The Athenaeum (Toptable deal), 116 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 7BJ

If you'd read the previous post, you might recall that we tried to sort out a whole civilised tea / theatre day out but because the theatre bit couldn't be booked, we had to settle for tea and then dinner instead. And since we were going to get all dressed up for the theatre, surely we had to get all dressed up for this replacement dinner too. And if we were going to dress up for dinner, we had to go somewhere nice.

However, somewhere nice doesn't always equate to 'blow the budget' so we decided, like a lot of Londoners do, to go for a Toptable deal at a posh nosh restaurant instead. As we'd previously dined at The Athenaeum restaurant before (and loved it), we decided to go there again.

Toptable offer: Love Food Give Food - 3 courses and a glass of champagne £29.50 from a set menu

This hotel is located a little off the beaten path. That isn't to say it's not right smack in the middle of town, because it is. It's just that it's a little off the touristy path, although, ironically, it's also quite close to Hard Rock Cafe by Green Park station / Hyde Park Corner station. With most posh hotels (this one is 5 stars), there is usually a sense of 'Oh dear, I hope I don't drink the handwash water' faux pas extravaganza worry, but with the lovely waiting staff at this hotel, they sure know how to put their diners at ease. I felt immediately comfortable when sat down at the table, although I'm sure the cosy surroundings and plush seats helped too.

It wasn't just with us either, because although we did come in at a time when there weren't any other diners and so, could make as much noise as we wanted before we settled down, the waiting staff were just as friendly, in a kind way, to all the other diners who came in after us. Pleasant, with just enough chat so as to put us at ease, and always at hand to fill up our glasses with tap water (I know! They serve tap water, the darlings.)



The restaurant interior feels very comfortable, with just the right amount of posh to keep us feeling quite special for the evening. Couples get allocated to the private booths while bigger groups get the comfortable side tables. From the moment we sat down to when we left, we had about 2 waiting staff constantly at hand, making us feel looked after.



Oh yes, and did I mention they have a very wide, and very good, selection of whiskies? Husband was very pleased.



The first thing that was brought to the table, even before the menu, was this bread bag. The cherry seeds at the bottom of the sack which were quite warm kept the bread rolls nice and warm for quite a while, and the butter and sea salt was the perfect accompaniment to the soft and fluffy bread. My personal favourite was the olive bread.



The menu for the Toptable offer. Since we'd taken up the 3 courses and a glass of champagne for £29.50 deal, we went all out with the starter, main course and of course, the pud too.



Starter 1: Cream of broccoli and stilton soup

Portion size was perhaps enough to feed one person as a main. Not that we were complaining, but if you were the kind of person who couldn't left your food unfinished, then you might be a tad full at the end of this meal. J who had it said it was very nice indeed. In fact, she'd had it before and ordered it again because she liked it so much.



Starter 2: Ham hock, kohlrabi, chervil and orange salad

Husband ordered this just because it had meat and he likes ham (we had ham hock at our wedding dinner though it didn't look like this version). He seemed quite disappointed with the shredded ham as I think he was looking forward to a chunky piece of meat to bite into, and so, sat there with a bit of a sulk - nibbling the julienned vegetables and ham, muttering to himself.

I, on the other hand, took a mouthful to try, and can say most objectively that it was quite pleasant, actually. The salty ham contrasted very well with the slight tang from the orange salad, and I quite liked the fact that it had been sliced fine rather than served in a chunk. That'll teach him not to order anything which says 'salad' in the description.



Starter 3: Home-cured spiced salmon, Asian salad and soy dressing

This was my starter and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It could've done with a bit less oil though, as it didn't seem to add any flavour to the dish, and left a rather unpleasant oily feel around my mouth. The fish was sliced quite thick which, to me, is always important with cured / smoked fish because if it's too thin, it's simply impossible to get the full benefit of the chewy smoked texture. It tasted somewhere in between smoked salmon and raw salmon; while the vegetable (a bit of mango in there) provided a good contrast to the chewiness. It was just the right amount too, as if there had been any more, it would've been a little overwhelming.



Complimentary amuse-bouche - Parsnip crisp and truffle mousse

Free stuff!!! Always like some free stuff. This wasn't any ol' free stuff. It was AMAZING free stuff. When the waiter put it down, he mentioned 'truffle' and when I said 'truffle what?' (trying to figure out what the white mousse-thing was), he said 'truffle' again, so either I didn't hear what he was saying, or he missed out a word in the description? I could taste earthy mushroom in the mousse-thing, so am guessing it's a mousse made with truffle. Parsnip crisp was perfectly crispy - fine line between crisp and just burnt. This was on the right side of the divide. The mousse was so unbelievable airy; it was like a floaty cloud of truffly goodness.



Main course 1: Seared English beef rump with green beans, herbed creamed potato and mustard jus

3 out of the 4 of us had this - must have been all the cake we had earlier which made us crave a bit of meat. I had mine rare, and they must have mixed the orders up as my dining companion's piece of steak looked a lot rarer than mine. But anyhow, it was cooked really well and for a rump cut, definitely tender and easy to eat. The mash was out of this world. Soft and creamy, with a hint of cream -I scoffed the lot. And as a final compliment to the chef (for this course), how did you make those green beans taste so good? Not only were they crunchy, yet soft (bewildering) but they managed to retain flavour! You are indeed a cooking genius.



Main course 2: Braised leg of rabbit, pearl barley and glazed carrots with a rabbit sauce

This was what J (the little rebel diner) had. We all had beef, she had rabbit. Now I've not had wabbit before, so she generously offered me a nibble. I said what no one should say of wabbit, and that was 'It tastes like chicken.'



Pudding 1: Lemon curd tart with chantilly cream and fresh berries

And since we'd already stretched our bellies quite a bit that day, we thought, why not have more pudding. Also, it came with the promotion set, so we'd be incredibly generous (and logical) to have said no to it.

Lemon curd was a very good way to slice through the grease from the earlier bits of the meal. With just the right amount of tang and zest to bring out the drool from the back of the mouth (you know what I mean), it was also creamy at the same time. The strawberries were amazingly sweet for this time of the year.



Pudding 2: Vanilla crème brûlée

My pud. Usually I try and pick the least indulgent dessert on offer, because I know my own lack of self-control when it comes to not finishing the whole thing. This time, however, I decided to go with the crème brûlée, which most possibly comprised my calorie intake for the month. It was worth it, though. Each mouthful was cloyingly creamy, with beautiful flecks of vanilla emersed throughout the dish. I just had to finish the whole thing, sugar crust by sugar crust. And when I was done, I nearly finished J's portion but I just about held myself back. Well done, me.

So, overall, a most enjoyable dining experience had here with some of the most pleasant waiting staff in the whole of London. Would recommend again and again.

Nearest tube: Green Park / Hyde Park Corner (hotel link)
Telephone number: 020 7499 3464

Our wedding meal – Bailbrook House Hotel

Phew it's been a while since I last came on this blog! Been so busy busy busy that even the thought of editing pics and writing words were chucked out the window, but now that I have some free time (in between work, housework and more eating), I can finally post up the pics of the Wedding Meal!

Obviously, I didn't take the pics at the wedding; what with being the bride and all. It would take one mean, lean, and very dedicated blogger to start blogging about the wedding meal while the speeches were being made.

With some cunning ingenuity, these pics were taken at the meal tasting which was done about a month before the wedding, so instead of seeing only the meal we had at the wedding, you get to see what we didn't have as well!

Kinda like watching the X-Tra Factor.

Note: This might be one long, boring, detailed post for those of you who like short, interesting, vague ones. I just wanna note down all the details of the day, so please bear with me.

Details:
Venue: Bailbrook House Restaurant, Eveleigh Avenue, Bath
Date: Meal tasting date (2nd April 2011), actual wedding date (30th April 2011)

Even more details:

So we got up bright and early on 2nd April, a Saturday, and off we went for my make-up trial session. After what seemed like a truck load of make-up being chucked on my face, I appeared looking fresh-faced with a trace of barely-there make-up. Wonderful stuff. As the whole business of looking fresh-faced is quite a tiring one, it was just as well we had the meal tasting session scheduled for lunch that day.

In the UK, I've noticed that most venues charge for the meal tasting session, though usually at a subsidised price. In Malaysia, not only do you have the meal tasting session free, you also get to do it maybe twice, and usually for a table of 10 each time.

Anyhow, since we were paying for this, and since the sunshine was out in full force that beautiful Saturday, I took A LOT of pics. I don't think the waiting staff had ever seen someone take that many pictures of some lamb on a plate.

As we'd already decided on the 2 meal sets we were going to try, the food just kinda came seamlessly as we sat down. The menu we were given to begin with was huge. We had about 15 starters to choose from, about the same amount of main meals and about 10 desserts, from which we had to select 2 to try, and finally zone down to the 1 meal to be served on the day.

For 2 people who pretty much eat anything indiscriminately, this was a mammoth task.

For mammoth appetites. Which we were well-equipped for.

Factors contributing to our decision of meal choice:

1. Fish - not many people like fish. When trying to serve the same meal to 80 people, it is crucial to serve something commonly accepted by everyone, because the last thing I want at my wedding is cheese on toast being brought out of the kitchen in sheer desperation. Despite this very logical reasoning, I still gave it a go and tried out a fish starter just for good measure.
2. Chicken - has the tendency to dry out somewhat, even when cooked as one portion on its own. Imagine it being cooked for 80. Leather on plate does not a good meal make.
3. Goats cheese - mmm no.

With these things taken off the list, the only other 3 farmyard animals left in the ring would be Beefy, Porky and Lamby.

Starters:



Crab and tiger prawn salad, lemon grass and ginger dressing

We decided to try this one out even though we kinda knew we weren't going to serve fish because I just wanted to taste it. There, I said it. Pure shellfishness. :)



I'm glad we tried it, because despite reading the menu several times over, I couldn't find anything which would have been globally appealling, so when I finally picked the ham hock dish below, and had to decide on a second choice, I figured, why not just go with what I like. This didn't disappoint.
What I really liked about it was the creamy ginger dressing (or so it said ginger, I don't think I tasted any in there) in which the prawn and crab were mixed.



There's something about creamy seafood which really appeals to me. In fact, I didn't even know that it was meant to be lemongrass and ginger until I read the menu for the purpose of this post. To me, it tasted pretty much like seafood salad sauce, if such a thing exists. It was nice, it was more-ish, and it went well with the toast.



Pressed ham hock and new potato terrine, onion chutney, olive bread

Then, they brought this little guy out. At first glance, I kinda thought, hmm a nice square piece of meat.



Then when I tried a mouthful, the explosion of flavours in my mouth made me see this dish in a whole different light. Texture-wise, it was kinda like biting into a sausage/gammon thingee. Slightly chucky, yet with a hint of mince from the mixtures of meat in the terrine.

Taste-wise, it was salty, then sweet (from the chutney), then meaty. The lovely sauce that was drizzled around the ensemble tasted like a denser version of the chutney sauce, which went well with the olive bread. Plate mopped clean.

By then, the sun was beginning to shine through the French windows with quite some strength. Mmm, nothing like a bit of sunshine to bring out the appetite in me.

Mains:



Noisettes of Somerset lamb filled with spinach and mushrooms, thyme roasted potatoes, rosemary jus

Picture perfect. The fiance (at the time) and I literally gasped in awe when the plate was put down in front of us. OK fine, we're easily impressed, but even then, come on, this is one fine looking specimen of a dish. With the Battle of the Forks raging in the centre of the table, he won by a small margin and managed to take the first bite of the dish.

After about 5 minutes of chewing with eyes closed, he proclaimed that this was THE dish. I had one mouthful and nodded my enthusiastic agreement.



Here's my pathetic attempt at describing what this tasted like.

First things first. You see the slight crust on the skin that looks so crispy and mouth-watering? That was good stuff. Each piece of lamb was like a tender, delicate drumstick of lamby wonder; crispy on the outside, and so very rare, tasty and juicy on the inside. The sauce was one of the best tasting sauces I've ever had; it was like a very meaty version of gravy, with a hint of something macho about it.

The potatoes, oh the potatoes. I'm sure they were cooked in something more than goose fat; perhaps they were cooked in Loveliness, who knows. Not only were they fluffy and so so like cake, but they had an amazing crisp on the outside which managed to hold itself even after we'd left it there till we finished with the meat.



However, logic began to rear its sensible head, and we begun thinking. 'Would it be possible for the chef to recreate this masterpiece of a dish for 80 people at the same time?'



The lovely waitress did mention to us, quite a few times in fact, that this would not be the EXACT thing that would be served at the wedding, because the chef was only cooking for us now, where as he would have to make modifications when cooking for 80. With that factor on the plate, the other things which sprang to mind were:

1. Some people don't like rare meat. This dish HAD to be cooked rare in order for the full flavours and textures to shine through.
2. Some people don't like lamb. Whoops.
3. Chef probably wouldn't have been able to replicate this for 80 people, not at the same time anyway.



So, lamb was relegated to second place.



Roast West Country rib of beef, Yorkshire pudding, thyme roasted gravy, garlic roast potatoes

Kinda like Eurovision, this little dude was deemed winner before he even left the kitchen. I know some people will say that roast is a pretty boring, if not somewhat obvious choice, for a wedding meal but after having gone through the laborious task of planning a wedding, I now know why it is the default meal choice. It is easily cooked for a large group, and beef is more often than not, eaten by a large majority of the crowd (in the UK anyway).



The fact that this version was possible one of the best I'd tasted helped. The beef was thickly sliced, and maintained its flavour and moisture throughout.



The potatoes were the same ones in the lamb dish above, ie amazing, and the Yorkshire puddings were fluffly and light.



How good does this look.



All in all, nothing I could fault about the dish, and with the only flaw being that it wasn't 'exciting' enough (through no fault of its own, poor thing), we decided to go with this one.



To be fair, I've had quite a fair few roast dinners, and this was one of the best, so I know it sounds like I wasn't that impressed with it, considering how much I raved about the lamb, but at the time, this was really very, very tasty, and we were seriously quite worried that we'd not be able to decide on which dish to serve.

Desserts:



Pavlova with strawberries, kiwi and mango, blackcurrant sauce

There's something about meringues which intrigue me. Like how it retains its shape, and the slightly white, but not quite white colour that it has before it's cooked. I usually like my meringues with custard, as I find the hot mixes quite well with the crumbly texture of meringue. This version wasn't bad either, and it kinda brought a light, refreshing end to a meal with its fruity flavours, and light texture.



Lemon mousse, almond tuilles, raspberry coulis

Because the starters and mains were so very good, we kinda felt a little let down by the desserts. I mean, they would have been good on their own, and even better than most of the stuff served in other places, but by then, we'd been set a benchmark of sorts, so it was with some disappointment when I had a spoonful of the mousse only to realise that it was more cream-like in texture than mousse-like, and that it tasted only faintly of lemon.

Like, it probably just smelled of lemon. We bravely ate through half of the glass and then gave up when we realised it was like wading through a creamy, un-lemony glass after a very filling meal.

On the day itself:

So, after all that tasting and careful consideration, how did it go on the actual day? Well, I was in a very tight dress and so could only manage a few small mouthfuls of everything, but from the reviews I gathered from the guests, the beef went down a treat, and the ham hock terrine was also well received.

The only course which brought out some hesitations was, as we guessed, the pavlova, as this is quite a foreign dish to Malaysians and it didn't help that they were so full by the time that was served.

Overall, I really enjoyed the items we chose, and I think the husband did too. I had the most wonderful time with fantastic weather, and couldn't have asked for the day to have gone any better.

Notes section:
Not of use to anyone else but me - these were the other items served on the day itself.

Vegetarian option:
Tomato and butternut squash soup, red pepper oil
Fresh tagliatelle, grilled red peppers, pesto cream sauce

Canapes at the drinks reception:
Mini Yorkshire pudding, beef, Horseradish
Rosemary and Parmesan scones, red onion jam, goats cheese
Smoked salmon and cream cheese rosettes

And, just because I know I'll puzzle on this at some point in the future, and as a reminder to myself, this was what we had for the evening reception.

Classic Finger Buffet
Various filled soft filled baps (egg, cheese, and something else which I didn't try)
Parmesan and spinach palmiers
Indian curry chicken kebabs raita dip
Honey and mustard glazed pork and leek sausages
Tiger prawns skewers, chilli and ginger dip (apparently very nice, according to those who tried it, which was not me)
Mozzarella and sun dried tomato quiche
Thai style fish cakes, coriander and lime dip (mistakenly thought to be otak-otak by the Malaysian contingency)
Mini éclairs
Fresh fruit skewers
Mini lemon tarts

And of course, that lovely, fabulous, glamorous 3-tiered cake

Afternoon tea at Brown’s Hotel, Mayfair, London

Having been in London for more than a few years, we’d considered going for afternoon tea, but then dismissed it as some sort of touristy thing. Actually, the price of these teas (£37 for some sandwiches???) was really what stopped us, but anyhow, we finally decided to try it out, and where better to try afternoon tea out than at the place where it all started.

Browns hotel in Mayfair is one of the oldest hotels in London, and according to some, this hotel was where the tradition of afternoon tea began. I had a quick read of the hotel’s history on the menu, and it said that the hotel was actually opened by James Brown and his wife (James Brown was the butler to Lord Byron).

This hotel was also where the first successful telephone call in Great Britain was made, by Alexander Graham Bell.

It was also very, very warm by the fireplace, where we sat.

The first impression of the hotel (because we paid £37 each so I’m gonna soak up every bit of ambience there is) is that it’s not one of those places where you put your elbows on the table. The other hushed tones of the diners (or tea-ers) nearby made the place feel more formal than it probably should have been, for a weekend afternoon tea session.

Anyhow, unperturbed, we were led to our smallish little table by the fireplace (it’s not the one shown, but that was the only diner-free view I had so I snapped it). The waiting staff are aplenty in this hotel, but all of them stood a respectful distance away, always observing to see if we needed anything.

A great show is made of every serving done here, to much delight. I mean, when we’ve paid all that to come and have tea, I expect more than a teabag in a cup, and Brown’s knows that. There are more than 10 varieties of teas to choose from, and you’re allowed unlimited tea, so we tried 5 types that afternoon. Each time we changed our order, a new silver teapot was produced, and the waiting staff took the time to explain each type of tea to us.

My favourite that afternoon was the Rosebud tea, and next was the Lemon Verbena tea. The Rosebud tea I liked, because it was like nothing I’d ever had before. Nothing like the rose syrup type drinks from cordial, but the rosebuds produced a slightly fragrant, somewhat musty aroma, and when sugar was added, it became slightly more syrupy. The Lemon tea we liked because it was refreshing. The other teas we had were just … tea, really.

Once you’ve made the order (ours was for the afternoon tea priced at £37 per person, as I keep saying), this lovely delicate looking tiered tray was put on our table. The keyword here is UNLIMITED. Not in the style of an all-you-can-eat buffet where you have to fight your way to the crispy squid before everyone else, but more in the style of, the moment it’s finished, a plate gets replaced.

We started off with the bottom tray, which was the sandwiches tray. Even here, the waiting staff took the time to explain what was in each little finger of sandwich, though, by the time that was done, I’d kinda mixed them all up anyway.

The yellow one had ham and piccalilli in it, the next red one was smoked salmon, and then there was the chicken in mayo, cucumber sandwich, and lastly the egg mayonnaise sandwich.

On another note, watercress goes surprisingly well with scones.

Anyway, the sandwiches were superb. Maybe it was because we were really hungry, or because the anticipation made everything seem nicer, but these were really one of the nicest sandwiches we’d had in a while. I don’t like sandwiches, but I liked these.

The butter was great, the filling was great, and the only downside was that after a while by the fire, the bread got a little crusty and hard, but this was no fault of the chef.

This was by far my favourite tier on the tray. 2 fruit scones and 2 plain scones. Each scone was probably the size of a flat tennis ball, and each one was fluffy, buttery, and just utterly delicious. They came with a pot of clotted cream, and some strawberry jam, which went perfectly with the scones.

Just looking at them now is making me want some.

Not helping, still wanting some scone.

Look, jam on scone.

The white cream is the clotted cream. First time I’d had it, if I’m not mistaken. Tastes slightly like butter, slightly like cream. Texture wise, it was almost stringy, if you get what I mean. Look at the little curly bit, when you put the spoon in the pot, and try to take some out, it kinda leaves a little cream stalactite.

This was the view from where I sat, all these cakes looking at us, each one saying … ‘Calories’. But we ate them anyway.

First one in, the orange something-or-another. Looked like some mini upside down cake, tasted like moist orange sponge, but with a little more substance. The orangey thing at the top was possible either orange (doesn’t look like it) or peach.

The raspberry mini trifle thing. Tasted like what you’d expect raspberry trifle with mousse to taste like. Slightly warm, but that was because we were sat right next to the fire, and by the time we’d gone through the tray of sandwiches (three times), it was getting really warm. We couldn’t help it that the waiters kept bringing those sandwiches every time the plate was empty.

Lemon cupcake. Very nice, but very small. To give the impression that we were small eaters, we had a bite each and passed it back and forth until it was finished.

Hazelnut mini tart, which I didn’t like, because the hazelnut whirl thing on top of the tart tasted too strong, and the sponge and pastry at the bottom were kinda dry.

Brown’s chocolate macaron, or a French macaroon. Saved this for last as I thought it was a really nice picture. Tasted very chocolaty, and so crumbly, like all good macarons should be.

I’m going to of course recommend that you try it out once, just to have the experience of having been to an afternoon tea. We really enjoyed it, had a fantastic afternoon, and probably will come back for tea again here, probably not too often though because of the price!

In comparison: Our grocery shopping bill for the week (including lunch) came up to about £71, which is less than the bill for this tea.