Special Service at Incanto Restaurant, Harrow-on-the-hill, The Helmsley, and a hotel in San Francisco

Special Service in London, New York and San Francisco

I thought the service at Incanto restaurant in Harrow-on-the Hill, NW London was excellent.

Napkins
When I dropped my napkin on the floor, one of the servers approached and I thought, 'That's nice. They've noticed and they're going to pick it up for me.'
They did better still. They removed the white cloth napkin which had dropped on the floor under my feet and brought a new one.

Later, when either of us left the table, in our absence the server picked up the crumpled napkin from the table and folded it neatly into a triangular shape.

Here is one of the smiling staff, David, the director.

Bustling about keeping an eye on everything are your servers.

***

New York
When I arrived in New York for a two-year stay, I was in the Helmsley hotel briefly. Breakfast was amazing. First I dropped a piece of cutlery. The maitre d was standing at the front of the restaurant with his back to a pillar or wall, watching the entrance to his left and the aisle down the centre of the long restaurant in front of him. As I dipped my fork on the floor I looked up, open-mouthed in distress, and saw the restaurant manager looking towards me. I looked backwards, wondering if I could grab a fork from the table behind, without waiting for service nor troubling staff who were far away. The young waiter serving coffees was on his continuous tour around the restaurant and a few steps behind my table. The head waiter or manager signalled to the nearer member of staff who grabbed the nearest fork, handed it to me - by the handle, of course, not the prongs, and then picked up the fork from the floor and removed it. Time elapsed under a minute.

I continued eating and our son aged about seven took a small jam pot and clutched it possessively.
"Put it back!" I hissed.
"They are being very nice to us and we must be very nice to them. They are watching us. You must not take anything. You must be well behaved and whisper and not should and not touch anything and not run out. DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING! Daddy is here doing an  important job and you are on holiday and if you get us in trouble Daddy will lose his job and you will lose your holiday."
He put the jam back

On the way out the manager smiled and beckoned to our son. I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's going to warm my son about not taking the little jam pot."

The manager gave a big grin and handed my son a jam pot, and then a second one.

We left, all smiles.

Service in San Francisco
Another time I had such wonderful service was in a hotel in San Francisco. When I abandoned my scrambled egg to take a phone call (from the tourist board) my plate was whisked away. I returned and was horrified. The staff assured me that a new egg would be cooked, not re-heated, cooked fresh. Afterwards I thanked them for cooking me another egg after my egg had been removed, as I thought, by mistake. It was explained that there had been no mistake, it was their practice to re-cook the breakfast egg when a diner was called away so the food went cold.

Incanto.co.uk

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer and speaker.

Incanto restaurant, Harrow on the Hill, update with new pictures of Food

The boys from the world famous Harrow school were on the streets wearing their famous summer straw hats, despite the rain. (I had left my straw-brimmed hat at home in favour of something more closed weave.) Then later it was sunny again.

Old Harrow on the Hill near the famous school.

Incanto restaurant with London red brick gothic style windows - from the old days when it was a post office. Outside seating for smokers. The deli with seating is just inside the front door. The restaurant is at the back but bright and airy and clean and white with overhead windows.

Whilst waiting we are served thee types of hot bread, unsalted butter with salt on the side.

Incanto cocktail of prosecco and blackcurant, and the first taste of their cuisine.

Flavourful dessert.

Complimentary chocolates, three for each of us, with the coffee. Raspberry in white chocolate. I think that marble platter is not just a pretty place, to put a set of six chocolates, but makes sure they will not melt but keep them cool and in shape.

Set lunch, great value.

I had an interesting chat with David, the director, who runs the restaurant and deli, and Emmanuel, who is front of house in the restaurant. I learned that chefs have to give six months notice. I must admit I thought it was much more exciting, that all chefs got drunk, waved carving knives, and marched out through the restaurant mid-dinner on Saturday night, leaving patrons puzzled and muttering over microwave meals on a Sunday. Apparently in upmarket restaurants it is all much more civilised.

I sat admiring the ensemble of other diners.

One boy wore a top subtly said Harrow School. Another had a bright white shirt so stiffly starched and creased and ironed it must have come out of the packaging a moment earlier.  Adults outfits ranged from one red jumper to men wearing ties and pin stripe suit to one bedecked with a bow tie - your realise that Incanto is a restaurant of higher calibre.

Ladies, if you have a leather designer handbag waiting to sit on a banquette instead of the floor, and elegant silk underwear pining for an outing, they will not be wasted but will make you feel part of the scene.

The Old Post Office, 41 High Street, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex

HA1 3HT

Tel:020 8426 6767

www.incanto.co.uk

Salsify on the restaurant menu - what is it?

I just looked up salsify which is on the website menu of Incanto restaurant, Harrow on the Hill, UK.
The name from either French or another language such as Spanish or Italian means either black bark or serpent (shape) root. It looks like asparagus. The black skin is peeled off before or after cooking leaving you with a white vegetable which looks like asparagus.

I think I have been served it several times and wondered why my asparagus was not mentioned on the menu, and why it was so white and didn't have asparagus flavour. (I assumed they had yesterday's asparagus and were using up the last of it and didn't list it because they were embarrassed to be running out or because it was poor quality. Not wanting to upset the host or staff I kept quiet. Hysterically funny.) Mystery solved.


A fuller explanation of the word origin and where it is and was grown is in Wikipedia.

Incanto Restaurant, Harrow on the Hill, New Chef - and my menu translations

Incanto has recruited a new chef Michelin star restaurant chef, Peter Howarth, from Pennyhill Park.

We read the news on a Harrow newsletter. A google search threw up a picture of the chef and other staff plus restaurant photos and pictures of food on the Incanto Facebook page. I managed to read it and see lots of photos.  Now the page keeps jumping about and sending me error messages.

The Incanto website has lunchtime and tasting menus with some terms I don't know so I'm doing some research.
http://www.incanto.co.uk/index.php/restaurant/menu/

A handy explanation of organic and biodynamic wine is on their website.
http://www.incanto.co.uk/index.php/restaurant/wine/organic

Amuse - to amuse - a little free taste
Anitpasti - starters  (Italian)
carpaccio - sliced meat like salami, beef not pork?
ciabatta - bread - crusty with big air holes, goes dry fast, oval loaf
confit - pressed meat or vegetables, with lumps and strings compressed, like a thick pate or pot of corned beef, weighted and cooled
croutons bread cubes fried or baked until crisp, often in soup, sometimes in salad
Duxelles - mushrooms and onion fried (sauteed) in butter and reduced (made thicker from heat)
primo piatti -  first course
guanciale  - pillow
hollandaise - Dutch (sauce made with egg yolk, like mayonnaise, but mayonnaise mixes the yolk with oil, whilst hollandaise used butter which is richer and more calorific)
Madeira jelly - made with Madeira wine from Portuguese island in the Atlantic, in four grades of sweet to dry but mostly in England Malmsey which is the sweetest
Pain au chocolat - French bun with chocolate (pain means bread)
penne - short pasta
(pesto dressing for pasta made of olive oil and pine nuts, green colour from basil)
puree - made liquid or into a thick smooth soup or paste in a liquidiser
quail - small bird meat eaten on bone
rosata - pinkish (wine which is pale pink)
rose - pink
rum bab sponge pudding shaped like a donut ring or bombe (ball) soaked in rum
scallop - seafood
(shallot - oval shape onion with pointed ends)

Wines:
Grand Cru - vintage - highest quality in most parts of France such Burgundy and Alsace (but in Bordeaux premier cru) and in right bank of Bordeau St Emilion main village has grand cry class A and other variations
NV non vintage (not old - not a good enough year to be stored in oak barrels for long periods)
blanc de blancs - white wine from white grapes
brut - dry (wine)
extra brut - extra dry (wine)
sec - dry (wine)
Klein Kloof - (Dutch for small gap)
noir - black (French)
Pedro Ximenez
Pinot Noir - a black skinned grape - noir is black
rose - pink
Tokay /Tokaji - Hungarian


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Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.