Rhodes Twenty Four

Only over three months late but Patrick and I finally made it to Rhodes Twenty Four for my birthday. The last attempt was derailed by delays at Heathrow Airport. Hmm … sometimes I really dislike Heathrow!

At any rate, better late than never as the aged old saying goes.

As can be guessed from the name of the restaurant Rhodes Twenty Four is celebrity chef Gary Rhodes’ restaurant. As with many top chefs this days Gary’s stable does not include only the one restaurant though this is probably the restaurant where he spends most of his time. I first heard about Rhodes Twenty Four from another Gary, a work mate, who could not say enough positive things about the restaurant. In addition, as a recipient of one Michelin star (awarded in 2005) (and Gary’s 5th of his career) I had high expectations for the restaurant.

Rhodes Twenty Four is located on the 24th floor of reportedly the tallest building in the City of London – Tower 42. Entry into Tower 42 is interesting. Reception is located about half a floor up at the top of a set of escalators. Interestingly on that floor, for security purposes, you cannot take any photos but on the next floor up you can. After we checked in at reception we were given a pass to activate the turnstile which was located about five metres to the right of reception. However when we got to the turnstile we simply handed the passes over to the security person standing there to open the turnstile for us. How odd!

The elevator bank to access the restaurant is up another set of escalators from reception. As can be expected in a building like Tower 42 there are a number of elevator shafts, one of this is totally dedicated to Rhodes Twenty Four as we found out when we stepped inside the lift and found there was only one button to press:

Stepping into the restaurant the first thing that greets you is the bar with an amazing view of the Gherkin.

Floor to ceiling windows wrap around the bar and the restaurant and it is indeed an impressive vista, even if the bar itself was surprisingly not that lively when we first started our dinner. In fact the restaurant was quite quiet when we first got there (an 8pm booking) though it steadily filled up. Must be a combination of the economic crisis and the hours that the local workers (it’s the City!) work. At any rate the amazing vista also sweeps around to the restaurant though of course by the time you’re in the restaurant its about the scene on the table rather than outside.

Rhodes Twenty Four is the type of restaurant which has a wait person for everything – the wine, the cocktails, the order taking, the food delivery, the water delivery, the new cutler delivery … you get the message! which can be intimidating at first but slowly you get used to being waited on by the seven or eight people. Ha! Interestingly though as the evening progressed the service levels started to deteriorated and Pat and I started to play our game – how long will it take for our tap water to be replaced without us asking for it. Answer: we’d probably die of thirst first.

Whilst we were deciding on drinks and food we were brought some warmed bread served in a cute little square wooden bowl. I was expecting the bread to be lovely but it was quite unexpectedly hard and tough which was probably a good thing as it stopped me from filling up on bread.

Though in hindsight after the GIANT cocktail I was served I could have done with more bread in my stomach before downing my drink. Patrick went for a more reasonable aperitif of English Martini I of course opted for a milky, more dessert appropriate, Banoffee Pie (Fresh Banana with aged rum, butterscotch, crème de banana, maple syrup, double cream and milk.) Priced at £9.50 and £10.00 respectively the cocktails were on the expensive side of London prices but they were quality drinks – lots of alcohol baby. The size difference between my flavoured martini cup and Pat’s martini was hilarious:

Dinner started with a cute little amuse bouche of cauliflower soup. Although intensely flavoured I’m starting to find that I’m sensitive to over-seasoning (that is, over salting!) and this soup was very well seasoned indeed, delicious as it was. Cute mini-mug it was served in though.

For starters both Pat and I targeted the seafood dishes. Pat opting for the Scallop dish (Roast scallop soup, buttered leeks and crisp pork belly – I’m thinking it was the crisp pork belly that sold him – ha ha) and I went for Lobster (Blazed lobster omelette thermidor.) I can’t speak for Pat’s scallop but my lobster dish was certainly interesting. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Served in a mini fry-pan the lobster was lost somewhere in the gooey bit that was the omelette thermidor. I quite liked the flavour though it was seriously eggy.

For mains Pat stuck to seafood plus pig (Pan fried halibut with a smoked bacon hash, salsify and Trompette mushrooms) but I moved on to pure meat (Beef fillet with truffle, cauliflower macaroni cheese and Madeira gravy.) I’ll own up to it the reason I chose this dish was the mac cheese … and actually it turned up to be the best part of my meal. Pat also admitted he chose his dish for the smoked bacon hash! Minor accompaniments certainly make the dish.

So, we knew we weren’t going to get huge portions but we certainly didn’t expect to receive dishes where the ratio of white space to ingredient was 90:10 okay maybe 80:20 once I spooned my mac and cheese onto my plate (we certainly did well to make our mains last 20 mins.) Still, the food was very good though, my tongue being as insensitive as it was, could barely make out the truffle flavour in the sauce on my beef. Beef was cooked to perfection however and I’ve already mentioned how the mac cheese was my favourite component. So cheesy, so good!

I desperately wanted to get dessert but my allergic reaction to my super strong cocktail meant I was feeling seriously full. Along with my throat closing dessert was in danger of not getting onto the agenda. That would have been a serious tragedy. Thankfully Pat convinced me to go for it … because dessert turned out to be the best of the three courses.

Pat’s Rhodes Twenty Four signature pudding plate consisted of a gorgeous trio of mini puddings. In order of deliciousness: a giant jaffa cake, a strawberry parfait served between two crackers and a bread and butter pudding. The bread and butter pudding was to die for – I think it was they way top of the pudding was bruleed. I opted for the iced peanut mousse, caramelised pineapple and butterscotch cream. Absolutely gorgeous though those who don’t have a sweet tooth should be aware that this dessert should come with a Extremely Sweet warning.

Finally, because Pat had some peppermint tea, we were also served with some delightful though at that stage entirely unnecessary petit fours: an orange cake, pistachio chocolate and my favourite white chocolate with raspberry flavour.

We were in Rhodes Twenty Four nearly three hours which is nearly as long as it took us to finish the large number of dishes at the Fat Duck which was rather a surprise considering how not large the mains were. Time, however, simply flew. Service was, as noted earlier, a little less efficient than expected and though we did appreciate not feeling like we were on a time limit there were times we felt a little disconnected from our waiters who were so busy looking busy that they didn’t have the greatest of personalities – not unfriendly but not friendly either. However, it was overall a lovely meal and I’m glad we made the effort to get a booking at this restaurant: stunning views, great detail in the food presentation and taste-wise (though oddly the mains were disappointing), and a pleasant atmosphere.

Definitely a place to note for that next special occasion (its not cheap!)

Cadbury World

Considering Cadbury World has been on my to do list for a number of years now I shouldn’t be surprised that when Sandra and I finally made it the “Adventure” it was kind of .. a let down.

In hindsight perhaps visiting on a Saturday wasn’t the best choice, as it was extremely busy, but neither of us were willing to sacrifice a day at work to come visit. At any rate strangely, as the day unfolded, the most irritating and rudest individuals were the adults. In particular this middle-aged Indian couple who I’m sure didn’t even have children with them. But I digress.

So Cadbury World consists of the major exhibition, which is built around the factory and at the end of which you are spat into The World’s Biggest Cadbury Shop, the Bourneville Experience, which “celebrates the founding of the Cadbury factory and the Bournville village” and Essence where, after watching a presentation, you get to create your own flavoured liquid chocolate.

The journey through Cadbury World is a self-guided journey. You make your way through various exhibitions and visual presentations. Though they advise that it will take a couple of hours we whipped through it in less than an hour not including the time we spent waiting in line for Cadabra (an It’s A Small World-esque type ride but with cocoa beans.) Highlights would have been the demonstration area (had it not been so crowded) and seeing the factory in operation. The Purple Planet, an interactive play area, would have also been fun if we’d had the place to ourselves. We did, however, get a few bits of chocolate at various spots and at Essence you get to drink liquid chocolate and make you’re on concoction (choose two ingredients to dump into the liquid chocolate.)

I guess I’m glad I’ve been to Cadbury World and I imagine it would have been more fun visiting with a kid who could appreciate the magic and simplicity of the presentations. I would well advise anyone visiting to look for discounts because to pay full price … well, there are better uses for £14.

It was a total loss. I’m thinking we spent most of our time in the Cadbury Shop and best find of the day – the Cadbury Magical Elves which were a combination of milk chocolate and popping candy! Score!

Thanks anyway to Sandra for driving us up to Cadbury World.

Pauline’s Leaving Do: Strawberry Moons

So tonight was Pauline’s official leaving do 🙁 at Strawberry Moons For good it seems this time. It will be very sad to see her leave since she’s been such a big part of my life, if not necessarily for a long time, at least for a lot of important moments. We just clicked from the moment we met (not to sound too sappy!) But everyone has to go their own paths eventually I guess and Pauline’s path is taking her back to Melbourne. The only consolation is that these days 10,000+ miles isn’t as far as 10,000+ miles used to be (plus I’ll see her a couple of more times before she actually departs this country.)

Oh boy you know when Strawberry Moons is the venue that its going to get messy … very quickly. Happy hour meant that we were getting jug after jug of cocktails before 8pm. At one stage I’m sure someone came over to the table with about six jugs at once! And then The Wongo was unleashed – before we knew it there was a bottle of Moet on the table and then, the inevitable, shots. That boy is dangerous. Very dangerous.

It was a good night out though because everyone drank so much so quickly early on only few of us remained at the end of the night (and Peter was so drunk that he was opening his mouth but no sound was coming out and he left the Moons without picking up his briefcase!)

Though that’s not to say that stopped Pauline and I getting our requisite photo with work hottie Neil:

Heh heh.

But the funniest moment of the night was when we ran into Caroline’s admirer:

That dude must live here.

The Grill at the Dorchester

The last time I was at the Dorchester was for afternoon tea like over two years ago. In that time The Dorchester has not gotten any less intimidating or less posh. Jenny and I were quite early for our meal and though we were given the option of sitting at one of the numerous bars in the hotel lobby we were more comfortable wondering around gawking at people and relaxing on the lounges in front of the Grill. We also had a bit of time to check out some of the merchandise on sale (like the handbag Sandra has her eye on – a Gucci special for over £10k I think – eek!)

Before sitting down for dinner we also had a celeb spot. I was just gazing off into nowhere when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glance of this good looking bloke. The maitre d’ of The Promenade (where they serve afternoon tea) thought I was checking out his friend – who turned out to be the boxer Chris Eubank! Apparently he’s quite a lover of the ladies but its always the ladies who are left holding the bill so you are warned!

On to our meal.

The Grill at the Dorchester is kitted out in what seems to me a rather oddly chosen décor – a Scottish theme (everywhere you look you will see tartan) and giant murals of kilted men on the wall. It was very unusual (not even in the Scottish restaurant Albannach is there such décor) and not at all soothing. But we had to put it out of our minds to focus on the food.

Tonight Jenny and I were dining at the Grill courtesy of a set menu offer – 3 courses for £28.50 (please note there is a very limited selection) but there was lots going on before our starters were served. First off the top was a selection of warmed bread. We didn’t ask but I suspect the bread is baked fresh at the Grill every day. The bread was presented inside a warmed serviette and alongside my weakness freshly churned butter! It was so good that we asked for more. In fact we asked for more bread too. This was followed by an amuse bouche of Celeriac velouté which like all amuse bouches lately went down altogether too quickly!

For starters I went for the unusual option of breaded pigs trotters, what on earth was I thinking, and Jenny the lobster bisque. To my surprise I liked my breaded pigs trotters served with an almost tartare sauce. The trotters thankfully didn’t have an offensive flavour, though I’m guessing has a lot to do with the fried goodness of the bread crumb mixture it was surrounded by, and in fact I rather enjoyed my dish. I had a taste of Jenny’s bisque and though I don’t know what the lobster itself tasted like I found the liquid part of her meal just a little sea water tasting.

For mains we both opted for the fish option.

I can’t exactly recall the type of fish but it was a white meaty fish. In all honesty we were both left a little under-whelmed by our main dish but the bread had started to tell at that stage and it was the right portion to leave us room for …

… dessert! But first a pre-dessert of banana sorbet with berries and a peanut butter brittle. Dare I say it was better than our mains? I tell you – I’m getting well spoilt by these posh places that do all these little freebie extras to the point where if they don’t offer them I feel ripped off! Ha ha.

Unusually my dessert choice was the moist layered chocolate sponge served with malt ice cream (this was really the bit of the dish that appealed to me) and Jenny went for the Yoghurt pannacotta with blackberry ice cream and passion fruit sauce. Jenny’s looked the more substantial but I liked the combination on my dish better.

Service tonight was pretty superb. They even dealt with our bill query discretely and without recrimination (we were mistaken) and they always made us feel comfortable even through asking for tap water and asking for more butter and more bread! Though we were one of the first diners through the door we weren’t the only diners and by the end the room had been filled nicely. Not bad value for money off the set menu (considering the quality of the food) though I suspect that drink prices (we had a complimentary champagne) might be a little higher than you’d expect.

A satisfying experience if not exactly thrilling and exciting all the way through.

Vanilla

The smell of vanilla wafts slowly towards you as you enter this strangely out of the way restaurant situated on Great Titchfield Street in a random member’s club (membership is free.) I’m not sure which market Vanilla is aiming for but it’s location certainly seems to suggest they are not aiming for any of the mainstream public. Vanilla is, admittedly, only a short stroll from Oxford Circus and an even shorter one from Great Portland Street however its a little off the beaten path and without my printed out google map handy I’m not sure I would have ever stumbled upon it.

In all honesty I like the approach because Vanilla is a gem of a venue and I’d kind of like to keep it to myself and my friends! Its intimate, its cosy and the perfect atmosphere to bring a date (you can draw the curtains so you are effectively alone with your date!) or bring a group and share some divine food. The place only sits 35 people apparently so you can expect attentive and personal service.

Upon entering you are greeted by a lot of white for the main dining room. But rather than appear tacky and shall I say chavvy the simpleness of the design coupled with detail such as long flowing curtains, giant chandeliers and little tea candles actually makes the room appear quite elegant. The lighting also changes colour gradually during the night. In contrast the room we were sat in was dominated by black with white painted swirley designs on the walls and giant long mirrors to lighten what would otherwise be a very dark space. Vanilla was empty when we first arrived at just before 7 but got quite busy after that.

Food at Vanilla is French. Which means basically quality food artfully presented. Pauline, Sandra and I were dining off a set menu which was fairly good value for money. The fact that they charged us £0.00 for two cocktails also helped keep costs down. I know. WTH? If they’d missed off the drinks completely we would have said something but the fact it was on our bill at £0.00 was just a good result. Cocktails, by the way, are super almost shockingly strong. Wahey. Some are a hit (like my gorgeous “nutty cracker”: kahlua, amarreto, frangelico with a touch of cream served over crushed ice) and some are a miss (“bourbon forest” – supposedly black forest cake in a cocktail.) To say I was a little tipsy after a sip of the first would be an understatement.

The draw backs to set menus are that generally you’re options are limited. As it was we all ended up with practically the same meal except for our starters. Where Pauline and Sandra had what I think was a crab and avocado salad with smattering of mango I went for a pea soup served with cheesy croissants. Did I hear anyone say divine? I loved my soup though I think it was the croissants that sold it for me. Mmmm … For mains we all went for something quite heavy, a stewed beef which was cooked nicely though I don’t remember there being anything especially spectacular or unusual about it. And then we were brought our dessert. I’m not a chocolate dessert fan at all but even I couldn’t go past the Chocolate Fondant with cookie (can’t resist cookie) and coffee ice cream. It looked less fondant than chocolate mud cake but it certainly went down a treat. The texture from the cookie and the ice-cream helped break down the richness of the chocolate cake. I was impressed. I only wish I’d taken a photo of what was left on the plate – which was not much at all!

Service was excellent with the waiter joking around with us and making some good recommendations for cocktails. It was efficient and at just about the right level, even when they did start to get in a few more customers.

Many (earlier) reviews of this place have written it off but if tonight’s experience was anything to go by I would happily recommend the restaurant/bar to any of my friends.

Dinner Party: Mike and Vanessa’s

Mike and Vanessa decided to host a dinner party tonight and as Pat volunteered to do a bit of the cooking combined with Mike and Vanessa’s input the only task I had to manage was turning up. Lucky me!

Boy, I’m full just thinking about everything we ate which included Singapore Chilli Crab, Pork Gyoza, Pad Thai, Pistachio cookies and Pistachio ice-cream courtesy of Pat and Beef Rendang, Chinese Beans, and Dessert Wine (very yummy) courtesy of Mike and Vanessa.

It was a really good feast with some very lovely company (Tom, Pat’s roommate, and Ajit, a guy who used to work with them but currently living in the US, also joined us.) Although because the four boys at one stage or another worked together some of the conversation did turn to gossip about work and technical other stuff at times! They did try to keep it at a minimum …

A fantastic night. More incentive for me to get my own place and host a dinner party of my own!

Oxo Brasserie

It seems I’m losing friends left right and centre in October. The next member of my London family to be departing is Pauline. Sniffle.

For one of our final dates 🙂 we decided that we’d have some food at the top of the Oxo Tower which is has been on both our to do lists for a while now. The Oxo Tower Brasserie is the more relaxed half of the restaurants on top though that’s not to say it was any less busy than the Restaurant.

Entering the space that is the Brasserie I could well imagine how great an eating area this would be in the summer. I think they can either open up the roof or put tables outside for dining but in either case it’s a great location with views out to St Paul’s Cathedral which can be seen out of floor to ceiling glass windows. There is also supposedly live music (normally jazz) though I didn’t hear much of it tonight. There was, however, quite a buzz anyway and it was probably better for conversation that we weren’t also competing with the music. Although towards the end our meal a very drunk woman started screaming and making funny noises which was a bit disturbing. The waitress couldn’t help but laugh about it though I don’t think she meant for us to catch her laughing.

Tables are a little cosy in the brasserie as we could certainly hear most of the conversation from both sides of our table, including when the guy next to us was trying to impress his girlfriend by asking for the sommelier. Hilariously the waitress just went on to make some recommendations for wine. Shot down much?

They started off our experience with bread and butter. I’d just sworn off butter but I couldn’t resist the little patty that they served us. Weakness! The only way I can resist is if its not served to me! Ha ha.

Pauline started off with a Laksa and I opted for a grilled octopus, chorizo, and squid ink dish. I can’t speak for Pauline’s soup (I think she liked it) but my dish tasted fantastic though the octopus was a little overdone. Great flavour in it though. The smearing of the squid ink on the plate was certainly an interesting, if not exactly functional, presentation choice.

For mains we both went for meat – Pauline pork chop and myself with a rabbit. Pauline was very happy with her pork chop but I was once again thinking that my rabbit was a touch overcooked. I’m also not convinced the sauce that it was served with helped any as it was certainly dark and heavy. (It wasn’t disgusting.) We’d also ordered a couple of sides which were probably not necessary!

Finally we finished off with a banana cheesecake for Pauline and a crumble for me. A nice way to finish our meal though I felt a little too full at the end of it – not an unfamiliar state for me. Heh heh.

Overall I had an enjoyable time at the Brasserie though I was expecting the food to be a slightly better quality and it did feel a bit uncomfortable to be so close to other diners. Service was generally a hit though when it started to get busy the waiters/waitresses suddenly went mising. I think we were sat there for a while waiting for a dessert menu or other option to be brought to us. One of the highlights was getting out on to the terrace for the sweeping views up and down the Thames (though actually you don’t have to eat at either the brasserie or restaurant to visit the terrace. Oh – as your coats are put into the coat room before you dine they do offer you the use of blankets if its chilly out.

Calendar Girls

The 2003 film of the same name brought to the main stream attention the story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a calendar to raise money for cancer research. The reason it generated so much interest was the fact that these ordinary middle-aged non-model women posed naked for the calendar! The film has many awards … I’ve never seen it but I’m really hoping the film was more engaging than the stage production.

That’s right – I was a little bored by the play. I thought I was being a little insensitive to the subject matter but apparently I wasn’t the only one that thought that – all of us who saw it tonight agreed!

However that’s not to take away from any of the actresses (including Jerry Hall, Jill Halfpenny, Jill Baker, Anita Dobson, Sara Crowe, June Brown and Gemma Atkinson in tonight’s incarnation) and actors on stage. Lines were beautifully delivered, characterisations were spot on and the posing for the calendar was handled very professionally. I just can’t understand what it was about the play that failed to engage me – maybe it was just too sad and sentimental? I think it was wondering throughout the whole production how the on-stage presentation differed from the movie and also thinking why did they bother?

Plum Valley

How many times have I walked past this restaurant in the China Town Mall and walked right by having been turned off by the prices, by the modern looks, by the seemingly posh aspect. I’m sure I could have afforded a meal here it just seemed wrong dine at this restaurant when there were other good restaurants in the vicinity at more than half the price.

Thanks to an offer on toptable for 50% off food, however, I could now come and in here guilt-free.

As will all my dining experiences I will always have a co-conspirator – on this occasion Sandra joined me. Sandra’s great company for trying out new places as we have similar tastes and appetites. Heh heh.

We arrived at about 6.30 and were taken downstairs. The room was completely empty but within what felt like moments it was packed. Plum Valley is spread out over a few floors with each floor fairly intimate (eight tables at the very most) and there is sufficient empty space on the floors that you don’t feel crowded in though the fact that the floors are a tile mean that the room can quickly get loud.

Service was efficient though Plum Valley suffers from what many restaurants seem to suffer from these days – an impatience to get a quick turnover in food. I’m sure its all in the name of good service and not all an attempt to get the table back quickly but still we couldn’t help but feel rushed. Especially when the waiter/waitresses stands behind your table waiting for the very moment when you finish up with your dish to whisk it away! However don’t take this to mean that I won’t have something to say if my food doesn’t come and empty dishes cleared within a reasonable amount of time. Heh heh.

Whilst we were choosing our dinner options we were provided with a bowlful of pickled carrots and radish (yum) and fried broad beans. We quickly made our way through these! Probably even before we’d ordered our dishes. Ha ha.

For starters we went with one of favourites, salt and pepper squid ,to be eaten alongside jasmine tea smoked baby pork ribs. Mmmm … Hakkasan, the marker of all that is good in modern Chinese food, has a similar dish and I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I thought Plum Valley’s ribs were equal if not better than the ribs there. The salt and pepper squid was perfectly lightly fried, not at all chewy though maybe they could have been a bit more generous with the seasoning (the salt and pepper) or at least found a better way of getting it to better coat the squid.

For our mains we opted for the signature pan grilled black cod with champagne and honey accompanied by claypot chicken with shaoxing wine sweet basil and spring onion. We also tried their version of the Fujian fried rice as a replacement for boiled rice. Traditionally this rice is covered in a sauce but for some reason the Plum Valley version was dry and actually a little too oily for me. The cod was quite small in portion and very delicately flavoured (Sandra liked it) and the chicken, though soft and tender, had a dominant flavour of salt. They were good but both Sandra and I were more impressed by our starters than mains.

Of course though we were full we had a little bit of room for dessert. Sandra’s lily jelly cake was even more delicate than the cod though it was very cutely presented. I quite liked my coconut and pineapple pastry and scoop of ice-cream.

One of the trends that is startlingly annoying at these new modern Chinese restaurants is having to pay for a pot of tea per person. In an average Chinese restaurant you will pay £1 per person, maybe £1.50, for a bottomless tea pot. At places like Plum Valley it goes up to £3.80 going up to £5+ per person per pot though they will begrudgingly and slowly top of the teapot with fresh hot water. I know you will pay the same sort of price at Western restaurants (which admittedly are often not refilled) but knowing that previous tradition it just grates on me a little.

Otherwise I’m ever so thankful for the toptable opportunity because the food at Plum Valley is miles ahead of those of any other restaurants in the Mall and whilst I’m not sure I would dine here at full price you do certainly get more for your pound quality and taste-wise, if not necessarily portion-wise, than at the ordinary China Town mall restaurant. I know I’ll be back in the future.