I was lucky enough to spend a few days in London last week and had a couple of pretty remarkable dining experiences.
Friday I had reservations at Restaurant Story, fortunately the restaurant is located next to a very interesting cocktail bar I had heard about called Bump Caves. The cocktails there are weird to say the least (the weirdest of which seemingly one served with a 9v battery to lick), but everything we tried was absolutely delicious, a drink I adored was something called My Beautiful Friend, a mix of gin, chartreuse, and "sour fortification". They give a little cube of white chocolate to eat with it to balance the sourness, and it worked.
After a few cocktail each we went to Restaurant Story, I am sure you can find plenty of write ups course by course with pictures so I'll resist doing that, actually I couldn't because I decided early on in this trip I wouldn't bother with photos. We had the ten courses though, in reality that turns into about 20 with all the amuse bouches, cheese course, etc. I loved everything about the place, the waiting staff were spot on and the sommelier nailed it with the wines. They guessed, or maybe asked, that I'm a chef and were good enough to introduce me to the chefs there, looks like an awesome group.
I have to say, there were three of us there. We had the ten courses with the extra truffle, an aperitif each, cheese course, four bottles of wine, and coffee, the bill came to an extremely reasonable £560. I've eaten in a few restaurants like this now and really felt like this was crazy value for money. I loved it.
Saturday lunch we had lunch at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. There's not too much to say except that it is every bit as good as you would imagine. The meat fruit is a dish I've heard about, read about, that we've all seen made, and yet it is so perfectly done it is still a surprise.
The powdered duck main I had was sensational, and followed it with the Tipsy Cake, that Tipsy Cake is something special. Warm brioche soaked in rum and vanilla, it's a whole different game they play there.
A cup of tea and some nitro ice cream later we were on our way. The Mandarin hotel itself, where Dinner is located, is a bit posh for my liking, and I would imagine the restaurant itself is pretty full of rich arseholes by the look of it. I really appreciated that the waiting staff were joking with us and quickly realized we didn't want our feet licked and were just a few hard working local lads there to enjoy the food.
Again, the bill itself was a lot, didn't feel overpriced as such, but things there can spiral out of hand pretty quickly. Four courses each, two bottles of wine, aperitif each, two teas. £540.
After going for a few beers with an old friend we went to 69 Colebrook Row for more brilliant cocktails, as recommended by Chris Young. Fabulous martini there, fabulous everything really.
Sunday lunch was a six course tasting menu at L'Autre Pied. Beautiful restaurant and excellent food. Incredibly clean flavours and perfect after a few extremely rich meals. The flame grilled mackerel with apple tapioca, celery and miso was a highlight.
After a poutine in the evening and a trip to the hippodrome casino to play poker and watch the Super Bowl, we woke up Monday about ready to go home, but not before satisfying a burger craving at the excellent Honest Burgers.
God London is fun.
