July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is one of the few in London with a dress code: Smart, with jackets preferred for gentlemen. Jeans, T-shirts or sportswear not accepted.

Enter the artist Mark Wallinger, best known for Ecce Homo, a life-size statue of Christ in Trafalgar Square, and for his installation celebrating an Iraq war protest. He's my guest and when we meet in his studio, he's in sandals and casual clothes.

As we arrive at Royal Hospital Road, my heart sinks at the thought of disapproving looks. Instead, without a single downward glance, we're warmly greeted and shown to our table. Over three meals I have at London's only Michelin three-star restaurant, the service under Maitre d' Jean-Claude Breton has been flawless.

The other good news for anyone interested in trying this flagship of the Ramsay brand is that the prices are not as crazy as you might think. While the seven-course Menu Prestige is 110 pounds ($223), the set lunch is a manageable 40 pounds. Just remember to plan ahead. Bookings are taken two months in advance. (Beware of a la carte, which can be brutally expensive.)

The room, which seats 44 diners, was last year given a makeover by David Collins, the designer behind the Wolseley, Locanda Locatelli and Nobu Berkeley Street. The usually flamboyant Collins -- whose credits include Madonna's bedroom -- here goes for understated elegance in shades of cream and off-white.

The food is pure Ramsay, which is to say a lighter take on classic French cuisine. Expensive ingredients are marshaled with an attention to detail that borders on obsessive. Baby vegetables line up with the precision of North Korean children; sauces appear as blobs with the symmetry of lava-lamp bubbles; chocolate dessert is a perfect pyramid, unlike the crumbling wannabes at Giza.

Foie Gras

The set menu offers a choice of three dishes for each of the three courses. (Well, three courses plus an amuse gueule of foie gras parfait and taramasalata, plus petits fours.) Starters may include coriander pappardelle with baby clams, mussels, sauteed gem lettuce and chive veloute; or that Ramsay favorite of pressed foie gras with a Sauternes and camomile reduction running through.

For Ramsay virgins, the surprise may be how delicate and dainty everything is. The plates are pretty; if the flavors were fingers, they'd be politely crooked as they drank from a tea cup. That's Ramsay's style when he's not on television shows such as ``Kitchen Nightmares'' and ``Hell's Kitchen.'' Incidentally, don't expect him to come out to shake your hand. The head chef is Mark Askew. (He works in a fabulous kitchen with the latest equipment.)

The most robust main is pork cooked three ways: sauteed in Parma ham; confit cheeks in crispy potatoes; and traditional black pudding, with artichokes, mushrooms, spinach and Madeira sauce. The flavors are intense; the different elements fuse seamlessly.

Sea Bream

The other options are fillet of royal daurade, which is sea bream beautifully cooked with a crispy skin, served on a bed of salsify and sweet-corn with baby girolles and thyme veloute; and grilled rump of new-season lamb, sliced and served with creamed courgettes, baby carrots and onions with marjoram jus.

The desserts are superb, including the ultra-light Gianduja chocolate parfait with passion fruit and guava coulis; and gariguette strawberries basil, balsamic vinegar, sorbet and sesame tuiles. If pyramids one day start appearing in Wallinger's art, you can guess where he got the idea. He enjoyed his meal.

My main criticism -- and it's much the same point I made when I reviewed the tasting menu in 2005 -- is that there's not a lot of excitement in the restaurant or adventure on the plate. It's the kind of place where you would go for an anniversary rather than a date, a meeting not an assignation. It bothers me that Royal Hospital Road doesn't even bake its own bread. I prefer Ramsay's Petrus, and indeed any of London's other two-star venues: Capital, Le Gavroche, Pied a Terre and the Square.

Joy and Sadness

The wine list is a thing of joy and sadness: joy at the possibilities, sadness at the certainty these are pleasures a corporate credit card shouldn't be used to unlock. The sommeliers (including Jean-Marie Pratt and the new Naoko Tomita) are so good, they don't blink when you ask for what might politely be termed ``value'' wines such as Vacqueyras 2004, a Rhone blend of grenache and syrah, similar to Chateauneuf du Pape, at 46 pounds.

The clientele look to be a mix of executives, the wealthy and visitors enjoying a treat. About half the men were wearing ties. One table was populated by Japanese women, another by a young couple. They bucked the trend by looking as if lunch might just be the prelude to an interesting afternoon.

If you want to experience top-notch food and highly polished service, Gordon Ramsay is worth 40 pounds of anyone's money. If you're looking for sexiness and excitement, look elsewhere.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, 68 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HP. Tel. +44-20-7352-4441 or click on http://www.gordonramsay.com/royalhospitalroad/.

The Bloomberg Questions

How much? Set lunch is 40 pounds. Tasting menu is 110 pounds.

Sound level? Reverential.

Private room? No.

Inside tip? Try for a corner table by the window.

Special feature? It's London's only three-star eatery.

Date place? Better take your parents.

Will I be back? Yes.

(Richard Vines is London food critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 27, 2007 01:29 EDT