Rhodes W1 Restaurant, Great Cumberland Place, London

The grape - half a grape, actually - has been caramelised with cognac and a little sugar, before being finished with sherry vinegar and Sauternes. It's a lot of work, just for a grape - half a grape - that is going to perch on a button of foie gras on a crisp slip of fine gingerbread. And that's just one of the appetisers.

I could end this review of Gary Rhodes' ambitious new restaurant right here, because this one dish says it all. It says high craft and due diligence; it says richness and lightness; and it says eat me. It isn't even my favourite amuse-bouche - that honour goes to a baton of juicy, gently smoked, brioche crumb-coated eel that renders all other smoked eel in this country irrelevant.

Nor is that my favourite course. A "double oyster ragout" pairs freshly opened Maldon oysters with tender chicken oysters cloaked in rich, buttery, chickeny, oystery juices and strewn with a flotsam of emerald-green samphire. It's hard to imagine more complementary flavours and textures.

What marks this food as special is the freshness and spontaneity captured in every bite. It isn't cooked beforehand but cooked right here, right now, at the last possible minute, on the other side of the kitchen door.

In extreme contrast to the frenzy going on out there is the sense of luxurious calm in the dining room. Kelly Hoppen's design is quietly lavish, with an unrestrained use of taupe keeping the backgrounds neutral against fresh peonies, deliciously coarse linen napkins, and ornate black velvet-framed mirrors straight from the Addams Family boudoir. Dazzling Swarovski crystal chandeliers hang over every table, making the room look as if it is dripping with stars.

It's a visual clue to the restaurant's ambition. Rhodes has been something of a Michelin-botherer ever since he landed his first star at the Castle Hotel in Taunton back in 1986, and his career has since been lit by a succession of single Michelin stars.

He knows the quickest way to stardom is via French classical cooking, fast-tracked by a clued-up French master sommelier (cue Yves Desmaris, from Rhodes 24) and a graceful French restaurant manager (Sébastien Dupont from Gordon Ramsay).

Rhodes cooks when he can, but let me tell you, head chef Brian Hughson is doppelgänger-good. His suckling pig ravioli are topped with crisped pork shreds, bottomed with folds of Savoy cabbage, and sauced with a calvados jus and a light apple-cider foam.

While the richly endowed wine list is French-led, there is a scattering of New World labels including a wonderfully soft, 2005 Dry Gully Pinot Noir (£54) from Central Otago in New Zealand. Hearing Desmaris pronounce it "dreegoollee" is one of the treats of the night.

Another treat is a generous dish of Cornish lobster that comes without a surcharge. It is insanely good, the lobster lightly poached to the texture of warm sashimi then teamed in a very natural way with bisquey juices and a scattering of young spring vegetables.

A salt roast pigeon is also deliberately undercooked; the glossy, blood-red breast forming two relaxed and livery lobes, accompanied by the crisped confit'd legs, a raft of overly fibrous white asparagus, and a fruity lemon cumin gravy.

An elegant little cherry trifle sounds an echo of Rhodes' pro-British days, but is a very French construction, the jelly/ custard/biscuit layered and moulded with just the right amount of jiggle.

I expected the detail to be here, but I didn't expect the food to be quite so seasonal, the flavours so carefully compatible, the offerings quite so generous. As well as the prix fixe, an additional list of small dishes (£8 to £19) means you can put together your own degustation.

Rhodes W1 shows that the chef's chef can bring a lighter, modern, touch to his almost anal brand of food perfectionism. I knew Rhodes was good. I didn't know he was this good. s

17/20

SCORES 1-9 STAY HOME AND COOK 10-11 NEEDS HELP 12 OK 13 PLEASANT ENOUGH 14 GOOD 15 VERY GOOD 16 CAPABLE OF GREATNESS 17 SPECIAL, CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK 18 HIGHLY HONOURABLE 19 UNIQUE AND MEMORABLE 20 AS GOOD AS IT GETS

Rhodes W1 Restaurant, Great Cumberland Place, London W1. Tel: 020 7479 3737

Lunch Tuesday to Friday, dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Dinner: two courses £39.50 per person; three courses £45 per person

Second helpings: Former Rhodes haunts

The Capital

22-24 Basil Street, London SW3, tel: 020 7591 1202

Rhodes cooked here under Brian Turner in the early 1980s. Today, under super-talented French chef Eric Chavot, it carries two Michelin stars.

The Greenhouse

27A Hays Mews, London W1, tel: 020 7499 3331

Once home to Rhodes' modern British classics, this Mayfair garden restaurant now stars the inspired French cuisine of Antonin Bonnet and a thrilling wine list.

The Castle Hotel

Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset, tel: 01823 272 671

Rhodes won his first star at this former Norman fortress, a tradition upheld by chef Richard Guest, using local produce like Brixham crab and Barrow boar.

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