London in April

[therese]

Wednesday night we were supposed to be dining at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. Wednesday morning husband was still snuffly and miserable and, well, a little bit disgusting, so I called and cancel. The nice woman who took my call was very pleasant. I was bereft.

I took the children out for dim sum at Chuen Cheng Ku in Chinatown. Basically identical to the dim sum experience everywhere I've done it in the US and Canada, with a particularly nice selection of items, especially strong on wrapped dumplings. I forgot to take photos until the end, so all that's left is some squid:

and some coconut pudding with yellow beans:

You'll notice that Flat Pierre now sports an eye patch, the eye in question having been lost back on our walk along Regent's Canal on Sunday. I think it makes him look rather dashing.

Afternoon spent at the London Transport Museum, followed by dinner at home of roast lamb and salad from Waitrose. Not bad, but not Gordon Ramsay.

[therese]

Thursday was spent shopping with daughter (and Flat Pierre, of course) in Oxford Circus. As I'd not researched this area ahead of time I was at a bit of a loss---my options included department store restaurants that might very well be lovely, but didn't look even remotely so (at least not the ones I saw) and pubs, and neither one of us was in the mood for mash or chips or brown meat of any sort.

We finally came across South Moulton St., which features both nice small shops and several small restaurants with outdoor seating. We chose 43 South Moultonwhich, although not busy did at least list appealing food on the menu.

The ground floor is fronted pretty much entirely in glass, with the front half of the room painted deep red and feeling a bit bar-like, and the back half fitted with what looks a bit like a country store.

Turns out the merchandise (which ranges from Tabasco to Marmite to small miscellaneous hardware) can be purchased, information conveyed to us by our very pleasant waitress (a student from Poland) who was clearly happy to have somebody to chat with. Turns out that the basement is a discotheque and the upstairs is a bar. I saw the darkened discotheque on my way to the WC but did not bother to look at the upstairs, which I now see is unfortunate if the above link's description of it is correct.

Flat Pierre flirted a bit with the waitress and frankly had rather more of my (not too great) wine that somebody without a liver really should. Here he is posing in the restaurant:

Anyway, the food was decent. My daughter had mussels in a very nice (if slightly too salty) cream sauce. I had a vegetable salad that featured asparagus and broad beans. She had creme brulee (fine) for dessert and I went for fresh mango in maraschino liqueur. This would have been much better if the mango had been ripe.

Our evening meal was at Rules, an early supper so that we could make the show (Mamma Mia) later on. An excellent meal all around, with efficient and gracious service. Daughter had lobster bisque and salmon and crab cake, son had foie gras and braised roe deer shank (which he described as a bit dry, but he liked the marrow---a marrow spoon was unfortunately not provided), husband had salad with duck and lamb chops, and I had a green salad (what was I thinking? no worries, I tried everybody else's) followed by venison loin. I finished with rhubarb trifle; I can't recall the others' desserts.

[therese]

Friday was our last night in London, and I'd booked the dinner dance at The Ritz. But he was still feeling a bit blah, and so I cancelled (I ended up cancelling 3 of the 4 meals I'd booked in advance). I was rescued from despondency by a couple of local eGulleteers, curlywurlyfi (Fiona) and Suzi Edwards. We'd initially planned to meet for drinks before going on to The Ritz, but under the circumstances they asked me along for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, Au Lac. Fiona picked me up and on the way to getting Suzi I listed the restaurant's we'd missed, and one of them was St. John Bread & Wine. So, sudden change of plan, we were on our way to B&W.

And thank goodness, because it was a really outstanding meal. Herring roes on toast followed by lambs liver with mashed celeriac and some sort of cured pork product and finally blood orange jelly with sponge for me. Every last item perfectly cooked and seasoned. Fi's starter of courgettes and chickpeas with mint is the other item that I recall as being amazing, though I'm likely overlooking something. The room was very pleasant and service was quite good, and of course the company was outstanding. Overall the best meal of this visit.

[curlywurlyfi]

It was my first visit to SJBW too so I was delighted by the last-minute change of plan. Suzi's pickled chicory was great, and the sourdough bread was outstanding.

...and of course the company was outstanding.

ahhhh, we blush. We're just sorry we failed to take you to DreamBagsJaguarShoes for a drink afterwards. Next time!

[Suzi Edwards]

And I'll try not to be detoxing next time we go out :-)

Edited April 14, 2005 by Suzi Edwards (log)

[therese]

And I'll try not to be detoxing next time we go out :-)

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Just as well, frankly. Because otherwise I'd surely have managed to talk Fi into DreamBagsJaguarShoes or some other similarly disreputable boîte, and then have had to face the world's worst transatlantic flight the next morning. Economy class is bad. Economy class with the spins is very bad indeed.