Category: London

Roux at Parliament Square – Private dining (Closed)

Had a lovely evening at Michel Roux Jnr’s new restaurant, even if it did mean battling my way through the crowds outside Westminster Abbey waiting for a glimpse of the Pope.  Roux at Parliament Square is just around the corner from the Abbey located in one of the most beautiful buildings in Westminster, a period building designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of London’s iconic Natural History Museum.

We started with drinks and canapes in the upstairs bar, then strolled down to the private dining room to indulge, we had pre ordered the 8 course tasting menu.

The Private dinning room is lovely and the service was unobtrusive, it was like being at a fabulous dinner party.

The food did not let us down either. The menu was well balanced. I liked the mixed style of modern and traditional french cuisine. The standout dishes for me were, the Brill with razor clam, mussel and shrimp  and the chocolate mousse, Caramel foam and banana sorbet with popping candy.

One of the advantages of being in the private dining room was that the matching wines were presented punctually by the Sommelier just prior to the food service. The  wines were all French and selected by Albert Roux. I especially enjoyed our second dessert wine, the Maury, Dom.Lafage, Landuedoc-Rousillion, 2008.

Our visit was on a Friday evening, which is actually a quiet day for the Restaurant. This Roux outpost is definitely worth a return visit.

UPDATE Dec 2020 Closed.

The Old Brewery – Good enough for Johnny Depp!

As we walked through the grounds of the Old Royal Naval college in Greenwich we passed a sign from the Producers of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 apologising for the inconvenience caused by the filming, not sure you can be inconvenienced by Johnny Depp filming next door!

The Old Brewery certainly has the look of a venue that would suit an A list celebrity. It has justifiably won the Time Out 2010 Eating and Drinking Awards for Best New Design.

It is a lovely location, with great outdoor space, a stylish bar and a large restaurant that somehow manages to be cool and artistic as well as warm and inviting. This is acheived by using very effective lighting and a having  huge artwork made from beer bottles hanging from the ceiling (sounds naff but it works). Even stranger is that by day, the restaurant space acts as a cafe  for the Discover Greenwich tourist attraction.

The food is British and each course can be matched with a Beer. The Old Brewery is owned by Meantime Brewing Company.

I started with a bowl of Devilled Whitebait with caper mayonnaise. My companion had a beautifully presented pork dish (it looked rather like an ice cream wafer), and a steak cooked exactly to order. For my main course I had mutton served with new potatoes.

The service was a bit weak, we brought our drinks in from the bar and only ordered one other glass of wine with the meal, they missed several opportunities to sell more alcohol, but I am being picky here, as on the whole I really rated this place.

Also on the question of cost, the meal here was actually about the same price as Fish and Chips in the Mayflower.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.7

Service 5

Ambience 7

 

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Tom Aikens – Where has the magic gone?

Could not resist the toptable deal of £49 for a 5 course lunch with champagne and petit fours at Tom Aikens.

They are also doing a free corkage deal this month too, but as they only allow one promotion at a time,  it did not apply to our lunch option. The normal corkage fee of £30 a bottle would be charged. So we decided to leave our bottles at home on this occasion.  Ironically the corkage deal would have been the better one, as the normal lunch tasting menu is £49. So the deal was really just a free glass of champagne.

The sparkle does now seem to be missing from Tom Aikens, there were no stand out dishes at all.  The salmon and grapefruit dish worked but the fois gras was just lost in an overdose of blackcurrent.  The main course of lamb was too simple and a tiny portion (when I compare this to the lamb cuts I had on my first visit to Tom Aikens a few years ago, then there is no comparison).  There was a good cheese course and the chocolate dessert although complex was not very exciting. We finished with some basic petit fours –  the spectacular ones are saved for the evenings these days.

On the plus side the bread basket is still one of the best around – offering at least 6 different bread selections.

On the wine front, we ordered a rather disappointing bottle of Mt Beautiful Pinor Noir 2007 at £29.

In conclusion, I am sorry to say that in my view Tom Aikens has lost its magic, as reflected in the marks below.

Marks out of 10

Food 5.9

Service 6.5

Ambience 6

 

UPDATE : March 2012 – The Restaurant has had a major revamp – see Matthew Forts post for details

 

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The Mayflower Inn versus La Lanterna

So why a historic gastropub versus a traditional Italian Trattoria.  The reason is Open House London or Open City as it is now called, an event that allows for free access to some very interesting places. We had a tour of Sands Film Studios in Rotherhithe, an amazing place that among other things provided costumes for films ranging from Little Dorrit to Pride and Prejudice.  The studios are directly opposite The Mayflower Inn, so that popular scenic pub seemed an ideal location for dinner.

The Mayflower is a great pub with a floating deck area right on the river. Great for drinks that is, it used to do good food too – maybe it still does!  However when we saw the price on the chalk board for Fish and Chips, we just could not justify it – £21.00 (see picture). So we headed up river to Shad Thames, and went to La Lanterna, which is a “real” Italian Trattoria, with genuinely friendly and hospitable Italian staff. In style this place is almost the antithesis of the modern Italian restaurants typified by Zucca and the River Cafe.

We chose a bottle of my favorite Italian white wine (Gavi de Gavi), and I ordered Antipasto misto all’italiana (mixed appetisers) at £7.20 ( this dish was for one, but could have fed four). I followed this with fish from their specials board – Halibut with Scallops and Langoustine (not cheap at £21 either, but a lot more than just fish and chips).  This dish was nicely cooked and served with a tasty citrus sauce and a side order of vegetables, it  was also a huge portion.  Way too big for me, so  the waiter kindly offered to box the piece of halibut I left for take away.

There was absolutely no room for dessert so I just had coffee.  This was followed by a complementary liqueur (we were offered a choice of Amaretto, Sambuca, Baileys or Limoncello) –  a very nice way to end the evening.

La Lanterna also has an attractive inner courtyard for eating al fresco (in the summer).

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Bermondsey Street Festival – Who let the dogs out?

The weather was good again for the Bermondsey Street Festival.  This annual festival definitely had more stalls this year.  Hopefully it will keep growing, as Bermondsey Street is well positioned for this type of event, with the small farmers market in the square at the top of the street and the park in the middle.

As well as the stalls showcasing the area and selling food and drink, there is the Fashion Show  (Zandra Rhodes Fashion & Textile Museum is located on Bermondsey Street). It is also a good day out for the areas dogs, who get to show off at the Dog Show.

The other advantage of this festival, is that it gives you a chance to try out some of the restaurants in the area, see

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The Rocks – Omelette challenge

Having  just finished watching the Omelette challenge on Saturday Kitchen, my choice of breakfast in The Rocks Restaurant may have been subliminal.  When my ham and cheese omelette arrived in a matter of minutes from order to table, unlike those on Saturday Kitchen which take seconds and look on the whole inedible, this omelette was close to perfect.  Delicious with a really light and fluffy texture. Actually it was easily the best omelette I have had in a long time.

The Rocks on Vauxhall Bridge Road is fairly new, formally Cafe Rocks – a well respected sandwich bar,  it has expanded to double its orginal size and is now a full blown restaurant.  It is a good spot to stop on route to Tate Britain.  The monochrome decor –  black marble tiles, black tables and chairs, may not be to everyones taste, but I thought it was both effective and practical.  I definitely plan to return to try their all day breakfast. The rest of the menu looked interesting too,  it included several Turkish dishes.  I need to make a few more visits and try more of the menu, but based on the omelette (known to be one of the best ways to judge a chefs ability) I suspect The Rocks is something of a Gem! (Pun intended).

Marks out of 10

Food 5.2

Service 5.2

Ambience 6

UPDATE : January 2011 – Made a return visit.  One dish on the menu to avoid is maybe the Eggs Benedict, which is actually not Eggs Benedict.  It tasted ok,  but was missing key ingredients like muffins and ham.

UPDATE : January 2014 – Nice to see that The Rocks is still going strong. Everyone who came in got a warm welcome and the service was good. It had a nice turn over of customers on my visit, with people choosing to both to eat in and take away. I  would recommend the Börek as a main course, it was tasty and nicely presented, although there was too much salad for my taste. They also had a decent selection of cakes and pastries.

 

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