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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Hand and Flowers at Hand and Flowers
Lunch a little while ago at the eye-wateringly pricey ⭐️⭐️ Hand & Flowers in Marlow where a mediocre fillet steak will set you back £50.50 excluding service charge. It seems that Tom Kerridge is very much taking advantage of his celebrity chef status here. The cheapest main course is £39.50 for pork belly plus service and sides if you want... More
Lunch a little while ago at the eye-wateringly pricey ⭐️⭐️ Hand & Flowers in Marlow where a mediocre fillet steak will set you back £50.50 excluding service charge. It seems that Tom Kerridge is very much taking advantage of his celebrity chef status here. The cheapest main course is £39.50 for pork belly plus service and sides if you want them. Compare the price of this very unremarkable fillet steak with some of the most respected steak joints in London, Hawksmoor £36, Smith & Wollensky £40, Temper £33, Hix £42 and for an equivalent steak at Cut at the Dorchester, it will set you back £30. (I am suddenly conscious that this is sounding like a Jay Rayner review with all the moaning about price🤦🏼♂️). The other dishes were fine but nothing that warrants the two michelin stars in my opinion. I am always a bit wary of a pub where the car park is exclusively filled with Aston Martins, Jags and Audi R8s. It usually suggests a clientele that really don’t care (or know) when they are being taken to the cleaners. And here it seems that Kerridge is eager to oblige. Harsh maybe, but if you are going to charge me fifty quid plus for steak and chips then it better be fucking tasty. Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Ikoyi at Ikoyi
I am around two months in arrears in terms of posting meals, but I had a lunch yesterday in ‘that’ London that has prompted me to forget about posting my meals at Mugaritz or El Celar de Can Rocca or indeed the insanely good 3am kebab from ‘Big John’s’ in Aylesbury that I woke up next to this morning.
I’ve been to Ikoyi a few times now... More
I am around two months in arrears in terms of posting meals, but I had a lunch yesterday in ‘that’ London that has prompted me to forget about posting my meals at Mugaritz or El Celar de Can Rocca or indeed the insanely good 3am kebab from ‘Big John’s’ in Aylesbury that I woke up next to this morning.
I’ve been to Ikoyi a few times now and it was a restaurant that it seemed (from my point of view) that there was a certain buzz about. I mean, show me another West African restaurant with a Michelin star in London....or the UK for that matter. Or Europe? If you can, I’ll go there.
Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale cornered the market for soon to be Michelin star West African food in the centre of London. All well and good. The foodies and press were all over it for a time. And rightly so. They may well still be, but I haven’t heard a peep.
I decided to go for lunch yesterday very last minute. I was in bed in Aylesbury at 10am just flicking through the Internet as you do. I’d posted the day before about a very mediocre £55 steak I’d had at ⭐️⭐️The Hand & Flowers the previous day and someone suggested that I come and try the beef at Ikoyi.
This is what prompted me to jump out of bed, shower off the kebab remnants and hop on the train into town and have one of the tastiest lunches I’ve had in quite a while.
It really is a rare skill to be able to produce a tasting menu where 90% of the dishes are spot on delicious. The type of plates that you wolf down and can’t get enough of. This is speaking from someone who, for better or worse, actively travels the world in search of good food. So I’ve had a lot of lunches🤷🏼♂️
This was a great lunch.
It seems that Jeremy Chan and the team are really buzzing now. I see him travelling and doing collaborations, and this seems to have had a very positive impact on the menu at Ikoyi.
I urge those that haven’t been to go, but most of all I urge those that went a couple of years ago to go back. It’s much more confident now. I know some found it maybe mediocre before, but the menu I had yesterday was exceptional. (And no I wasn’t comped to write this) Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Wild Honey St James at Wild Honey St James
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Bodega 1900 at Bodega 1900
Last but not least, chocolate cake with brandy ice cream and the cheesecake at my most recent visit to the excellent @bodega1900 in Barcelona. One of my favourite casual joints when in Barcelona .
Michelin Guide - 🍽
OAD - 7 (European casual list)
W50Best - ‘Discovery’
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Last but not least, chocolate cake with brandy ice cream and the cheesecake at my most recent visit to the excellent @bodega1900 in Barcelona. One of my favourite casual joints when in Barcelona .
Michelin Guide - 🍽
OAD - 7 (European casual list)
W50Best - ‘Discovery’
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #oadtop100 #spanishfoodie #barcelonafoodies #barcelonaeats #bodega1900 Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at 50 Kalò di Ciro Salvo Pizzeria London at 50 Kalò
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Bancone at Bancone
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Alchemist at Alchemist
My number 1 dish of 2019 was at the most hyped and difficult to book restaurant on the planet at the moment...Alchemist in Copenhagen. With 2000 seats selling out in 3 minutes and a waiting list for cancellations of over 7000 this really is a hot ticket.
@rasmusmunkalchemist has taken his small counter, seating around a dozen people, and... More
My number 1 dish of 2019 was at the most hyped and difficult to book restaurant on the planet at the moment...Alchemist in Copenhagen. With 2000 seats selling out in 3 minutes and a waiting list for cancellations of over 7000 this really is a hot ticket.
@rasmusmunkalchemist has taken his small counter, seating around a dozen people, and taken this vision to a truly grand scale. After 2 years of construction and a budget busting 15 million dollars spent on the project, expectations are high. But Rasmus, @lykke_alchemist and the whole team clear those expectations by a mile.
Continuing with my Top 40 (Top 80 available on my FB page link in bio) dishes of 2019 I wanted to give the top 10 a bit more of a spotlight as I think that these are all restaurants that deserve your attention. Some are already world famous and some lesser known, but without exception all are worth your time travelling to.
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Michelin Guide - (I predict 2⭐️ followed by a 3rd ⭐️ very quickly)
OAD - (predict No 1 )
W50Best -(predict No 1)
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #oadtop100 #2019bestof #bestof2019 #alchemist #alchemistcph #rasmusmunk Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Muse at Muse
Dinner on the opening night of Tom Aikens new restaurant, Muse by Tom Aikens in a former pizzeria in Belgravia. Spread over two floors with two open kitchens with counters plus tables, this opening has been eagerly anticipated by some. Some, including myself consider that the golden era of London favourite Pied a Terre was when Aikens was heading up... More
Dinner on the opening night of Tom Aikens new restaurant, Muse by Tom Aikens in a former pizzeria in Belgravia. Spread over two floors with two open kitchens with counters plus tables, this opening has been eagerly anticipated by some. Some, including myself consider that the golden era of London favourite Pied a Terre was when Aikens was heading up the kitchen there, so since closing his fine dining restaurant in Chelsea (Now Phil Howard’s Elystan Street) we have waited to see what he will do next.
Even with the benefit of soft openings where family and friends are invited, the first night of paying customers is always going to be a little iffy and perhaps just an idea of what the restaurant can be in months to come. Having said that, the service and overall experience was great. Paced very well, with confident chefs presenting all the dishes and a very relaxed and friendly vibe thanks to a perfectly judged play list and the confidence that Aikens radiates to his team.
About the food, I can’t complain, it was good but maybe not the kind of cooking that really gets me very excited. There were no dishes that stood out to me as exceptional, but none that stood out as bad. It was interesting to see so much influence and tribute so easily identified. For example the dish entitled “The love affair continues”, which is a dish of turbot and duck sausage but with a firm tip of the cap to Pierre Koffman and the late Joel Robuchon (Aikens has worked with them both) in the form of his classic pomme purée that is a signature all around the world (although Aikens says he has reduced the ratio of butter to ratte potato from 50/50).
Other elements that sent my mind rushing back to other meals I have had were the triple cooked chip (Heston Blumenthal) on a dish of retired dairy cow (Faviken) and a dessert of corn flakes and milk that took me straight back to DiverXO where Dabiz Munoz has a signature called ‘corn, lulo, vanille and the left over milk from the bottom of the cereal bowl’ which immediately sprang to mind.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to snidely insinuate that these are rip offs. They are absolutely not in my view. I mean, how many hundreds of restaurants now triple cook chips? That’s not a rip off but the result of technique moving forward and a whole generation of chefs getting on board the triple cooked chip train, because they are better cooked that way.
Asking Tom about his plans to develop the menu, the way that it is worded allows him to change dishes in and out as they develop and as the seasons pass. This is good news for repeat customers. He says he will further develop a couple of the dishes to become permanent signatures.
Perhaps one criticism would be that putting six people at the upstairs counter is quite a squeeze. I found myself banging elbows a fair amount with the diner next to me and the wall as I was on the end. However, when booking, make sure to book upstairs as this is the main hot kitchen where Tom is doing his thing and schmoozing the punters. Down stairs seems very much like the cheap seats with just a small pastry/ cold section also with counter seating. So if you want some hot Aikens action then book upstairs for sure.
Overall good, I’ll probably head back in 6 months. Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Muse at Muse
Dinner at the opening night of Tom Aikens new restaurant, Muse by Tom Aikens in a former pizzeria in Belgravia. Spread over two floors with two open kitchens with counters plus tables, this opening has been eagerly anticipated by some. Some, including myself consider that the golden era of London favourite Pied a Terre was when Aikens was heading up... More
Dinner at the opening night of Tom Aikens new restaurant, Muse by Tom Aikens in a former pizzeria in Belgravia. Spread over two floors with two open kitchens with counters plus tables, this opening has been eagerly anticipated by some. Some, including myself consider that the golden era of London favourite Pied a Terre was when Aikens was heading up the kitchen there, so since closing his fine dining restaurant in Chelsea (Now Phil Howard’s Elystan Street) we have waited to see what he will do next.
Even with the benefit of soft openings where family and friends are invited, the first night of paying customers is always going to be a little iffy and perhaps just an idea of what the restaurant can be in months to come. Having said that, the service and overall experience was great. Paced very well, with confident chefs presenting all the dishes and a very relaxed and friendly vibe thanks to a perfectly judged play list and the confidence that Aikens radiates to his team.
About the food, I can’t complain, it was good but maybe not the kind of cooking that really gets me very excited. There were no dishes that stood out to me as exceptional, but none that stood out as bad. It was interesting to see so much influence and tribute so easily identified. For example the dish entitled “The love affair continues”, which is a dish of turbot and duck sausage but with a firm tip of the cap to Pierre Koffman and the late Joel Robuchon (Aikens has worked with them both) in the form of his classic pomme purée that is a signature all around the world (although Aikens says he has reduced the ratio of butter to ratte potato from 50/50).
Other elements that sent my mind rushing back to other meals I have had were the triple cooked chip (Heston Blumenthal) on a dish of retired dairy cow (Faviken) and a dessert of corn flakes and milk that took me straight back to DiverXO where Dabiz Munoz has a signature called ‘corn, lulo, vanille and the left over milk from the bottom of the cereal bowl’ which immediately sprang to mind.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to snidely insinuate that these are rip offs. They are absolutely not in my view. I mean, how many hundreds of restaurants now triple cook chips? That’s not a rip off but the result of technique moving forward and a whole generation of chefs getting on board the triple cooked chip train, because they are better cooked that way.
Asking Tom about his plans to develop the menu, the way that it is worded allows him to change dishes in and out as they develop and as the seasons pass. This is good news for repeat customers. He says he will further develop a couple of the dishes to become permanent signatures.
Perhaps one criticism would be that putting six people at the upstairs counter is quite a squeeze. I found myself banging elbows a fair amount with the diner next to me and the wall as I was on the end. However, when booking, make sure to book upstairs as this is the main hot kitchen where Tom is doing his thing and schmoozing the punters. Down stairs seems very much like the cheap seats with just a small pastry/ cold section also with counter seating. So if you want some hot Aikens action then book upstairs for sure.
Overall good, I’ll probably head back in 6 months. Less
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- Neil A. Chef added a new meal Dinner at Punto MX at Punto Mx
I continue to look back on happier times as a reminder of what hopefully lies ahead once this is all over. Of course a lot of restaurants will struggle and many will and have closed but I am confident that the industry will rise from the ashes and I will endeavour to be one of the first to beat a path to their doors for some tasty food. This particular... More
I continue to look back on happier times as a reminder of what hopefully lies ahead once this is all over. Of course a lot of restaurants will struggle and many will and have closed but I am confident that the industry will rise from the ashes and I will endeavour to be one of the first to beat a path to their doors for some tasty food. This particular meal was a vibrant and delicious Mexican lunch in Madrid at ⭐️ PuntoMX. Less