fine dining – luxlifefinn

Restaurant review: Adam Handling Chelsea, London

My husband and I have been fans of Adam Handling ever since he was on Masterchef UK back in 2013 (he came second, however we always thought he should’ve won). He was back then, and still is, an exciting chef, someone whose career one wants to follow. He has quickly built an empire of restaurants and bars, and I suspect he’s only getting started. We were delighted when we learned he was opening a restaurant in Chelsea (or should I say Knightsbridge), simply called Adam Handling Chelsea. Adam has a great eye for detail, is experimental and creates great flavours, and even holds a few surprises up his sleeves.

For those who haven’t read my reviews before, my rating is from 1 to 5, however hardly any place has gotten the full marks from me. 1-2 would be somewhat disappointing, 3 would be good, and 4 very good. 5 would be exceptional, and is only reserved for the few, very best places.

We made our reservation few weeks in advance. Two days before our booking we were contacted by the restaurant that they now had a private event in the restaurant, however we could still have our lunch at the lounge area. This was at first somewhat disappointing, because we had really been looking forward to seeing the restaurant. It has to be said that the all of the staff were very professional in the way they dealt with the situation. We decided to still go ahead, as the food was still the restaurant food.

Because of the whole situation, we were being offered a 4-course menu complimentary. We had, however, been planning on the 7-course Tasting Menu since we made our reservation. The staff and the kitchen were kindly very flexible and accommodating to our wishes, and we were able to go for the Tasting Menu.

After our lunch, we were able to go and see the actual restaurant too, and look forward to eating there next time, it’s a lovely and beautiful space.

The bar and the restaurant both have a great feel to them. Smart and sophisticated, and at the same time they don’t feel pretentious, but relaxed and comfortable. The staff looking after the bar and the restaurant were great, and very welcoming.

First we were served sourdough bread and little doughnuts filled with béchamel sauce, topped with parmesan cheese and truffle. The doughnuts were soft and fluffy, and the taste was nice. The sourdough was nice and soft, and just as it should be, and as in all my reviews, there is always the butter test, which Adam Handling Chelsea passed with flying colours. The normal butter, as well as the chicken butter were both beautifully soft (there are not many things I hate more than hard butter that’s impossible to spread on fresh bread). I didn’t, however, get the chicken flavour from the chicken butter.

Next came the Amuse Bouche of foie gras mousse filled cigars (loved the flavour of this), and crab ‘tarts’. The foie gras mousse was subtle in flavour, however, wonderful. The crab flavour in the tarts was quite strong, and I didn’t taste much anything else.

First actual course was scallop ceviche with fermented tomato, kohlrabi and yarrow. It was very nice, the kohlrabi was wonderful. Personally I prefer cooked scallops, I find the raw ones somewhat bland in taste. Paired wine was creamy rather than sharp, and was nice, easy drinking wine.

Second course was butter-poached crab, carrots and sorrel. The carrots were prepared in two different ways. The pickled, grated carrots were quite overpowering, perhaps a little too sharp on the vinegar. Otherwise the dish was great. The crab meat itself was beautiful, soft and moist, and very subtle in flavour. The white sauce worked perfectly with the crab. Paired wine was easy drinking, and not as sweet as you would often think Riesling would be. It was creamy and buttery, but with some sharpness to it at the same time.

Third course was veal sweetbread, morels, peas and wild garlic. I loved this dish, it was the best one until that point. I find that with sweetbread you won’t always know whether it’ll be good or not. I’ve certainly had some that weren’t great in the past, and a couple of times when it has been cooked really well. I would say this was the best sweetbread I’ve had anywhere. The flavours as well as the texture of the sweetbread were great (yes, I’ve had sweetbread in the past where the texture was off putting). For me, this dish was one of the best of the whole meal. My husband felt this was a little bit too salty. I didn’t think so, and I’m usually the one who finds food more salty than him. All the flavours were perfect together. Paired wine was great: I’m a fan of oaked white wines, as they have more complex taste, like this had too. A wine we would go and buy for home.

Fourth course was John Dory, broccoli puree, cuttlefish, oscietra caviar and whey butter. The fish was cooked really well, and the flavour of the fish as well as the broccoli puree were really good, however there was an overpowering bitter taste, which we thought might have been coming from the orange peel (finely grated), however not sure if that was the source. We both agreed this was our least favourite dish of the meal, and we probably wouldn’t order it if it was an option on the a la carte (it’s not). Paired wine was a more full bodied white wine, with a lot of character, another one we would definitely buy for home. The wine also had an interesting flavour development, getting a bit of a liquorice flavour.

Fifth course was Wagyu beef. I’ve had Wagyu beef before, however this was the best of them so far. The meat was served medium rare which was perfect, and the pieces of meat really showcased what the hype about Wagyu is all about. The meat was unbelievably tender and velvety, and melted in the mouth. This was my husband’s favourite. He originally had reservations because of the pickled cucumber (because of the too sharp pickled carrots with the crab dish), however the cucumber was fantastic. The flavour of the blue cheese and celeriac purée might be something to divide diners. I thought the pickled cucumber, the blue cheese and celeriac flavour together with the gorgeous beef all married together perfectly. Paired wine was fruity and full bodied on the nose, and the taste was dry and sharp with tannins. On the palate, the taste of the wine goes away quite quickly.

Sixth course was the first dessert of yeast parfait, earl grey ice cream, pickled granny smith, honey and star anise beignet. The dish was excellent, and all the flavours went together very well, however I didn’t get the star anise taste from the beignet. Paired wine was floral and sweet.

Seventh course, and the last of the desserts, was compressed cucumber, burnt basil and dill. These ingredients were joined with white chocolate ice-cream. The dish was wonderful. All the ingredients and flavours worked together really well, building a really tasty and fresh dessert. The dish was paired with a fresh, subtle flavoured sparkling wine.

Everything was followed by petit fours, all of them nice, but if you want to save the best till last then eat the little chocolate muffin last.

I can see this restaurant becoming very popular.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Restaurant review: Texture, London

The quality range seems to be very vast in the group of restaurants that have 1 Michelin star. My husband and I have thought this many times in the past, and within the last few weeks have dined at a 1 star restaurant that was definitely at the lower end of the 1 star places we’ve been to, and one that was at the top end of all the 1 star restaurants. The difference between the two restaurants is so big that I’m not sure how they can both have the same rating.

We decided to go for the fish tasting menu with matching wines. Texture is a Scandinavian restaurant, and we were surprised by a fusion of Scandinavian and Asian flavours. One would think these two to be too far from each other, to be successfully joined together, but it indeed works together very well! What is also interesting is that the restaurant doesn’t use butter or cream for their cooking.

We arrived 20 minutes early for our booking, which was the first seating, and were pleased to be welcomed in. We had our champagne aperitif, as well as nibbles at the bar, whilst waiting for the restaurant service to begin. This was at bonus to the place, because some places don’t let you in until the first seating starts, which is especially annoying if it’s raining.

The menu started with a wonderful beetroot soup, which was earthy and sweet, with a velvety consistency. It was paired with Henriot Demi Sec champagne, which complimented the food very well. on it’s own, the sweetness of the champagne was very present, however when had together with the food it didn’t seem sweet at all.

Next course of salmon was a delight, and the best course of the menu for my husband. Salmon can often be overcooked, but this one was cooked exactly how it should be, very moist and pink inside. It was served with oscietra caviar, slightly mustard flavoured sauce, sorrel, perfectly thin rye bread and very well pickled cucumber. All the flavours worked very well, served with mild flavoured Italian Garlider 2016 Sylvaner.

Next dish of scallop had flavours of coconut, kaffir lime and lemongrass. They were skillfully used, and weren’t overpowering the dish. one thing my husband didn’t like was fresh coriander, that had been used. It seems a lot of restaurants these days use fresh coriander as a garnish to a lot of their plates, even though it has a strong, overpowering taste. The South African FMC 2016 Chenin Blanc served with this dish was a big hit with both my husband and I. Even though this wine is a little bit more complex, with slight oakiness, and you might wonder how it could possible go with the flavor combinations of the dish, the wine complimented the dish well, as well as being a delight to drink on it’s own.

Cod was cooked very well, the piece was very meaty and flaky. I think cod is quite a boring and tasteless fish, so it needs interesting accompaniments. It was served with avocado, brandade, tomatoes which were prepared very nicely, and chorizo. There was also a little bit of potato mash under the fish, and some cannellini beans. I think the fish was hidden under a lot of ingredients, and plating could’ve perhaps been a bit more refined for this dish. I also think that the beans didn’t seem necessary. Wine pairing with this dish was Italian 2012 Pinot Noir Montalcino. I’ve had Pinot Noir served with monkfish before, but not with cod. The wine didn’t overpower the cod, and suited all the ingredients in the dish.

I wasn’t too keen on the taste of the pre dessert palate cleanser. It was clean but dull flavoured, however I would’ve liked a bit more freshness and sharpness from it.

There were elements I really liked in the dessert, and also some I wasn’t too sure about. The skyr pannacotta was nice, and I loved the nectarines, I thought these were the star of this dish. The ice-cream for me didn’t have much flavor. Wine served with the dessert was German 2013 Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Auslese, which was a sweeter Riesling, however not too syrupy and sweet like some dessert wines might be.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Restaurant review: Aquavit, NYC

How this restaurant has managed to get two Michelin stars is beyond me. Now, before anyone says that perhaps I just don’t get Scandinavian food, A) I am Scandinavian and B) I’ve had Scandinavian food that has been very good in other restaurants, so that’s not it. Also, I’ve been to around 40 Michelin star restaurants, so I do have plenty to use as comparison. The step from one to two stars is big, and a two-star-restaurant really should excel in many aspects. Unfortunately, Aquavit disappointed in all aspects, and I don’t think it’s worthy of any stars. Perhaps the inspectors were on too much (free) champagne when inspecting Aquavit?

From staff to the food, everything just seemed a bit ‘off’. Now, there we couple of members of staff who were friendly and good, but the rest just gave a bad vibe, like they didn’t want to be there, as well as giving a scruffy impression. The sommeliers knew their stuff about what they were talking about, however the actual wine pairing to our Seasonal Tasting Menu didn’t impress either. Overall impression was that service was sloppy. I had wine poured to a wrong glass (old, used one instead of the new, clean one), and the cutlery was always placed in completely wrong angles etc. It’s these kind of little things that should not be happening in a place of this calibre.

My prediction is that Aquavit will be losing it’s stars, they most certainly are not worthy of them. For me, they are amongst one of the three worst Michelin star restaurants I’ve been to, my husband thought the are in fact the worst.

For the first Amuse Bouche we were served a Swedish pancake and smoked salmon. It was ok enough in flavour, however not amazing, and was a little bit difficult to eat by hand, as it was quite a floppy pancake. We thought they’ll need to improve to be the required standard.

Second appetiser and ‘palate cleanser’ was mussel with seaweed broth. The broth was ok, but tasted quite bland. The taste of the mussel wasn’t great, and it had some sort of dry crumbly topping, which made it dry. It tasted somewhat weird and unpleasant. We didn’t understand how this was called a palate cleanser, which are usually fresh, light and sharp on the palate, as this was not that. My husband thought the mussel was awful.

The butter test was passed nicely, as the butter was fluffy and very soft. The bread however didn’t impress.

The first actual course of scallop and sea urchin had a really weird, terrible taste to it. My husband thought it was the worst scallop dish he’s ever had, and I wouldn’t be far behind him.

I got my hopes up when the Arctic char and kavring dish came. It was ok for me, however my husband didn’t like this one either. The dish was edible, however not worthy of two stars. A common nominator for all the dishes during the meal seemed to be a weird taste throughout, and there were too many pickled things that weren’t even pickled in a nice way. This dish was also lacking some attention to detail. I love a dish of salmon or fish from the same family, with some dill and wonderfully pickled cucumbers. The lack of attention to detail was that the cucumber had the skin on. Now, I can easily name places where the cucumber balls have been pickled better, are fully round balls and have no skin on them. Not impressed.

The Spanish turbot and sunchoke dish was the best of the meal at that point, however still not the greatest of flavours. The fish was cooked fine, it was nice and juicy.

Next up was a mini slider isterband and apple. It was ok, however bland, and didn’t really bring anything to the meal.

I was hoping the duck and honeynut squash dish was going to rectify the so far bad experience, but again left you wondering where the two stars have come from. The duck did have a crispy skin, which was positive. The squash disk was too undercooked and therefore unpleasant. Overall, again, the flavour of the whole dish was disappointing.

The palate cleanser of lingonberry and ginger was the best part of the dish. Lingonberries can be very sour, however their taste had been sweetened just right, and surprisingly the ginger went quite well with the lingonberry.

The wild strawberry and pistachio cake was unfortunately again somewhat bland. I was excited about the wild strawberries, as their taste is truly magnificent and sweet (I have picked these straight from the bushes in the past), but sadly they didn’t have any of the flavour I know these strawberries should have. And see from the picture yourself if you can spot why I would once again say they need to up their game when it comes to attention to detail.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Restaurant review: Pétrus, London

This delightful restaurant in the heart of Knightsbridge in London is a place I would like to visit more frequently, but as my husband and I tend to often decide on the day we’d like to go out for a meal, it’s not possible because Pétrus is most of the time fully booked. We have visited several times however (we can occasionally also be more organized), and it is one of my favourite places. The place exudes sophistication, and even in a full restaurant you feel like you have privacy. You are well looked after, and for ladies; your handbag will get it’s own stool too. Pétrus is very worthy of it’s one Michelin star with their consistently good cooking, however it’s not the best restaurant I’ve recently been. The staff were very friendly and attentive, and The Head Chef spared us a generous amount of time in the kitchen, which was very nice.

The Head Chef Larry Jayasekara has an impressive background, having worked at several three Michelin star restaurants. Having started his career at Pétrus back in 2004, he re-joined in 2015. He was also awarded with National Chef of the Year in 2016, amongst other accolades he’s achieved.

I hadn’t decided at first whether I was going to review our dining experience or not, and decided to do it after our Amuse Bouche, so I don’t have a picture of them. They were however nice and tasty.

The Tasting Menu itself started with lime, sour cream, olive oil and sherry. This was like a palate cleanser, very fresh and light.

The scallop dish with cauliflower, capers and raisins that came next was very tasty, and the scallop was cooked well, however we thought perhaps just on the borderline whether it was cooked enough. We also thought it would’ve been useful to have a small spoon to eat the cauliflower foam. The capers and raisins were somehow incorporated to the dish in a way that you didn’t notice them (there were no physical bits of these), so the flavours, saltiness of capers and sweetness of raisins, had been managed really well.

The next dish of chicken, foie gras and black truffle was a clever, playful dish of a mini chicken pie. My husband loved it. I thought I couldn’t really taste the black truffle much. The dish was eaten by hand, which wasn’t a problem to us, however I could imagine some people might not like it.

The butter test was passed without problems. If you’ve not read any of my previous reviews, there are not many things I hate more than hard butter that’s really difficult to spread, in a nice restaurant. The butter should be nice a fluffy, and most of all, soft. The butter sets the tone from then forward to the whole meal. The bread had an interesting sour taste to it – and I don’t mean a sourdough. My husband said it reminded him of Guinness. He is a Guinness lover, and also loved the bread. I don’t drink Guinness, and thought the bread was nice, but didn’t love it as much.

Next dish of crab agnolotti (stuffed pasta, like ravioli) with sweetcorn puree and red wine jus was very tasty. For me the pasta might have been just a tad too al dente, however for my husband, it was perfect. The red wine jus had perfect balance, and didn’t overpower the other flavours.

I’ve tried sweetbread a couple of times in the past, and I was yet to come across a nice one. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I don’t like the sweetbread itself, but it just haven’t been cooked in a way that would’ve sold it to me. So I was really looking forward to trying it in a place like this. The flavour combinations on the menu for this dish looked interesting: curried sweetbread, almond, black tea. The sweetbread gets poached in milk first, then pan fried and served with almond gazpacho. The dish itself was hiding behind a lettuce leaf. My husband loved the dish. I also liked the sweetbread, I only found something on the plate a little bit too salty (my husband didn’t). The texture of the sweetbread was firmer than of those I’ve had in the past, which made me conclude my biggest issue in the past has been the texture. The black tea wasn’t really coming through on the dish.

The next dish of Skrei cod with Oscietra caviar and yuzu (Japanese / Korean citrus fruit) was lovely, the fish was perfectly cooked.

Pigeon is one of my favourite fine dining foods, so I was pleased to see the Anjou pigeon with avocado, pistachio and Madeira jus coming up on the menu next. The whole dish was wonderful. The turnip, onion and avocado were lovely and very tasty accompaniments to the perfectly cooked, rich dark, pink coloured pigeon, and the pistachio crumb worked well.

This dessert, jelly and ice cream, is a kind of a ‘blast from the past’ kind of dessert. I believe it was a very British, and popular, dessert back in the 80’s. I have seen the revival for the dish recently, as it seems to have appeared on the menu in a few places. Of course, this comeback version has seen a refined makeover. The ginger bread ice cream tasted amazing, really lovely. In fact, my husband said it was the best ice cream he’s ever had. We didn’t really notice the jelly element, and in fact thought first this was an additional palate cleanser dish. There was caramelised pineapple and basil, and the ice cream. Because of the style of the plate, you had to use your finger to assist getting things on the spoon.

I thought the execution of the coconut parfait was very clever. It looked like you were being served a half a coconut, however the white inside was the coconut parfait, and the brown outer shell was dark chocolate, with additional small chocolate pieces on the outside of the shell, making it look like a real, hairy coconut. It was served with rice pudding and a coconut and lime sorbet. My husband came up with a very good description: the dish was like a really nice Bounty.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Restaurant review: Fera, London

This restaurant is most of the time fully booked, and it’s easy to see why. As you step into the luxurious Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair, in Central London, you can already get an idea what décor and ambience is waiting for you at the actual Fera restaurant. The food is worthy of their 1 Michelin star, with great attention to detail applied. For each course, before actually placing anything in your mouth, the food has already visually satisfied your tastebuds.

The overall experience was as great as we remembered from our last visit, however there were few things that appeared a little too salty to our taste. The new Head Chef Matt Starling has done a great job at maintaining the standards this restaurant had under Simon Rogan. Not to mention, we went on a Saturday between Christmas and New Year, and I was so pleased that our Tasting Menu didn’t have ingredients that were leftovers from Christmas meals, but something completely different.

Another thing to mention, that is a good example of the quality of the place, is that from on our booking we had had an offer for free glasses of champagne. The champagne itself wasn’t any cheap version, but Laurent Perrier (our favourite brand we often buy). The kitchen tour we had afterwards was really interesting, it was great to get some insight to their preparation process. The service at Fera was really good. The staff were very skilled at reading us, being formal, but also informal.

For bread we had rye and stout bread (my husband particularly loved this), as well sourdough bread, which I thought very tasty, more than at most places. And our first test of a place of the softness of the butter was passed by flying colours, however it was too salty for us.

For appetisers we had a wonderful chickpea and rosemary wafer with cream cheese and mustard vinaigrette (that brought nice sharpness) with edible flowers. Everything worked very well together, and was extremely pleasing to the eye.

The starters of stewed rabbit with lovage, and scallop with John Dory and smoked roe were served a little bit like appetisers. The rabbit was very juicy. It was coated with dried onion, and served with lovage purée. It was a little messy to eat as you ate it by hand and it was bigger than one bite, but the flavour was really good. I also loved the smokiness of the seafood ‘tart’.

The second starter was beef tartare. It was very mild in flavour, but very enjoyable nevertheless. The whole dish was executed well, and all the flavours went really well together. We were also having the wine pairing for our menu, and were originally surprised to be served white wine with this course. The unexpected sharpness of the wine actually complimented the food extremely well.

For the fish course we had brill. It was juicy, but for me perhaps slightly overcooked. Something on the plate was too salty for us. We came to a conclusion it was the broccoli purée.

The main meat dish presented us with deer. I think this might be the best cooked deer I’ve ever had. As the meat of this animal is very lean, it can very easily become dry. Ours, however, were melt-in-the-mouth soft, tender and juicy. The blackberry element on the dish was powder, and it was also incorporated in the jus, however we felt it would’ve been nice to have couple of the actual berries on the plate, too. When the dish was served, all the other ingredients were hiding inside a king lettuce parcel. When you revealed what was inside the sight filled you with joy. Again, this dish, too, had something that was too salty. On this dish it was the mushroom purée.

The first dessert, a little bit like palate cleanser but with less sharpness and freshness, was bergamot foam, parsley cream and honey cake. On it’s own, I wasn’t a big fan of the parsley cream, but when you ate everything together all of the flavours complemented each other really well. The cake was like the currently trendy dehydrated cake, with nice crunch to it.

The main dessert of chocolate custard ganache, earl grey ice-cream, aerated milk cake and lemon granita was nice, however something didn’t entirely work for me. I think it might have been the ice-cream. Overall the dish was still nice enough.

Petit Fours were nice, my husband in fact couldn’t even wait for me to take the picture until he’d already had one.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Restaurant review: Gauthier Soho, London

I’m sad to be writing a review of this charming old townhouse, located right in the heart of buzzing Central London, Soho. Sad because it unfortunately cannot be as good as I wanted it to be. We have been here several times, and always think it as one of the nice places we go back to. They do a fantastic value reduced Tasting Menu for lunch, which has been getting us going back for more over and over again. This time we went for dinner, and for some reason the overall experience seemed underwhelming, and I remembered thinking the same last time we visited. You couldn’t really pinpoint why you were left feeling like this, but the meal somehow left you wanting more, as if something hadn’t been satisfied (we were completely full after the meal, so the quantity wasn’t it). As a fine dining restaurant, it felt like the attention to detail wasn’t present (this is important part of a fine dining experience), from dressing of the plates to service. New cutlery wasn’t laid down neatly, but very messily. Messy / sloppy was also the word for some of the plating. And when it comes to wine pairing, we very rarely have any criticism to say, however with this meal also some of the pairings didn’t work. We arrived 5 minutes early for our first seating slot, and were asked to wait outside on the street, in the cold (luckily it wasn’t raining). I have in the past successfully predicted some restaurants to lose their Michelin stars, and would also have predicted it for Gauthier Soho. On closer inspection, they in fact have already lost it.

There was a good selection of fresh bread, I had white roll which was light and fluffy, and flavoursome. My husband had beetroot brioche roll. Again, soft, light and fluffy, but the beetroot didn’t really bring any additional flavour. One of the first things we assess a restaurant by is softness of the butter. I don’t hate many things more than hard butter you can’t spread when in a restaurant. In a lot of nice places the butter is amazingly soft and fluffy. Unfortunately, at Gauthier Soho, the butter was hard.

I was glad to get the appetisers, as I was really hungry. The parmesan crisp was nice, thin and crispy. The quinoa crisp with beetroot hummus was nice and tasty. The last thing, which remained unknown to what it was, was ok, I couldn’t taste the wasabi that was promised.

First course was a carrot tartare. We loved the theatrics that followed. What appeared to be a meat mincer was brought to the table. Condiments were placed in front of you (guacamole, finely chopped shallots, ginger and something else we weren’t sure of what it was. On a plate in front of you, you had plum jam. The waiter then brought carrots, holding them on the green stalks, and proceed to mince the carrots in the mincer in front of you. The mince was then placed on your plate, on top of the plum jam. You then added the condiments of your liking, and mixed everything together, to be enjoyed with lovely thin and crisp Melba toast. I added everything to mine, however not all of the ginger. I found the taste of this all a bit weird, and wouldn’t rush to have it again. The carrot itself was soft and juicy.

Next course was scallop with cauliflower, roe crisp and romanesco. The scallop was nicely cooked, however the star of this dish without a doubt was the crustacean sauce. Full of flavour, this was one of the best elements of the entire meal. The wine had quite a floral taste, and perhaps not something I would pare with this kind of dish.

Next up was truffle risotto. This has been one of my favourite dishes of this restaurant for as long as I can remember. I thought the risotto was cooked well, just a bit al dente as it should be, however my husband thought it was a little too cooked. Risotto was nice an creamy, and had a generous amount of black truffle.

The meal then continued with a fish dish of halibut. This was the best dish of the meal. The fish was cooked well, however I’m still trying to decide if mine could’ve been cooked slightly less. My husband thought the fish was cooked perfect. It was moist and soft. There was pickled beetroot with the fish, which was nice on its own, however I’m not sure if it was the best accomplishment for the fish, as the sharpness overpowered the delicate flavour of the fish. We were also served quite sharp red wine with this dish, which we didn’t think suited the dish, as this too overpowered the fish.

I’m not entirely sure what to say about the next dish of Barbary duck. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t magnificent either. It just left you a bit underwhelmed I guess. The duck itself was cooked well (medium), and one of the accompaniments of what seemed to be swede purée went really well with it. I did enjoy the slow cooked meat ‘cake’.

Next came Gruyere cheese with fennel and chestnut. The cheese was very nice. I’m not usually a great fan of fennel (same with my husband), it can sometimes be quite pungent, however this was very thinly sliced and brought great freshness to the dish, and what you wanted at this stage of the meal. The chestnut was ok, the apple balls were a bit hard.

The first dessert was a palate cleanser. The light, airy shell was meringue-like, but completely vegan, made of chickpea water. It was filled with sharp pear sorbet, and also served with pear purée and lemongrass purée, as well as pear bits. Overall quite sour (perhaps a bit too sour), but refreshing.

The main dessert was Golden Louis XV. This decadent, very sweet dessert would satisfy the most demanding chocolate lovers, I’m sure. Light, but crunchy base, topped up with two different layers of chocolate, with a rich chocolate glazing and edible gold decoration, this is a wonderful dessert, however after a big meal you may struggle to eat it, however you won’t be able to stop trying!

The whole meal was finished with petit fours.

Rating:★★★☆☆

Restaurant review: The Bingham, London

I’ve been wanting to do this review for some time now. This place is very dear to my husband and I, and we frequent it a lot. From cosy, dark winter’s nights in the luxurious dining room to bright summer’s days of sipping champagne on the balcony overlooking the River Thames, as well as being the place where my husband seeked for my father’s permission (unknown to me at the time) to propose to me, we often find ourselves in this hidden, off the beaten track, true gem of Richmond, London, whether it’s for lunch, dinner, afternoon tea or just drinks or a snack at the bar.

The history and relationship we share with this place brings me to my dilemma, and the reason why only now have I decided to write this. I’m very conscious of being biased, and think I might be overcompensating this by being extra harsh, trying to find criticism. I have decided to write the review based on our most recent experience, as it just truly was too good not to shout about. As I wasn’t originally planning on writing this, I didn’t take pictures of the two first things, however it’s a good reason to go back to have them again to get the pictures, and will update them on this review as soon as possible.

We had a Tasting Menu, which was magnificent. We thought the standards were between 1-2 Michelin star level.

The meal started with appetisers of choux buns filled with parmesan custard, with chestnut and truffle shavings on top. The taste was absolutely perfect, however the pastry for me could’ve been a little bit more light and airy.

Next we had beef tartare, which again I absolutely loved. The egg yolk was mushy and beautiful. You may be used to often having mustard with beef tartare. Well, this one didn’t have mustard, and it still worked perfectly well because all the other elements and flavours complimented the beef so well, including the burnt onion ketchup. It was at this stage I decided I must do my review, and started taking pictures and making notes.

Next up was scallop. It was perfectly cooked, not overcooked which can easily be done. I could not fault this dish at all even if I tried. The scallop was served with chicken jus, yeast puree and salsify. What I also really loved was the very refined bacon crumb. All the elements were singing together in perfect harmony.

The scallop was followed by a mackerel dish. For me, the mackerel was slightly overcooked, however I still loved it because of all the flavours that again went perfectly together. The fish was served with smoked eel, celeriac puree and pieces and grape. I can’t remember ever having been served grapes with mackerel before, and would like to ask all the other restaurants ‘why not?’, as it was a perfect accompaniment, in fact vital to the whole dish. Smokiness of the eel and sweetness of the grapes were a great change to the usual friend of mackerel, beetroot (which of course works well too, but it was nice to see something different). The celeriac itself I often find quite bland wherever I’m eating it, but I can see it’s probably required for certain texture.

After the mackerel it was time for venison. Perfectly pink and soft, this lean meat was accompanied by red gabbage, blackberry, parsnips, parsnip puree and Parisian potatoes. My husband thought these were one the best potato ‘things’ he’s ever had.

After the venison it was time for a palate cleanser of granny smith apple sorbet, and honey and spice granita, with apple ball. The dish was refreshing and tasty, however the apple ball was a little bit hard.

For dessert we had a deconstructed clementine trifle. I don’t mind deconstructed desserts, but my husband isn’t usually a big fan. This time, however, he loved it. You had sweetness from the clementines, mascarpone mousse, ginger bread foam and aerated sponge. The proportions, as well as all the individual elements were executed very well. I think if the aerated sponge pieces were too big the dish could seem too dry (regardless of all the wet elements), but the dish had been thought out very well. I’m not generally a great fan of fruity desserts, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I think the flavours went excellently together.

Finally, it was the petit fours: mint discs and chocolate brownies. What a heaven these brownies would be to anyone! They were extremely soft and gooey inside, absolutely perfect.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Restaurant review: Launceston Place, London

There are few restaurants in London my husband and I tend to gravitate towards again and again, more than others. Michelin star restaurants (and fine dining in general) is our hobby, and we’ve been to about 40 starred restaurants around London and abroad.

One of our more regular restaurants used to be Launceston Place in Kensington (London). However, during a visit that turned out to be the last one for a long time, we anticipated loss of a star for this restaurant, which subsequently happened.

Since then the restaurant has undergone major changes, including renovation, and more importantly, change of the head chef. Since taking over, Ben Murphy of course has a difficult task of bringing back customers that were lost in the highly competitive high end food industry. He for sure can boast impressive experience in top restaurants. It’s now time for him to fly solo, and we will be keeping on eye on his development and journey.

I do have to say that the restaurant is absolutely magnificent value for money. For three-course-lunch on a Sunday, which with all surprises turns out to be much more than three courses, you only pay £35 per person. We booked our table through Open Table, which for the same price, also included a glass of bubbly each.

First thing to mention straight away is that we arrived 10 minutes late to the last seating, and were still greeted in a very friendly manner. The ambience is wonderful and luxurious.

First arrived appetizers of smoked haddock ravioli and polenta cake with herbs. I’m not a great fan of polenta in general, so I have no strong opinion on them. The herb flavour however made them taste nice. I wasn’t too keen on the actual ravioli texture as it was hard / crispy rather than normal soft pasta ravioli, but I thoroughly enjoyed the filling of smoked haddock.

After this we got candy floss sprinkled with crushed aniseed. To be honest, I think this would’ve been better suited as pre-dessert than an appetizer before food. I’ve not had candy floss in ages so the thought of it was bringing back childhood memories. The floss itself was well made, fluffy texture and not overly icky-sweet.

Next up was the Amuse Bouche, served together with bread. It was all about potato in different forms: potato consommé jelly, potato mousse, and topped up with crispy potato crumble. This was an absolute star of the whole meal for me, I absolutely loved it. For wine we had decided to go for something we don’t often have; white Rioja Sierra Cantabria 2015. It had interesting complexity you wouldn’t always get with white wine. We both enjoyed the wine and would have it again.

For starters I had chosen crab, and my husband went for the beetroot with goats cheese mousse. It turned out my starter was actually a risotto. Had I known this when choosing, I’m not sure whether I would’ve gone for this option. The flavours were nice, however the risotto was a little bit too al dente for my liking (and yes, I do know risotto should be firm). For those who are not used to having crunch to their beetroot might not want to go for that option. This was no issue to my husband however, who thoroughly enjoyed his starter.

For the main I had sirloin beef with rosco onions (scooped to the plate from inside an onion), beef jus, beef bonbon, pear and stilton. The beef was cooked exactly to my requirements (medium rare), although it wasn’t as succulent as I would like my beef. The bonbon was lovely. My husband’s cod was cooked perfectly. Menu only said cod / coconut / broccoli. Don’t let this scare you from choosing this dish, as the flavours were not overpowering the delicate fish, and everything worked really well together. Smoked eel was also included. We both had potato pave, and both thought it was amazing. My husband’s description is ‘it’s like a huge chip’, even though it’s very finely sliced, layered potatoes.

Next we had a cheese course (this is additional, with an extra payment attached). We are always very pleased with the Launceston Places’ cheese trolley, some cheeses introduced to us in this place have then become as some of our favourite cheeses (for example Stinking Bishop). To accompany the cheese we had Graham’s Tawny port, which was very good. The staff had very good knowledge of the cheese, and a big plus was seedless grapes.

We both had a rice pudding soufflé with passion fruit and yoghurt ice-cream for dessert. We all know that soufflés are difficult to make. To top that, it had rice pudding running all the way through. A great show of skill there. Overall a pleasant dessert.

To end it all, we were served with petit fours of lemon swiss roll, plum and rum cornetto and dark chocolate square, which was decadent and rich.

During the week, you can lunch at the Launceston Place for £23 for 2 courses, or £28 for 3 courses. You can also get Pre-theatre dinner for £30. On Saturday evenings only menu option is the Tasting Menu.

For overall rating I would give 3 out of 5 for now, with a great promise for things to come. I would like to point out that is a good marking, as 5 is reserved for the few best ones, and 4 is the one most really good places would get. I can see we will now start going to Launceston Place more regularly again.

Rating: ★★★☆☆