Whenever you book through toptable and review your meal you earn points which can contribute to a total which you can use to spend on a free meal. No.5 Cavendish Square is one of the third restaurants on offer at the third tier (in effect for one free 3 course meal you would have to book and review at least fifteen restaurants or get a load of bonus points!

No. 5 Cavendish Square is a restaurant located on the first floor of a hotel hidden in a street behind Regent and Oxford Street. The room is very dark and I guess being a hotel restaurant justified the small number of covers (about maybe 30 or 40 seats that we could see?) Though we had booked for a respectable time of 7pm the restaurant was empty when we arrived (and it didn’t get much busier by the time we finished eating.)

The awards menu is also their set menu (2 courses for £20 or 3 for £25) for those interested in dining. Food is Italian and you actually get quite a decent selection with about six starters and six mains. The dessert selection comes from a cart which you can see on your way in.

The meal starts with a sliced French bread stick and tiny Italian bread sticks along with olives, olive oil and a particularly hot salsa delivered almost immediately as you sit down. So we were off to a good start (though some butter would have been nice too but that’s just me being greedy. Heh heh.) We certainly took full advantage of the bread even though I tried to resist!

For starters Sandra selected the Lemon marinated Scottish salmon, with rocket and quail egg Salad and I, spotting the pork belly, tried the Millefeuille of asparagus and pecorino with crispy pork belly. Both were served on a black square dish which made my dish almost pop didn’t look quite write in showcasing the salmon. Taste-wise I had no real complaints.

Our mains seemed to arrive almost as soon as we’d finished with our starters: Grilled fillet of Sea Bass with mixed mushrooms and new potatoes for Sandra and Calves liver, butter and sage with pak choi spinach, raisins and pine nuts. I’m not saying the dishes looked appetising but I feel that a little more effort could have been made with the presentation. Especially with my liver but maybe I’m just being fussy. Both tasted alright though, like the presentation, nothing exactly made my tastes buds come to life either with the newness of the ingredients or a wow taste factor.

We could have passed on dessert but since it was part of the meal we both went for it. Our waiter wasn’t very good at reciting what was available and actually this was a little reflective of the service we received tonight: though polite throughout I felt it was a little inattentive, like the waiter just couldn’t be bothered. Actually that’s a bit harsh – the head waiter seemed to act like he couldn’t be bothered whereas another more junior waitress who served us was friendly and helpful.

Dessert wasn’t fab but served its purpose for that sweet ending to the meal:

Overall I was expecting much more out of this restaurant both from the fact it costs more top table points for a free meal and also from the reviews given. It was good value for money because we were on a deal but I’m not sure the meal was worth £25 for the three courses we’ve had. I’ve definitely had better value for money at higher quality restaurants with better service and, dare I say, nicer food. That’s not to say it was completely horrible, just completely average.

I’ve only got goodbye left in me for this month and its for Pauline. Tonight is possibly the last meal I’ll ever have with Pauline … in London at least. Venue: Dollar Grills and Martinis.

Dollar Grills and Martinis has been on my to list for quite some time – a Northern American dominated venue, funky location, extensive cocktails list – what’s not to love! This close to Halloween the restaurant had been fully themed up with cob webbing etc.. Though to be honest I don’t know how different it looks on an ordinary day – the decorations seemed quite at home where they were!

We decided to share a starter of king prawn with melon. We didn’t expect it to be cold for a start. Second it hardly looked appetizing when it came – the king prawns seemed to be buried in this red sauce. However, despite these low expectations, the prawns were actually quite tasty.

For mains we moved on to one of my favourite dishes in the world, though Dollar Grills and Martinis are known for their burgers, neither Pauline nor I could get past the whole rack of ribs. Served with french fries and deep fried battered onion slices this was a heart attack waiting to happen but boy it was delicious. The only weakness in the dish that I could see was that we weren’t given additional barbecue sauce to supplement our ribs – not entirely necessary but it would have been nice to have the option.

Though getting slightly full from our food and cocktails we had to order dessert. What’s a meal without three courses! We both went for the chocolate fondant (for me 2009 seemed the year for the chocolate fondant) accompanied by green tea ice cream. The fondant was actually pretty good – all nice and gooey. Entertaingly our dish was also themed for Halloween with a giant skull carved out in sugar.

Service was decent throughout the night though noticeably affected when it got quite a bit busier with loads of groups of parties. Great atmosphere and buzz – tonight at least this seems like a very popular place for both dates and large parties.

After Pauline and I staggered out of the restaurant, fully stuffed with food, we took a longish walk to King’s Cross where we said our “final” goodbye (this is probably the third time I’ve said goodbye to Pauline this month.) It was extremely sad to be saying this to a good friend of mine but as I’ve said before – the world isn’t as big as it used to be and I’m sure we will see each other again in the future. Still, I will miss Pauline laughing at my stupid jokes! Ha ha!

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.

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.

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.

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.

There seemed to be no more appropriate a place to say our goodbyes to Rita than to have a final visit for ice cream at Bar Ciao Caffe They were full inside so we had to sit outside. However the chill of the temps outside didn’t stop us from indulging.

It was so very good.

But what was not so very good was saying goodbye to Rita 🙁 We will miss her so much. I know that she doesn’t want to back to Oz either but with her visa running out, the current climate for jobless-ness and pressure from her family it was never going to be on the cards for her to be staying.

Still, we can hold out hope that she will return … one day.

Rita is soon to be leaving my London family so she planned a night out doing one my favourite activities … I bet you can’t guess what I’m talking about … did you guess it? Eating. Yes, eating. Our first stop was dinner at Inamo.

Inamo opened about a year ago during a period when it seemed that the hottest cuisine on the market was Pan-Asian or Modern Asian Fusion and as a result Inamo really had to come out into the market with a unique selling point to grab any of the market share – and they did. Its selling point is their interactive tables (because you can get the quality food and dominating black lacquer design in any of the other restaurants.) I first read about it in the Metro that you could play space invaders at your table whilst waiting for our dinner. Or even during dinner if you felt unsociable. Heh heh. This actually makes it a pretty good place for a first date as the table works as a kind of ice-breaker and conversation filler if you need one.

The table, however, can prove very distracting!

The four of us who made it to dinner, Rita, Rache, Marianna and I, probably spent the first half hour playing with the table, playing the memory game, watching the chef of the life kitchen cam, changing the wallpaper on the table and of course taking photos. We didn’t probably even look at the menu. Ordering, calling your waiter, asking for your bill is also performed via the table so in fact you don’t have to interact with your waiter at all except to get the food to your table and give you your bill.

Its great choosing your dinner and drinks as each item on the menu (as you scroll through it) comes up with a giant projected image on to your table. Although it takes a while to get through all the options at least you get an idea of what you’ll be receiving. It’s pretty cool technology. Tech geeks who want to know how the programmer went about setting up the system can read about his journey here (http://www.berniecode.com/writing/inamo-mouse-story/.)

Note that there is a 2 hour turn around on tables so don’t get carried away with playing!

If there is one draw-back to this style of dining is that, tonight at least, the service in the restaurant was not fantastic. Sure our food and drinks came out okay but then the waitresses kept trying to pick up our dishes even though we were clearly nowhere near finished. This got quite annoying after it happened a couple of times.

Food-wise we decided to share our dishes and that’s what is encouraged at Inamo anyway and actually how you should eat asian food. We started with duck pancake (of course – for the price it was the tiniest duck I’ve ever seen), pork rib (tasty), pork neck (best dish of the night) followed by mans of cinnamon chicken (surprisingly good and my second favourite of the night), crispy prawn and jungle curry (fairly average.) With a cocktail each our bill came to a hefty £27 each which was fairly expensive I thought considering we shared three starters and three mains between four people so it was effectively less than two courses each.

But overall its an interesting concept and fun for a one-off event or to show your London visitors something different. The food is actually quite good, if pricey, so at least its not gimmick only restaurant.

After dinner it was onwards to our dessert venue …