Food glorious food

It might have been a mistake to purchase some key staples for my new autumn wardrobe the weekend before the London Restaurant Festival. But at least elastic waistbands and stretchy trousers are on trend for the season, because I can certainly fill my new clothes out.

It had also been a rather decadent and gluttonous month approaching October, plus my body has taken the change of season as a sign to welcome additional insulation, but I really don’t care. Michelin-star meals, losing my Gordon Ramsay virginity and dining in some of the world’s best restaurants are all worth putting on a few extra pounds.

I’ve been meaning to write a general foodie-in-London blog for a while now, sharing my love of the television program Masterchef, British celebrity chefs like Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver, and the truly revolutionary world of British cooking that is swirling around me. But I’ll get on to that on another day. Instead, I want to keep it strictly about London restaurants.

My cousin Pearl says I have champagne taste on a beer budget, which pretty much sums me up perfectly. I can’t help that my tummy loves the finer things in life – the foie gras, truffle oil, cavier and basically anything tartare. Luckily for me, I am also a master at finding restaurant deals, so that my beer budget can actually afford to support my champagne tastes.

The first great deal that I found this autumn was a fixed-price five-course lunch deal at Gordon Ramsay’s two Michelin star Petrus. The second incarnation of Petrus (the first, in the Berkeley Hotel, was the victim of an acrimonious split in 2008 between Ramsay and his former friend and protégé Marcus Wareing, who now runs an acclaimed restaurant under his own name there) is in Knightsbridge, seats 40 around a semi-circled floor-to-ceiling glass tower that houses a wine cellar of 1,500 vintage bottles of Chateau Petrus.

My friend Donna and I dressed up for a Saturday afternoon lunch, pairing our five courses with some lovely wines. It was ridiculously delicious and decadent, and it was the beginning of a very foodie month. The meal started with an amuse bouche of watercress mousse, potato salad and salmon tartare, then onto a starter of ravioli of quail leg and wild mushrooms with cep sauce. My main was braised neck of Devon lamb with baby vegetables and a thyme jus, while Donna had a roasted breast of poussin and leg stuffed with wild mushroom and Madeira sauce. Next we had Gould’s cheddar with apricot chutney and toasted hazelnuts, and then British strawberries, fromage frais and rose water meringue. And it was finished with a final snack of vanilla ice cream covered in white chocolate. Needless to say, we were pleasantly sated and drunk with pleasure (and maybe from the wine) when we wandered out into the early September sunshine.

I was lucky enough to have another Gordon Ramsay meal only four days later, meeting my friend Paul’s Mom Baiba and aunt Terrie at The Savoy Grill on the Strand. The meal was superb, and made even more special by the fact that Ramsay was there, dining three tables away, looking stereotypical in all black with a shock of blonde hair. We were also offered a tour of the kitchen, where we got to meet the adorable head chef Andy Cook (appropriate name for his choice of vocation). Andy returned from Los Angeles, where he got a Michelin star at Ramsay’s London Hotel in West Hollywood, to re-open the refurbished Savoy Grill in late December last year. The restaurant has been a London icon since 1889, but has been closed for three years as part of a £220-million renovation of the hotel.

So it was quite a treat to get to dine here, and a great way to meet Baiba and Terrie, who would be my constant companions for two more fun weeks.For my starter I had a heritage tomato salad with burrata mozzarella, wild rocket pesto and a shallot dressing. All three of us chose the same main – an amazing stuffed loin and confit partridge with liver paté. We all went traditional British with our desserts: I had a burnt English cream (obviously an anglo crème brulé) with rosemary shortbread.

Into October now and the London Restaurant Festival, which is basically like Summerlicious in Toronto. It gives poor plebes like myself the opportunity to dine in some truly posh and decadent restaurants. The menus range from £15, £20, £25 and £30 fixed-price arrangements, depending on the restaurant. I booked two spots at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Suka at the Sanderson, Roast and Roux at the Landau, and then opened up some invites to my London foodie friends.

First up was L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, a two Michelin star restaurant near Covent Garden. The French chef said: “For me, London is the gastronomic capital of Europe. It’s the most modern, most innovative, city where new things are happening.” Kind of a big deal from a world-renowned chef who was named Chef of the Century in 1989, and has 26 Michelin stars across his 12 international restaurants.

I met my friend Belle there on a Saturday evening. We were seated along the bar where we had a front-row view of all the action in the kitchen. After a smoked sardine amuse bouche, I started with cocotte à la crème legère de champignons des sous-bois and Belle started with pollack en brandade froide au jus de persil et ses croutons. We both had the same main and it was truly one of the most delicious dishes I have ever had: Caille (quail) avec une timbale de macaroni aux champignons et parmesan.

To cap off the lovely meal, we took our last glasses of wine up to the rooftop bar where we were equally adventurous with the cocktail menu. I had a green tea martini with herbs sorbet and Belle tried Fire + Ice, a ginger-infused Snowqueen vodka with fresh carrot juice, dash of lemon juice and perfumed with orange bitter topped with chocolate shavings. By the end of the night, we might have spent more on the cocktails than we did on the food.

Later that week, I had reservations at Suka at The Sanderson, the Malaysian restaurant that is part of the trendy Soho hotel. Donna met up with me after work and we made our way through a series of dishes, including nasi goreng, tuna tartare, a thick tofu soup, barbecue chicken, vegetable curry and braised beef. Such a yummy selection in a lovely candlelit al fresco setting.

That weekend I finally went to Roast, a restaurant perched above Borough Market that I have been meaning to come to for about two years now. The restaurant is known for its locally sourced ingredients and superb classical British cooking, with immaculate views over the market. Head chef Lawrence Keogh, formerly of The Ritz, The Avenue and The Goring, works his culinary magic on what is called the best breakfast in London but, on this occasion, Michelle and I were here for dinner.

I kept it as traditional as possible, starting with a Lorne sausage Scotch egg with piccalilli, and Mich had Laverstock park buffalo mozzarella with Lincolnshire beets and pea shoots. My main was the house recipe pork sausage with Roast’s homemade brown sauce and chips, while Mich had Goosnargh chicken legs with creamed baked potato and Scottish girolles. We were so happily full at the end of it, we had to walk all the way into Shoreditch for our night out.

The grand finale of my London Restaurant Festival experiences was Roux at the Landau, a new collaboration from father and son Albert and Michel Roux Jr at the Langham Hotel, where chef de cuisine is Roux protégé Chris King. I dined with Jenny and we were both totally blown away by the food, the immaculate dining room, and the wonderful service.

We both started with the Saucisson Lyonnais Maison with Dijon mustard and herb salad. My main was grilled flat iron steak with Vacherin glazed cauliflower gratin and sauce Bordelaise. Jenny had Cotswold white chicken with orzo pasta carbonara and Alsace bacon. The orzo carbonara was, in Jenny’s words, “sex on a plate”. It was truly sublime.

So now you probably understand why I am struggling to fit into my new fall wardrobe. This is not the way I normally eat, but every once and a while I love to retire my beer budget and entertain my champagne tastes. I really don’t think there is any better way to spend what little money I do have.