Sabrina's Passions' Reviews

I’ve been meaning to eat at The Botanist for quite some time but never seemed to find an opportunity to make it there. Every time I drive past it’s teeming with slick-looking Chelsea chaps and attractive blondes sipping on cocktails and chain-smoking Marlboro Lights. Today is no exception; we fight our way through the packed main bar to get to the restaurant which, happily, is a much more calm and less hectic affair.

The menu is not over-complicated with just a handful of dishes for each course, I kick-start the meal with mmarinated scallops and potatoes with hazelnuts and truffled mayonnaise and my companion opts for the Foie gras and chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche. My scallops dish is essentially raw but cooked by the acidity of the marinade, which is lovely and subtle and doesn’t overpower the delicate slivers of scallops.

Crunchy sugar coated hazelnuts and sliced new potatoes are pleasant, although I would have preferred a simple marinated scallop starter with just a little of the mayonnaise. The Foie gras and chicken liver parfait is delicious with a vanilla and raspberry vinaigrette to cut through rich, almost buttery goodness of the parfait.

I choose a simple main course of gently poached wild cod with aioli which is simply plated and dotted with bursts of almost neon-green broad beans and has an intense garlic punch from the aioli, making it a perfectly satisfying dish for spring. My companion doesn’t do fish and chooses instead the 35 day aged Angus rib-eye steak with chips and Béarnaise sauce which hits the spot nicely, although the meat seems to have lost some of its heat en-route from kitchen to table, it is still enjoyed.

Staff are friendly and allow us time to digest our main before offering us dessert, which is always a good move and doesn’t make you feel hurried. The warm chocolate cake with pistachio praline ice cream is calling for me and I persuade my companion to go for the white chocolate and honeycomb parfait with strawberry compote… More

Gordon Ramsay’s latest opening comes in the shape of the re-vamped and re-located Petrus restaurant. The new location is so discreet that you could miss it, which in fact exactly what happened but I found it eventually. The décor is as you would expect of a Ramsay restaurant, plush with deep red fabric-covered walls and stylish cream chairs which are surprisingly comfortable. The A La Carte menu offers 3 courses for £55.00, the Chef’s 5 course tasting menu comes in at £65.00 but the real value is lunch menu which is priced at just £25.00 for 3 courses but could it be too good to be true? I have never been a big fan of set lunch menus as they are a bit of a cop-out at times but I want to see exactly what £25.00 buys you at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant these days so I decide to go for it. With Head Chef Sean Burbridge at the helm under the watchful eye of Group Executive Head Chef Mark Askew, my expectations are high.

Two little cones of popcorn are placed on the table, one seasoned with lemon and pepper and the other with smoked paprika, neither of which is my thing. Popcorn is not something I want to begin a restaurant meal with, it is awkward, chewy and always gets stuck in my teeth, which is fine if you are in the dark at a cinema but picking your teeth at the table of a any restaurant is something my mother taught me never to do. An Amuse Bouche is served but for the life of me, I simply cannot recall what it was but I do remember liking it.

For my starter, I go with the curried pollock fillet with braised lentils and cauliflower soup and my guest goes for the crab and salmon cannelloni. I do love cauliflower, especially in soup form and if it comes with fish and lentils, then even better. The crab and salmon cannelloni is beautifully presented in all its cylindrical glory, but for me the earthy curry spice of the pollock worked beautifully and paired with the velvety-smooth cauliflower soup it was the clear winner of the two dishes. My only gripe would be that they were… More

Simply put the BEST DIM SUM in all of London and in fact, even better than Hong Kong. Even my friends from Hong Kong say it is better and I couldn't agree more. Some people favour the Baker Street branch, but I have been a devotee of Queensway for the best part of two decades and for very good reason. The food is simply wonderful. It's no secret that Royal China dim sum is so good that they actually supply most of London's Chinese restaurants with their fare, but they seem to keep the best for themselves, ensuring they remain a cut above the rest.

The A La Carte menu offers lots of beautifully executed exotic dishes like Abalone, Jellyfish and some of the best crispy duck I have ever had… Another of the house specials is the Lobster and spring onion crispy noodles, which is really delicious.

Its not the cheapest Chinese restaurant, but it is not overpriced and you get what you pay for. It is most definitely a cut above the rest and having eaten in China towns across the globe, as well as both Hong Kong and Beijing, I find it difficult to equal the quality and variety of delicious dishes served at this branch of Royal China. Service can be a tad brusque at times, but it is still very efficient.

Tamarind is definitely an ‘Old-Money’ joint and the interior design seems carefully deliberated over and not just conjured up to keep up with whatever trend was cool at the time. Our waiters are all dressed in slick black Nehru jackets and seem to glide effortlessly across the floor in ghost-like fluid motions.

To begin, we start with of assortment of grilled delights from the Tandoor oven. Giants prawn, ‘double’ lamb chops, tender chicken breast, enormous scallops and wonderful chunks of Monkfish. The prawns were meaty and delicious, coated in a lightly spiced marinade and charred to perfection. The chicken, scallops and Monkfish were all excellent examples of Tandoor-oven cooking, expertly cooked and beautifully seared on the outside but retaining all the succulence and moisture on the inside. The lamb was definitely my favourite, crusted in a marinade made with Indian paneer cheese, which gave it the most wonderful velvety-smooth coating and allowed the meat itself to remain incredibly moist and soft, so much so it was hard to believe that it was cooked in the searing temperatures of a Tandoor oven.

We follow with chicken Biryani, Kashmiri lamb shank, Kalonji aubergines and a basket of naan filled with dates and almonds. The Biryani is sealed with a layer of golden puff pastry to help steam cook the rice and chicken inside and the flavours were simply incredible and the chicken itself was juicy and moist, which I must admit was surprising considering it was breast meat and overall it was a huge hit. The meat from our lamb shanks were expertly taken off the bone at our table by our waiter. The lamb slivers were delicately spiced with Kashmiri chillies, bearing all the super-soft, gelatinous meaty goodness that you would expect from a slow-cooked lamb shank, enrobed in a rich and fragrant tomato and chilli sauce that was so thick and wonderful it was more like a chutney and was a perfect accompaniment to the lamb. The aubergine dish was also great, but could not be placed… More

We arrive at 7:30pm and the restaurant is empty. I always find it a little uncomfortable when you are the only two diners in a restaurant,.Staff switch on the music and it looks like things could be moving into ‘full swing’ mode. But, Sade?… in a Lebanese restaurant? I like Sade… I can live with Sade. But what I can’t quite seem to live with, is the contrasting thumping bar music coming from the restaurant's bar, adjacent. It is like watching TV and listening to the radio at the same time.

Staff are friendly though and we order starters of ‘Baba Ghanoush’ – a dish made with smoked aubergine pulp, garlic and tahini paste, ‘Muhamara’ – spiced and pureed pine nut dip and ‘Jawaneh’ – garlic and coriander marinated chicken wings. The Baba Ghanoush definitely didn’t disappoint and was delicate and creamy with a deep smokiness from the aubergine which was excellent. The Muhamara I could have actually finished quite happily all by myself, although in my experience, good Muhamara should always have a bit of a kick of chilli heat from it and this was quite mellow and sweet, but still very enjoyable. The Jawaneh chicken wings are a disappointment. I’m not certain that they are entirely ‘hot off the grill’ so to speak. The flavour of the marinade was pleasant enough, but the skin was flabby and unpleasant, rather than crispy as it should be and the meat itself has an unpleasant aftertaste.

Next we order ‘Prawn Machbous’ – King prawns in a spicy tomato sauce with mixed vegetables and saffron rice, ‘Mixed Grill’ – marinated chunks of both lamb and chicken with a lamb chop and mixed vegetables and finally ‘Farooj Chicken’ – Boneless baby chicken marinated with garlic, coriander and lemon dressing. The mixed grill is pretty good, plump and juicy pieces of well-marinated meat and chicken are both tender and juicy, albeit that the marinade for the chicken is a bit too sweet for my liking, but nothing too offensive. The Prawn Machbous is truly great and definitely my favourite dish of them… More

Bumpkin is a quirky cross-breed that combines the charm of a traditional country inn with the modern décor of a trendy city haunt.

Having checked out the menu online, I had already honed in on what I was going to order. Wait a minute… where is my Lancashire Hotpot? Reduced menu on Saturday lunchtime? I sit back and sulk in my chair like a child and cannot contain my disappointment, I am beginning to regret skipping breakfast for this. The menu lists an all day full English breakfast as well as fish n’ chips and bangers and mash to name a few It’s going to take a lot more than that to tickle my taste buds and I begin to despair. Not exactly the full menu I had hoped for but we plump for a warming starter of onion soup with thyme, accompanied by lovely doorstep chunks of bread studded with caraway seeds. An ideal winter warmer, hitting the spot perfectly.

For main course ‘Buccleuch’ pork chop with a side of mashed potatoes and curly kale with red wine gravy hits the spot and at first bite, the pork is juicy and tender and the fat, crisp and sticky as it should be. The mashed potatoes are smooth and creamy and the red wine jus is a perfect accompaniment to the dish. I nab a bite of my friends Welsh black beef burger and it is lovely and medium rare on the inside with a nice doughy bun and great chips (skin-on) with a garlicky mayonnaise dip.

Service is good, a tad slow and the staff certainly are ‘characters’ to say the very least… But Bumpkin is a great place to head to ‘The morning after the night before’ – for a carb and comfort food-lead recovery. Can't imagine what kind of food they will offer over the summer, but they have quite a few Al Fresco tables which makes it worth the visit.

We arrive at Texture and are shown to our table, a cosy little nook which overlooks the rather interesting ‘open’ plating area. Chunky rustic bread, a wafer-thin assortment of deep fried miscellany and an amuse bouche of creamy pea mousse are just some of the treats we begin our meal with. Chef Agnar Sverrisson has arranged for a tasting of the some of the best dishes on the menu and so the coming courses are very much an exciting mystery as yet. The first course of beetroot, goat’s cheese with rocket and balsamic vinegar and chervil ice cream is a palate of vibrant colour. The dish is wonderfully simple with clean flavours and the added interesting element of chervil ice cream, which works perfectly with against the sweetness of the beetroot.

Our fish course is a classic salute to Scandinavian cuisine, with organic salmon ‘Graflax’ (the Icelandic spelling for ‘Gravadlax’) cured with a delicate coating of herbs and pepper with an accompanying horseradish sauce and tiny little pieces of broken rye bread, which is entirely scrumptious. This is the kind of dish I could eat forever with batting an eyelid. Next up, comes a signature dish of char-grilled English Quail, with sweetcorn, shallot, bacon popcorn and red wine essence. One does often wonder how a Chef decides to put certain ingredients together, but no one component is less appealing because of another. The quail is tender and sweet and the kernels of sweetcorn burst in my mouth releasing their juice, complimenting the salty bacon. A tad confused about what I should be doing with the popcorn, I simply pop them in my mouth once I have finished everything else.

Our next course is char-grilled grain-fed beef rib eye with Ox cheek, served with horseradish and an olive oil Béarnaise. “Olive oil Béarnaise, you say?” – Yes, because interestingly, Texture do not use cream or butter in their cooking and as written on the menu it is actually a ‘B”arnaise’ sauce, rather than your garden-variety Béarnaise. The beef is meltingly… More

I was quite surprised to read the mixed reviews for this much-acclaimed new opening for the Galvin brothers. I have always been a big fan of Galvin at Windows although I accept that it is, perhaps, not to everyone's taste. I guess its a marmite thing, in the fact that you either ‘love it or hate it’. I always find that the food at any Galvin establishment is always beautifully executed and so I struggle to digest people's reviews saying certain dishes at La Chapelle were unspecial, because simplicity is exactly what they do so very well. Having said that, often what we refer to as ‘simple’ is not always reflective of the labour involved in creating these perceived to be simple dishes.

There is no denying that La Chapelle is an absolutely stunning restaurant. It isn't trying to be trendy, it isn't trying to be glamourous, but it does have ‘old-world’ charm and an effortless sophistication that no matter how hard you try, cannot purposely be engineered these days. It is a comfortable style and elegance combined with faultless service and a smooth experience from start to finish that really makes these rare little gems so wonderful.

I chose the Dorset crab lasagne to start with that was a delicate tower of sweet crab meat bound with egg layered between fresh pasta sheets, nestled in a veloute of chanterelle mushrooms that was smooth and creamy and very moreish. For main course, I chose the absolute last thing I would EVER choose in a restaurant… CHICKEN. This is how much faith I have in the Galvins to deliver a good dish, because I almost always choose meat or fish in restaurants, heck even vegetarian mains over chicken… Supreme of Landaise chicken with an abundance of plump Morel mushrooms, vibrant green peas and aromatic crispy shards of fried Jambon cru – an incredible amalgamation of salty ham, sweet pea, succulently moist chicken breast with the luxurious flavour of those oh-so-special Morel mushrooms that perfume the light cream sauce.

Desserts are never my thing, but… More