Posh Food

trick is to eat it with your arms tucked into your sides so you look like a t-rex. GRAAAAAARNK!

Just got back from the Waterside Inn.
Oh my, it was epic. Full report laters.

im off to hawksmoor tomorrow for my leaving lunch. its on work:) has anyone had the lobster? ive never had a porterhouse before so thats a definite and the beef dripping chips seem to have gained good points in this thread so they're on the list too the rest is still open though...

sugestions please.

buttered greens
corned beef and bacon for starter
the meantime lager is nice too

Ok, Waterside inn report:

Turn up, nice young Frenchman takes bags and parks car
Nice young Frenchmen called Michael shows us our room, massive - giant bed, roof terrace overlooking river. Also shows us help yourself kitchen/bar area 'Le Cuisine'. Michael leaves. Mike and I run around squealing like small children..calm down. Then have some high tea. Then some G&T's
Dress for Dinner, escorted to table - no need to say to anyone our names, they all just knew who we were.

Half bottle of champers and some amuse bouche awesomeness then

flaked devon crab and marinated seabass on a carrot jelly with ginger and royal belgian caviar

(small and very tasty, the jelly was a highlight)

pan fried escalope of foie gras grenoble style with a caramelised slice of orange

Totally amazing melt in the mouth, the whole idea of foie gras scares me a bit, but I went with it - and it was fantastic, the orange really went well with it.

Poached fillet of sole with tarragon and crayfish tails and morels in vin jaune sauce

the sauce was particularly amazing on this, i had no qualms in mopping the left overs up with bread.

For the main I had

Pan roasted duck with lightly spiced prunes, puy lentils and grande cartreuse jus, whilst Mike had Roasted leg and best end of milk lamb with seasonal veg and minted hollandaise sauce

The duck is usually for 2 people only, but the maitre'd came back and said that he'd sorted it so we could have one of each, which was really nice.

During this course Alain Roux, made an appearance and worked his way around the room, shaking hands and having a little chat with each table, which was nice - however we didn't talk long, as he was interrupting my amazing duck! :-)

then a really nice citrus sorbet to cleanse the palate, followed by

Hazelnut florentin with white chocolate mousse and passion fruit, and finally
Rhubarb souffle with raspberries.

Then two mini cake stands of amazing chocolates, and Mike had an Irish coffee.

Highlights also included a bat flying into the restaurant, and comedy efforts by the waiting staff with serviettes to herd it out, there was much applause when they achieved this.

Service was impeccable, unobtrusive and seamless - everyone knew what they were doing and did it very well.

We then staggered up to our room, passed out - then was served a gorgeous french continental breakfast in our room, by young Michael - with the terrace doors open in the sun.

The only low point, was having to leave, oh and our lunch at the (Heston owned) Crown Inn Pub - where we had to wait 45 minutes for two starters, only to find out, after I went and asked that the thing we ordered wasn't available on a Sunday! The girl who took the order and mightily fucked up, didn't even apologise. I think Mike will be writing to Heston..

It was a lot of money, but it was worth it. Bray - is also am amazingly pretty place.

nice write up clefty, i'm hungry now...

im off to hawksmoor tomorrow for my leaving lunch. its on work:) has anyone had the lobster? ive never had a porterhouse before so thats a definite and the beef dripping chips seem to have gained good points in this thread so they're on the list too the rest is still open though...

sugestions please.

push the boat out and have the oysters to start !

beef dripping chips are superb. i personally recommend the ribeye, but the porterhouse should be epic.

Have a Bloody Mary to start with.

So decided y'day that I needed to make chocolate cake, not like a little needed, like a LOT needed to make chocolate cake.

So Sachertorte it was - have you ANY idea how much cream is involved? Egg's.... a flock of hen's entire annual output is required....

My heart stopped working at around 9pm last night, had to unwork the cholesteol with a cork-screw.... but, by jove, it was gorgeous.

... Mike and I run around squealing like small children..

Ha! Love it.

Aroogah took me on a surprise trip for my 40th last week ... we went to Cork to dine twice at Cafe Paradiso, home to Dennis Cotter whose vegetarian recipes have totally converted the Texan. Amongst other things we enjoyed -

• white sea kale in a lemon butter with pine kernels (tasted a bit like mild broccoli with a slight texture of celery - really interesting and delicious)

• black bean soup with avocado salsa, soured cream and a deepfried gougere (Aroogah was in heaven!)

• feta, pistachio & couscous cake with sweet & hot pepper jam, wilted greens, spiced chickpeas and coriander yoghurt

• maple-glazed king oyster mushrooms on a leek & walnut croustade with parsnip gnocchi in sage & cider butter (the parsnip gnocchi was utterly amazing)

I still need to post something about our trip to Dinner by Heston back in Feb, that was several degrees beyond awesomeness.

nice write up guys, now really looking forward to my double header over then next 2 weeks.

Clefty where's the crown inn? is that on the left as you come into bray from the waterside? I've been to the Hinds head twice and it's rather nice if a little pricey.

This was announced yesterday I think
http://www.theworlds50best.com/awards/1-50-winners
and Noma is still No1...phew

Hawksmoor in Covent Garden was amazing. The restaurant it’s self looks great. dark woods are used almost every where, Its set below ground with a bar at the front then the large restaurant area with private rooms to one side and a glass encased, very well stocked open wine cellar at the rear.

We started off with a couple of the meantime pilsners. Top beer and serving it in a frozen glass was a nice touch.
For the starter we had the pork belly ribs. These were incredibly tender, obviously cooked for a very long time and they were packed with a huge amount of flavor. The sauce was dark and rich, similar to a bbq sauce but not overly sweet or Smokey. This was by far the tastiest part of the meal.

Some more beers followed while the steaks where cooked and rested and then the mains came.

I had a 600g rib eye (1.3lb) served medium rare with anchovy butter and half a walnut butter lobster on the side. I also got some of the beef dripping chips.

The steak was big, tender and perfectly cooked. There was a little gristle that had to be removed from the middle as you'd expect but other than that it was perfect. The anchovy butter, horseradish and mustards kept the steak interesting and complimented each bite.

I’d never had lobster before which is why I opted out of the 900g porterhouse that I had originally had my eye on and took the smaller steak and half lobster instead. In retrospect I should have done the porterhouse and the lobster but at £6.50 per 100g I didn’t want to take the piss. The lobster was really amazing. Sweet and juicy and melted in my mouth, I’ll definitely be having that again!

The beef dripping chips where big, crispy on the outside and soft inside. Exactly how a chip should be so top marks there. They also offer a nice change of texture to all the rare beef and soft lobster that was on my plate.

All in all it was an exceptionally good meal. For the two of us the bill came to £130 which, considering the quality of the food and service was great value. If you took more than one starter and went for the prime cuts like the porterhouse or chateaubriand the bill could easily double though.

Highly recommended.

Ok, Waterside inn report:
Service was impeccable, unobtrusive and seamless - everyone knew what they were doing and did it very well.

Awesome write up honey. Did you watch Michel Roux, Jr.'s 'Service' on TV recently? I love him, almost as much as Raymond Blanc...

We then staggered up to our room, passed out - then was served a gorgeous french continental breakfast in our room, by young Michael - with the terrace doors open in the sun.

Clefty - young Michael sounds lovely.

Young Michael was lovely, I wanted to take him home - however, my young Michael wasn't so keen.

@Pun Yep the Crown Inn is on the left as you enter Bray, we only went there instead of the Hinds Head as it had a garden and we wanted to sit outside in the sun. Next time - it will be the Hinds Head for sure. However Fat Duck will be scheduled in once we've bought our new place.

I went to Julies tonight in Holland Park and it rocked! I had;

Spicy squid with mussels and fried oregano

Calves liver veneziana with creamed polenta and crispy bacon

Caramelised banana and coconut cake

I was pleasantly surprised by a lovely atmosphere and would definitely recommend to you westies

http://www.hardens.com/

the survey is up and running if you fill it in you get a reporters edition of the hardens guide for free..

off to Bocca di Lupo next saturday. really looking forward to it,no idea what i'll end eating for the main course but i like the idea of small/big plates available so you can mix it up.
definately having the sanguinaccio sweet pate of pigs blood and chocolate for dessert.

any recommendations for bars in Piccadilly/soho for pre/post drinks?
don't want anything with bangin tunes and shite quality wine,nice surroundings and a decent cocktail/wine list but not one of those places full of posh twats and plebs from croydon (went to a mayfair hotel bar for a birthday thing and it was full of cunts)

might try polpo in beak st for an aperol/prosecco pre prandial but need a back-up if they are busy.

Anyone know anything about this place?

http://ridinghousecafe.co.uk/

I read a decent review of it today, and it's only just opened. For the rest of this month, all food is 50% off. Definitely worth a punt over the weekend I think...

off to Bocca di Lupo next saturday. really looking forward to it,no idea what i'll end eating for the main course but i like the idea of small/big plates available so you can mix it up.
definately having the sanguinaccio sweet pate of pigs blood and chocolate for dessert.

any recommendations for bars in Piccadilly/soho for pre/post drinks?
don't want anything with bangin tunes and shite quality wine,nice surroundings and a decent cocktail/wine list but not one of those places full of posh twats and plebs from croydon (went to a mayfair hotel bar for a birthday thing and it was full of cunts)

might try polpo in beak st for an aperol/prosecco pre prandial but need a back-up if they are busy.

Bocca di lupo is ace, very jealous. Try the bar at The Soho Hotel, its very good, they make a very good old fashioned and have a mega range of cocktails. I think the actual bar is called refuel or something like that

i think my favourite has to be Locanda Locatelli (www.locandalocatelli.com)
top italian menu with afordable prices

Barbecoa is great for meat lovers. on the ground floor Jamie and Adam decided to open proper butchers and I need to say stuff they sell is great quality. Tony (bit older big bloke) is the man to speak with about the meat.

Le Boudin Blanc always makes me happy

Dinner by Heston .... and here we have something completly different. I absolutley loved it! interesting menu which makes me go back there asap

and many many more but all above are my favourites at this point

Went to Dinner by Heston yesterday

Lovely setting in a rather nice hotel, the windows look out over hyde park or you can look into the kitchen and the oversized mech turning the pineapples being flamegrilled on a spit

The service was excellent, really relaxed and friendly, they were happy to explain any menu items and the sommelier was great very informative. A massive wine list ranging to pricey to astromonic

I had the meat fruit to start, it looked great and tasted better, a really rich chicken liver parfait (almost foie gras-esc) with a manderin coating.
Others in the party had hay smoked mackerel and savoury porridge, both looked very good and tasted superb.

For my main I had the powdered duck which had been cooked for 9 hours and then the skin glazed and more done to it (I forget exactly) Amazing, best duck I've ever had by some margin.
Also the rib of beef with mushroom ketchup, the beef was very nice indeed, the ketchup a bit meh. The roast turbot and cockle ketchup on the other hand was given the thumbs up.

we shared a cheese course before desert... an english and one irish, a good selection

I had the tipsy cake (freshly baked brioche that requires 30 mins notice) with spit-roasted pineapple. wow that was a stunning desert, best on the table, not that any were bad of course. The tafferty tart was really fresh and had loads of flavours; the baked lemon suet pudding reminded me of lemon meringue pie. The chocolate bar was very nice but I found the ginger a little distracting from the chocolaty goodness.

This will get Michelin stars soon and deservedly so.. a great place for a meal, go if you can

yeah, the tipsy cake was astounding, I had that back in Feb. I've tried unsuccessfully once to vaguely replicate it ... sauternes and brandy cream sauce ... mmm

How much ££ if you don't mind me asking?