Bar Boulud @ Mandarin Oriental - 23rd of September

The famous Daniel Boulud who once upon a time created the "DB Royale dubble truffle Burger" at DB Bistro Moderne in NYC and then successfully opened many other restaurants in the US have now opened Bar Boulod at Mandarin Oriental hotel in London.
Bar Boulud has got it's own separate entrance from the street and on the Thursday when i visited with a friend for an early dinner it was already quite busy at 6:15pm. Plenty of people in the bar area and lots of attentive staff.
The dining room was quite dimly lit up and you had a full view of the open plan kitchen where you could watch the chefs at work.
We went for the 3 course pre fix menue which had 3 choices for each course and at £20 it is very good value for money.
I started with a "pulled Rabbit terrine" which came with some grain mustard and miniature pickled gherkins and onions. It was really tasty with very simple presentation.
My main was grilled mackerel which was very nice and not too rich.. forgot to take a photo of the dish though!! oops!
The dessert was the star of the show though.. "Tropical Fruit sundae with ginger mascarpone foam and coconut/passionfruit sorbet and coconut biscuit" Wonderfully fruity, fluffy and indulgent. One to recreate at home for sure!

Really enjoyed this restaurant and will have to go back again to try their burgers that looked amazing (not the original "Royale" one though.. ;-)

Cooking for friends - 4th of September

It is so nice to have friends around for dinner and i love the whole planning process of coming up with what to make. We invited our friends Erika and Andrew over for dinner on a Saturday night and i had already decided that i wanted to to a "Tian of crab & prawn" as a starter so i headed to Selfridges to buy some micro herbs (only place i have ever found them in) as a garnish for my starter and for the freshly picked crab.
Main was a bit harder to come up with but in the end i settled for shoulder of lamb.. slowcooked in the oven with potato wedges and a red wine sauce. Nice and easy! for dessert i made a pannacotta with fresh berries since again, it can be prepared in advance.. i want to be able to sit and chat with my friends and not spend the whole evening in the kitchen :-)

Here is the recipe for my Tian of crab:

Ingredients (4 people):

• 200 gr of fresh white crab meat
• 200 gr of cooked prawns (roughly chopped)
• 1 avocado (finely chopped)
• 1 lime or lemon - juice squeezed - added to taste)
• 5 radishes (finely chopped)
• 1 small red onion (finely chopped)
• 1 red chili (finely chopped0
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1-2 tbsp creme fraice
• freshly ground pepper and salt
• a few drops worchester sauce

Mix all the ingredients together and season to taste. Cover and leave in the fridge until ready to serve.
Use a ringmould and place on a plate, fill up with the mix and gently remove the ringmould. Put some micro herbs on top and serve with some melba toast on the side (toast some white bread, remove crusts and cut in half to make 2 thin slices, toast again and cut into 3cm strips and place in bowl on plate - i used egg cups) decorate plate with some fresh tomatoes. Voila!

Bloomsbury Street Bar & Restaurant - 25th of August

Two friends took me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday .. (a little late but hey, i am not complaining :-)) at Bloomsbury Street Bar & Restaurant http://www.radissonedwardian.com/hotels/gbmarlbo/dinings  It is situated in the Radisson Bloomsbury Street hotel and it is a really nice little restaurant with dark colours and a cosy feel. This is my second visit and i really enjoyed it but i felt that it was playing a bit more safe with the dishes this time around then when i visited last (around a year ago). The food was a bit more innovative that time.

I started with a "Tartar of tuna and smoked haddock with sushi ginger and coriander crème fraiche" which was lovely and light. Presentation was beautiful and simple.

My main was "Pan-fried fillet of sea bass with smoked salmon basil risotto and shellfish oil" which was very good but the fish was slightly over cooked. Very tasty though.. i even forgot to take a photo of the dish! Not the end of the world though since i have a tendency to always order seabass when it is on the menu..i have to count all the seabass dishes on here one day ;-)

I finished with a dessert of "Spiced pears with a dark chocolate cinnamon sauce, rum and raisin ice cream" which looked pretty but actually tasted a bit bland. Definately needed a lift .. and more dark chocolate cinnamon sauce!

We had the 50% off the full a la carte menu on Toptable so it was a great deal. 3 courses each with water and a glass of wine came to £23 a head including service. Not bad at all.