Afternoon tea at Sketch - 16 March

I considered 3 different venues when i was looking to take my friend Karin out for some late birthday treats on a Saturday. My 3 contenders were: The Langham (traditional & glamorous), The Sanderson (Modern & fun) or Sketch (modern and 2 michelin stars). In the end, Sketch won and that is where i booked us in.

We arrived in the afternoon following a fab Pedi at Margaret Dabbs
We entered the Gallery room which was huge and jam packed with people.. guess we were not the only ones with the idea of having afternoon tea on a Saturday.
Service was a bit so so with the waiters churning out the goods like a factory and it was not as serene and luxurious as i would have hoped.
So, what about the food? Well, style over substance in my opinion.. i like my food and i did not even finish it all. The sandwiches looked cute but again, looks are not everything. There were an egg mayo sandwich with a quails egg and caviar, a smoked salmon , cucumber sandwich and a hot toasted sandwich filled with melted cheese.. i could only have 1 bite of that one.. it was too rich with too much cheese.

For the sweet; the scones were nice and warm and came with an apple jam and a strawberry jam and the clotted cream of course. There were also a tapioca pudding with a jelly on top.. it tasted like a very sweet rice pudding/pannacotta. Nice but very very sweet. There were also assorted marshmallows but their flavours were not really distinguishable from each other. 

I quite like to bake macarons and so does my friend.. the macs served here were more like meriengues.. did not taste of almond nor were they chewy. the lime curd boats were just super sour and the little jellies with port and lavender were actually horrible. The mint chocolate eclairs looked pretty but were very disappointing... filled with the smallest amount of melted chocolate (no cream) which just made it a bit cloying in the mouth.. The best of the lot were the white chocolate and coconut lollipops... yum.. they tasted a bit like the white Ferrero Rocher chocs :-)

So, would i recommend the afternoon tea at Sketch..the answer is NO. I am going to try the Sanderson next time since they have the "Mad Hatter's tea" and i have heard a lot of good things about it.

Hugo & Victor chocolates - 4th of March 2013

I love Paris and all the amazing patisseries and chocolatiers that are scattered everywhere in Paris with their tempting display of goodies.
My ex boss is French and he knows about my love for chocolates and macarons and he told me a while ago about Hugo & Victor who are artisan chocolatiers/bakers with a very modern and contemporary twist. They have the most mouthwatering website where everything almost look to good to eat! (but only almost :-))
So, with my ex boss now moving from London to Bellevue WA he gave me a small parting gift. A box of chocs! The box itself is amazing.. looks like a book.

You open the book and the most amazing, colorful and shiny chocolates are revealed.. i do wonder how they get that shine!!

I am sad to say that they have all been eaten now (with some help from hubby ok!).. they were wonderful, thin crisp shell with amazing ganaches inside.. some fruity, some caramel.

I now need to look at dates and book some Eurostar tickets to Paris!!!!

Chor Bizarre - 3rd of March 2013

Our friend Atul was in London and we decided to meet up for lunch. We decided on an alternative to a roast lunch... Indian!
I found "Chor Bizarre" on Toptable and they had 30% off the full a la carte menu.
When we arrived at 1pm there were only 2 other people in the restaurant but after us a large group arrived so we made sure we ordered quickly.
Service was rather slow which was a shame since the venue itself was really beautifully decorated with a lot of attention to detail.

So, the food.. well, we started with the usual poppadoms which i am slightly addicted to. I then had "Indian spiced crab cakes with coconut chutney". They were nice with some nice spice but were a bit too lukewarm - also, presentation could have been better i think.

For my main i had a "Kerala chicken stew" with coconut milk, coriander, mustard seeds and chili. It was indicated that it was a little spicy (1 chile strength out of 3 possible) but i have to say that i thought it was rather mild. I actually preferred my hubby's curry "Kesar Elaichi gosht" which had a cashewnut, saffron and cream sauce and was more spicy than mine - even though it had no chili's next to it on the menu..
The side dishes, roti's and peshwari naans were all excellent.

It is a bit more expensive than your local curry house.. but the quality of the ingredients and the decor makes it a bit special. I would go again, but only if they had a special offer :-)

Gauthier Soho - 2nd of March 2013

I went to Gauthier Soho with my hubby for our anniversary dinner last year and i was really impressed. The restaurant is situated in a townhouse in Soho and you have to ring the doorbell to get in which i thought was a fun touch.

I discovered then that they do this fabulous deal at lunch time called "Version Deluxe" which includes a glass of champagne, 3 courses, 2 glasses of wine and coffee with petit fours. Amazing!

Myself and my two lovely friends, Karin & Jane had planned to come for lunch as a late birthday treat for Jane so at 1pm on Saturday we met up for our lunch.

We started with a lovely glass of the house champagne & some canapes. The canapes were light and very nice. A very interesting thin black flatbread that had sesame seeds in there with an avocado creme. The other one had a tangy confit of tomato on top.

Next came our pre starter or "amuse bouche" which consisted of carrots in different ways, crispy chicken skin and a pesto.

You had a choice of four different starters and i went for the "Golden and Red beetroot tartelette with parmesan cream and watercress.
It had a really crispy and buttery base with just cooked beetroot that worked really well with the parmesan cream - and only 220 calories! Bonus.
Yes, all of the dishes on the menu have the calorie intake next to them :-)

For my main i picked "Soft ricotta Gnocchi, salsify, chanterelles, jerusalem artichoke cream & balsamic and truffle sauce" - 420 calories

It sounded really interesting and was something i probably wouldn't cook myself and it did not disappoint.. the only downside were the chanterelles.. they were not fresh but then again, they are not in season, so they did not have a lot of flavour.

Right, time for pre-dessert. It was a set pannacotta with an anglaise sauce and a crumble with popping candy.. brought us all back to our childhood!

Dessert - well, i HAD to have the signature dessert again. It is the "Golden Louis XV" which is made of chocolate and praline.. it is amazing.. and 480 cals but so worth it!!

We then had tea /coffee and got a "treasure chest" of petit fours which included, coconut marsmallows, chocolate truffles, lemon tart and chocolate madeleine.

We had a great time and a very long lunch - 3 hours - but it was 3 hours well spent. Service was lovely and the lunch deal such value for money. Still and sparkling filtered water is available for the table free of charge - not many fine dining restaurants offers that!
 

L'atelier des chefs cooking school - 1st of March

What a great Friday!
I did a couple of corporate team building events at L'atelier des chefs a while ago and they invited me to come for a lunch time cooking experience with a colleague (Annie) :-)
Perfect to do something like this on a Friday! We arrived at 12noon and were offered some champagne which was lovely. In total it was 13 people cooking - all event organisers like us. The dish of the day was Phad Thai - the chef, Steve, was really good with lots of good tips and a few jokes thrown in now and again.

He talked us through the dish and ingredients and we got to help with the prep - he then asked for a few volunteers to help with the cooking whilst he explained the process.

We had a great laugh and it was nice to meet and interact with the other attendees in an informal setting. After plating up we all sat down and ate the prepared Phad Thai together with a cheeky glass of wine :-)

 

L'atelier des chefs is a great place for cooking classes - for yourself, for a group of friends or for corporate events. Try it!

The Pig & Butcher - 28th of February

The lovely Saule who has been working here at Expedia/Hotels.com had her leaving lunch yesterday.
We went to a gastro pub called The Pig & Butcher for the lunch.
The pub decor was cute and the staff very friendly - the pub is famous for carefully sourcing all meat and fish and they also do all the butchering, smoking and curing on site.

I had an amazing grilled cod  - "Grilled Cornish cod, celeriac & mountain ham creamed leeks" - perfectly cooked piece of fish with beautiful creamed leaks and salty ham. Top choice!

For dessert i had "Chocolate torta caprese, hazelnut praline & mascarpone"  
 
The photo is a bit blurry and definately does not do the dessert justice since it looks rather plain on the photo - but looks can be deceiving :-)... the chocolate tart was made with dark chocolate and ground almonds so it was very moist but without being to heavy. The mascarpone had some vanilla extract stirred through and with the crunch of the praline it had some great contrasting textures. Very good indeed!

   I normally only take photos of the food that i eat but my colleague Jo had an apple crumble that came in it's own little pan - so cute! Had to take take a photo - it apparently was very tasty too (she finished all of it) :-)

 



 

Both Saule and Jo have have some great blogs (fashion, lifestyle etc) check them out here:

 

Woo Be Red

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