Dorothy's Birthday at Arbutus

Another Birthday Girl








Dorothy's birthday. We had another excellent dinner at Arbutus. It was heavily booked, even on a Monday and we had the choice of 6 or 8.15pm. We chose 8.15pm but in fact I would go early in future as the place was absolutely full of people, as I do rather like a quiet restaurant.

We had Cornish crab, which was excellent, some razor clam and other seafood fish cakes, and mistakenly Dorothy had ordered Porchetta which was apparently very fatty and rather disgusting, so it was sent back and replaced with the fish cakes.

Mains were Bavette of beef, basically huge pieces of tender beef served with green cabbage and pommes dauphinoise, and I had the special, an excellent cottage pie. Julian could not manage any pudding, but I had chocolate 'soup' with ice cream, and Dorothy had an excellent cherry clafoutis. We drank champagne since it was a birthday and finished with coffee.

Julian and Dorothy have invited several friends tomorrow night to a rather less expensive venue to celebrate their birthdays, then Julian's birthday will be spent in Paris, so basically there will be a week of celebrations.

Afternoon Tea at Roast, Borough Market

At the moment this blog is all about food. Remind me to stop eating.

Dorian and I met up for a two for one afternoon tea offer at Roast. Drinking from a choice of ordinary teas, the set tea is £15, with specialised teas £18, and with a glass of champagne, £24.

Of course Dorian opted for the champagne tea. He had Earl Grey and I had Darjeeling. A three tiered cake stand was placed in front of us. There were finger sandwiches (egg, cucumber, tomato, Coronation chicken) on the top tier. On the middle tier there were two enormous slices of home made moist carrot cake with cream, and on the bottom layer, six home made currant scones with clotted cream and delicious jam. If only I had foregone the soup I had for lunch. As though this were not enough, on a separate plate there were two tarts with creme patissiere and strawberries, and two largeish pots at their side, which we took to be an excess of cream, but which turned out to be the most delicious chocolate puds with runny cream on top.

Pity I didn't take a snap before we fell upon the food and devoured it. Because of the special offer, the bill was a measly £27 including service etc. Apart from the scones which were slightly overcooked and rocky, the rest of the tea was absolutely splendid, and fantastic value at the full price. In addition, we had the fun of observing the bustle of Borough Market from the window table. Highly recommended.

Skylon 2

Another late lunch at the Skylon with Romy. This time we ate in the grill section. Romy started with asparagus and a soft poached egg and sauce on top, and I had the most delicious terrine which we both tried and loved. Romy went on to a rather nice fish dish and I had a lamb chop on very nice buttery polenta with tiny green beans, absolutely superb and perfectly cooked. Romy sensibly stuck to strawberries and cream, while I overindulged in a wonderful creme brulee. We finished off with some excellent coffee, with fewer petits fours than last time - perhaps because we were in the grill section.

Afterwards we went out and investigated all the possibilities for an outing on the wheel. Seems they are well geared for a large disabled party but recommended we leave it until early October as the pods can become very hot. Also very full, so we should make an early start in the morning. As we came out there were quite a few very good living statues, as in Barcelona - must tell Belle about these unless she has already seen them.

Arbutus

Dorothy treated me to an early dinner at Arbutus in Frith Street, near Soho Square. Feeling rather bold I had put on a T shirt covered in an image of Central Park. I was rather worried about embarrassing Dorothy but need not have feared, as Dorothy turned up wearing a rather fetching but very bright T shirt in pink which was apparently some Vivienne Westwood cult design that 'everyone wants'. So we stood out a bit.

The service was excellent. I had the pre-theatre dinner but went a la carte for the pudding. Dorothy had not eaten that day, so ordered a la carte to taste some new dishes, having visited this place several times before with Julian.

I started with a ballotine of rabbit with lentils and went on to a delicious lamb dish. Dorothy started with Cornish crab, and then proceeded to devour a rather excellent bouillabaisse with ailloli and rouille. I tasted the liquid, which was an extremely rich reduction of a shellfish soup, tasting of a combination of crab and lobster bisque. We shared a serving of Cashel blue with the last of the wine. I finished off with a rather brilliant strawberry trifle and Dorothy with a floating island. We just drank water and a carafe of Chilean Merlot.

We strolled down to Charing Cross to have coffee before cabbing home.

In my opinion Arbutus is an absolutely excellent restaurant. Dorothy thinks they will soon have a Michelin star. I do hope not, because then the prices will treble and it will be impossible to get a table.

Skylon

Took Dorian to the Skylon at the Festival Hall. The building was a bit unfinished and we had to pick our way through a few builders and bits of rubble to get there. However we found it in the end.

It was a large bright room with retro colours of brown and green in the furnishings. Windows all down one side with lovely river views, where we sat and a bar area in the middle. The waiters were very attentive. We were having the special 1951 menu of two courses for £19.99, which, we decided, would become three courses for £24.99. We had a free glass of wine at the beginning. It turned out that the place was a Conran restaurant. Conran must almost own the riverfront on that side.

Dorian was rather disappointed with the food, which was rather overcooked, but compensated by drinking several glasses of wine. He had chicken livers, followed by lamb with couscous, followed by chocolate mousse. I had vegetables a la Grecque which were excellent, followed by seabass which was very slightly overcooked, and finished up with rich vanilla ice cream and hot Valrhona chocolate sauce, which was delicious. I had a glass of pudding wine and some rather nice coffee, served with almond and chocolate petits fours, while Dorian settled for two glasses of pudding wine with some of the petits fours, which we both agreed were rather good. I suggested that perhaps the overcooking might be related to the fact that we had a 2.30 lunch and they probably prepared things in advance.

There was a very celebratory air about the place - the weather had become very sunny and warm from a rather chilly wet start that day. We wandered about a bit on the terrace and investigated the new layout of the place. There was a wonderful fountain, and Dorian leapt in to the (dry) centre of this while I took some snaps.

More Canteen, Taiwan and Evil Malvolio

Canteen is in the middle of Spitalfields market. Very modern, with lots of glass and long benches. We had a very good rioja crianza, starters of soup and potted shrimps, then on to an Arbroath smokie with salad for Dorothy, and I had smoked haddock with spinach and mash. Julian also enjoyed the meal and we finished up with passable coffee. I had eaten too much all day to have a pudding, much to Dorothy's disappointment. Dorothy is on the GI diet and had stuck manfully to this, but was hoping for a taste of some forbidden sugary carbs which were not forthcoming.

I had another email from Taiwan. It seems that Bob is married and teaching English there. He is also a brilliant photographer, and maybe when I learn to cut and paste I can put in a link to his site here. I told him about my pathetic snaps on Flickr. His mother is living in Ealing and I now have her contact number so will get in touch.

Malvolio has forcing me up in the mornings down to a fine art: at about 5.45 or earlier if I am unlucky, I hear him coming back from an outside visit. He leaps on the bed and walks all over me pounding at me with his paws (and claws). If I stupidly have a hand out of the bed he forces his head under and walks under the hand, and continually repeats this. I pretend to be asleep, but after about fifteen minutes of this I am forced to get up. If I manage to stay asleep during this whole thing he gives up for an hour or two, but this is a rare event.

Bar Shu, Pollution and The Seashell

Went out to Bar Shu in Soho with a friend. I felt full after the first two plates: hot beef pieces and smacked cucumber. With a few beers we then went on to devour pork knuckle, gong bau prawns and a dish of beans. I was more than replete, but my companion struggled on with baby squid but failed to make much of an impression on these. A delicious if very expensive meal. We then sat outside Bar Italia for a coffee and both commented on the fact that it was only the end of April, yet warm enough to sit outside in the evening with light clothes.

Just read that Elephant and Castle is officially the most polluted roundabout in London with several readings well above the limit allowed, and that the people living there would live eight years less than average because of this. Makes you sick, eh?

Just back from a great fish and chips with my Chairman and his wife. Place called the Seashell in Victoria, absolutely superb. We had a great time and had coffee in a favourite pub of theirs called the Jugged Hare just around the corner.

just discovered it is called the Seashore, the Seashell is in Lisson Grove.

Bizarre but Successful Restaurant Choice for Mother's Day

Mother's Day yesterday. When asked where I wished to be taken for a meal, I remembered a strange little place called the Tiroler Hut which I had once visited 35 years ago, and then discovered it still existed. This suggestion met with considerable resistance. However, my family duly arrived with a large bunch of flowers and other thoughtful purchases and the news that they had booked a table in the Tiroler Hut. Apparently it was a favourite haunt of Kate Moss!

Despite our forebodings, the food turned out to be perfectly OK. The whole place was stuck in a time warp from the sixties, which was perfect for me. My daughter-in-law said it reminded her of Twin Peaks. We ate and drank copiously and spent a really good evening. Sauerkraut was the sensible dish to eat, stuffed cabbage and apfelstrudel were all excellent, washed down with beer and apple schnapps. Interesting looking people kept arriving (we had booked early) and the place filled with quite a cosmopolitan crowd. The atmosphere was quite amusing with someone playing an electric organ at the beginning of the evening with totally naff old tunes . Just before we left another performer arrived with his accordion, so the fun was to last well into the night.

Today promises to be an ordeal. My diabetic cat (hungry, enormously fat and hard to catch) has to go to the vet for blood tests all day and I (permanently hungry and enormously fat, but easy to catch) have to go to the dentist.