Recent Trip To London

Well it appears my recent trip to London came just under the wire as most sporting events have subsequently been canceled and travel is more difficult.

Besides the Rugby match at Twickenham we managed to slip in some good culinary adventures. Here’s a list of the places we dined.

Wed.
Lunch - La Gavroche. Very nice indeed. The cheese soufflé was sublime and the Somm nailed the wine. I had Turbot on the bone for my main course. Outstanding.
Dinner - Heston Blumenthal inside the Mandarin Hotel. Excellent experience. I had Duck for the main course and it was delicious.

Thurs.
Lunch - Duck and Waffle. Great location and views of the city with Sushi Samba one floor below. The food was good for lunch, not sure I’d want to go there for dinner though.
Dinner - The Guinea. I’ve been going there for over 40 years. They sat us in a private room this time, which was very nice. Good wine and food. I decided to have one of their famous steak & mushroom pies.

Friday
Lunch - Just a snack at a pub in Belgravia
Dinner - Chutney Mary’s near St. James Palace. This is my second time and it didn’t disappoint. Very good Indian food and excellent service.

Saturday
Lunch in Belgravia… sorry the restaurant name escapes me. It was okay, nothing to write home about.
Dinner - Cecconi’s Mayfair. Good Italian place, but the people viewing was the real star of the show. It must have been international gorgeous model night or something!

Sunday
Lunch - I separated from the group so I could spend the day in Hampstead going down memory lane. I ended up having a snack in a nice pub in St. John’s Wood
Dinner - Chinese restaurant in Belgravia. There were about three people in the restaurant. Food was okay.

The real stars of this show were Heston Blumenthal, La Gavroche and Chutney Mary.

La Gavroche is our favorite London restaurant. The cheese soufflé is an extraordinary dish. We have two good friends who are chefs and we have made the cheese soufflé several times. Not quite as good as La Gavrochre but close enough. What wine did the Somm recommend? We had it with a Sherry- perfect match and one I would not have thought to try.

That’s an interesting idea and I can see it working quite well. What style of Sherry did they pair it with?

Edited to add: Ugh. I see the recipe calls for double cream which is pretty much impossible to get in the US.

The Somm recommended a beautiful CdP. Very well balanced, complex and went surprising well with all the courses. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the bottle. The next night at the Guinea we had another excellent CdP from Rotem & Mounir Saouma - a 2011 Omnia.