Cafe Mish, 29th October

Café Mish opened in Mayfair promising posh handmade sandwiches, and being a sandwichophile (yes, it’s a word**) I wanted to get up there, pronto.

Sadly, this is not how you do gourmet sandwiches (take a trip to Street Kitchen’s sandwich joint for a prime example of how to do it well). I ordered the medium which set me back almost a tenner and decided to get lamb because, well, when do I ever have lamb in a sandwich? I unwrapped the reasonably hefty sandwich with much anticipation to find it was stuffed with lukewarm, barely seasoned and overly fatty lamb, and some onion chutney that tasted like it could have come out of any old supermarket jar. Bitterly disappointing. As a side note, when the woman in front of me asked what was in the roast pork special, both the girls on the till had no idea and had to ask in the kitchen. At this, I suspected things might not be kosher but ordered anyway. So I can’t say I was massively surprised when it didn’t live up to its potential.

I did very much enjoy the homemade chipsticks they came with though - they were excellent. 

(**I know it's not..)

Pies at The Windmill, 25th February

I'm actually not a massive pie fan. Or at least, I don't think of myself as one, and yet I do find myself picking pies a lot for someone who doesn't eat them.

So, if you are a loyal reader, you may have noted that I have been going out on an almost weekly basis with my friend Alison. We're dating - that is, going on friend dates until she moves back to the States in April. That ill-fated El Vino night kicked it off, and this week was date #4 - pies at the Windmill in Mayfair. Cited as one of the best places in London and with an award-winning pie constantly on the menu, not to mention the fact that Alison had been there ooh a bajillion times already, meant expectation was high.

If I was going to have a pie, I wanted a proper pie, which meant choosing from steak and kidney, chicken, bacon, leek and tarragon, or steak and mushroom. The other options were those topped with filo, or those topped with mash (fish pie/cottage pie). Alison thought that the pastry pies came with mashed potato but apparently they don't (despite her photographic proof to the contrary) so we ordered some mash to go with it, and also some baked beans. I had the chicken and bacon pie, Alison had the steak and kidney.

Presentation isn't a strong point. The golden pie is plonked on a plate with absolutely nothing else - not even a side salad garnish. Then the sides we ordered came out in separate dishes for doling out amongst ourselves. 

They are good pies. The pastry is a good thickness, solid and well cooked. The steak and kidney pie pastry in particular was lovely as it seemed to have caramelised a bit from the steak juices oozing out (I had a bit of Alison's). Both pies were packed with their filling. The steak pie is so full of meat that there isn't any room for much gravy inside so they actually give you an extra pot of gravy to go with itr .

I was especially impressed by the chicken pie, as for some reason I think a steak pie is more readily impressive - I guess because it has steak in it. Whereas chicken... Well, chicken has to fight for respect. Hearty chunks of chicken were in a well-bodied sauce and lots of bacon throughout as well.

So the pies were good. Didn't quite reach the heights of the pie I had at the Bull and Last but then, they're not supposed to. These are old-fashioned pies in an old-fashioned pub - food for ordinary folk.

The beans were fine - there's not much to say about normal baked beans. The mash was too stodgy in my opinion: all potato and no cream, or butter... no fluffiness... reminding you that you're in a pub without the 'gastro' prefix or any aspirations to gain one. 

With the pies being only £9.50 each (up to about £11 for the posher ones), and having a bottle of wine between us, we spent £25 each, which isn't too bad for a very filling meal in Mayfair! 

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Le Gavroche, 13th February

Apologies in advance for the quantity and quality (or lack thereof) of photos in this post. We were the youngest diners in the restaurant by at least twenty years, and with my fellow patrons not being of the blogging and tweeting generation, I felt conspicuous, in such an esteemed establishment, taking the few photos I did.

Le Gavroche is the opposite of contemporary in decor, but without being staid. You feel comfortable in your surroundings, as if you're sitting in a favourite wealthy uncle's library. There is no background music - Le Gavroche gets booked up months in advance and so can rely on there being a soundtrack of chatter and clinking to distract you from the sound of your companions eating.

Just one of the quirky decorative touches

We were offered a glass of champagne each on the house (perhaps because it was so close to Valentine's Day?) and soon after our canapes arrived. An egg salad 'tart' adorned with three coral beads of caviar and a finger of chorizo wrapped in pastry. This was my first taste of caviar and I must say I liked it although even such a small amount was so fishy I can't imagine eating it by the scoopful. It made me feel like I was eating sushi. The chorizo pastry was gorgeously salty and meaty. Wouldn't have complained if there had been one or two more of those.

Next up was our amuse bouche - smoked eel with the lightest, subtlest horseradish cream I have ever tasted (because I dine on this kind of stuff all the time don'tchaknow). And the eel was another first for me but this was fine dining and of course it bore no real resemblance to it's natural form. It was just a perfectly shaped piece of fish and quite a delicately flavoured one at that.

At about this time our order was taken. We had decided to treat ourselves for Valentine's Day by coming to Le Gavroche but that doesn't mean we were suddenly flush with cash - we had decided to choose lunch here for a reason. They do a set lunch for only 52.60 which includes three courses and half a bottle of wine. (Bear in mind that a main from the a la carte started at around 30 pounds and you see what an excellent deal this is.)

There was a choice of three for each course. For some reason the set menu was all in French, whereas the a la carte menu gave you the translations. This wasn't really a problem as my French is pretty up to scratch (at least when it comes to food) but there was one item I couldn't puzzle out even with the context. Our waiter was more than happy to help and I ended up ordering this for my starter -  the veloute de topinambour, or Jerusalem artichoke. This came with iberico jamon and more artichoke in the bowl and then the velvety veloute is poured over them.

What a deeply rich, buttery and savoury taste this was. If I hadn't know it was artichoke I probably wouldn't have been able to place it, it just tasted delicious and 'rooty'. The mouthfuls where I had some of the ham with it were fabulous - the touch of saltiness it added working perfectly. I think this was actually my favourite dish of the meal!

Stephen chose the pan fried seabass with chive butter and said it was a very fine dish, though he commented that once again, in a high-end establishment, the skin wasn't crispy! We surmised it had been fried only on the one side as you could see the bottom was cooked through and it grew more translucent towards the top.

We both ordered the lamb neck on beans with wild garlic for our mains. Our first bites of the lamb were a little on the dry side but it soon gave way to pink, slightly fatty, tender meat. The bean and puree provided a worthy accompaniment, and there was some token green stuff to make us feel marginally healthier.

By this point I had availed myself twice of the bread basket yet still didn't turn down the chance to complete the hat trick - there were three varieties of home baked bread on offer, and therefore three I had. With a choice of salted or unsalted butter that was replenished as soon as a dent was made in it, each kind was moreish; a rustic campagne, a French bread and a light, chewy rye. 

I made an unusual choice for dessert for me - I went for the ice cream and sorbets option. They wheel over their cart of ice creams and scoop the flavours you want at the table. Taking the advice from our neighbours who were very friendly and obviously seasoned fine diners, I had a scoop of each - wild berry, pear, blood orange (my favourite), milk chocolate, vanilla and one other I can't remember!

Stephen had the cheese platter, instigating another trolley being wheeled over from which you can make your selection. I was too timid to take a picture while it was at our table, but I took one from afar. Cheese trolley? Cheese 16-wheeler more like!

My idea of heaven - and you can only see half of it!

Cheese was served with yet more butter, and some wholemeal 'melba toast' studded with fruit and nuts. Quince, a chutney and celery were served as relishes. I can't remember exactly which cheeses he chose, but all were, predictably, lovely. (I'm almost never going to say anything different about cheese.)

To finish we had the customary petits fours - a sweet marshmallow, a brandy snap, a candied kumquat and a miniature perfect pistachio brownie. Our kindly neighbours tried to encourage us to order a second serving of these, as we seemed to like them so much, and although I was tempted, if only for that brownie, we had eaten quite enough by then!

Our petits fours with our table 'mascot' in the background

Service was polished and attentive, mostly with a smile and a willingness to answer any questions, though for some reason the man devoted to keeping our glasses refreshed was rather stern.

Eating at Le Gavroche is obviously not something I can make a habit of, but it was perfect for a celebratory occasion. I loved Pollen Street Social for its laid-back, accessible feel, but when you really want to spoil yourself, you want a place that feels grand and special. Le Gavroche is definitely that.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Pollen Street Social, 17th March

Going to a Michelin starred restaurant for lunch for no special reason isn’t something that most people would consider, but I posit that you should when it comes to Pollen Street Social. As it happens, we went to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday, but I fully intend to return and I’m not going to wait for a special occasion to crop up before I do.

The reason I say all this is because the set lunch at Pollen Street Social is an absolute steal. Two courses are £22.00 and three are £25.50. With wine and service included our entire meal came to just shy of £50 each and we were absolutely stuffed, having thoroughly enjoyed some superb cuisine.

In some places, if you go for the set menu, you might feel you are being relegated to a subclass of diner, as the choices on the menu are limited and sometimes don’t seem to showcase the best of what a restaurant can do. This was not the case with Pollen Street. All of us could have quite happily had any of the dishes on offer for any of the courses and not felt hard done by. Not only that, but we didn’t lose out on having the full dining experience by going for the set menu. By that I mean we were offered the bread basket not once but twice (and yes, I did have some both times), we were furnished with a palate cleanser between main and dessert, and at the end of the meal we were given a delightful mini cake to round it off. As an added bonus, when we booked the main dining area was full and we were seated in the bar area. There were only about 4 other tables in this area, at the back of the room, which made it feel like we had our own private dining area, away from the bustle and noise of the hoi polloi. The only downside being that we didn’t get the spectacle of the chefs at work, or see the dessert bar laid out at the back.

And so, on to the food. We had a choice of three starters – pork knuckle and foie gras terrine with coco beans, squid and sourdough toast; hake with slow-cooked egg and curry rice; and mackerel tartar. Poor mackerel lost out as the five of us found the other two dishes more tempting. I had the terrine (anyone who reads this may by now realise gambling on me having a terrine as a starter is a safe bet). It was an excellent introduction to the standard of the food there. The bread was dense with plenty of flavour and the terrine was much richer than I thought it would be. I think that’s the first time I’ve had foie gras and I think that is what accounted for the luxurious taste. The star of the starters was the egg dish which three of my dining companions ordered. It was presented as a large, gelatinous looking globe of egg with flakes of fish and fried garlic all over it, and then a velvety vivid green soup was poured around it. Stunning. I had a small taste of Stephen’s and it was very silky.

Almost forgot to mention the tart picallili (green blob partially obscured)

There's some oxtail with that there marrow

For our mains again there were three choices – a fish dish that no one really bothered to do more than glance at (though it sounded nice), and then two meat options. Ox cheek with salt baked onion, mashed potato and bone marrow, and dingly dell pork belly with spiced pig’s cheek, pear puree and lardo potatoes. Stephen and I had the pork, the others had the ox cheek. I was over the moon that each dish came with a separate mini tureen of jus which the waiters poured over the meat. I love a little theatre at the table. Once again, fabulous food. I did have one potato that, dare I say it, may have been a tad underdone. And the pork belly did not have crispy crackling on it’s top, so if that’s something which would lose it points in your opinion, then be warned.

Sprouting broccoli - a token effort at some veg

When the dishes arrived I will admit to thinking – that’s not enough! But as I forked in the last mouthful, I was already getting that slightly uncomfortable full feeling. I could have easily gone without dessert and still not needed to eat until much later in the evening.
But, while we were there... Well, silly not to! There are two main choices for dessert but also a selection of sorbets and ice creams on offer. I had the rhubarb sorbet with pistachio financier and ginger, Stephen had the chocolate pave with vanilla ice cream and smoked vanilla crumb. The other sorbets on offer were mango, passionfruit, beetroot and one other I have forgotten. The ice cream choices were vanilla, chocolate, 
milk and honey, and tonka bean. 

But before we had that, we were proffered our palate cleanser. My biggest regret of this meal is that I didn’t take a picture of this when it was first set down. They had recreated a soft boiled egg. But it was nothing to do with an egg at all. The bottom of it was pineapple granita, there was then a thick layer of lychee foam (which looked like egg white) and this was then topped with  a passionfruit coulis (which look like a bit of soft yolk poking through. It was incredibly refreshing, zingy and sweet. Wonderful. 

Finally, dessert was served. I think this may have been my favourite dish of the day, mainly because it was something I wouldn’t normally go for. The rhubarb sorbet was refreshing and the pistachio financier nice and crumbly. Some stewed rhubarb and chantilly cream were some nice added extras. 
I didn’t even have any food envy of Stephen’s amazing looking chocolate pave, which tasted as good as it looked. Even the ice cream/sorbets that the others ordered were presented beautifully. Laid out in individual cups nestled in ice like oysters. So, so pretty! 

Chocolate pave

rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

Sorbet selection

A pumpkin and apricot bite-size cake and the meal was done!