My most memorable moments & Meals @Not Quite Nigella

Category Archives: NQN's most memorable moments and meals

Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road restaurant, London

Gordon Ramsay once said that his Royal Hospital Road is his pride and joy, if all goes bottoms up then he always has that baby. Only open Monday to Friday it’s also the hardest place to get a table, and at up to £120 a meal for just lunch, the costliest of his restaurants. To secure a coveted table one needs to ring exactly one month in advance, and to secure the table give them your credit card details and should you not show, they can at their discretion, deduct £100 per person for the meal missed. It’s all phrased very courteously but you get the feeling that they wouldn’t hesitate in doing so.

Dear sister of NQN,

Firstly let me thank you for your interest in Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

I am pleased to confirm your table reservation at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, located at 68 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HP as follows:

Where guests wish to make a reservation, it is the restaurant’s policy to secure the booking with their credit card details. In the event that the booking is cancelled in whole or in part by you with less than 24 hours notice or results in a no-show it will be at the discretion of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to charge £100 per person to your credit card.
We are sorry that this has become a requirement but, regrettably, our experience dictates this precaution. We would be grateful if you could indicate your acceptance by completing and returning this form in order to confirm your booking by fax on 020 7592 1213
Email us at: royalhospitalroad@gordonramsay.com. Unfortunately, we will have to release the table if we have not received the completed form within 48 hours.As we will call you a day before to reconfirm, may I ask you for a contact number where we will be able to reach you on the working day prior to your reservation. Cancellations must be made in writing and sent by fax to 020 7592 1213 or by e-mail to royalhospitalroad@gordonramsay.com

Verbal cancellations cannot be accepted.
We very much look forward to welcoming you at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
On Behalf of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Picture in menu

The night before, we were left a rather firm sounding voicemail that we were expected at a certain time. The outside of the restaurant is understated elegance, with a simple plaque outside the door and a simple white building as befits the upmarket Chelsea area it resides in. Walking through the corridor there is a small area for guests to wait which also has many copies of his 3 Star chef book for those to read. There is no waiting though as service is brisk, they know who we are and lead us to our table. As it’s earlyish (12.30pm) the dining room room is about half full but within half an hour, all tables are full of diners.

The menu (excuse the fingerprints!)

The manager Jean-Claude Breton is a smoothie, reminiscent a little of Jerry Orbach. He asks us who is “hosting” the table to which we reply “Umm no-one”. Ahh ok not a problem, he smiles and hands us all menus. My sister and I don’t have prices on our menu but my husband has prices in his which is a first. It’s a nice touch if someone is hosting the table so that other guests feel more comfortable ordering without keeping watch of the price.

On the first pages are the a la carte menu featuring ravioli or lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil veloute as well as slow braised pied de cochon pressed then pan fried with ham knuckle, poached quail’s egg and hollandaise sauce as well as other fantastic sounding dishes. These can be had for £120. There is also following a menu Prestige or a tasting menu made up of 7 smaller dishes for £90. Then there is the Menu of the day, with 3 courses for £45.

Bread with salted and unsalted butter

We order a bit of everything from the Menu of the Day so that everyone can taste all of the dishes. Whilst we are waiting we receive salted and unsalted butter and are asked if we would like olive, white or brown sourdough bread. The olive is my husband’s favourite whilst the white sourdough thickly slathered with salted butter is my sister’s and mine. The service from the staff is wonderful, quiet and unobtrusive but anticipatory of your needs.

Amuse Bouche: vine riped tomato consomme

An amuse bouche arrives, a tomato consomme flavoured with coriander. It’s poured at the table and is intensively sweet with ripe tomatoes.

Quail and wild mushroom pithivier with confit leg and celeriac remoulade

Click here to read the full story

28 comments | September 8th, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental, London

Sometimes the only thing that will do when one is stressed is some coddling, charm and civility. So where does one turn but a 5 star hotel for lunch.The best part of dining in London is getting to try Michelin starred restaurants. Michelin doesn’t bother with Australia so whilst Tetsuya’s would be worthy of a Michelin star, he remains untouched with the fairy wand. So now is my chance to consume as many Michelin stars as possible. Housed in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Hyde Park London, never a shabby place to stay, Foliage has 1 Michelin star. This lunchtime Blythe and I are battling traffic congestion due to two tube lines being closed down and numerous roadworks near by. In fact we’re half an hour late for our booking and when we finally get there frantic and exhausted, we feel like we’ve really “earnt” our meal in effort.

We’re rewarded by broad smiles, soft welcomes and soothing tones. Foliage is a small room with enormous windows that offer a lovely view of Hyde Park, up close and personal. Guests are welcomed by not 3 but 4 courses. And for a price that’s an absolute steal in what can be a criminally expensive city £29. Yes you read right, £29 for lunch.

The menu has 4 choices which is generous and all of them call out in some way. We finally decide on some dishes after a little deliberation. We’re given bread, a choice of white, sourdough or walnut with salted and unsalted butter (walnut the clear winner, singing with walnut flavour through the copious amount of chunks).

Amuse Bouche: Chive Vichyssoise

We’re then bestowed with our Amuse Bouche, a Chive Vichyssoise. It’s creamy and smooth with a light mascarpone quenelle floating in the centre. A delicious start.

Starter: crab, mango, cucumber and coriander

Our starters then arrive, mine was the crab, mango, cucumber and coriander. The crab meat is delicate and sweet, the thing mango slices swirled on the plate with cucumber flavoured pasta and coriander sprigs. It all works beautifully together, never overwhelming the delicate crab. There are two delicious fried crab balls to give an alternate texture and taste.

Starter: Foie gras, beetroot, ginger bread and pecans

Blythe’s starter, a Foie gras, beetroot, ginger bread and pecans cleverly resembles rhubarb stalks. I do like Foie gras although sometimes I find it too strong. Not in this case, it’s beautifully balanced and beetroot goes wonderfully with the foie gras mousse. There is also a ball of foie gras rolled in pistachios which is also wonderful with the walnut bread which is thoughtfully topped up for us.

Intermediate: Scallops, squid ink, orzo, green almonds

Click here to read the full story

12 comments | August 25th, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Fresh F&V from Field to Feast and a Hangi!

For a city girl like me, the chance to visit a farm that prides itself on fresh fruit and vegetables plucked as close to the day that they’re ordered as possible is like the childhood equivalent to being asked to go to the best birthday party-you know the one with the pony and the jumping castle. So when the lovely people at Field to Feast contacted me about coming out for a visit to their farm, the answer was “Absolutely, when?”. I invited my in laws, a bunch of country lovin’ folk who left their idyllic country home to venture out into the capitalist jungle of Sydney, but who still missed the country setting.

Finger eggplant

Cath (who runs the marketing) and Hapi (who runs the farming) have 5 acres of land for their vegetables all neatly rowed and pretty as a picture with vivid greens and purple sprouting like exotic flowers, all lined up to bask in the goodness of the sun under Hapi’s green thumb. So blessed is he that he holds the record in his native Tonga of the largest taro at 6 foot long.

We’re shown the rows of produce, all beautifully cultivated and mostly unsprayed (only when absolutely necessary). The cabbages are bursting open with their wide open leaves like petals.

Lemon chilis

We see their range of chilis including the fiery hot Habanero, milder Jalapeno, long reds as well as a new one, the Lemon Chili, with a whole new taste to it. It’s said to be particularly good for Indian cooking and they cannot keep up with demand.

Black capsicum

Click here to read the full story

13 comments | August 13th, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

The Lock-Up Prison restaurant at Shibuya

What would you say if I invited you to come along to a Haunted Prison themed restaurant, in one of the busiest hubs of Tokyo and told you that you may indeed be scared senseless entering the restaurant and that you’ll be led to a jail cell in handcuffs and then locked up in it for the duration of the meal? Sounds good? Then you’re someone that I would be friends with.

I had been looking forward to The Lockup in Shibuya ever since arriving to Tokyo as I kept hearing how very weird it was. At another location (there are several Lockups throughout Tokyo), apparently you and your party get placed into a darkened room and if you find the secret opening, then you make it into the restaurant. I had no idea what to expect so when we see the sign indicating we are to go to Basement 2, we follow, hesitating. The entrance looms and there is a genuinely spooky atmosphere given by the extremely dark and winding hallways, cold rush of air and cackling and screaming sounds around us. We inch around the corner slowly, as to not to fall (it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen and this would never happen in a litigious country like America or even Australia) and what happens next frightens the hell out of me, a man strapped to an electric chair, Clive Barker from Hellraiser sans pins, rocks back and forth screaming with lights flashing.

I scream my lungs out and then fortifying myself, move on where we encounter other bumps and things designed to scare (I won’t ruin the surprise for those that want to go) and encounter three doors, one door being the correct one, and two others….well let’s not ruin that for you too! If you want to experience entering the LockUp there are a couple of videos on Youtube

Making it into the sanctum of the restaurant, my husband is led by handcuffs to our prison cell (I don’t get handcuffed apparently, only one member of your group is which I think is a bit disappointing). We get our own “prison cell” and are locked in although the door isn’t actually locked and we are free to go but they do pull the doors shut.

We peruse the menu and find some cocktails that tickle our fancy, mainly due to the presentation as we can’t actually read the menu that well and there is no English menu. It’s Izakaya food, which I absolutely love as I like small dishes in a plentiful number so that I can try as many tastes as possible.

A friend translated the cocktail menu for me as it reads as follows:

Cloning Experiment
Electric Shock
Illegal Parking (Injection) [Red Ticket]= pronunciations of Japanese words for ‘parking’ and ‘injection’ are the same
Bad Loan – your eyeballs have blown up because you’ve lent too much money
Human Experiment
Drug Addition (you are already dead)
Time Bomb Capsules – they may explode after you’ve swallowed them?

Test tube cocktail (non alcoholic Y800)

Our cocktails arrive, the first one a non alcoholic number served in a beaker and with 5 test tubes with different flavours and a dropper to add each flavour to the drink. The drink itself is like a carbonated light yogurt drink and the flavours are sweet and tasty. I enjoy this chance to play scientist and “mix” drinks all night.

Syringe drink Y580

The second drink comes also comes in a beaker but this also has a syringe full of red jelly which we squirt into the drink. It has a sweet berry flavour to it and is alcoholic (and strongly so).

Complimentary breadsticks and cheese dip

The drinks also arrive with some breadsticks broken in half in a beaker along with the sweet and savoury cream cheese. It’s curious and not too bad indeed.

BBQ pork with spring onions Y609

Our range of dishes arrives in quick succession. The BBQ pork dish at first looks like it has too much spring onion on top of it but once popped into the mouth, it tastes perfect, the pork beautifully soft and melt in the mouth. It’s a delicate touch for an Izakaya and we are both impressed.

Big Salad Y871
The second dish, a 35cms tall salad in a glass arrives and the waitress serves this up by tipping out the salad onto a bowl and spreading it out. There is finely sliced crunchy daikon, lettuce, cherry tomato and fried chicken pieces with a Japanese Wafu dressing. There’s no egg as per the picture though but we welcome the taste of fresh salad.

Chinese chicken salad Y504

The third dish is actually different from what we had ordered but it’s very good so we don’t mind in the slightest. It’s a chicken and sesame mayo Chinese chicken salad served in a purple cabbage cup. It’s very good, one of my favourite salads ever so we don’t ask what happened to the original dish (not that we could anyway, my Japanese only gets me as far as ordering, not complaining)

Nankotsu Y504

The fourth dish is one of my favourites ever since I first had this in an Izakaya. It’s not always available at every Izakaya and whenever I see it, I always order it. It’s Nankotsu (chicken cartilege), breaded and deep fried so that the bone is no as crunchy as when it is grilled. A sprinkle of Tabasco and it is perfection and this is indeed.

Mince Okonomiyaki Y609
The last dish, a beef mince okonomiyaki is not to my taste. I am also very full so I pass up on this after a first taste. My husband prefers the mince as it is more “moist” than a regular Okonomiyaki whereas I prefer the regular version. This tastes like a lot of mince with some fish flakes on top. My husband on the other hand is hypnotised by the swaying of the fish flakes.

We sit back and watch other parties being led this time by bondage-y style clad waitresses and wish we had more time to try the other Lock Up experiences. Just because a meal tastes better after a fright.

The Lock Up

33-1 Udagawa-cho
(just off Center-gai, Shibuya Grand Tokyo Bldg. B2F)
Tokyo
Tel: +81 (03)-5728-7731
Open:
Monday to Friday 17:00～01:00
Saturday 17:00～05:00
Sunday 17:00～24:00

Shibuya

Cover charge Y525 per person plus tax charge

25 comments | July 11th, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Christon Cafe at Shinjuku, Tokyo

A knowledgable friend of mine, Kathy from Brisbane recommended that I try Christon Cafe after I canvassed friends for unique Tokyo experiences. Started in Osaka in 2000, there are now 8 Christon cafes around Japan, each boasting incredibly detailed interiors decorated in a religious gothic theme. It speaks to the strong Lolita goth culture that exists in Tokyo. In the lobby there is a glass display of the Virgin Mary. Upstairs, Cafe Christon doesn’t disappoint. On the 8th and 9th floor of the Oriental Wave building, you’re struck by the fantastic interior decor the minute you step off the elevator.

We were greeted with 3 leather chairs with naked iron maidens on them the arms well worn and loved. We were then led into the inner sanctum which was awash with wrought iron, gothic and catholic imagery.

To our delight, we’re led towards a blood red curtained booth, private and completely gothic. I’m not a Catholic so the imagery doesn’t strike fear into my heart although I have heard that it can make anyone raised Catholic slightly uneasy. Indeed, there is an altar in the restaurant which we’re told is an authentic altar that was used in a European church.

The details are numerous and quite astounding including the painting on the ceiling.

Gargoyles

Gigantic chandelier

We’re shown the menu, an assortment of izakaya dishes (small dishes typically served with beer). We choose a Japanese beef carpaccio Y1380, Foie Gras sreak with baked risotto Y1800 and grilled salmon steak with mushroom cream sauce Y880.

Amuse Bouche Y300

We’re given an amuse bouche or a spinach tortilla and some sort of pressed meat like a mortadella (we learn we are later charged for this although we may have agreed to it, we just kept nodding yes). The spinach tortilla is delicious and full of spinach and cheese and the luncheon meat is actually delicious, much better than a mortadella.