Frankie Vaughan deserves better

The Savoy Grill is a famous restaurant in a famous hotel and it knows it. Although it is managed by Gordon Ramsay, with his TV horns and tabloid nightmares, it is still reeling with self-importance, an elderly debutante who once jumped on John Wayne in the loo. The view is of a taxi rank and a queue of tourists in sports jackets being shepherded by a man dressed as a penguin. But still the very name is awe.

It deserved better.If she dreamed of mayonnaise so fluffy and yellow it stares in the mirror with wonder, it didn't come. She asks aloud if it came from a bottle. The waiter overhears, crumples, breaks. My pork, veal and pistachio pie is loaded with salt, and too chilly. The quail's egg is a lump of brine.Tel. 1.800.526.2588. Website: www.waclighting.comIt is artdeco glossy now, gloomy and sexy, with chandeliers and lustrous walls, which are possibly aubergine.The other diners seem to be American. Americans love the Savoy, because it was the first London hotel to go en-suite, and they remember and give thanks. Many of them are under ten but still in suits, miniature Lehman Brothers drowning their sorrows with lemonade. So this is a sexy restaurant filled with children, and photographs of the stars who used to come here.If you can't make good mashed potato you aren't a good restaurant, even if Frankie Vaughan came once and liked it. The cauliflower cheese, meanwhile, is undercooked. Mother has salt-marsh lamb and leek pie.The refurbishment is done and the piles of brown leather that made me think of camels have gone.She zaps the crayfish like a F lash Gordon baddie. The egg arrives on a bed of stringy leaves smothered with electric pink liquid.I always think this is a mistake, as if Frankie Vaughan ate here once, but now they've just got you.I feel bad for the Savoy Grill and the smiling dead diners on the walls.Mother has egg mayonnaise.It is an exhibitionist, a date restaurant, for late-night negotiations with lovers. And I am with my mother.With its symbiosis of energy saving, emitting technology and inspiring aesthetic possibilities, Organic LEDs will transform lighting into a new experience that provides a unique platform for architects, lighting planners and designers. Intrinsically thin and uniformly luminous, OLED applications will allow designers to rethink decorative, general, and accent lighting.It's fine, but the dish is too shallow, so it feels joyless and incomplete. My spoon grates against the bottom.The slim profile of the OLED panels encourages new design opportunities for lighting fixtures with new utility, proportions and style. SOL's playful and natural form is inspired by the Sun and ancient tribal designs, which celebrate this natural source of energy.The Savoy Grill, Strand, London WC2R 0EU, 020 7592 1600.We are almost too sad for pudding, even if the Americans look overwhelmed with joy. We watch them leave - to do what? Go to the Caprice? Watch CBeebies? Discuss the Laffer Curve?The menu is Olde British, stiff and very big. My mother disappears behind it so it is now a talking menu. Puddings and pies, and a lone Caprese salad (named 'heritage salad' for those who hate Italians) kidnapped from a room with more light. The waiter is a real Frenchman, from the south he says, and he looks after us too tenderly.The revamped restaurant features higher ceilings, amber glass chandeliers and private-dining areas that were expanded to accommodate parties of 10 to 100. Wood finishes include eucalyptus wood, which was bought as part of the Lyptus project, an initiative in Brazil that promotes the use of sustainable woods.The Addison restaurant, which debuted in 1997, remained open during the renovations, which took place during overnight work sessions over three months, said Jair Coser, founder of the churrascariastyle restaurant.Mashed potato, which in food terms is a slut - it will jump on anything - has been on a quest to make itself as uninteresting as possible and it has succeeded.It lies on the plate like an accusation; no, a divorce. Then she lays down her fork and says, 'This is pub food.'It is supposed to come with crayfish, but mother can always improve on menus.It needs lumps.I can't think of much else to say about it, except it reminds me of Truman Capote weeping at the end of his life.It's OK, she says, but doesn't finish it."The concept fixtures we exhibited last year were created primarily to inspire the design community about the possibilities of the new OLED technology," explains Shelley Wang, President of WAC Lighting. "SOL, our new decorative chandelier, is our first complete Organic LED fixture introduction. We believe that the inconceivably thin curved planes of the complete design, and the incorporated glare-free adjustable Organic LED panels, will capture considerable attention."

The Savoy Grill, Strand, London WC2R 0EU, 020 7592 1600.

Author: Gold, Tanya