Category: UK

Chocolate Unwrapped at Vinopolis

It’s a change of venue for the Chocolate Unwrapped show this year.  Last year it was at the Mayfair Hotel, this year it moved to the rather more interesting Vinopolis.  The new venue though did not work as well for the lectures. Paul A Young‘s talks  for example were averaging about 90 attendees instead of the expected 30.  Fortunately he warned us about the over attendance and we got in early enough to get front row seats. His talk was suitably entertaining,  I was especially amused by the story that his mother still buys him Quality Street for Christmas.

The Chocolate Art work was fun, especially the gorilla. Thorntons Eiffel Tower was hideous though.

There were lots of new stands this year.  Matcha Chocolat with their tea and chocolate combinations were especially interesting.  All the chocolates and the brownie we had from Paul A Young were really good, I even found his new Marmite chocolate unoffensive. I loved William Curley’s Cinnamon Milk Chocolate.

There were some novelties too.  Like Chocri, who let you play chocolatier, choosing toppings and having your name on the bar and the Lebanese company Patchi, who seemed to focus on very ornate packaging for special occasions like weddings, baby showers and embassy do’s – kinda OTT Ferrier Roche!.  Thorntons were there too this year, showing yet again just how big a gap there is between the mass market chocolatiers and the artisan chocolatiers.

This event is definately in the diary again for next year.

 

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Almeida – Chocolate Week 2010

I have been looking forward to returning to Almeida for Chocolate week, based mainly on my experience last year.  I have had drinks, lunch and several dinners at Almeida since then.  I do rate this place as a good choice  for eating or drinking at any time of the year, however it does seem to manage to raise its game during Chocolate week.

Head Chef, Alan Jones has teamed up again this year with chocolatier Paul A Young, to create the Chocolate Menu.

We started with Chocolate Martini’s (not on the drinks menu, so made to order), a  good start to this themed occasion. The Truffle and Honey Risotto was well received, very rich. The main courses of Halibut and Pork Belly were more subtle, although the Pork Belly recipe last year may have had the edge.  We tried a different Portuguese wine this year (Crasto, Douro, 2005), which worked well with the Chocolate theme, and switched our dessert wine choice on the Sommieliers recommendation to a bottle of Maury, Mas Amiel Vintage, Roussillon, France, 2007. Which I certainly enjoyed with the Ported plums roasted with orange in dark chocolate consomme and Paul A Youngs sea salted caramel.

The service although friendly was flawed,  staff were weak on ingredients in the dishes, and  our coffee arriving before we had finished dessert is a real no no, when you are trying to have a relaxing evening.

So although the meal was good, it did not quite reach the heights of last years.

 

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Chocolate & Cocktail matching at Le Méridien

I thought it was bad planning to have both Cocktail Week and Chocolate Week at the same time, but  it does present the opportunity to match cocktails with specific chocolates.  Chocolate Ecstasy Tours organised such an event in the new cocktail bar (Longitude 0°8′) in Le Méridien Piccadilly.

The matching was a bit hit and miss, but on the whole good fun and an excellent concept.  We had a total of 7 cocktails and lots of canapes, which made this a very good deal. There was also the goodie bag with  a selection of chocolate samples from Melt, Chocolate and Love and Paul A Young (who was among the Chocolatiers in attendance).

Chocablog, who were lucky enough to be involved in “helping out” during the preparation stage for this event, have a great post on it – love the photographs, see :-

 

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Detroit – Spirits

Met up at short notice with a friend for drinks in Covent Garden. Where to eat?

  • Passed by Dishoom, looked interesting but my friend was not a fan of Indian food.
  • Next door was Jamie’s Italian (part of the Jamie Oliver chain – I am wary of celebrity chef chains following our Abode experience), plus it had a huge queue outside – No Way.
  • Thought we would try the new Hawksmoor in Seven Dials just 3 days after it opened, on a walk in – No Chance.

Getting desperate. I vaguely remembered an OK basement cocktail bar I had been to years ago. Did it still exist? Could I find it?. Yes Detroit was still there. So we wandered down into the cosy bar with its alcove tables, and ordered cocktails and bar snacks.

It all worked out in the end, seriously good chips and rather nice cocktails. I would highly recommend the Strawberry and Cream cocktail. I had a few of them, but at £6.85 each they did not break the bank.  Nice atmosphere, with friendly staff and unobtrusive music – could actually have a conversation!  Next time I won’t leave it quite so long before I return to Detroit.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.1

Service 6

Ambience 5.8

 

 

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L’Autre Pied – Pied à Terre Lite

Had lunch at L’Autre Pied in Marlybone yesterday. This restaurant  has been on our wish list for a while.  It is the sister restaurant to an old favourite Pied à Terre. The set lunch at £17 for 2 courses and £22 for 3 courses is a good deal, you really do not need to spend hundreds of pounds here, although you could if you wanted to, by following the example of the Commonwealth Development Corporation who allegedly claimed for a £700 dinner on expenses – see Telegraph artical.

For each course of the set menu a reasonably priced matching glass of wine is recommended. They also do a 4 course and a 7 course tasting menu.

l’Autre Pied is much more casual than its sister restaurant Pied à Terre, certainly at lunch time there is not a white table cloth in sight.

We had an interesting amuse bouche –  a tiny tasty sausage roll presented on a piece of slate.  Then we started with the Canneloni of Confit Guinea Fowl, Lemon Thyme, Roasted Button Onions, Tarragon Cream, followed by Roasted Breast and Confit Leg of Partridge, Root Vegetables and Turnip Fondant. The Partridge  was beautifully cooked, moist and full of flavour, we also had a couple of stunning matching wines.

For dessert they had to change the set menu as they had ran out of the Treacle Tart, so I had a Caramel parfait instead, with hazel nut ice cream and Caramel foam. My companion ordered her dessert a la carte, going for Baked Alaska  Poached White Peach, Vanilla Ice Cream and Raspberry Sorbet. The dish looked rather like a small white hedgehog when it arrived. The Baked Alaska had not been cooked in the conventional manner, rather than being in the oven it looked like the meringue had been added by hand and heated with a blow torch, which meant the sorbet was a little bit too hard, however it was still a delicious dessert.

On the whole I found the food at L’Autre Pied to be quite similar to Pied à Terre, which is praise indeed.

Marks out of 10

Food 7.2

Service 6.9

Ambience 6.5

 

UPDATE: October 2016, L’Autre Pied no longer has a Michelin Star.

 

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Roux at Parliament Square – Private dining

Had a lovely evening at Michel Roux Jnr’s new restaurant, even if it did mean battling my way through the crowds outside Westminster Abbey waiting for a glimpse of the Pope.  Roux at Parliament Square is just around the corner from the Abbey located in one of the most beautiful buildings in Westminster, a period building designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of London’s iconic Natural History Museum.

We started with drinks and canapes in the upstairs bar, then strolled down to the private dining room to indulge, we had pre ordered the 8 course tasting menu.

 

The Private dinning room is lovely and the service was unobtrusive, it was like being at a fabulous dinner party.

The food did not let us down either. The menu was well balanced. I liked the mixed style of modern and traditional french cuisine. The standout dishes for me were, the Brill with razor clam, mussel and shrimp  and the chocolate mousse, Caramel foam and banana sorbet with popping candy.

One of the advantages of being in the private dining room was that the matching wines were presented punctually by the Sommelier just prior to the food service. The  wines were all French and selected by Albert Roux. I especially enjoyed our second dessert wine, the Maury, Dom.Lafage, Landuedoc-Rousillion, 2008.

Our visit was on a Friday evening, which is actually a quiet day for the Restaurant. This Roux outpost is definitely worth a return visit.

UPDATE Dec 2020 Closed.