With grouse season upon us, London's chefs have been busy pondering whether to stick to the traditional way of serving it up with game chips and bread sauce, or gild the grouse with a more inventive treatment. Here's our pick of some of the best places to enjoy your game.

The Dorchester

Head chef of The Grill at The Dorchester, Brian Hughson, will introduce his grouse menu from the 13th August which this year will include warm salad of grouse with Cumbrian ham, fried quails egg and summer truffle and traditional roasted grouse with bread sauce, home cured streaky bacon, game chips and roasting juices. The menu will be available from 13 August until the end of the grouse shooting season in December.

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Read our test drive of last year's Dorchester grouse menu

Bar Boulud London

Bar Boulud will be offering fresh seasonal game and wild fowl as a plat du jour option from the glorious twelfth until the end of the season in February. We rather like the sound of the roasted Scottish grouse with girolle mushrooms, devils on horseback, celeriac puree and buttered cabbage all in a sloe gin jus.

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Charlotte's

At Charlotte's Turnham Green, Chef Wesley Smalley will have whole baked grouse, fine herb and bread stuffing, apple and quince jelly on the menu from the 12th. It'll be served up on Sundays as a special for a month at £30 and will serve two people.

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The Square

The Square has roast breast and croustillant of grouse with elderberries, crushed root vegetables and cepes on offer. You'll find it on the main lunch and dinner menu (three courses £80), with a £10 supp for the first week and £5 thereafter.

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Albannach

Albannach will have grouse arriving from the Scottish moorlands by 7pm on the 12th. They're added a traditional dish of roast grouse with bread sauce, game chips and armagnac gravy to the menu at £25 

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Blueprint Cafe

If you can wait a while, why not book a table at the first Blueprint Saturday Lunch Club on 24 September 2011 where they're putting on a “game feast” - pigeon, blackcurrant & bramble salad accompanied by salt mallard with pickled cherries and bowls of roast grouse and roast partridge. It's £45 per person including aperitif on arrival and a glass of wine with each course.

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Boundary

At Boundary, new head chef Peter Weeden has a number of game dishes lined up including grouse, roast saddle of hare and venison chop with red wine and quince.

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Brasserie Joel

In Westminster, Brasserie Joel will be serving a special game dish by head chef Joel Antunes of roast grouse with pumpkin praline, ravioli and bread sauce (market price).

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Cinnamon Club

Cinnamon Club will be putting on a five course game tasting menu, which includes venison, grouse and partridge dishes as well as a sorbet course and dessert course for £60. You can also expect to see something like Tandoori breast of grouse with Jerusalem artichoke mash which will cost around £25.

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Trishna

At Trishna, head chef Karam Sethi will be getting his grouse from his Yorkshire supplier on the 12th. He apparently uses sweeter-flavoured baby grouse at Trishna. His dish will be a tandoor roasted grouse – made with a mustard and curry leaf marinade, grouse leg keema naan and a hot and sweet coastal mango chutney and will cost around £18.

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The Ivy

Over at The Ivy, grouse will be on the table from the 13th August when head chef Gary Lee will offer the whole bird roasted and served with bread sauce, bacon, game pate on toasted croutons, buttered cabbage and game jus - £39.75.

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Green's

Greens in St James will be serving up grouse from the restaurant's former co-owner Lord Vestey’s home shoots. They'll also be hosting a Grouse Feast on the Glorious Twelfth itself.

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Plateau

If you're over in Canary Wharf head up to Plateau where their menu will feature Roast Grouse, game croute, watercress and Hendricks gin jus for £28.50. This will go on the menu a few days after the 12th, so phone ahead to check it's on.

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Racine

Chef Henry Harris is planning on getting his grouse as early as 7pm on the 12th. There's no word yet on his dishes this year, but he's expecting to keep the price at around £30.

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Rules

There's no more traditional place to try game than Rules, especially as they source it from their own estate Lartington Hall Park in the High Pennines. There'll be limited availability for the first week of the season and then it will be on the menu proper, served up with traditional accompaniments for £32.50.

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Theo Randall at the Intercontinental

Theo Randall will be taking an early delivery of the birds, using the kitchen’s wood-fired oven to offer an Italian take on roast grouse. His grouse dish will be stuffed with thyme and roasted, before being served with fresh porcini. 

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The Gilbert Scott

Sticking to its habit of scouring old cookbooks, The Gilbert Scott will be doing Mrs Beeton's Roast Grouse (from her book of Household Management), available from the 17th onwards to ensure the birds are full of flavour having been hung. Mrs Beeton wrapped the trussed grouse with bacon, roasted it until it was 3/4 done then placed the lightly toasted bread in the roasting tray to finish off the bird (and soak up all the juices).
In those days the grouse must have been rather large as she advises that one served 4-6 people...

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Quo Vadis

Finally, if you can bear to wait, Quo Vadis have decided to hold out a little before adding traditional roast grouse to their menu, served with game chips and a fabulous bread sauce. The dish will be on offer from the first week of September, when the birds have grown to what they say is the perfect, mouth-watering size and will cost £26.

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