The Park Room and Library has been recognised as among ‘Britain’s Best Afternoon Tea’ destinations by the prestigious Tea Guild (constitutive awards from 2008-2011). Typically "Anna's tea"costs £34.50 per person. However, as part of a deal from Groupon both me and M had the very good opportunity to have tea for two for £20 - with the only restriction being the tea selection (Twinings only). Anna's afternoon tea takes place in The Park Room of the Park Lane Marriott hotel.
When you first enter the first thing you see is an elegant flower display. My first general impression was that the room was a bit dim ..but yet too bright near the windows. However, the waiters did try to adjust the blinds every so often. We were first greeted by a rather stone faced hostess, polite but not particularly friendly who escorted us to our table.
The Park Room
Although, the hostess a tad cold. Our waiter was lovely. First to arrive was an amuse bouche - a fruit coctail made of dragon fruit, lychee, melon and some other excotic fruits. This was quite sweet but refreshing.
Amuse bouche fruit coctail
Unlimited tea was avaliable but one tea pot of tea for the each of us was quite enough.
Tea: Twinings Pure Ceylon tea
In contrast to the Ritz, there was more choice of spreads. Here we had the choice of honey, in addition to strawberry jam and clotted cream.
The entire set, including the pastries, scones and sandwiches arrived in one go.
The pastries were very pretty, but like the Ritz, didn't taste particularly spectacular. I liked the fact the chocolate eclair had chocolate cream filling rather than the standard cream. The victoria sponge cake was a bit hard. The best thing was the lemon moose thing.
Pastries (clockwise): Chocolate eclair with choclate cream filling; Opera gateau; Raspberry tart; Victoria sponge cake; Vanilla mille-feuille; Raspberry and pistachio slice; lemon moose
The scones reminded me of scones you find in America. The texture was more crunchy/crumbly and a lot more buttery than the soft/stoggy texture of a typical English scone. These were still yummy, but the ones in the Ritz are probably nicer as these were too rich.
Scones: Plain and raisin buttermilk scones
The sandwiches were, overall, delicious! My favourite had to be the prawn/mayo. The chicken came second - moist and flavoursome. The beef sandwich was not so impressive - rather tasteless, probably needs more horseradish for the amount of beef in the sandwich. Too much cucumber in the cucumber sandwich. The egg sandwich was a tad dry, could potentially do with more sauce. The salmon sandwich was standard, but still yummy. We were offered more sandwiches but we declined because were were just frankly stuffed!
Sandwiches (clockwise): Smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill; Coldwater prawns with marie rose sauce; chicken with tarragon; Eggs with mayonaise and cress; Sirloin beef with creamed horseradish; Cucumber with mint butter.
Overall, we both really enjoyed ourselves. The food was probably slightly better compared to the Ritz, but didn't have that fantastic Ritz 'wow' factor - ambiance does play a big part in eating out. Our waitress was lovely, but otherwise the staff are possibly slightly more stuck-up here than in the Ritz.
Overall I would say that Kumo is a trendy cocktail bar that serves sushi. When you first walk down the stairs into the restaurant (its in the basement) the first thing that strikes you is red. Red everywhere. I can bearly see where I'm going in the dimly lit red and black room. At the waiting area, you see a nice looking cocktail bar.
Kumo: inside. The picture is actually decieving - it's actually
much darker in real life.
We had a deal from groupon, £20 for a sushi platter and dessert for two. We thought wow, what a great deal. But note that there is a 15% service charge and alcoholic cocktails cost ~£11 each and virgins £6.50. With the deal, we ordered two virgin cocktails. Together the service charge and the drinks- cost £20 on its own! So on average, the minimum price per person is £20 and thats if you have a small appetite!
We were sat in a nice little corner, so the both of us (me and the boyfriend) could both sit on the relatively comfy black sofa. In front of us was a very small black metal table. You pretty much had to bend down to eat your food - not ideal ergonomics.
We ordered two virgin cocktails (pretty much because we thought the alcoholic cocktails were a rip off! and we were not willing to pay double the price of a regular cocktail).
The Coco Yoko was nice. I loved the coconut cream - but it was just a tad too sweet for my liking.
Initally we wanted to order Special Green (pineapple juice, kiwi syrup, lemonade) but they didn't have all the ingredients to make it. So we ordered the Roxy Moon, which looked fab. But it tasted pretty much like standard juice. Nothing particularly special about it.
Roxy Moon: Strawberry puree, tangy orange, pineapple juice tempered
with cooling lemonade.
Next the sushi platter. The most dissappointing sushi platter ever. We both couldn't believe how basic this was. Everything tasted regular - nice but again nothing special. You can go to the sushi shop in China Town and get something similar for half the price or something more substantial! If we didn't get the groupon deal, this platter would have cost an equivalent of £40! I don't see how it could really have been valued to £40 to be honest!
Sushi platter: tempura prawn sushi (x6), california roll (x6), asparagus sushi (x6), edamame beans and chicken yakitori (thought we were meant to have 6.. but we only had 3, maybe misheard...)
Next thankgoodness there was dessert after, our tummies were still rumbling! When the dessert arrived, it was chocolate cake with a blackberry sauce. The cake was ok, nothing to shout home about. Infact without the icing on the top of the cake, the actual cake itself was dry. The blackberry sauce just did not compliment the cake - it would have been nicer itself, without the sauce.. maybe they themselves also thought the cake was dry! So needed a sauce with it... not good choice of sauce...
Dessert: chocolate cake with a blackberry sauce
We were ALMOST finished with the dessert and the waitress came up to us and asked if we would like the bill and speedly gave us the reciept. We had bearly digested the cake.
Overall. I would say it was rather a disappointment. The sushi was standard, with hiked up prices for I suppose being located in Knightsbridge. The drinks were overpriced. The service, standard. I guess we were expecting this to be a nice place for good food. If you're earning a good wage and looking to have a chat in a cocktail bar, this is the place to go - if you also like sushi as a snack, but then again there are better posher cocktail bars in London with better service with classier decor.
Food = 4.5/10
Atmopshere = 5.5/10
Service = 6/10
Recommend? nope (well definitely not with the groupon deal)
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA
Heston Blumenthal (owner of famous 3 michelin star restaurant 'The Fat Duck'), opened his first restaurant in London earlier this year, Dinner. This restaurant is situated in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, next to hyde park. The theme of this restaurant is to re-create British food from several centuries ago (13th - 18th century). Since its opening, there has been (at least) a two month waiting list to attend this restaurant.
Two of my friends had booked to attend this restaurant a while back, but due to unforseen circumstances, two of their party couldn't attend, they then asked if me and the boyfriend would like to join them for dinner instead. Unable to resist temptation, we said yes! The logic is, better to attend this restaurant before they hike up the prices (e.g. on receiving a star - which is highly anticipated), right?
[Note: Since Oct 2011, Dinner by Hesten Bluementhal was awarded one michelin star]
In August the average price per person was ~£65 (3 course, without drinks)
When we first arrived, we were greeted by friendly staff who directed us to our table. The surroundings were very nice and spacious. We were provided with free complimentary bread to begin whilst we waited for our starters.
Bread (brown and white) with butter topped with sea salt
For starters we ordered: broth of lamb, savoury porridge, and the famous meat fruit. The broth of lamb reminded me of something that was a little bit asian (little bit spicey/peppery) with a hint of sweetness.
Broth of Lamb (c.1730): Slow Cooked Hen’s Egg, Celery, Radish,
Turnip and Sweetbreads
The savoury porridge (also served in the The Fat Duck) was exceptional. Very well seasoned, not bland at all. The snails were nice and slightly chewy (in a good way) and the mushrooms were delicious. Recommend!
Savoury Porridge (c.1660): Snails, Girolles, Garlic and Fennel
The all famous staple starter dish, meat fruit. This was very nice. What made this dish stand out (apart from the looks) was the mandarin jelly around the pate. The jelly was slightly sweet with a hint of mandarin flavour that complimented the pate very well.
Meat Fruit (c.1500): Mandarin, Chicken Liver Parfait and Grilled Bread
Meat fruit: opened
For mains we ordered: powdered duck, black foot pork chop and the wing rib of irish angus.
The powdered duck - is two duck legs/drumsticks with a glaze (orignally a powder, but on cooking changes to a lovely gloss, hence the name). This dish was a bit disappointing - the meat didn't have much flavour and the glaze didn't really add to the flavour of the duck. The potato puree (or mash) was exceptionally exceptionally buttery - too buttery for my liking. I'm glad they seved that on the side.
There have been raving reviews about the wing rib of irish angus. However, it turned out a bit disappointing. We asked for medium/rare wing rib of irish angus, but it turned out a bit too rare (you can't really tell from the photo). I'm not particularly keen on the texture of meat that is too rare. The meat didn't have too much taste itself. The mushroom ketchup was nice, a slightly sweet sauce with mushrooms. The steak also came with a red wine gravey - but taste of the taste of the red wine dominated the gravy too much.
Wing Rib of Irish Angus for 2 (c.1830): Mushroom Ketchup, Red Wine Juice
with fries (on the side, not pictured)
The pork chop, was exceptionally nice though, if you don't mind your pork a little bit pink! Other than the hint of pinkness, the sauce and texture of the dish was very nice. I was surprised how nice this dish turned out since I'm not normally a fan of pork. Recommended.
Black Foot Pork Chop (c.1860): Pointy Cabbage, Robert Sauce
For dessert we had tipsy cake (which needed to be ordered in advance, as this takes 25 mins to make), lemon suet pudding, and the chocolate bar.
The lemon suet pudding, was quite small, probably about 5 cm in diameter. It looked very pretty, particualrly with the edible flowers. When you break into the pudding, the pudding itself has a hard texture (kind of like a tart) and inside is a lemon caramel (quite sweet if you didn't eat it with the cream on the side). Overall, I wasn't too keen on this dessert.
Baked Lemon Suet Pudding (c.1630) with a custard, and jersey cream on the side (not shown)
Inside: a lemon caramel
The chocolate bar, is something my friend ordered. This dessert has, surprisingly, a very light moosey texture. From the look, you might just think its rock solid! The moose is very chocolately and at the bottom is a very nice passion fruit jam which cuts the sweet/bitter chocolate just perfect. On the side of the chocolate bar was a ginger ice cream which was quite nice on its own or with the chocolate bar. Reminded me of a mix between a jaffa cake and a chocolate moose. If you're a fan of chocolate moose, then this is probably recommended.
Chocolate Bar (c.1730): Passion Fruit Jam and Ginger Ice Cream
Chocolate bar: open
The tipsey cake, is the staple dessert at Dinner and therefore is a must if you come here. Tipsey cake is a sweet bread/sponge-like dessert that is half soaked in alcohol and custard. On the side, is a grilled piece of pineapple. This dessert was nice, though the taste and texture reminded me of the "pineapple bun" you get at a chinese bakery. If you've never had a chinese pineapple bun, this dessert is a treat. If you know what a chinese pineapple bun taste like, you should try it anyway because its the staple dessert.
Tipsy Cake (c.1810): with Spit Roast Pineapple
Spit Roast Pineapple
At the end of the meal, they asked if we wanted tea. There was about 5-6 selections of tea (ranging from £5-15), but we decided to decline. They then gave us a complimentary dessert - a white chocolate ganache (that was flavoured with earl grey tea) - this dessert was quite nice. The earl grey tea is more of an after taste. The only complaint is that it was a tad too sweet (but then again, I prefer savoury over sweet). The biscuit had a mixture of spices and other flavours I couldn't really pin point. It was a nice end, to a nice evening with friends.
Earl grey tea with white chocolate ganache and a caraway biscuit
Overall, the evening was great. The service was fantastic. The waiters explained each dish and filled our glasses with water (iced tap water) without needing to ask. They were almost 'invisible' - in the sense we didn't notice them because we were enjoying ourselves. The starters were great, lots of imagination/creativeness, taste and variety. The mains a little bit dissappointing (particularly due to vast no.of fantastic reviews). The desserts were nice, but didn't particualrly have a 'wow' factor in terms of taste. If I were to go again, I would probably order two starters.
