Rhodes Twenty Four was a Michelin-starred restaurant located in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. Run by celebrity chef

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', '' Mas ...

, the restaurant was located on the 24th floor of

Tower 42 Tower 42, commonly known as the NatWest Tower, is a skyscraper in the City of London. It is the fifth-tallest tower in the City of London, having been overtaken as the tallest in 2010 by the Heron Tower. It is the fifteenth- tallest in Lond ...

, formerly known as the Natwest Tower and operated between 2003 and 2014.

Description

Rhodes Twenty Four opened in 2003, following the closure of restaurants ''City Rhodes'' and ''Rhodes in the Square'' the previous year. Located on the 24th floor of

in a location formerly used by Roux Fine Dining, it served modern British cuisine described in its initial press release as "Very British Fayre". Chef

was introduced into the space by

Albert Roux Albert Henri Roux (8 October 1935 – 4 January 2021) was a French-British restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped tr ...

, who put him in touch with the company looking to revamp the former Restaurant Twentyfour. The original agreement was to take over the restaurant, private dining rooms and bar for an initial five years. The restaurant was funded by

Restaurant Associates Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

, and fronted by Rhodes using the chef's signature dishes (including his

bread and butter pudding Bread and butter pudding is a traditional bread pudding in British cuisine. Slices of buttered bread scattered with raisins are layered in an oven dish, covered with an egg custard mixture seasoned with nutmeg, vanilla, or other spices, then bak ...

and

jaffa cake Jaffa Cakes are a cake introduced by McVitie and Price in the UK in 1927 and named after Jaffa oranges. The most common form of Jaffa cakes are circular, in diameter and have three layers: a Genoise sponge base, a layer of orange flavoured ...

dessert). Rhodes described his hopes for the restaurant on launch: "If we never get a Michelin star here, I will be very disappointed, but what I really want is customers." It won a Michelin star in 2005, which it retained until it closed as one of two Michelin starred restaurants for Gary Rhodes in London.

Reception

Fay Maschler reviewed the restaurant on the second day after opening in November 2003, giving four out five stars whilst describing the meal as good hearty food.

Rick Stein Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

, who happened to be dining with the critic, described a

potted Potting may refer to: * Potting, in pottery, the making of pots, generally on the potter's wheel * Potting (electronics), the encapsulation of electronic components * In farming and gardening, potting is planting a plant in a pot, such as a flowe ...

mackerel and gooseberry jelly dish as "quite nice stuff". Marina O'Loughlin, writing for the ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

'' in the same month, also gave four out of five stars and said that the food gave "superior comfort food with a view".

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the ...

reviewed Rhodes Twenty Four in December 2003 for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

''. He found a great deal of difficulty in booking a table, which was only alleviated after revealing himself as a restaurant critic. He described the menu as being "standard" for a Gary Rhodes restaurant, but said that it was "not in the class of Gary’s two recent closures", but "competent". He gave an overall score of six out of ten. A review in January 2004 in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' described the restaurant as being like a " boardroom", but praised the use of both

suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6& ...

and

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

on the menu, giving an overall score of thirteen out of twenty. The ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' conducted a second review in 2005, with

Toby Young Toby Daniel Moorsom Young (born 17 October 1963) is a British social commentator. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of ''The Spectator'', and a former associate editor at ''Quillette.'' A graduate of ...

visiting the restaurant. He gave it two stars out of five, describing the food as "OK, but nothing special" and criticising the restaurant for only serving locally-grown, in-season produce. Mark Bolland reviewed it again for the ''Evening Standard'' in April 2008, describing it as being much like an airport terminal but said that the menu was imaginative and featured the expected Rhodes twists, but found that the service was slow and robotic; giving the restaurant three out of five stars. As of 1 May 2014, the site is occupied by City Social, a Jason Atherton and Restaurant Associates venture.

References

External links

* {{Restaurants in London Michelin Guide starred restaurants in London Defunct European restaurants in London Restaurants established in 2003 British cuisine Defunct Michelin Guide starred restaurants in the United Kingdom