Ah, London. Home of Queen Elizabeth, Harry Potter, Harrod’s and Harvey Nicks. And London can be the home of really bad food if you don’t know what you are doing.
Now everyone knows that when you go to London, you don’t go for the local cuisine. The pubs are hit or miss (my experience has been mostly miss) and the rest of the “British cuisine” is bland at best. My advice is to stick with the “ethnic” food if you can. London has thriving Indian, French, Chinese and Middle Eastern communities and if you plan your eating around these groups, you should be fine.
We had a wonderful experience at a high end French restaurant in Covent Garden called Clos Maggiore (go to the website and take the tour!). If you have ever been to Boston’s L’Espalier, then you get the idea. Clos Maggiore was phenomenal. We did the chef’s tasting menu and it was to die for. It started with a buttery foie gras served with a salad of frisee over a crispy chip and topped with a fried quail egg. It was probably some of the best foie gras I have ever tasted.
Next were scallops served with crushed ratte potatoes, seaweed butter and watercress coulis. The scallops were good, but the seaweed butter was bit much.
Third course was a slow cooked cod over risotto (they LOVE there risotto in England for some reason). This was excellent. The cod pretty much melted in your mouth.
Next was a Treacle caramelized duck breast with a pink grapefruit crumble and a ruby port sauce. To die for. The duck was cooked to perfection and the port wine sauce made it shine.
On to my favorite course; the cheese course. There is nothing like good French cheese and boy was this good. And being as how Dan is not a fan of the exotic European cheeses, there was more for me! I wish I had have written down exactly what they served because I would have smuggled it back into the states. I can tell you we had a lovely peppered chevre, an excellent British cheddar and a camembert that were perfect for Dan and my favorite, a buttery gorgonzola that sent me over the edge. All this was served with a lovely bread basket and fresh quince jelly. Outstanding!
Our meal ended with a lovely soft praline ganache w/cocoa butter crumble & chocolate ice cream.
I highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in London and feel like splurging on an expensive, fancy dinner (about $300-$350 for two). It was worth every penny.
Up next, the one meal the British do right: Breakfast!
Now everyone knows that when you go to London, you don’t go for the local cuisine. The pubs are hit or miss (my experience has been mostly miss) and the rest of the “British cuisine” is bland at best. My advice is to stick with the “ethnic” food if you can. London has thriving Indian, French, Chinese and Middle Eastern communities and if you plan your eating around these groups, you should be fine.
We had a wonderful experience at a high end French restaurant in Covent Garden called Clos Maggiore (go to the website and take the tour!). If you have ever been to Boston’s L’Espalier, then you get the idea. Clos Maggiore was phenomenal. We did the chef’s tasting menu and it was to die for. It started with a buttery foie gras served with a salad of frisee over a crispy chip and topped with a fried quail egg. It was probably some of the best foie gras I have ever tasted.
Next were scallops served with crushed ratte potatoes, seaweed butter and watercress coulis. The scallops were good, but the seaweed butter was bit much.
Third course was a slow cooked cod over risotto (they LOVE there risotto in England for some reason). This was excellent. The cod pretty much melted in your mouth.
Next was a Treacle caramelized duck breast with a pink grapefruit crumble and a ruby port sauce. To die for. The duck was cooked to perfection and the port wine sauce made it shine.
On to my favorite course; the cheese course. There is nothing like good French cheese and boy was this good. And being as how Dan is not a fan of the exotic European cheeses, there was more for me! I wish I had have written down exactly what they served because I would have smuggled it back into the states. I can tell you we had a lovely peppered chevre, an excellent British cheddar and a camembert that were perfect for Dan and my favorite, a buttery gorgonzola that sent me over the edge. All this was served with a lovely bread basket and fresh quince jelly. Outstanding!
Our meal ended with a lovely soft praline ganache w/cocoa butter crumble & chocolate ice cream.
I highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in London and feel like splurging on an expensive, fancy dinner (about $300-$350 for two). It was worth every penny.
Up next, the one meal the British do right: Breakfast!
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