All posts tagged: london

Trader Vic’s, London Hilton Hotel

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Where Trader Vic’s, London Hilton Hotel, Park Lane What Trader Vic’s is part of an international group of restaurants and home to the original Mai Thai rum based cocktail. As a celebration of 70 years of Trader Vic’s and 80 years of the Mai Thai cocktail, five Tiki films, shot on location at Trader Vic’s worldwide, have been made, showcasing bartenders from some of London’s popular Tiki bars who have recreated famous tiki cocktails including The 1944 Mai Tai. Experience My visit to Trader Vic’s a few weeks ago was my first, but it certainly won’t be my last. I loved the very  traditional island décor and felt like I was walking into a Polynesian wonderland. The extensive cocktail list is very impressive and whilst sitting in the Mai Tai Lounge my friend and I started to browse the comprehensive list, however with too many enticing tiki cocktails to choose from, we asked the waitress for some guidance. She enthusiastically recommended starting with the original 1944 Mai Tai, so with that we ordered two. Unsurprisingly …

The Four Thieves, Battersea

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Where The Four Thieves, Battersea What The Four Thieves, part of The Laines Pub Company, has just opened on Lavender Hill in Battersea. With its own on site brewery and distillery making craft beer and Four Thieves gin this new site will have the perfect tipples to match head chef Hayden Smith’s menu. The Experience Upon entering the restaurant I have to say that my first reaction was surprise, closely followed by delight! The eclectic mix of décor; dim, warm lights and the quietly busy atmosphere made for the perfect location for a few after work drinks and dinner. We were shown to our table, beautifully set with a personalized white painted ‘reserved’ sign, and were soon handed a drinks menu with a choice of 80 different gins. The restaurant houses its very own drinks distillery and is soon to open its own mini brewery. They take massive pride in their choices of tipple, and we couldn’t wait to try. To start, we tried a festive saffron and orange gin cocktail and a clean, sweet …

Truffle Menu at Diciannove, Crown Plaza

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Where Diciannove at the Crowne Plaza Hotel What An exclusive truffle menu created by chef Alessandro Bay to celebrate the Truffle Season, using white truffles from Umbria. The Experience I must admit, before this experience I’d never quite understood the fascination with truffles. Not only are they essentially weird looking little mushrooms, they suffer the indignity of being sniffed and snorted and hunted out by hairy pigs and trained ‘truffle dogs’ in the countryside of France and Italy before being shipped to our shores. However, I appear to be in the minority – they are the diamonds of haute cuisine, the second most expensive ingredients in the world (coming in just behind caviar).  Warring Umbrian farmers have even been known to murder each others prized pigs in an effort to win the truffle wars. I’ve had hints of truffle in dishes before, and been known to use the now-disgraced truffle oil in cooking occasionally, but never really embraced them. Where better to give them the full appraisal than by trying a full truffle menu at Diciannove? Chef Alessandro has designed three truffle-heavy …

Señor Ceviche, Soho

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Where Señor Ceviche, Kingly Court What Following a wildly successful series of pop-ups around the capital, Señor Ceviche serves tasty tapas style plates of fresh ceviche, Peruvian street food and fiery BBQ, alongside punchy Pisco cocktails and ice cold Peruvian beers from its new casa. The interiors have been designed around the bohemian and artistic streets of Lima’s party district, Barranco, which is home to some of Lima’s most exciting bars and restaurants, and where Señor Ceviche himself, Harry Edmeades, stayed while in Peru. The experience When did Kingly Court become so hip? And when did I start using the word hip? Not that the latter matters, of course. It’s just the last time I visited Kingly Court, a good handful of the restaurants that were bustling on my Saturday night visit last weekend didn’t exist. This little hidden gem right in the heart of Central London has well and truly undergone a makeover and I was pleasantly surprised at what lay before my very eyes. I was at Kingly Court to try Señor Ceviche, …

The Happenstance, St Paul’s

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Where The Happenstance, St Paul’s What The Happenstance, situated by one of London’s most iconic landmarks, St Paul’s, is a magical Alice in Wonderland style bar & restaurant. Customers can expect innovative cocktails and seasonal & locally soured cuisine, from breakfast, brunch & lunch right through to dinner & late night bites. The experience There’s nothing quite like a catch up with one of your amazing friends and what makes it even better is good meal to go with it. I met my good friend Abi (also one of my new Food for Think contributors!) for dinner on Monday evening at The Happenstance. As it was a Monday, neither of us were drinking, so instead we guzzled a lovely mocktail, which was a sweet and delectable mix of passion fruit, mango and vanilla. The menu at The Happenstance was slightly confusing. It is split into sections – a few small plates, a big range of flatbreads, salads, steak, mains, burgers & sandwiches and sides. We opted for a couple of small plates to start – …