Probably one restaurant that doesn’t have a Michelin star but deserves is Launceston Place near High St Kensington. I fell in love with Launceston Place just under two years ago when I tasted the “Roast middle white pork risotto, crackling with apple sauce” served at the Taste of London festival. Its been on my to eat at list ever since. Finally today I can officially tick it off my to do list and I can say that I was pretty impressed though I felt the service was just a little bit off.

Today my lunch date was Jo. She arrived a few minutes before me and impressively the restaurant gave her a paper to read whilst she waited. Nice touch. On the table was also some chilli crisps (parsni possibly though Jo wasn’t sure what they and they were put on the table before I got there) tied up in Launceston Place logo bearing ribbons.

Our amuse bouch was a cauliflower soup and truffle mousse which we were told to drink like champagne. Normally when I dine my dining partner and I will get to the amuse bouche straight away but Jo was still going on her bread and crisps so she left it sitting there for a bit. Strangely one of waiters came along and started to either take it away or insisting that we needed to put it to the side. We couldn’t understand why because its not like they were bringing our food just yet. I think he confused our table with another as our food came about 10 minutes later – plenty of time for Jo to finish her food.

We were on a set menu deal of 3 courses for £20 which was pretty good value (though they do suggest you supplement your main meal with a £5 vege side …) We had a pretty decent choice of starters and mains (three each) and though desserts had three options too – but one needed both diners to select it (apple tart and home made clotted cream) and one was a £10 supplement (cheese).

My starter of Beef, Beetroot and Wild Garlic Risotto looked like this:

I know right? What the heck threw up on my plate! Very nice flavours by you didn’t really want to look at the plate too long otherwise you’d throw up from the plating. Sorry Launceston Place but what were you thinking! No doubt, however, its one of the most colourful dishes I’ve had in recent times. I’m not too sure where the risotto was but I liked the beef.

Jo had the Mushroom and Wild Herb Cappuccino as she was intrigued by the concept of a cappuccino which wasn’t coffee.

Cute dish but does it look familiar? Yes, very much like our amuse bouche. Its always a danger to go for a starter which is described as “Cappuccino” because you know that there is a very good chance that its going to be very similar to the amuse bouche, even though the flavours are not exactly the same!

The main was my very favourite part of today’s event. The Gloucester Old Spot Pork, Parnsips and Parsley was perfectly cooked. Great crackling and though the pork was extremely fatty (nearly an inch of fat!) the whole pork was very tender and juicy and tasty. On the other hand was not a fan of the side: a potato cake with bacon, appeared to have been deep fried and the bacon/ham had that distinctly stinky pork flavour that I don’t like.

I got a bit excited by our pre-dessert and ate it before I took a photo! It was a creamy orange and dark chocolate mousse. Actually it looked a bit like our amuse bouche. How odd!

Dessert, Banana sticky toffee pudding, Guinness ice cream, was delicious. Jo, however, was not a fan of the Guinness ice cream.

I felt that Launceston was a little up and down today from the food (weird and odd presentation on my starter but a most amazing roast belly pork dish that I could have eaten over and over again) to the service (like that waiter trying to rush Jo to finish her amuse bouche for no good reason but then the added touch of giving Jo a newspaper to occupy her whilst she waited for me). Overall, however, I would be happy to come here again. Pretty decent value for money.

I caught up with Su Yin and Kelly at Orrery tonight. Orrery is another in the stable of the D&D restaurants and sits on top of a Conran shop on Marylebone High Street. Its probably a surprise to see that there is this restaurant upstairs – I almost didn’t see the entrance! Orrery serves “French inspired” and tonight’s experience proves why some of the best service you’ll ever find will be in a French restaurant.

But let’s start with the food. We were taking advantage of a set menu offer – £30 for 3 courses and a glass of bellini. As is the trend with many of the posher restaurants these days we also got a few little extras – which was good because the food portions were, I guess rather typically, small!

(I think we spent more time taking photos than eating our dishes!)

Our meals were started with an amuse bouche of Parsnip soup and mushroom foam. It was very cute and intensely flavoured. We followed this with a starter of seafood tortelinni, lobster bisque which I was pleased to see came with a giant prawn (thankfully peeled) on top. Delicious but I could have done with at least two more portions of it. Heh heh.

For mains I stayed with my seafood theme with Sea bass, truffle mousseline, champagne veloute. Beautifully presented even if I do object to the foams and smears of “sauce”. I was expecting stronger flavours but as usual the truffle essence is lost on me. The sea bass was quite fresh.

Food at this stage was coming out really quite quickly and when combined with the fact the portions weren’t too huge I thought we’d be in and out of the restaurant in half an hour! However, there was a slight delay on our desserts. Whilst waiting for our dessert we were surprised by a pre-dessert of vanilla foam (more foam!) and pear and apple crumble which was very delicious. I would have been happy to get a full dessert of it that’s for sure.

The delay was soon explained by this:

I had opted for the pear frangipane and vanilla ice cream but I wasn’t expecting the silver candles and the Happy Birthday written on the plate! I was wondering why I got the place but could only track it back to when halfway through our main meal Su Yin had suddenly said “Happy Birthday” to me. She said it quietly but our hovering waiter must have overhead! I was well impressed that the waiter did something about such a subtle hint! It was so funny because even the guys next to us chipped in wishing me a happy birthday … my birthday isn’t until later in the year by the way! But see what I mean about French service.

Because we were having such a nice time in the restaurant we finished our meals with some tea. Stepping right up to the task Orrery delivered with some delicious petit fours, which our waiter was more than happy to top up:

The waiters were really lovely and their presence was exactly spot on: there when we wanted them and not there when we didn’t need them although I did note that the later the night got the more harried they seemed.

Orrery was a truly enjoyable experience with fine food, fine food, and fine atmosphere. It may have been a little on the pricey side for the amount of food we got on our plates but you do get quite a few extras and the ingredients are pretty high quality.

The main appeal of eating at Skylon was the views it promised to provide over the Thames and over Southbank. We were, unfortunately, not seated by the windows, those tables being reserved for groups of four, but the giant glass windows stretching to the roof did provide some pretty good light into the long restaurant and actually we had some alright views from our table anyway.

Another in the stable of the D&D restaurants Skylon is as classy and modern-esque as any of its stablemates. The restaurant is situated on the upper levels of Royal Festival Hall in a very tall and very long room. One side sits the grill which is separated from the restaurant by the bar. Lots of wait staff mill about with different staff being responsible for different aspects. It’s the kind of restaurant where one wait person holds the tray which holds your food and another serves it to you. It’s also the kind of restaurant which “finishes” your dish in front of you by, for example, pouring the final sauce over your food.

Sandra and I were taking advantage of (yet another) toptable offer so were dining off a special set meal. Choices were fairly limited and both Sandra and I ended up with nearly exactly the same meal with only our starters being different. Sandra opted for the Smoked Mackerel and I went with the Beetroot Salad with Goat’s Cheese.

I can’t speak for the Smoked Mackerel but the Beetroot Salad was divine. The Goat’s Cheese has been breaded and fried and were still perfectly warmed when they served my meal. It makes such a great combination with the beetroot both in flavour and texture.

For our mains we opted for a pork belly dish. Served over cucumber and roasted potatoes and topped with some frothy concoction it was beautifully presented. Surprisingly the pork belly wasn’t tender and actually was a bit tough. Portion-size wasn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination either.

Our dessert was a cherry and white chocolate combination with a cherry mouse, cherry sorbets, cherry of course, and a white chocolate mousse topping a white sponge. In keeping with the whole theme’s evening the dish was very well presented and also small in portions. Ha ha. It was really tasty though

The service at Skylon was impeccable except for one waitress who was a bit grumpy and wasn’t very good at filling up our water. Pleasingly the staff were happy to let Sandra and I sit at our table for as long as we wanted. We noted that other tables, who were eating off the main a la carte menu, were also served amuse bouches at the start and before dessert was served which are the additional touches that Skylon provide. I love looking at the food that other people order – the two dishes that caught my eye was the whole roast baby chicken, foie gras, perigord truffle, pomme puree which is carved at the table (quite a dramatic show) and the baked alaska for dessert which is put on fire by the table!

Overall a pleasant evening.

Sandra told me about Plateau a couple of years ago. Actually, she told me about the cheeseman with the big moustache and all his cheeses so I was intrigued enough to put it on my list. Unfortunately tonight we ended up eating in the Grill rather than the Restaurant proper so we didn’t get to see the cheeseman but we still had some rather nice food anyway.

Plateau is situated on the upper floor of the Canary Wharf Shopping
Centre. I don’t often come to this part of London so I’m always surprised by the modern building and high rises. I think I actually find myself quite attracted to it because it seems so clean – and I don’t mean from a rubbish perspective – I mean lots of clean straight lines on the buildings etc. If only I could get rid of the people in suits that run around during the day and the “city” attitude I would probably move here in a second…

Emerging out of the lift to Plateau you are greeted by a buzzing bar with the Grill located to the rear and right next to some awesome floor to ceiling windows with views over the square, and for this time of year, the ice skating rink. We were quickly seated very nicely next to the windows. Bread was brought to us as well as individually wrapped butter which was so delicious I couldn’t help myself finishing off the whole bar.

We were dining off a set menu meal and the options, though not vast, were adequate enough. Sandra and I have very similar tastes, except in dessert, so we quite often end up with the same sort of meal. It was no different tonight with the both of us starting with mussels and going for veal for our mains. Both dishes were very tasty although the veal was slightly over salty for my taste. In all fairness by the time we got to our dessert I could have satisfactorily signed off the night but for an extra £3 who is going to say no to dessert! Sandra ended up with an extremely rich chocolate creme brulee and I went for the pecan pie. Mmmm ….

Service was pretty good tonight – friendly, efficient and thankfully not in a rush to get us out of the place. I had a lovely time and even got to watch some semi-professional ice-skaters:

Restaurant Sauterelle is the youngest in the stable of London Conran restaurants opening in only November 2005. Promising simple classic French food and a constantly changing menu depending on the season it was opened at The Royal Exchange in Bank to compliment stable mate, and the very popular, Grand Café and Bar.

The location of the restaurant is superb offering views into the courtyard or alternatively on to the hustle and bustle of the streets of Bank. It was relatively early when we sat down for dinner so we were able to obtain a table overlooking the interior of The Royal Exchange and so had views over the gorgeous courtyard and Grand Cafe. The interior is quite sumptuous and made for a fine view over dinner.

Fine dining can get quite expensive but tonight we were taking advantage of a lastminute.com tasting menu offer which our friendly waitress informed us was actually fairly new. My brother was still in the middle of his “going veggie” experience and therefore had a relatively straightforward decision to make with his main although surprisingly two out of three starters were vegetarian friendly (rather than the requisite one.)

The food was very high quality but not actually all that adventurous but I guess with simplicity you can’t go too crazy. Or it could have been my options which where:
– Ham hock terrine, celeriac and apple remoulade
– Roast fillet of salmon, crushed potatoes and sauce vierge
– Chocolate fondant with hot chocolate sauce

Portions weren’t gigantic but the three courses were definitely enough to leave you feeling satisfied. And I was especially glad to see that the salmon appeared to be of a very high quality.

The service was very good from the maitre d’ to the waitress to our drink waiter. It was all very responsive and friendly without being overbearing. Hard to say how it would cope when the restaurant becomes a little busier.

It might seem strange to open two Conran restaurants in one establishment but what Restaurant Sauterelle is able to deliver over the Grand Café and Bar is a sense of intimacy, elegance and relaxation. This is not to say that Grand Café and Bar are not elegant but the sense of the hustle and bustle and business making seems to melt away in the face of the floating candles, white linen and quiet of Restaurant Sauterelle.

My brother has a friend (“He Who Knows”) who challenged him to give the Kua-rating on a number of experiences to be had in London. One of the experiences was The Conran Restaurants. Conran Restaurants are synonymous with fine dining and as anyone knows there are a LOT of Conran Restaurants to choose from so my brother had a bit of a challenge just narrowing it down to even one. He thought that there are actually not a lot of English fine dining experiences in London so today we ended up at Butlers Wharf Chop House which is known for making the best of British ingredients.

The Chop House has an amazing location right on the Thames with views of Tower Bridge. Today its outside seating on their riverside terrace was the perfect place to enjoy the fantastic late summer weather we seem to be experiencing of late, even if we had loads of tourists walking by gawking at our food.

Food-wise I was determined to try something a little bit different instead of going with the usual something safe. For a starter I went with Potted Morecambe Bay shrimps. Something very different to be sure. I love my seafood but even these potted shrimps for me were almost too shrimpy. The triangles of toast that accompanied the shrimps were definitely needed to break up the buttery shrimpiness. Not a bad starter and I don’t regret choosing it but I’m not sure I’d eat it again. Oh – I can say I’ve tried sweetbreads now (which my brother had as starters.) I was prepared not to like them but they were actually fairly tasty with none of that strange taste you get with other wierd innards you might eat (giblets, livers, etc.)

Choosing a main was a little hard. English food isn’t all that adventurous and while the usual suspects: Fish and Chips, Fisherman’s Pie, Roast Rib of Beef & Yorkshire Pudding and Steak & Kidney Pudding were all very tempting to go with choosing them would definitely break my rule of going for something different. Just as well they had a seasonal game menu and on it was partridge as pictured above. I can’t remember the description but the partridge sure was fun to eat. Its a lot gamier than I thought it would be but it was very tasty.

Of course we fit in dessert as well. I wouldn’t say that the first two courses were overly filling though to be honest if we’d stopped after our mains it would have been enough but who can resist the call of Apple and Blackberry Crumbled served with warmed custard. Yum much?

The experience at Butlers Wharf Chop House was pretty good but unless you’re made of money it won’t be an every day experience. The food was very high quality. The waiters were very attentive (almost overly so) though ironically they were slowest when we asked for the bill (not once but twice!) – the good thing was we never felt pressured to leave once we’d finished eating and drinking though to be fair the restaurant wasn’t exactly packed solid. The astmosphere was fabulous (great views!) I would definitely recommend it – but mostly for that great summer day where you can make the most of the blue skies and warm weather.

The Cow Dining Room (sitting above the buzzing and smoky Cow Saloon Bar) is charming in looks and style so it’s a shame that the service delivered by one of our waitresses just wasn’t up to par. The Cow is owned by Tom Conran and though I’m not sure you could really count this restaurant as coming under the Conran chain of restaurants if you go by price you might suspect it does. The food, simply prepared and presented, was high in quality but very expensive. A two and a half course meal consisting of a shared starter of smoked eel, potato salad and bacon with a dash of horseradish, mains of fish (halibut and snapper) and desserts (one of which was admittedly giant in size) and two juice drinks (that is, no alcohol!) cost nearly £70 – a bit much really for a gastropub. The food on the menu was varied despite not having the greatest number of selections (5-6 options each for starters, mains and desserts) with the most difficult thing for me being the interpreting of what exactly some of the fancy offerings were! In the end I think I went with safe and sure options.

Overall I was happy to have gone and despite paying what I thought was a hefty price for a pub I did walk away fairly full and satisfied. Final words of advice: If you go to the dining room upstairs definitely book ahead. It sits maybe upwards of 30 people and is usually always full with bookings so there is little, if no chance, of turning up on a whim and scoring a table. And this applies to any night. Of course you can always try your hand at squeezing on to a table in the cost bar downstairs which seemed quite the entertaining place to be.