#throwbackthursday review: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

This is a semi repost from my tumblr; apologies for the crappy iPhone pics.

After seeing a Christmas matinee showing of the Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet and getting to see one of my faves, Federico Bonelli, dance, we made our way over to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park to dine at one of the most anticipated restaurants on our trip. Because of the ridiculous demand for a table here, we had to book three months in advance, on the day that bookings opened for the date we wanted. The effort, though, was mostly worth it.

Starters: Salamugundy and Meat Fruit

You probably can’t come to Dinner without getting the Meat Fruit. It’s the house’s signature dish and one which comes with a great deal of hype. M got it because he’s a bigger fan of liver parfait than I but we stole bits off each other’s plates anyway. In this case, I was so glad he let me steal as much as I wanted because it was even more delicious than I had imagined. While I find that liver parfait/paté can often be a bit iron-y and heavy, this was light as anything, perfectly smooth and the flavour was just unbelievable. A lot has already been written about this dish so there’s not much I can contribute other than to say that I regret not ordering 10 of these. I got the Salamugundy, which although no Meat Fruit, was still very delicious. It also introduced to now one of my new favourite vegetables: salsify.


Mains: Hereford Ribeye & Black Foot Pork Neck

To say that M loves pork is a bit of an understatement so it was no surprise that he chose the pork main. I didn’t really try it but according to him, it was great. Obviously the Iberian Black Footed Pig (pata negra, from which jamon iberico is made) is the king of swines so I imagine it was pretty bloody delicious. I was however too busy wolfing down my steak to pay attention to his pork. The steak, although it doesn’t look that amazing in the photo (nor in person), it was the by far the best steak I have ever had (and beats anything I've had since by a mile). It was just amazingly tender, juicy and flavoursome, to the point that it has probably ruined all other steaks for me. The triple cooked chips that accompanied it were also amazing, although I wasn’t crazy about the mushroom ketchup.

Desserts: Brown Bread Ice Cream & Chocolate Bar
 

M is a huge chocolate lover so his dessert really hit the spot for him. Mine was a different story, sadly. Whilst on paper it sounded right up my alley, I really really didn’t enjoy the Brown Bread Ice Cream. I found the taste strange and eating the brown bread ice cream by itself was frankly, disgusting. One was meant to eat it all together but even then I couldn’t get over the flavour of the ice cream. The dessert as a whole was also just too sweet for me. I’m not a huge dessert person and this just wasn’t to my tastes at all.

The setting was as beautiful as you would imagine for a restaurant of this calibre. The service was very polished and attentive, but did have that air of stuffiness which I could do without. But alas, I suppose I can't expect the service everywhere to be like that of the Ledbury. Overall, though, we had a great time at Dinner and would definitely go again. We'll get the opportunity to soon enough since a Dinner will permanently open at Crown in Melbourne, at the site where the Fat Duck will be stationed during its 6 month stay.

#throwbackthursday review: The Ledbury, London

The Ledbury’s reputation preceded it and we were prepared to be disappointed, but it truly lived up to its hype and then some. Looking back on it, it's definitely one of the greatest dining experiences we've had to date.

We had the tasting menu which at about £100 a head, was actually really good value. Yes, that is expensive but many restaurants of its calibre charge significantly more, and the food and the service justified it. This is simply not the case with a lot of these 'modern', Michelin starred, hatted, top 100 list-esque restaurants. Yes there are many great ones, but there are also many that don't justify the prices they charge and don't deserve the accolades. The Ledbury sits firmly in the 'great' camp.

The experience was truly memorable. Everything was just so creative and utterly delicious. We started with (three?) amuse-bouches and the house made bread which was generously dished out throughout the evening. My favourite  proper course of the night was the mackerel while the simple pre-dessert of a clementine granita with meringue is up there with the Torija at Tickets (review to come) as the best dessert I've ever had.

But while the food deserves the abounding superlatives thrown at it, it's the Ledbury's service, ambiance and overall 'experience' which truly sets it apart. In contrast to that at Pollen Street Social, the service here, while unmistakably refined, was not at all stuffy and pretentious. The service was just genuinely friendly, warm and not at all in your face. The sommelier who served us was sympathetic to the mild stomach complaint I brought with me that evening and diligently got me a ginger ale to calm my belly. M still talks about the amazing Americano coffee he was served here and the way they poured it right at the table. It was definitely the perfect antidote to what was mostly very mediocre coffee throughout the continent. What also contributed to the overall experience was the low-key glamour of the restaurant's fit out and how perfectly the place absorbed sound; sitting there in a packed restaurant, you could have honestly heard a pin drop—even though most of the clientele were having animated conversations. But what really completed the evening for me (not so much M who has a rather perplexing aversion to fruit) was the addition of fresh clementines (so fresh that I suspect they were straight off the tree) with our petit fours. I am a huge fruit lover and being given two fresh and perfect little fruits to complete my meal just completely won me over.

We left the restaurant completely satisfied and gushing madly, plotting how soon we would be back.

#throwbackthursday review: Pollen Street Social, London

This is a semi repost from my tumblr.

I had wanted to book either the Ledbury or Pollen Street Social for a birthday dinner but alas, being a Saturday, they were booked out. I did, however, manage to score a lunch spot at PSS and given the rave reviews and the promised relaxed dining experience, I was very excited.

I had very high expectations and I guess I set myself up for disappointment. And disappointed I was. It’s not that it was bad, it just wasn’t very good.

It started off badly with my pink lemonade mocktail. Kinda disgusting to my tastes since it had pink grapefuit it in. It would have been much better with strawberry or raspberry. A similar drink I had at a bar near Tottenham Court Road made with rapsberry and elderflower cordial was delicious.

The food itself was nicely presented. But restaurants that serve nicely presented good food are a dime a dozen. To be fair, we only got the set lunch (I think it was £40 per person?) and my lunch buddy G’s dishes were better than mine, but I had other reasons to be disappointed. I was very let down by my dish of Roast cod with squid and beans in a consomme/broth. The last dish I had featuring squid and beans I've already posted about. The one here at PSS was just blah in comparison. Nothing special, and overseasoned. And I like my food salty. I also found the restaurant ambience unwelcoming and stuffy, like a lot of the fine dining restaurants of old. It’s not that the waiters weren’t professional or attentive, they were. It’s just that they lacked warmth and genuine enthusiasm. If I could describe the service in two words, it would be: tepid and awkward.

Maybe I was just spoiled by the Ledbury (review to come). I wouldn’t even rate PSS as highly as my experience at Galvin at Windows. At least that had nice views and an amusing French waiter.

#throwbackthursday review: lunch @ Galvin at Windows, London

This is a semi repost from my tumblr.

Located on the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton Hotel, this restaurant has stunning 360º views of London. Unfortunately on the day that we went, it was typical London weather so the view wasn't as spectacular as it could have been.

M was in town visiting and we wanted to check out Galvin and their (£30p.p??) lunch special  before bounding off for some shopping on nearby Bond St. Nothing we had that day appears on their menu anymore so I won’t be talking in too much detail about the food.

As is common with these sorts of things, we started off with a 'complimentary' amuse bouche of (if I remember correctly) a jerusalem artichoke puree. For starters I had the slow cooked hen's egg* (the first time they were serving this dish at Galvin) while M opted for the soup with chicken liver parfait. My dish was probably the best of what we had that day while M's was pretty forgettable. My main was skate wing with mussels, sea vegetables and salsify in a seafood broth while M got ever ubiquitous pork belly. Neither mains were spectacular but I did enjoy the addition of salsify to my main, after having recently introduced to the vegetable during our outing at Dinner by Heston (review to come). My main ended up being gifted because the chef had left a pastry brush bristle in the dish. Honestly, I didn’t even notice; I picked it out and put it on the side of my plate but I thought it was a frond from a mussel or from one of the vegetables but our waiter informed us (through some adorably staggered English; he was French like most/all the waitstaff at Galvin) that it was a brush bristle and that for this reason it would be comped. To finish, we got some cute house-made marshmallows and chocolates. As you would expect, the restaurant itself was gorgeous and the service was pleasant and very attentive. All in all it was a pleasant experience aided by nice service, the setting and the best company I could have asked for.

*I always find it hilarious when restaurants describe eggs as a 'hen's egg' to try and jazz up the stock standard egg. I can obviously understand when it's something like a duck or quail egg but those aren't stock standard eggs so the description actually adds something, but such is not the case with 'hen's eggs'.

Food photo of the week: canelés

Bought these from a cute French boy at a market stall on UCL campus. He also sold macarons but I only had eyes for these bad boys (a bargain @ 3 for £1!). Knowing what I know now about canelés, these weren't the greatest and they were almost certainly baked in silicon not copper. However,  they were still delicious and were my first foray into the wonderful world of canelés.