by 9 pm there’s not a single table available.
My dinner guest and I are amazed by the great selection of seafood we find on the menu and we start off with the prawn cocktail and the cured sea trout. The prawn cocktail is one of the best I’ve ever had. It comes in a large bowl with three different types of prawns and is everything you’ve ever dreamed a prawn cocktail would be like.
The sea trout is fresh and beautifully displayed on the plate served with fennel and dill which adds to the decoration.
For the main course, we continue the seafood theme and go for the pan-fried sea bass and the butter-poached cod.
The sea bass is served with a warm salad of shaved fennel, cherry tomatoes & artichokes whilst the cod comes with crushed new potato, asparagus & tomato dressing. We also ordered minted new potatoes as a side which was tossed in butter and herbs and worked incredibly well together with both dishes.
All dishes were very generous in serving size and there was barely any room left for pudding. However, no meal would be complete without dessert (in my books anyways). We couldn’t resist trying the apple and rhubarb crumble and the creme brulee and boy are we happy we did. The crumble was phenomenal and large enough to share between two (possibly three). The creme brulee was as delicious as it was pretty with colourful flower decorations and also came with two large shortbreads (again the dish could easily be shared between two – one biscuit each!).
As guests, we felt very well looked after throughout our meal. The service was impeccable, the food fantastic and the atmosphere inspiring. I will definitely be back here.
This is a lovely place to go for dinner. The restaurant also serves brunch, lunch and Afternoon Tea which is great to enjoy before checking out the Saatchi gallery afterwards.
Gallery Mess is a great restaurant for business dinners when you want to impress or for a tete-a-tete with a girlfriend.
Gallery Mess Café/Bar, Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York HQ
Kings Road SW3 4RY
Tel: 0207 730 8135
