Lunch at Dinner

Pin It

We had two meetings back to back and no time for lunch in between, so we were starving when we got done after 2 p.m.  I was told to find some place a little nicer for lunch, and since we were in Knightsbridge, I figured we could pop in to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park for a bite.  Surely we could find something there?

Which is how I found myself back at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. For lunch.  After having dinner here last night.  A few of the staff who served me last night were, no doubt, surprised to see me back so soon...

Thankfully, the set lunch menu looks completely different from the dinner menu.  So at least I won't have to repeat dishes...

Since we were done for the day, we decided to have a glass or two at lunch.

Krug Grande Cuvée, 167ème édition, ID 218020 - can't go wrong with the Grande Cuvée.  Always that lovely, toasty nose.

Dinner at Dinner / The kindness of strangers

Pin It

I never got the chance to try Heston Blumenthal's food.  Years ago after we had visited elBulli together, Mrs. Locust told me that The Fat Duck paled in comparison.  And since I hadn't bothered to visit the UK ever since, I resorted to living vicariously via Heston's TV shows.  Now that I was in London, I figured I would go check out Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.  The idea of tasting dishes whose recipes date back a few hundred years sounded intriguing.

I was greedy and wanted to try so many dishes, but eventually I settled on picking out 4 items from the menu.  I figured it was no big deal...

And seeing that my friend ditched me, and having failed to charm someone else into dining with me, I felt like Steve Martin in The Lonely Guy... This also meant that I couldn't order a whole bottle of wine, so I picked out a glass each of white and red instead...

2010 Dagueneau Silex - the first glass I was poured didn't seem fresh, and the staff poured me another glass from a different bottle which was nice and fresh.  Surprisingly ripe and sweet on the nose, almost candied pineapple, a little muscat.  Later the nose was more flinty.  Good acidity on the finish, and a little grippy.

Meat fruit : mandarin, chicken liver parfait and grilled bread (c.1500) - this is, no doubt, the most iconic and photographed dish of the establishment.

The kindness of friends

Pin It

At the top of my hit list for London in terms of dining sits The Ledbury.  The restaurant spent 8 consecutive years on The World's 50 Best Restaurants, rising as high as No. 10.  A number of friends are fans.  So I figured I owed it to myself to check it out.

Tonight there was a significant percentage of diners who were of Asian heritage, some of whom were big spenders.  We could have been categorized as such, but we chose to stay low-key.  Well... that attempt failed miserably when General Manager Darren McHugh showed up and asked for me by name.  I had forgotten that The Dining Austrian had informed the restaurant about my visit.  I guess we would be well-looked after.

After a pretty heavy (and unsatisfying) meal last night, we decided to take things easy and chose the 4-course option.

We started with a glass of bubbly...

Bérêche et Fils Brut Réserve, dégorgée le juillet 2019 - beautiful, nice and yeasty, with good ripeness and yet some acidity in the back.

Seaweed cracker with cream of smoked mussels - topped with some agar agar pearls.  Very smoky.  Delicious.

Puff pastry with guinea fowl mousse - topped with mead jelly.  Very, very delicious.

Two bites into dinner, The Ledbury was already kicking Bibendum's ass.

Disappointing fat bastard

Pin It

After resting up a little in the hotel, it was time to head to dinner.  I had asked some people for suggestions on Sunday dinner in London, and one of the places mentioned was Claude Bosi at Bibendum.  Not having stepped foot in London for more than a decade, naturally I haven't paid much attention to Claude Bosi as a chef.  As a matter of fact, the last time I dined at Bibendum was more than two decades ago!

But... around the time I was looking to book dinner, there was talk that this place could be promoted to 3 stars by... Bibendum, of course!  As the announcement was due to come this past Monday, I figured that if the promotion actually happened, I would be among the first to dine here after the promotion.  That sounded kinda cool.

I was rather surprised that we chose the 'surprise menu' featuring 6 courses.  I thought for sure we would end up doing à la carte...

Bibendum black olive – crushing it inside the mouth delivers a liquid dose of ratatouille and basil. This was really, really good.

No nose and no tail

Pin It

I'm in Europe for a week on business, and landed in London before sunrise this morning.  I haven't stepped on UK soil since 2006, so lots of things have changed... specially the dining scene.  There are many, many places that have popped up since my last visit, and I was determined to hit a few of them.

It was too early to check in to the Athenaeum Hotel, so we dropped our bags off and went strolling around the area.  We crossed into Green Park, then ran into the Royal Parks Half Marathon circling around the three parks in central London.  it's amazing how clean and fresh the air is in London, compared to Hong Kong...

Lunch time rolled around, and I went to scratch and itch that had been around for a long, long time.  St. John needs no introduction, and Fergus Henderson has long been considered an iconic chef in this country.  I just had to come here.

Roast bone marrow and parsley salad - BUT OF COURSE I had to order this one up!  The dish that has been copied by so many chefs.  Plus I LOOOOOVE bone marrow...