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.