A beautiful and unique space sets the stage for some fine cooking of the Modern European variety. Nick is all aboard.

Travelling anywhere by train today is a soul-sucking and wallet-emptying experience. How different it was in 1899 when The Landmark, then known as Hotel Great Central opened its doors.

Marylebone station, which the hotel served, was to be the hub of an international railway that would run through a channel tunnel. Yes, in 1899! And the hotel reflected that grandeur.

By the 1920s the motor car was in the ascendant though and the Great Central fell out of hotel use for over forty years. It reopened as a hotel in 1993 as The Regent, London and in 1995, it was renamed The Landmark London.

It is still an absolute stunner of a hotel, nothing prepares you for ascending the steps inside and entering The Winter Garden, a glass-roofed atrium over five storeys high. It’s quite breathtaking, the glass on this spring day giving onto clear blue skies. If you’ve ever been to Kew Gardens, you’ll get the idea.

Down below is the restaurant, beautifully lit by the natural light this lunchtime. For those looking to Instagram their experience, you don’t get better lighting than this. Even my ancient iPhone does a decent job. Exotic background palm trees fail to wave in the breeze, as there is none, and I am not sure they are even real, they look the part though.

Head Chef, Brian Hennessy has recently joined, after sous-cheffing at The Ritz, bringing his style of ‘Modern European’, although the wait staff are themselves more old-skool European dressed as they are in uniforms that are more institutional catering than fine -dining.

They bring us a good breadbasket, plenty of choice, and some creamed butter and some flecked with truffle. This keeps us busy as we try and choose from an a la carte menu that has plenty to tempt. The set lunch menu, by the way, is a bargain at £35.

Citrus cured Scottish salmon with Platinum caviar and a miso-buttermilk dressing sounds interesting, and Butter Poached Scottish Lobster withSpring radish, grilled baby leek, lobster lemongrass sauce has to be a winner, if a bit pricey.

It’s British asparagus time now, and I have had enough of the priapic white monsters so beloved in France and Germany, so I have Grilled Green Asparagus with radicchio, buckwheat crumb, Iberico ham, black caesar dressing.

I rather expected the ‘grass to come whole, but in fact it comes sliced lengthways, which is no bad thing as it spreads the asparagus out. The crisp bitter radicchio combines well with the asparagus and the peppery nasturtium leaves for a very fresh mouthful. The black Caesar dressing, which I think is made with black garlic, is rich and pungent. I couldn’t detect much Iberica ham though.

The old joke about life being too short to stuff a courgette flower still rings true, but if someone else does it I have no complaints. Stuffed Courgette Flower – Basil courgette purée, sauce vierge is very summery, the flower not being deep-fried as is usually the case. P likes it very much once she started eating and stopped raving about the beautiful space we were in.

I don’t eat veal very often. I am not squeamish about it, but the opportunity rarely arrives these days so Roasted Veal Fillet, Parmesan polenta, white asparagus, carrot purée, gremolata sounded good, although one of the steaks from the charcoal grill or Cornish Brill from the grill almost tempted me.

The veal is excellent, beautifully cooked rose pink and the gremolata a good crunch contrast to the very tender meat. The Parmesan polenta is particularly good, I could have eaten a bowlful of that with no problem at all. A very good dish overall with perhaps, to be fussy, one component too many, each is very good uniquely, but sometimes more is less.

There is no ‘less’ with P’s line caught seabass,  it’s a big hunk o’fish beautifully cooked with crispy skin, plus a shapely ‘ratatouile’ quenelle (officially a courgette and tomato compote) and a fennel ‘tart’. All excellent.

We keep the veg simple – new potatoes and ‘Spring’ veg, although as an allotment holder myself I don’t think green beans are ready in the UK yet. To be fair, the menu did not actually  say whose Spring.

Very good dishes both and not let down by a shared dessert, Strawberries and Cream Mille-Feuille with white chocolate ice cream. A very photogenic piece of patisserie, which suggests Afternoon Tea at the Landmark is one worth considering, especially given the space which screams Summer, even though it’s called the Winter Garden.

The golden age of rail travel may be over, but The Landmark keeps the Grand Rail Hotel tradition alive with very good cooking in a superb space

222 Marylebone Road

London NW1 6JQ

www.landmarklondon.co.uk