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Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

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For some self-indulgence, and to celebrate my 43rd birthday we decided to dine at “Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley” in London. I’ve been a fan of Marcus after seeing him on “The Great British Menu” and impressed with his love of food and classic techniques. I initially wanted to visit Pétrus when he was working within Gordon Ramsey’s stable but they parted company some time ago and I missed that chance. Thankfully I didn’t miss out this time round.

 

This restaurant has been awarded 2 Michelin stars and it is clear to see why; excellent food and amazing service that went “above and beyond” anything I’ve ever witnessed in a restaurant before. I think the third star won’t be too far away personally. As with most Michelin starred eateries it isn’t cheap but I choose to spend my hard earned cash on food, which is one of my loves in life so I tend to not “worry” too much about the £££s as long as I enjoy the experience, and this one I truly did. The restaurant is a fairly large affair, with little areas here and there and the decor is low-key but stylish. Our table was set in an alcove, near the windows, and had an “eyes-in” to a section of the dining room – it was almost like a private dining area with it only having 5 tables. The chairs were very comfortable as the dining session was just short of 3.5 hours but it didn’t feel like we had sat there for that length of time (always a good thing!). Also, the service was very discreet – not 100′s of waiters dancing all over the place but a small group of well-honed waiters and front of house that delivered each course with minimal fuss (a stark difference to that of the Waterside Inn).

I wanted to “splash out” so we opted for the Chefs Menu with Wine Pairing. This menu consisted of 10 courses (so get comfy as this is fairly long), with a couple of amuse bouche and chef’s specials. At the end of the evening we both felt very full, which isn’t always the case when trying some taster menus. So, here’s what we had (along with the wine pairings as we asked for a copy fo the menus to take home which is always very handy!)

First things first – bread. I think it’s a good sign if the bread is good, and this was. I had soda and then potato & onion, Mini had rye. There were 2 butters; a plain butter and one quenelle of beurre noisette which had a nutty taste to it, really nice and the first time I’ve ever had it as an accompaniment to bread.

Kicking off with a glass each of Ruinart champagne we munched on our amuse bouche; 1 was prawn rolled in sesame seeds – pop the whole nibble into your mouth and immediately get a mouthful of fresh prawn, quite a depth of flavour too from something so small, a great start. The other was pork hazlet; a cube of around 1cm in size. Think of your best sausage roll you’ve ever tried and multiply it by 100. Deep flavours, balanced seasonings that stayed in your mouth for some time afterwards – a great start we both thought.

Chefs pre-starter was Cauliflower Cheese. Not the stuff you had at school that was all gloopy, wet and minging. This came in a tall shot glass. Pureed cauliflower, hot, topped with a cold cheesy foam sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Starting off with the spoon you take a swipe out of the foam and get a whoosh of cheese (Wotsits on steroids!) and you then realise that the cauliflower is hot below, a brilliant contrast. The puree/soup was very fresh and packed with flavour.

Dish #1; Orkney scallops, grapes, cucumber, Kaffir lime, Alexanders paired with a glass of Fiano di Avelino, Pietracupa, Campania, Italy 2009.
Scallops intertwined between a thin strip of cucumber, lying on top of lime mayonnaise, with some salad leaves and half a grape (I did comment to Mini that for the menu to say “grapes” you needed more than one!). Scallops were perfectly cooked, slight brown on the outside. Paired with the lime mayo they were incredibly fresh and tasty. The wine fitted perfectly (as did all the others, and they weren’t skimpy servings either)

Dish #2; Foie gras, sorbe, walnut, date, milk tuile paired with a Vouvray ‘La Reveillerie’ Lemaire Fournier, Loire Valley, France 2003 – almost like a dessert wine; real depth of flavour, great neck and lovely orangey/brown colour.
3 dollops of foie gras moose (like mini merengues just piped) – incredibly light and smooth, not too powerful in the taste either which was just right. The walnut bread was about 2mm thick and 10cm long but it tasted like you had a whole walnut tree on a plate – so full of flavour. The milk tuiles were small shards which were stuck into the foie gras – think of Nice biscuits – really nice. The sorbe was a small dollop of fruit, that is similar to pear, and gave a sweet edge.

 

Dish #3; Crab, chestnut, agnolotti paired with a Dido, Rene Barbier, Monstant, Spain 2008.
The crab was served in two parts; the brown meat wrapped within the agnolotti (think ravioli), white meat was shredded along side a piece of claw meat. The little pockets of ravioli were lovely, small yet dense. Unfortunately when I was eating the rest of the dish I found some chunks of crab shell – not what I would expect from a 2* restaurant. It spoiled this particular dish and I informed the waiters who were very apologetic.

 

Dish #4; Sweetbread, goat’s curd, squash, caper butter paired with a Piper’s Brook Estate, Pinot Noir, Tasmania 2005, fairly light for a pinot noir but a great match with the sweetbread.
I “love” sweetbreads and this one hit the mark, nicely caramelised giving some small crunchy parts. When ordering I said that I didn’t want the goat’s curd but when delivering the dishes they mixed them up so I had the plate with the curd on. Nothing major some may say, but again this shouldn’t happen at a place like this. Another “let down” was the caper butter – neither of us could taste the capers. At this point in the evening I was feeling a bit “low” as 2 dishes had not lived up to expectations, I was really hoping we hadn’t already hit the peak with the 2nd dish and was now nose diving.

Dish #5; Scottish lobster, broccoli paired with a Chassagne-Montrachet ‘Enceigneres’ Dom. Marc Colin, Burgundy, France 2008.
Broccoli 3 ways; mandalin thin slices of the floret, a bright green puree and poached stalk. The lobster was simply divine; 2 good chunks of this wonderful seafood.

As I said a few lines up, what with the crab shell and the mixup of plates I was feeling somewhat let down with the evening, due to these 2 errors. Now this is where a restaurant earns 2* with amazing service. As an apology, and they said they were very sorry about the crab shell incident and plate mixup, we had an additional course. A small plate of pasta (we think Fettuccine) with herbs which came with a small copper saucepan. The waiter then showed us the saucepan, took the lid off and inside were 2 black truffles. He then commenced to grate a good helping onto each dish, not skimping at all. I was very happy with this, not only as we had this extra course but the fact that they had acknowledged the 2 issues and acted speedily to resolve it.

Dish #6; Halibut, cockles, fennel, clementine paired with a Viognier ‘Les Contours de Deponcins’ Francois Villard, Rhone.
The first time I had tried Halibut and I loved it. Perfectly cooked, falling into small pieces with the push of your fork. Fennel done 2 ways (braised and grilled), with some cockles and clementine – I really like the mix of fish and orange, Mini wasn’t sure as we had something similar at another place and he still wasn’t sold on the idea.

Dishes #7; So now, the main courses. I chose the Cumbrian lamb, sweetbread, quince, leek paired with Barolo, Francesco Rinaldi & Figli, Piermont, Italy 2007. Mini went for Galloway beef fillet, Dorset snails, horseradish, kale paired with Gramercy Cellars, Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, USA, 2008.
Both dishes were A-M-Azing. Seriously. The best lamb I have ever eaten. Considering the portion size (and again it wasn’t skimpy, 4 good cuts of a cannon of lamb) it tasted as though all the sheep in Wales had been condensed into this one cut. I was lost for words when I tasted the first bite, on par with the scallop I had at Le Gavroche (2 of my all time dishes now). Mini had his beef blue – you can only really order blue when eating at a place that knows what blue is. This was cooked perfectly, looking like the cow had slowly walked 1M away from a candle. Mini said the beef was “melt in the mouth” good, and all I heard was a lot of “mmmms” when he was munching, which is his sign of enjoying the meal.

The Assistant Manager came over to see how things were going and, for the first time, I said “Best Lamb I’ve ever eaten, please pass my compliments to the chef”. He was very happy that we had our evening turned around, and passed my compliments to the chef. So now it got even better. On his return he asked if we would like to take a tour of the kitchen. “Let me think about that for 1micro second”….”Yes please!”. We have never had this oppurtunity at any other restaurant, and he said he had asked someone else previously who had turned it down! So off we trotted to “where the magic happens” (my phrase, not his) and he explained who was doing what, that this was the main “cooking” kitchen with the prep kitchen “in the bowels of the building”. It was a flurry of activity and a smallish size of kitchen. We chatted with the Head chef (not Mr Wareing unfortunately, but that would have been amazing if he was there), and also with the pastry chefs (Gods). When we left we realised how hot it was in there, I know a silly thing to say but I take my hat off to those cooks; you really have to love your job to work those hours in hot kitchens. I was literally buzzing after this, like I’d done a line of coke (not that I ever have) – I was beaming just like after meeting Michel Roux Jr when he came to our table at Le Gavroche (get me name dropping!!!!)

Bring on the desserts!! Ok, so a pre-dessert (bend my arm then). A little hazlenut and chocolate layered slice, imagine a Kit-Kat crossed with a Topic bar but a bit fancier. Very scrummy.

Dessert #1; White Chocolate ice, redcurrant.
Another shot glass affair, with white chocolate upto the brim and redcurrants sprinkled on top. The chocolate was thick, oozy, umptious with the redcurrants piercing the richness. Not sure where the ice bit came in, but I wasn’t complaining.

Dessert #2; Apple, crispy cinnamon pastry, apple jelly paired with Umathum, Scheurebe, Beerenausslese, Burgenland, Austria 2009.
Something like a deconstructed apple pie. The apple jelly had a real wobble on it, good sign there, and was intense with apple flavour. The pastry was a mille-feuille tower of crispy cinnamon pastry with pureed apple in between.

Dessert #3;Cru Virunage chocolate.
A small slab of chocolate, probably 5cm square, 7mm high and served on a small slate tile. The chocolate on top was a small veneer of melted chocolate with gold leaf, and below it a chocolate sponge. Considering a spoonful size this gave a real WHACK of chocolate flavour, incredibly intense. After finishing one I don’t think you could eat another without feeling a bit sick – in a good way, not wanting to be ill but just due to the richness of the chocolate. We each had a cup of tea at the end. The tea “menu” was a box of phials containing the tea leaves, allowing you to smell each one and also having a short description. I had Dragon Well – a nice strong brew, and Mini had Verbena Mint Tea – very lemony and refreshing.

 

Phew! Reached the end (fingers aching). A thoroughly enjoyable experience was had by both of us. Not without a couple of issues, but fantastically turned around by the shear expertise of the staff; they were all very friendly, unpretentious and helpful – they also took off the 12.5% service charge (which was discretionary but they took it off without us asking). We had a copy each of the menu, and also a bag of chocolate truffles to take home (these were very nom). The cherry on the cake would have been meeting Marcus Wareing, but the cake was still bloody brilliant.

 

Cost – £465 (Chef’s menu £120 each, Wine Pairing £105 each, Tea £5 each, Water £5.50 for the table)

Food – 9/10

Service – 10/10

Value – 8.5/10

 

 

 

The Hand & Flowers, Marlow

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This evening we dined at “The Hand & Flowers” based in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. One of the reasons for wanting to eat at this specific establishment was down to seeing the chef/patron Tom Kerridge on the BBC series, “The Great British Menu”. I was inspired with this chef’s ideas and enthusiasm. Thankfully the food we ate lived up, in part, to this.

The restaurant is basically a gastro pub, which gained it’s 1 Michelin Star within a year of opening back in 2005. It’s a really comfy, kinda like home place. Wide but fairly shallow, the tables are placed fairly close together, but not too close as to have people banging into your chair. We were seated in a corner area, which was nice as it meant we didn’t have too much “thru traffic”.

The staff were are friendly and cheerful. On the whole a good bunch of people. Initially we thought the service was a bit “hit and miss” in that we had 3 different people taking, delivering and clearing orders. Also at one point, a waiter used our table as a pit-stop when delivering water and wine for the next table, which kinda threw us a bit! Another “niggly” thing was when I asked a waitress how they got the crust on their bread so crunchy – the bread provided was 2 slices each, one of brown and one of white. I heard Soda bread said at some point, so I guess this was the brown bread (it was fairly dense as soda bread normally is, and interestingly enough had a pepper crust). The white bread was really light and had a really crisp crust. So, when I got “Oh I’m not a chef” – duurrhh… I could have told you that myself. Why can’t people just say  “I will find out for you”. Thankfully the service improved during the evening.

After taking our orders we were given a pre-appetiser. Deep fried whitebait with a Thousand Island dip. The whitebait were nicely fried, nothing greasy about them and good strong taste. The dip was a bit bland. Personally I think it would have been better to do something like a caper and mayo dip, or just some fresh lemon.

For my starter I opted for the “Glazed Omelette of Smoked Haddock and Parmesan”. This was bought to the table in its own little omelette pan (a nice touch I thought). The omelette was excellent. Lots of flaked fish, and a nice cheesy background flavour. It was very deep in taste and quite moreish. (8/10)

Mini had the “Salmon Tartare with Salt and Pepper Bread”. Very well presented, with salmon as a quinelle of mousse and a tartare around the mousse mixed with capers and chives. This part was very good indeed, albeit the depth of flavour in the mousse could have been a bit deeper. Also, we thought the amount of diced salmon was a bit stingy. The bigger issue was the amount of pepper in the bread – someone had gone a bit mad and there were almost whole peppercorns in the bread, which totally overwhelmed the salmon. A shame really. (6/10)

Moving onto the mains, I chose “Slow Braised Shin of Hambleden Estate Beef with Glazed Carrot and Beef Marrow” – outstanding dish. The marrow came inside the bone still, with a teaspoon sitting in it. After deftly extracting the amber nectar, I distributed it onto my plate, and then added some “Hand & Flowers Chips” and “Swede with pepper”. Let’s get the not so good bit out of the way – the chips. In my head, a chip should be golden brown in colour, with a bit of a bite on the outside, and a fluffy inside. It should also be nice and ‘dry’. The chips here were more like potato croquettes. About the size of a Wotsit. I was disappointed. Moving swiftly to the beef. This was a huge chunk of beef that had been taken off the shin and then rolled, to form a chunky sausage shape. This beef literally melted in my mouth. It was almost like top quality corned beef, but better. Seriously good. The carrot was really tasty too. After my first nibble I could detect aniseed. I asked and was thankfully informed by the better waitress, that the carrots were cooked in a water bath, sealed with star anise and some butter. This was a really good pairing. (8/10 – if the chips had been better it would have been 9)

Mini had the “Thame Pigeon and Foie Gras “En Croûte” with Lovage Braised Celery Heart and Vin Jaune Sauce”. Another cracking dish. Not huge in portion size, and we both thought it could have done better with a bit more pastry. The pigeon and foie gras was a good combination, with the differing textures and tastes. The mushroom duxalle was just picked up, and the celery gave another texture. The sauce was a great compliment that pulled the dish together. (8/10)

Moving onto dessert. A really good selection, and so hard to choose from! In the end we chose 3, so 1 each and a sharer :)

I chose “Willie’s 100% Cacao Hot Chocolate Tart with Malted Milk Ice Cream” – sublime. The chocolate was rich and deep but not bitter. The tuilles were crunchy and tasty, and the Malted Milk ice cream reminded me of the biscuits I had as a child. The tart itself was nice and crumbly, a great choice (9/10)

Mini chose the “Apricot Soufflé with Apricot Sauce and Yoghurt Sorbet”. Another cracker. The souffle was cooked perfectly, and once opened showed it’s gooey insides. Without the sauce it was lovely, with the sauce it tasted a bit better, we didn’t think the sauce added that much to it. The sorbet was ok, again something we think didn’t bring anything to an already perfect souffle.

The sharing dessert was “Warm Pistachio Sponge Cake with Melon Sorbet and Marzipan”. This looked divine on the plate. A bright green sponge cake, and a Batenburg design slice of melon squares in a jelly, with a melon sorbet and a marzipan tuille. The sponge cake was a burst of pistachio, and light as a feather. The melon was refreshing, and the marzipan gave a nice background taste.

We ended the meal with a pot of tea each, both very refreshing (I forgot to note the names). They even do “Builders brew served in a mug!”

So, overall we rate this 6/10 – which is the same as the Good Food Guide 2010 gave it. A couple of areas that need tweaking (like the service at the start), and also some more detailed attention to seasoning in a couple of the areas. Apart from this we had a lovely evening, and thought the overall bill (including 2 alcoholic drinks, 1 glass of red wine each and a 10% tip) came to £130.

Second visit the “The Royal Oak”, Maidenhead

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An impromptu visit to the restaurant we visited back in February. As this was our second time I decided to forego the camera and tasting notebook, so this blog will be a fairly short one (hoorah I hear you say!!)

Saturday 5th June was a lovely sunny day, and after a busy day here and there we were looking forward to dining out. Arriving at the pub for our 7PM booking we were met with a friendly greeting and asked if we would like to go straight to our table. As we were hungry and thirsty we decided to go. Our first visit to the pub was Valentines, and as such had a bespoke menu. This time the menu was the usual one they use (you can see it here) and we chose the following:-

Mini had the “Asparagus with duck egg and parmesan”, “Peppered Haunch of Venison with Creamed Spinach and Sauce Poivrade” and “Chocolate Fondant, Toffee Sauce, Pistachio Ice Cream”

I had “Chicken Liver and Foie Gras Parfait with Toasted Brioche”, “Fillet of Black Angus Beef & Veal Sweetbread, Marrow Bone and Red Wine Sauce” and “Chocolate Fondant, Toffee Sauce, Pistachio Ice Cream”. As I wasn’t driving I also had 2 pints of London Pride (1 with the Parfait and it was a great match!). A glass of “Syrah, Viu Manent, Chile 2008″ (lovely, oaky and spoicy taste, medium body) with the beef, and a glass of “Jurancon-Organic, Petit Manseng 2005 ” (a really light dessert wine, but bulging with flavour) with my dessert.

Mini enjoyed the starter, stating that the egg was light and flavoursome, and the parmesan “hollandaise-esque” sauce was yummy. He had the venison back in February and it was magnificent again this time. The mash potato is the creamiest mash we’ve ever seen, you could pipe it using a 0.1mm piping bag and I don’t think it would clog!

Like Mini, I had the same starter as last time. Just can’t say no to fois gras. The brioche bread was lovely and warm, and doorstep thick! The parfait comes with a quinelle of fig and a port reduction – devine. The fillet beef literally melted on the plate as it was cut, really deep in flavour. The sweetbread was very light and dissappeared quite easily :) This was my first try at marrow bone, and I loved it. Immensely intense flavour of all the best bits in meat, the FAT! Cubes of the marrow bone were scattered across the fillet. The sauce, I am sure, is a reduction of Marmite! I think they mentioned it had a “yeast extract” but I love Marmite, and this is definitely almost identical.

So, all good so far, well not totally. Chips. Yes chips. Chips to me should be crispy on the outside, dry (not dripping with grease) and fluffy in the middle. These chips came in a small bowl, but there were plenty of them to go with the dish. Unfortunately about 60% of them were more like “cripsy potato shards” just like you get when you over boil potatoes that are for roasting, and the split and then these pieces really crisp up. They weren’t in-edible, just a bit too crunchy – “C-, could do better”

Finally the dessert. A very impressive fondant. Bitter dark chocolate powder on the outside, cut it open and light chocolate inner with a gooey, runny chocolate sauce that spills out onto the plate. The pistachio tuille was really strong with the flavour of those labour-intensive nuts. Pity the ice cream didn’t have the same hit (was the same when we had the dessert 1st time round).

As a change to the normal coffee and petit fours, we both plumped for the “Ginger Twist” tea (website here where you can buy it amongst lots of others). The tea arrives in a divine “pot for 1″ teapot. Lifting the lid lets a HUGE refreshing waft of ginger out, really really nice, and a great drink for a warm summer evening. When you drink the tea you also get a peppermint taste in the background. I think we will be putting some orders through the UK branch.

The bill came to £144 (including the 12.5% service charge) which I don’t think is overly expensive, considering my drinks cost about £25, so about £50 a head. Interestingly, en-route to the gents they have snippets of reviews etc. There is one there from 2008, with a scan of the bill. 2 years ago, the Venison was £16 – it is now £24 (so a 50% increase). I know prices fluctuate and things get dearer every year, but I hope this 50% increase isn’t just due to the 1 Michelin Star.

So, if you are anywhere near Maidenhead then you really must take a look at this place. I can see how it got its Michelin star recently; great staff and friendly service throughout, really good food (ok get the chips better and it’s “really fantastic food”) and relaxing environment. You may, as we did on this visit, even see Sir Michael Parkinson.

The Fat Duck, Bray.

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After many years of thinking “Really need to book at this place” we finally did, and this was Tuesday the 20th April 2010 – worth a note in the diary to reflect in years to come.

If you’ve never been to Bray, it’s definitely worth a visit. At either end of the High Street are 2 3* Michelin restaurants, the Fat Duck, and the Waterside Inn (which I blogged about here). Incredible to have 2 such highly awarded restaurants, in a small village. To top that, just round the corner (kinda) is The Royal Oak, read my blog about that here.

Before you make your way to the Fat Duck, make sure you read the “directions” on the website, as you have to park in the Hind’s Head pub car park. When you come out of this car park driveway, look to your right just around the corner, and you will not see the Fat Duck – that’s because it’s a fairly anonymous looking building. Look up about 20ft and you will see the iconic Fat Duck design hanging down.

Stepping through the door, I was quite amazed at how “small” the place is, with it being quite an old building it’s fairly low ceilings give it a homely feel, and the beams everywhere gives it some age. We arrived at 730PM and was escorted to our table, which was almost bang centre of the dining room. I had got the Fat Duck and the sister pub, the Hinds Head, mixed up as I thought this was going to be a much more compact affair. It wasn’t massively spacious, but you weren’t breathing down each others necks.

First off, some bottled water and then a choice of champagne, which we didn’t partake of. When the menu came I thought “Blimey that’s a big menu!” only to see that 99% of it was bulky leather binding, and the actual menu covered 4 pages, including wines by the glass – nice touch but a bit overkill I think. The choice at the restaurant is only the tasting menu, and this now costs £150 per person (back in 2006 this was around £95 so in 5 years it’s increased by 50% which is a fair chunk)

After informing the staff we had no allergies we got served some bread, which was nice and some un-pasteurised, salted butter (which was ACE as I don’t eat ‘real’ butter that much). During our wait for the first course, we could see other tables getting their various courses, which instilled some excitement, but at the same time gave what was coming away – but hey, even after seeing it and then getting it, it was still very much a WOW feeling.

Fourteen – yes 14 – courses to wade through. Wade isn’t the right word, it sounds like a chore to be done, but it really wasn’t. Make yourself comfortable and I shall begin….

Course 1 – ‘Lime Grove’ – Nitro Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse


Heston Blumenthal is famous for his zany cooking and science mixes, this being one of them. Before the magic comes, a thin, wooden table is put in front of you on the opposite side of the table. The waiter then brings his ‘kit’ in, which comprised of a siphon which contained the Lime Mousse. This was sprayed onto a spoon and then dipped into the bowl containing the liquid nitrogen. As the nitrogen was denser than the mousse, it simply bobbed about, being ‘cooked’ whilst doing so.

After about 20 seconds or so, the ‘egg’ was lifted out, and the Green Tea powder was dusted over it. To be eaten immediately – so we did. It was cold, but not “brain freeze” cold. The outside was like merangue – the inside was gooey. Just before eating the waiter sprayed a lime infusion above us – I didn’t get a hit off it at all, in fact I got more of the table behind me! But it did add to the dish.

Course 2 – ‘Red Cabbage Gazpacho’ – Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream

A very large dish, bit TOO large in my opinion. The spoon wasn’t a real soup-spoon, so it was tricky getting the last bits out, thankfully had bread to dip! So, the gazpacho was quite acidic for my palette, crisp and sharp, but too much vinegar taste. The Ice Cream was sublime. Ice cream, but with heat from the mustard – very nice.

Course 3  – ‘Jelly of Quail, Crayfish cream, Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast’


Well, how many ingredients in this course! Wait a minute, I thought you said there was some Moss in this? Where is it then??….

There you go – who said eating at a table was boring! Prior to the liquid nitro being poured to give a very Hollywood Dry Ice effect, we were given a small “breath freshener” which was in a little plastic box

These offered a more intense experience of the moss, so imagine you are walking around in a forest after it has rained – that’s it….

So, prior to tucking in, we were informed of the 4 layers within the main ‘bowl’ and to try and get them all in one scoop, which we did. The overall taste was of the Quail jelly – but it was really ‘beefy’ – and totally overpowered the other ingredients which was a shame as there were so many others. The Truffle Toast was also knocked out by the jelly, I personally think this should have been eaten first, would have got the truffle taste more.

Course 4  – ‘Snail Porridge’ – Jabugo Ham, Shaved Fennel


The famous Snail Porridge. Due to the fact that you couldn’t use flash (although some people did!) and I didn’t have a real macro lens, I had to take a pic of Mark’s dish. It’s a shame I couldn’t get a close-up as the porridge was an INTENSE green in colour, really vibrant and summery. For some reason I thought this was going to be cold, don’t ask me why! It wasn’t. It was fairly warm. The snails simply melted when you bit into them (getting goosebumps typing this, is that wrong?) and the porridge was nice and tender. One minus point for me, which is not what I usually say, but there was too much garlic. I love garlic, but I think it overpowered this dish slightly. Apart from that, I can see why it caused a stir when it first came out!

Onto page 2 of 4 in my tasting notebook!

Course 5  – ‘Roast Fois Gras’, Rhubarb, Braised Konbu and Crab Biscuit


Fois Gras – bring it on. A small helping, but man did this pack flavour! Braised Konbu is the creamy slither underneath the fois gras, it’s edible kelp. Didn’t really taste of anything to be honest! The crab biscuits were fab, really crispy and a deep flavour to them. I was a bit let-down with the rhubarb. It looked really nice on the plate, but it simply didn’t have the intense flavour I was expecting, no tartness, not a lot of much really.

At this point, and with some of the aforementioned dishes having been devoured, I wasn’t ‘blown away’ as much as I thought. The dishes looked excellent, but sometimes the taste didn’t back it up, and also the serving plates were just wrong – more aesthetic over use. Anyways, upwards and onwards – another 9 dishes to go!!

Course 6  – ‘Mock Turtle Soup’ c 1850 – “Mad Hatter Tea”

I’ve never read ‘Alice in Wonderland’ although you don’t have to, to know what happens, who the characters are etc. Also, having seen Heston’s TV show, you kinda get the idea :) Before the next dish came, the waiters simply laid a bookmark in front of you, to let your imagination get into 1st gear and start going…

“The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily; then he dipped it into his cup of tea….” –

“Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?” –

“No,” said Alice. “I don’t even know what a Mock Turtle is.” –

“It’s the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,” said the Queen.

This got us both talking about Alice in Wonderland, and what the next course was going to be! On the rear of the bookmark it gives a brief summary of what Mock Turtle was – it was an alternative, mock, turtle soup that was developed using calves’ head and feet. This is the first course we had ever eaten that made us feel like schoolchildren again – excited with anticipation of what was coming!

The main dish is bought along with a tea cup. The waiting staff then present a wooden box, with a glass window, open it and retrieve a gold watch for watch for each diner. You are then asked to pour hot water over the watch – VOILA! – instant beef stock, fantastic (I am smiling whilst typing this). You then proceed to pour the liquor over the awaiting dish, and end up with Mock Turtle Soup…

The soup had a reallllly deep taste. The Mock Turtle egg had small mushrooms coming out of it, the meat chunks I thought were ham, but it would appear they were Ox tongue. I found the full recipe here if you wanna do it at home! This dish made us both laugh from start to finish. Even after the plate was gone we were still smirking, and giggling – were they magic mushrooms? or had Heston simply got it so right, it made you feel exactly what he wanted? I expect the latter. The taste stayed in our mouths until the next dish arrived, magic…

Course 7  – ‘Sound of the Sea’

First item delivered as part of this course, is a lovely, large sea shell..

Inside this hid an iPod shuffle, with the headphones poking out (you can just see one behind the shell). The main dish then arrived…

This dish has changed recently, due to the unfortunate outbreak of food poisoning that occurred. It consisted of 3 slices of different fish (I didn’t get what they were but I think 1 was tuna, I’m not a fish expert!); a foam; seaweed and ‘sand’. The sand was tapioca and baby eel (at least that’s what I heard, French accents!). It had an odd texture I thought, not as gritty as sand, but occasionally poppy. This, in my opinion, was the weakest dish. I think I would have preferred the original design that had mussels and the like.

Course 8  – ‘Salmon Poached in Liquorice’, Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonnaise, Golden Trout Roe and Manni Olive Oil


The plate was placed onto the table, and the ‘Manni Olive Oil‘ was drizzled in small drops over it. I wondered why they had made such a fuss about this oil, so I Googled it, apparently it’s the world’s most expensive! As with most dishes, I normally taste each component part on its own, which isn’t always as the cook may want them to be eaten, but I like to know each distinct taste. I was a bit ‘concerned’ about the vanilla mayo – and for me it didn’t work. Vanilla is normally a dessert flavour, and this was a bit too different for my poor brain to work out!

The salmon was really well cooked, but I didn’t get any liquorice taste, which was a shame as I love it. The roe was really tasty – popped and exploded in your mouth, salty yet not overpowering. The artichoke was a nice part to the dish – it gave a little bit of texture, but the roe was the main ‘crunch’ in this dish.

Page 3 of 4 in my notepad….

Course 9  – ‘Powdered Anjou Pigeon’ c 1720, Blood pudding and Confit of Umbles


I love pigeon – shame they are known as flying rats!!!! Pigeon was cooked to perfection, blue. Packed flavour and melted in the mouth. The “umbles” =“humbles,” extra animal parts like gizzards and innards traditionally thrown into the mix when cooking e.g., humble pie, were divine. I didn’t realise exactly what they were until I researched them afterwards, but I also like my offal – which is handy when you eat something you don’t really know what it is!! The crackers reminded me of Quavers, not sure if that’s what was expected but they were really yummy. The blood pudding was quite bland, I think a nice chunk of ordinary black pudding would have tasted better. Baby veg was nice too – one of my favourite dishes of the evening.

Course 10  – ‘Hot & Iced Tea’


This is a real mindf*ck. So, you look at it – it’s an Earl Grey infusion, golden orange in colour. You take the first sip and WOWBANGBOOM – you get COLD, yes COLD tea on the left of your tongue, and HOT tea on the right! WTF?!?! You look into the cup to see if you can spot how they have done it, nothing to be seen apart from some bubble. We suspect some form of alginate gel or something. But we sip it again, and giggle, and look confused, and my brain the hurts. The tea had a lovely floral taste to it and I don’t normally like Earl Grey! hoorah!

Course 11  – ‘Taffety Tart’ c 1660, Caramelized Apple, Fennel, Rose and Candied Lemon


The picture doesn’t really give this any justice – I NEED TO BUY A MACRO LENS!!!!! The amount of work put into this was amazing. Ultra thin shards of caramelized apple which was almost like glass – but in a good way. Quinelle of Blackcurrant sorbet that was nice and sharp. Some small fennel sprouts that were so packed with flavour – I know micro-herbs are grown for this, but wow, it was like a full bulb of fennel! A really, really nice sweet – could have done with being a little bit bigger, but was still very nice.

Onto the last page of this visit…..

Course 12  – “The ‘BFG’ ” Black Forest Gateau

Drool, then more drool and a bit more for luck. I had been looking forward to this as soon as I spotted it on the menu. After remembering the time on TV when Heston made his first interpritation I’ve always wondered what it tasted like, well now was the time. I just looked at it for about 30 seconds, taking it all in. The waiter also sprayed some Kirsch essence into the air, to get your taste buds going…

First off, what’s this stalk poking out of the cherry? I was a slither of dried vanilla pod, twisted to look like a cherry stalk! Now THAT is attention to detail.

I then picked up the cherry and popped it into my mouth. I have never had such an intense, full on flavour from one piece of fruit. I reckon this had been steeped in Kirsch for about 6 months! Fantastic. I then started to cut down the small tower of chocolate, going through 3 layers; mousse, sponge, then biscuits and cream. D-I-V-I-N-E.

The ‘wood’ in the centre is a small tuille of chocolate that leads you to the Kirsch ice cream. Simply sublime. My mouth is salivating just looking and thinking about this dessert. The best I have ever had, and I have had some nice ones.

Course 13  – ‘Whisk(e)y Wine Gums’

I’m not a whiskey drinker, so I wasn’t really looking forward that much to this. When it turned up it was like “heheh, right, wine gums on a picture frame”. I suppose it makes a bit of sense, so you can see where the whiskey is actually from. Each little gum was in the shape of a bottle, about 2cm in height. You simply placed them in your mouth and let them dissolve. Initially you think “hmm, not great this, can’t taste anything” and then, when the last part dissolves, you get a hit of the whiskey. My favourite was number 1, which was the Glenlivet.

Course 14  – ‘Like a Kid In A Sweet Shop’

When this course arrived on our table, we both giggled again, and instantly felt like kid’s in a sweet shop! Reading the menu it bought back memories, especially the Coconut baccy. (on the table from the start was a small form that allowed you to put down what decade you grew up in, and what food memories you had. Mine was the 70′s and Coconut Tobacco was the first thing I wrote without knowing it was in this menu!)

The menu says “Smell me!”. So I reached in and grabbed the aerated chocolate mandarin jelly. Opened the packaging and got a hit of citrus. Popped the chocolate in and thought of Aero bars – I forgot to take a pic!!!! Now this is sweets, so I really need to concentrate (you can find lots of pics in Flickr – just google the missing ones!)

Next, was the coconut baccy

As soon as I opened the ‘baccy pouch’ I was 6 yrs old again. This was slightly thicker cut than I remember but the taste was spot on. I can remember buying this, along with candy cigarettes (heheh like that would ever happen now!) and my 10p Lucky Bag!! Due to mini being younger, he didn’t have a clue about this stuff – thankfully that meant more for me as I snaffed his helping!

After finishing the baccy, I then grabbed the Apple Caramel – again no pic as this sweet didn’t need you to unwrap it! Cutting out the middle man, great idea. Popped it straight into my mouth, and the apple and caramel taste was umptious.

Finally, a little envelope with a wax seal. Inside it was a playing card, the Queen of Hearts

Head scratching time. So what is this? It’s a playing card right? WRONG!!! It’s obviously an EDIBLE playing card. Yes, edible. Nibble the corner and you go into a strawberry filling. This was OUTSTANDING. The amount of work put into this alone is phenomenal….

Phew!!!! 14 courses, 4 hours…..what an absolutely fantastic, amazing, funny, tasteful evening. During the meal we had a bottle of Wiebelsberg Riesling 2005, which was a good choice as it worked with most of the dishes. We left with our memento’s; Alice in Wonderland bookmark, a copy of the menu each, the Sweet Shop bag, and a real happy feeling. Odd that, feeling happy and kinda giddy after a meal – this is the effect you will have if you goto the Fat Duck. Ok, it’s not cheap (the bill was enough for a weekend away) but it’s not about the money. It’s about the experience, and this is what the Fat Duck is all about. You can goto other Michelin starred restaurants and have fabulous food, but this place is on its own (apart from El Bulli which is now closing) – but for a place like this to be in the UK is great. Get there if you can, sell an organ, pimp your other half out or just SAVE!! It is worth every penny…..

The Royal Oak, Maidenhead

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First visit to this restaurant, which recently received its first Michelin Star. The Royal Oak at Maidenhead is owned by Michael Parkinson, with his son Nick -  the pub has won many awards – find out here.

Sunday the 14th, Valentines day. The pub had a fairly extensive A la Carte menu, which covered 3 courses plus coffee and petit fours. The menu had a large choice and we plumbed for the following:-

Both had Chicken Liver and Fois Gras pate served with Brioche

My main was the Welsh Salt Marsh Lamb, with liver, braised lettuce and champ. Mini had the venison with mash.

My dessert was Quince, Apple and Rhubarb crumble with custard, Mini went for the chocolate fondant.

Starter

The starters were really nice. They came with a quinelle of fig and a port reduction. The fig was very subtle, and the reduction really packed a punch – deep and some realy tangy black fruit flavours. The pate was “melt in the mouth” nice, spread onto the very light brioche.

SaltMarshLamb

Welsh Salt Marsh lamb, with liver, braised lettuce and champ. This was my first taste of Salt Marsh lamb. I’ve seen it on TV, in “The Great British Menu” and heard chef’s rave about it. It’s not as “lamby” as your everyday lamb is, but has a slightly different taste, but the texture is wonderful. This was cooked perfectly – nice and pink. Liver was smashing – with there was a bit more! Champ was good, not much to say about mash and scallions :)

Venison

Venison with mash. Mini said the venison was excellent. Really well cooked and with a black pepper crust, which went well with the meat itself. The mash was ultra smooth and the sauce was very good. I tried some and to me it tasted like Marmite, similar consistency too! I asked the waitress to ask the chef, and they replied that it was a beef reduction, so marmite it is then!!!

ChocolateFondant

Chocolate fondant, pistachio ice cream and a nut twill. No flash on the pic, hence the grained result. Fondant was textbook good – opened it up and the chocolate oozed out of the middle. Nice bitter chocolate taste too. The ice cream was very subtle for the flavouring, perhaps too subtle.

I didn’t take a pic of my dessert as it was just a bowl of crumble and a small jug of custard. The crumble was a close runner up to the lamb as best dish for me. The topping consisted of mixed toasted nuts, and under this layer was quince, apple and rhubarb. Great combination and not too sweet or sharp. I found the custard a bit weak, not enough vanilla to stand up against the crumble (especially as the nuts were quite powerful) and I would have preferred a slightly thicker custard too.

Coffee was rocket-fuel, just how I like it. Petit fours were nice, only 3 each and one, which I think was a quince jelly, was far too sharp for my tastes – resulted in my eyes twitching!

Overall I would rate this 5.5/10. The food was “homely” – nice fayre but nothing “wow”,  service was very good, and the ambience itself was cosy, fairly intimate and nicely casual, especially as this is a 1* Michelin establishment. The price in this instance was a fixed price of £55 per head, which included a glass of champagne with the meal, and the coffee/petit fours etc. We had a couple of drinks during the evening, and as the main meal was pre-paid, only ended up paying about £2 for the service charge, which was done against the drinks only – not sure if they realised this when they did the initial offer. I would like to know what other people have had in a normal sitting, as this may not have been the best way to sample something for the first time, especially as it was a special day item.

Definitely worth a look though.

First blog of 2010!!

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Twenty-Ten or Two-Thousand-And-Ten?? I prefer the latter, but I’ve been told its grammatically incorrect – pah!!

At the time of writing this, I’ve celebrated another year getting older, now the ripe old age of 41. Been stuck at home for 4 days now due to the adverse weather conditions. It’s walkable in parts, but as I have got knees made out of jelly I don’t tend to risk it, though saying that I am getting to the point of stir-craziness so will be looking to do something tomorrow, maybe dig the car out?!?

Had a lovely Xmas, a quiet affair as usual, and we think this year we want to do something with more people, so will be looking into the logistics of that nearer the time. New Years Eve was spent with a couple of friends. We cooked dinner – I did a Beef Wellington from scratch, even did herb pancakes – based on the recipe here. Was very very nice, and well worth the effort. As you can see from the URL, this is from the BBC Good Food site, which I now have subscribed to the monthly magazine – a really good publication which is always full of good recipes.

On January 1st I started my “Project 365″ wherein I aim to take a picture each day of the year. So far so good – I’ve not missed a day. Unfortunately there is a bit of a theme going on at the moment, that being Winter!! Still, it won’t be here forever and it will be good to go back over these at the end of the year. I am really getting into the photography now, since buying the Nikon D90 (I sometimes call it a Nokia, don’t know why) and it’s also encouraging when you get good comments about your pictures from strangers – hopefully I will be able to build up a good Flickr! profile and will be looking to print some out for hanging at home too soon. My Flickr! page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/markbarefoot if you would care to have a look.

After the Xmas indulgence I have now got back onto the “get fit and trim” bandwagon – I put on about 2.5kg over Xmas, which is not too bad, but also a bit annoying as I was only 2lb (1kg) away from my 2 stone (13kg?) loss – still I will carry on and my new goal is to hit my 2 stone loss and then do another 2 stone by June 2010 – fingers crossed!!!!

Off to Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons on the 24th Jan this month, looking forward to this a lot as it will be our first Fine Dining experience of 2010. Another one crossed off my list of Michelin starred restaurants – hopefully get the full list done this year!

Well, take care and will blog again when I have something to say!

Le Gavroche

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le_gavrocheAugust the 7th, 2009 – our 10th anniversary! Who would have thought it eh? To celebrate this day I proposed that we should do some more fine dining, as it had been a while, and I wanted to tick-off “Le Gavroche”, Michel Roux Jr’s restaurant in London. The actual day of the 7th was a Friday, so we popped a couple of champagne corks at home to mark the occasion (now the other funny thing is another couple we know, who are great friends of ours, share exactly the same day and the 10 years – and way too many other similarities with us so let’s not even get into that discussion!)

So, Saturday the 8th August. We head upto London mid-afternoon, check into the Hyde Park Hilton and have a couple of hours to while away before our meal (which was booked at 945PM). We took a lovely stroll through Hyde Park toward Oxford Street. It was a lovely, sunny day, temperatures must have been around 25′C with a nice cooling breeze here and there. I know it probably sounds odd, but the parks in London are brilliant, a real escapist area from the hum-drum and noise of the city. Each time we goto London we always try to now take a stroll in the different parks – if you’ve never thought about doing this I highly recommend it.

The walk was about 2 miles, give or take a foot, and we made a beeline for Selfridges. Why? Well, (1) they have a lovely little bar on the mens floor which make great cocktails, and (2) mini-me wanted to buy a “man bag” that he had been espying for some time. We had previously visited said store and bag a couple of times before, obviously having a couple of drinks whilst there, and this time I decided that this said bag must be purchased, so we can find another item in a different store to stalk. So, £160 lighter later (well that was just the bag, we had drinks and nibbles so a further £40 or so) we headed back to the hotel.

Hilton Hotels are our normal base level of hotel of choice, primarily because we have Gold VIP Membership, courtesy of American Express, and this allows us to get free upgrades (if available) and sometimes a breakfast thrown in etc. London hotels, in my opinion, are never as good “value for money” as those outside, obviously due to the high cost of land etc within the capital. The room was fine, albeit the bed wasn’t anywhere near the size of our usual one, and I didn’t really sleep that well, or was that because I was still excited from dinner?? :P

“Get on with the review of Le Gavroche” I hear you shout – OK! OK!

So, Le Gavroche, a 2* Michelin restaurant with Michel Roux Jr at the helm. Situated in a small side road off of Park Lane. You would probably walk past it without even knowing it’s there. The entrance is made up of a small number of stairs, leading to a large black door. So, doors normally open inwards yeh? Well, not this one, as I found out when the receptionist noticed us coming up the stairs, and I had to pirouette to avoid being knocked back down the stairs! Got in without incident thankfully. After checking our booking we were ushered into the bar / waiting area. Very classical decor, dark reds and greens. After ordering a drink each we were presented with the menu’s, but had already decided to have the tasting menu “Menu Exceptionnel” it was an easy choice. Not wanting to have a whole bottle of wine, we spoke with the Head Sommelier David Galetti, and asked him which “wines by the glass” he would recommend. He pointed out some that were not on the menu, which were a mixture of red and white (I can’t remember the names, must make a note next time!).

After ordering our dinner, we were presented with our Amuse Bouche, which consisted of Gravlax Salmon (lovely) and a tapenade style pastry.  After finishing these, we were lead downstairs to the main dining area. The room was reminiscent of something you would see in a “film noir” production, again very classical, low ceilings, low-level lighting (but not so dark you can’t see), a really welcoming environment. There were about 20 or so tables in this part, and I am guessing this was half of the area as there appeared to be an adjoining corridor. The tables mainly sat groups of 4, with the 2 seaters along the far wall looking out into the restaurant. Behind our chairs small alcoves were filled with fresh flowers, and now and then you got a lovely waft of lilies – not overpowering mind, just pleasent.

So, first off. The staff – these were some of the genuinely friendliest people I have had waiting me. Very professional, attentative, not in your face or fluttering around, and not showy – just doing what they should and doing it well. The tables were a good size, plenty of room for 2 with various plates etc, and each table had a bronze figurine, ours was a frog, others were ducks;bulls;chickens etc. Checking these out on the website showed you can buy them, our frog was the second cheapest, £1500! I think the most expensive was around £6000, so I decided (a) not to pilfer it, or (b) not to buy one so I could re-live the experience at home :P

Right, here goes the food and my comments!

Saumon Mi-Cuit au Paprika, Pointes d’Asperges et Vinaigrette de Truffes
Rare seared Salmon with Paprika, Asparagus and Truffle Dressing

The salmon was presented with a “sail” of fish skin, making it look like a small boat. The fish was cooked beautifully and the skin was lovely and crisp, and salty (I am not a fan of strong fish, normally steering clear of salmon fillets, but this was perfect). The truffle dressing didn’t overpower at all, which is something I thought it may have (one good shard of truffle floating on the asparagus – yum)

Soufflé Suissesse
Cheese Souffle cooked on Double Cream

This is the signature dish of the restaurant. It arrived in a flat dish with side handle. The souffle was floating on the cream, like an island. Before delving it I lightly prodded the souffle, and it was as light as air. Each spoonful consisted of about 2450 kCals, but it was wonderfully sublime. The cheese lingered in your mouth for just the right time, and the cream just coated everything to help it on it’s way :)


Coquille St Jacques “à la Coque”, Parfumée au Gingembre
Scallop baked in the shell, flavoured with Ginger

This, I think, was my favourite dish. The 2 scallop shells were bought to the table by one of the servers (most courses had the tray-boys bringing the food, whilst the more senior staff put the food onto the plates) and the serving waiter then picked one up at a time, trimmed away the pastry which was used to keep the shell shut during cooking (looked great) and then flicked the shell open, plated and tidied them, and then presented them to us. The aroma was appetising and fresh. The scallop itself had been sliced and then put back into the shell, with an accompanying liqour infused with ginger, and some julienned leek and carrot. The scallop literally melted in your mouth, I could have easily eaten another 10 helpings, a lovely bit of dinner theatre too.

Filet de Bar Poêlé, Coulis de Poivrons Rôtis, Polenta, Croûtons à la Tapenade et Rouille
Seared Sea Bass on a soft Polenta, Roasted red pepper coulis, Olive and Garlic croutons

This dish was bought in covered with a silver cloche, and both plates were put down onto the table, with 1 member of staff each side, and both cloches were lifted together in unison. I must admit I think this was one of the weaker dishes. The portion of sea bass was a bit on the small side, and I really don’t get polenta! Its just like wet couscous but without any flavour. For me, the coulis was the star of the show. Only a few spoonfuls drizzled around the plate, but man did it kick with flavour – fresh, vibrant, pungent. The crouton was failry nice, a bit too salty for my palate.

Escalope de Foie Gras Chaud et Pastilla à la Cannelle
Hot duck Foie Gras and Crispy Duck Pancake flavoured with Cinnamon

The idea of a duck pancake being served with fois gras seemed a little odd to start with, but when it turned up and my first bite of the pancake soon got rid of this idea. It was simply a good chunk of shredded duck in a pancake! It may have been thought of as heavy, but I liked it. I also picked up on the cinnamon, just a little background taste. I hadn’t remembered all of the dishes from the menu, so I asked the waiter if I was right with the cinnamon, and thankfully I was! The Fois Gras was a huge chunk, probably the biggest portion I have had in a fine dining restaurant. It was beautifully seared on the outside, to give it a little texture when biting into it, but inside it was still soft and again just dissolved onto your tongue, very yummy.

Carré d’Agneau Rôti, Beignets de Fleur de Courgette, Jus à l’Estragon
Roasted rack of Lamb, Courgette Flower Fritter and Tarragon Scented Jus

This dish too was served under a silver cloche. When the lid was lifted it showed a wonderfully cooked single rack of lamb, with a courgette flower fritter, skinned broad beans and asparagus tips. The jus was poured by our waiting staff. Well, the lamb simply dissappeared when you bit into it – it had a lovely taste and texture, and initially I thought “hmm tarragon and lamb” but it fitted together brilliantly. This my first taste of a Courgette flower fritter, which was crispy, light and dry – great idea and would be nice to eat as tapas. Broad beans are one of my favourite beans anyway, so can never fault these (especially as they were also shelled)

Le Plateau de Fromages
Selection of French and British Farmhouse cheese

This again was a first for me. Normally the cheese course is an additional selection, and cost, with most tasting menus. Throughout the night we could see this trolley being transported around the floor, with the various wafts of the different cheeses. I think there was about 50-60 different cheeses (I didn’t sit there and count). They ranged from goat to cheddar, stilton, camembert etc etc. You could choose 4 types, and you got a cut of each one, accompanied with some ultra-thin olive bread, which was really nice. With this course, and for the dessert, I ordered a dessert wine (again I can’t remember what it was, crap eh!) and this really went well with the choices I made.

Sable Breton aux Fraises, Glace a la Banane et Rhum Brun
Shortbread biscuits with Strawberries, Banana and Rum Ice cream

One big, fat juicy strawberry that looked like it had been macerated or steeped in some liquid as it was oozing, sat on top of a light shortbread biscuit, unfortunately only one mouthful! The ice cream came with a slither of dried banana, very nice flavour, rich and creamy.

Cafe et Petits Fours

So, toward the end of the meal, I was thinking how this compared to others we had been lucky enough to enjoy. I was hovering around the 7/10, 8/10 mark, including the service, quality of the food, ambience, surroundings etc. But something happened which changed this to a 10/10.

First off, during the initial courses I look up at a figure with chef whites on, and it’s only Michel Roux Jr himself! He asked how the evening was going, not a massively long conversation, but nonetheless, this was a first for us, having the Chef/Patron come out and chat. Hands up, I was star struck and like a kid in a toy store at that part – it really made my night…..then something else happened.

6129_148705705336_603695336_3177855_2496530_nDuring the evening, whilst chatting etc, I did comment that sometimes the staff, or maître d‘ must have overheard me when I mentioned nobody had asked “oh and what brings you along tonight”, so I could then say “10th anniversary, bottle of complimentary bubbly would be nice”. So, when the desserts came, and placed in front of us, they had gone to the trouble of hand-writing, with chocolate sauce “Happy Anniversary”. Mini thought I had arranged this, but I hadn’t, and it really made us both up. Now that is what I call attention to detail and delivering a service, I still get goosebumps thinking of that moment.

So, if you haven’t been then I would strongly recommend it. The tasting menu was £95 each, which I think is good value. Along with drinks on arrival, 6 or so glasses of wine, and one of Michel Roux Jr’s books (yeh yeh I know, but hey he said hi and the service was great) the total came to about £310 (including service charge etc). Cost doesn’t really matter when celebrating certain events, but I thought I would put it in, so you can get some kind of idea as to how much an evening like this is going to cost.

Oh, and one last thing. Because I failed to note what was actually on the menu, I emailed Le Gavroche for a breakdown. They sent out a signed menu in the post, delivered the next day, again impeccable service (and I was only expecting an email with the food!)

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