The Dorchester

Today, I received a very intriguing parcel from The Dorchester! Why would The Dorchester (yes the famous hotel in London) send me a parcel??? Initially, I thought it was some kind of promotional thing but why should I be on their mailing list? I have been there once before but that was years ago when I was a student! So there is no way they could have my name and current address!
So what did the parcel contain? I opened the Jiffy bag which contained an envelope and a very nice box. I took the option to open the box before the envelope! (who would have done the opposite??) When I opened the box, it contained a gift certificate with my name written on it!!! The gift certificate entitles me to "The Promenade Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two". The box contained also a booklet about the Dorchester Hotel and another envelope (different from the one that was outside the box!)...it took me a while to find out who it was from! The mystery was finally unravelled!  It was such a wonderful surprise! A good friend of ours sent us the gift certificate as a wedding present! My hubby and I are very touched by such a sweet and thoughtful gesture!!!
Surprises like that don't happen every day! So when it happens, it puts a BIG SMILE on one's face! :-)
My hubby and I are looking forward to our treat!
Below are some pictures of the box, gift certificate...as it was such a wonderful memory! The pictures of The Promenade Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two will follow at a later stage, once we've been!





The Dorchester

Park Lane

London W1K 1QA

http://www.thedorchester.com/



Tay Do restaurant

On Sunday 20th February 2011, we went to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant in Kingsland road: Tay Do restaurant. To be honest, we haven't tried all the Vietnamese restaurants in Kingsland road. We only have tried a couple other restaurants: Loong Kee Cafe and Viet Grill, but we find that Tay Do restaurant remain our favourite for what we like to order.
Tay Do restaurant has a good selection of authentic vietnamese dishes. I am Vietnamese originally so I can confirm that all the dishes we've tasted so far a pretty authentic! The only dish that I find very disappointing so far is the Cha Gio (Vietnamese Spring Rolls)...maybe because my mum's Cha Gio are so delicious in comparison!!!
The service is very efficient and courteous. Within five minutes or so, some food will be at the table!

On this occasion, we ordered Spicy Soft Shell Crab and Hot & Spicy Minced Eel with Chilli and Lemongrass for our starter.



For our main course, my hubby order a Bun Thit Nuong (Char-grilled pork with rice vermicelli) and I ordered a Pho Tai (Pho with rare slices of beef).

Our lunch was very enjoyable! I am already looking forward to our next visit there! If we were living in the neighbourhood, we would definitely pay a visit at least once a week!
Actually, when we used to live in Shoreditch, we used to order Take Away from Tay Do Cafe almost every week! Tay Do Cafe is the sister restaurant of Tay Do Restaurant. Tay Do Cafe did so well that they opened Tay Do restaurant a few years later. The menu is identital at both places but we prefer to go to Tay Do Restaurant as it is more roomy.

Tay Do restaurant
60-64 Kingsland road
London E2 8AG

Tel: 020 7739 0966





Magdalen - February 2011

On Saturday 26th February 2011, we went to our favourite restaurant: Magdalen in Tooley street. Some friends of ours introduced this restaurant to us in 2007 and we became regular customers ever since! We have also introduced this restaurant to other friends and they adore it!
To our opinion, this is the best restaurant for Modern Europeen (including British and French) in London! It serves very seasonal dishes. The menu changes on a daily basis, it offers the choice of about eight starters, eight main courses and five desserts. So one can actually go there every week! The cooking is very consistent, we never had a bad meal! In fact, we do think that this restaurant deserves One Michelin Star!
The service is impeccable: professional, competent, friendly and not stuffy.

The menu on Saturday 26th February 2011 was as follow:

  

My hubby and I ordered the same starter of "Hot foie gras and caramelised blood orange".  The foie gras was absolutely delicious, the blood orange goes so well with it.

For the main course, we both chose "Fish stew, gurnard, bream, clams and aioli". We had this dish before, it was very tasty as expected. Each component in this dish was cooked to perfection.

For dessert, my hubby chose "French toast, rhubarb and vanilla ice cream". His dessert was simply yummy.

As for me, I chose "Treacle tart and creme fraiche". The treacle tart was absolutely amazing, the pastry was thin and crunchy. What a treat to finish the meal!

The bill came to around £100 for the two of us. It is worth every penny. I am already looking forward to our next visit there!

Magdalen

152 Tooley street

London SE1 2TU

http://www.magdalenrestaurant.co.uk/



Launceston Place

On Saturday 12th February 2011, we had lunch at Launceston Place.  

This restaurant is on our list of restaurants for fantastic lunch. We discovered this restaurant in February 2010 and have returned there many times since. They had an excellent three course set menu for lunch for £22!
To start with, they welcome us with some home made devilled crisps. Then, we were offered a freshly baked loaf of bread with some pickled herrings...the bread is absolutely georgous (probably the best bread I had in a restaurant in London!) and the pickled herrings were very nice too.

We went for the set menu at £22.
My hubby and  I chose the same starter "Duck Egg on Toast, Black Truffle", as I had this starter before and it was absolutely amazing, the duck egg worked so well with the black truffle. Sorry no picture for this dish as I was so much looking forward to eating it, I completely forgot to take a picture!

For Main Course, my hubby chose "Pork fillet roasted with cider wood, hazelnut mash, apple compote". His dish was nice enough but not a wow.

And I chose "Free range chicken cooked au vin, home cured bacon". Not sure whether this dish meant to be a deconstructed Coq au Vin but I much prefer the Traditional Coq au Vin.

Before our desserts were served, they offered us a pre-dessert: something with Lemon which was delicious.



For Dessert, my hubby chose "Treacle Tart, Creme Fraiche Ice Cream". The treacle tart was rather disappointing, the base of the tart was very thick and not crunchy. And the filling itself wasn't a wow either.

I chose "Baked Egg Custard, Rhubard and Crumble". This dessert was an absolutely treat!



At the end of the meal, they offered some kind of petits fours freshly baked with cream. This was also an absolute treat!

 

It was a very enjoyable lunch even if my main course wasn't a wow. We had faultless and memorable lunches at Launceston Place before, so we would definitely go back!

The bill for the two of us came to £61.88 including service. It is not bad at all for a 3 course meal in London with all the freebees!





Launceston Place

1a Launceston Place

London W6 5LR

http://www.launcestonplace-restaurant.co.uk/