Who would have suspected that at the bottom of a Sheraton would be one of the nicest restaurants I’ve been to in a long time. Located in Knightsbridge I shouldn’t have really been surprised to find what turned out to be a high quality and impressive restaurant. As a hotel restaurant its not very large with capacity for about maybe 35-40 covers. From the get go we were set up for an impressive experience with only one real let down for the evening which I’ll get to at the end. Even better for our visit was that we had a 50% discount which made top quality seafood available to us at a very reasonable price.

The restaurant is oval shaped with the majority of the tables set around the outside with a couple of tables (for larger groups) in the centre. Diners were well-spaced out though we could hear everything from the two guys at a table next to us (a lot of business, start-up and .com type conversation) but they were talking in rather loud voices. The group behind were slightly distracting too because of one particularly loud American woman but otherwise a pleasant environment.

Its clear that the restaurant values its focus on its food. I was impressed with how the guy who took our order answered our questions because Sandra has some particularly tricky questions for him. Most please was that he actually considered what would provide a good balanced meal overall for us before answering the detailed question. For example, when Sandra was asking which crab leg dish he would recommend (One-O-One’s specialty in their Starters is their Norwegian Red King Crab Legs which can be served in three ways: On Ice with Mayonnaise and Lemon, Warm with Sweet Chilli-Ginger Sauce or Grilled with Virgin Olive Oil and Tomato Vierge) and before recommending the dish he checked with Sandra what her main meal would be. It was also obvious from how he answered our questions that he had an in-depth knowledge of the ingredients and cooking styles of chefs.

Whilst we were waiting for our meals to be served we were given some breads – white, brown and focaccia along with some butter. One normal butter and one a seaweed butter. Very strongly flavoured seaweed butter! We were also given an amuse bouche of salmon, crème freche, cous cous and some crunchy bits. It was rather tasty!

Here were our starters, Sandra’s Norwegian Red King Crab Legs from the Barents Sea Grilled with Virgin Olive Oil and Tomato Vierge and my Pan-Fried Norwegian Scallop with Onzen Quail Eggs Crispy Pork Belly, Truffle Potato Mousseline and Jus Gras. Phew – rather big descriptions so we were hoping for the dishes to live up to the build-up!

Sandra said her crabs were divine. My Scallops were fantastic too though it took me about less than a quarter of the time to eat them than Sandra with her crabs! The quail eggs were extremely cute and the truffle potato mousseline amazingly strongly flavoured. The scallops were served first as it was and then the waitress poured over the Jus Grus on delivery. The Pork Belly melted in my mouth. Great start!

I was pleased that the restaurant didn’t rush our food out. We had a decent amount of time between the finish of our starters and the serving of our mains: Slow Cooked Skrei “Arctic Cod from The Barents Sea” Joselito Chorizo Carpaccio and Squid A La Plancha for Sandra and Pan-Roasted Norwegian White Halibut and Lobster Dumpling Paimpol Coco Beans Truffle Cassoulet, Sauce Américaine for me.

Both dishes looked really good and had an amazing number of flavours going on at once but as a result it was almost difficult to decide where to start with our dishes. A very nice experience for our palettes though. The portions weren’t huge but I think at the pace we were eating and the richness of the food we were consuming it was just the right size. I absolutely adored my halibut – flaky and soft as fish should be.

One of the other specialty dishes that One-O-One has is the Whole Seabass Baked in a Crust of Brittany Sea-Salt Shellfish Champagne Butter Sauce, Sea Lettuce Mash (for two) which looked pretty awesome when it was served to the table next to us. The seabass comes out whole (it was huge!) and then the waiter or waitress cuts it up and plates it before your eyes. It was an absolute production to watch so you get entertainment and food. 🙂

Service at One-O-One is excellent. They brush off the crumbs from your table after every course and when Sandra made a bit of a mess with her crab legs (which we didn’t notice until they took the plate away) the waitress came along and placed a serviette over it to cover it!

We couldn’t leave the restaurant without indulging in dessert of course. Though Sandra’s Cinnamon Poached Pear with Warm Chocolate Sauce Meringue Stick, Almond Sorbet doesn’t come across as particularly appealing in the picture I’m assured it was yummy and I absolutely adored my Chilled Poached Red Cherry with Tonka Bean Cinnamon Churros, Vanilla Ice Cream. Mmmm ….

The guys next to us (remember – the ones having the business talk) were clearly pretty well-off or expensing the whole thing on the business account as they had an extra starter to us plus cheese and dessert. One of the guys had Coupe Liégeoise of Dark “Manjari” Chocolate Coffee and Salt Caramel Ice Cream which looked very impressive indeed. He must have caught us having a good look because he jokingly said that he didn’t know whether he was afraid to leave the table because of his dining companion or us! Ha ha!

I really enjoyed my meal at One-O-One and would definitely recommend it for seafood lovers (there is some meat on the menu but its fairly limited.) In fact, don’t waste time making your way down here (especially on the extremely good value 50% off offer) – come now and I’m sure you’ll agree that One-O-One is definitely a hidden gem in London.

As always I must make mention of the toilets. There is only one toilet but its pretty stunning – with a glass chandelier and everything!

I’m loving the Crunchie Blasts at the moment. Not only do I love the honeycomb flavour but the fact that the chocolate has embedded within it popping candy makes the these little beauties even better. Rita says its like having a party in your mouth. And she’s right! Mmmm …. off to eat one now!

We had a potentially big sight-seeing day ahead of us so for proper sustenance Rita, Rache and I agreed to meet for a brunch at Giraffe at Southbank. Rita “overslept” so it was just Rache and I for breakfast. I’ve just discovered that Giraffe have a separate breakfast menu which includes upon it an Eggs Benedict dish! If only I’d known this earlier I could have been eating Eggs Benedict for a long time! However, to be perfectly honest their Full Brunch Plate is one of the best breakfasts around – particularly their potato wedges – and I normally wouldn’t go past it but I was craving Eggs Benedict today.

It looks pretty good huh:

However I was finished with it much too quickly sooooooo Rache and I decided to have some dessert too! On the advice of our waiter Rache opted for the Chocolate Chunk Brownie but I was feeling a slightly tropical vibe so went for the Banana Waffle Split. The roasted caramelised banana was oh so good but the waffle was slightly on the dry side.

So, about a week ago Rache and I came to Volt because we wanted to be able to gloat to Rita about the fantastic chocolate dessert. We gloated, she saw my photos and she insisted we had to come to Volt again! We were all pretty famished engaging our brains for the last hour or so at the Hayward Gallery so we were looking forward to a lovely meal. We were on exactly the same offer as last time and we nearly ate exactly the same thing – the chef’s selection was identical except that aubergine dish (which was Rache and my favourite last time) had been replaced with a Carpaccio of beef topped with parmesan cheese and rocket. Not bad but not exactly a fair replacement!

So, we continued on with our dinner and I opted for a Veal Milanese this time rather than the steak. It was pretty good – a decent size portion and generously covered in cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and rocket salad. Halfway through our mains the manager of the restaurant came over to ask us if we were happy with our meal, if there was anything he could do for us etc. He was quite flirtatious in a fun way and Rache and I were certain he had a particular thing for Rita. Taking advantage of his good humour Rache cheekily said that we really missed the aubergine dish … next thing we knew it had been served up for us!

After we’d finished with dessert with all of us going for the chocolate dessert this time (it was excellent!) the manager came over again to check on us. This time he offered us some Limoncello! On the house! After he brought it he asked if there was anything he could do for us. It just so happened that we’d been talking about a popping candy cocktail that we were keen to try and we asked him whether the bar could make one for us, not really believing the bar would have any popping candy to make it. He nearly ran over to the bar to see if they could help us out! When he came back he almost seemed devastated that they couldn’t make the drink and was offering to give us whatever we wanted. How sweet!

Oh, I managed to snap off a pic of the toilets this time!

I gave Rache about six options for dinner tonight and do you know why we ended up at Volt? Because of the promise of the Tortino Al cioccolato con Gelato Alla vanigla (Warm Valrhona Chocolate soufflé with vanilla ice cream.) It was kind of a grudge meal against Rita for the fact she was currently sailing around Croatia … and we were stuck in gray London. Heh heh.

Volt hadn’t changed at all from my first visit nearly a year and a half ago. In fact we were on the same offer and, as it turns out, nearly the same food was served! The restaurant physically looked exactly the same except we were seated in the main room (by the window) instead of inside the Crystal room. The door was actually shut for the Crystal room so perhaps they weren’t expecting a full restaurant tonight.

As with previous deals we dined taking advantage of the 50% off the Gourmet Menu. Nothing really had changed at all. The (full) price was still £44.50 for a Chef’s Selection of six different Mezzes (two Salad; two Antipasti; and two Pasta) plus a main course plus a dessert/cheese plus coffee/tea.)

Similarities to my last experience: the Caesar Salad and the Sausage and Orechiette pasta (full title being Orechiette pasta served with sausages, broccoli, sweet onion and pecorino cheese). Our other Chef’s selections were Avocado and Palm heart salad, Carpaccio of beef topped with parmesan cheese and rocket, Baked Aubergine with tomato and Parmesan cheese (absolutely divine – the outstanding dish of the evening for sure) and Tomato, Spinach and Mascarpone Gnocchi (Rache loved this dish but I found it a little on the watery and not particularly intensely tasting side but that could be due to the fact I don’t find gnocchi appealing at all.)

For mains we both opted for the Beef filet with spinach and fondant potato. With the Gorgonzola Sauce that accompanied it the dish was quite tasty and the beef cooked exactly to my medium specifications.

To be honest after the feast that was our starters and main the last thing I felt like was dessert. Although I had planned on trying the chocolate soufflé I didn’t think I could possibly fit such a rich and heavy dessert in. Instead I opted for the cheesecake which, though probably in actual fact was equally rich and heavy, to me didn’t seem as filling as a chocolate based dessert. That didn’t stop Rache from absolutely enjoying her choc dessert though!

We had a lovely time at Volt. We weren’t rushed. Food came out at a relatively good pace. Service was perfectly friendly and at the right level although one waitress was a bit useless if I’m to be honest. I’d forgotten all about the funny toilets too … next time I shall bring a camera into the lavs to show you what they’re like. They were are very funky and it may prove to be a puzzle for some as to how to actually get into a stall.

So just over a week ago Sandra and I went to Royal China Club for dinner. Because of plans that fell through last night (thanks a lot Heathrow!) Pat and I ended up coming to Royal China Club today for yum-cha. Long story but here we were.

We were seated near the windows this time and surprisingly were seated at a table normally suited for four people rather than at the tables for two towards the back of the restaurant or by the aquarium (where we notice one particularly enterprising crab was working on his escape.) We were pleased by our table because this meant more space for our food! Heh heh.

Since the tea at Royal China Club was sooooo expensive I opted to try something different from the norm so tried an iced tea (Mango & Lime Tea) and Patrick tried the Jasmine Peach which ended up being a flower tea. At least they kept topping up his tea with hot water.

I made certain that this time that I got to try the yum-cha dishes that I was keen to try last time – Steamed Lobster Dumplings in Rice Wine Sauce and Fillet of Dover Sole Cheung Fun. The lobster dumplings were tasty though served in Royal China Club sized portions (2 for £6.20.) The dover sole cheung fun was a nice change from the prawn one we normally go for and I liked the touch of colour inside the cheung fun from the peppers. For our other dishes we tried the Deep Fried Crispy Duck Puff which was exquisitely tasty, and Steamed Shanghai Juicy Pork Dumplings with Crab Meat which were just how shanghai dumplings should be – soupy and hot. Of course we also couldn’t go past a serve of steamed pork buns.

Finally we bulked up the meal with a serve of Salt and Pepper Squid (I couldn’t resist) plus some Hokkien fried rice (off menu.) The quality of the food can’t be faulted but the portions were tiny! On the one hand I could understand the higher prices because of the detail in the food but not its like Royal China went one step further and reduced portion sizes too.

Although we nearly double what we normally would for yum-cha it was worth it to try it once.