A not very short report on a too-short trip to London in January

[buttertart]

My husband and I (love saying that, thank you Queen Elizabeth) spent a couple of days in London in early January and had a wonderful time of it. (We're from NYC.)
We started with dinner wih a charming couple we met through CH (you know who you are, it was a lot of fun) at the Harwood Arms - snails with braised oxtail and beef marrow were utterly delicious, what a great combination of tastes and textures, the pheasant Kiev with red cabbage was also very good indeed, and the Camp coffee ice cream with homemade Bourbon biscuits was a nice treat to end the meal.
Lunch the next day was at Hibiscus, which is my favorite restaurant in the world at the moment - it's a beautiful and peaceful room, with excellent professional service the likes of which is not too common in the States, and their set lunch is an amazing bargain given its quality (GBP 38.50 for 3 courses with a glass of wine, coffee, and chocolates). We started with an amuse-gueule of buckwheat cream in a small brown eggshell, had the goose and foie gras paté (for M) and the chestnut cream with Parmesan custard (me), both beyond delicious, the roast partridge with vegetables and a few pomegranate seeds, perfectly cooked pink and sapid (both of us), and the Neal's Yard cheeses with slivered figs and grapes (for M, supplement charged) and the chestnut parfait for me. Excellent café filtre and chocolates to finish - the white chocolate passionfruit and the milk chocolate with salted caramel were wonderful. M said the dark choc one was very good but I didn't want to spoil the taste of the white choc one in my mouth. We had a glass of Spanish white and a bottle of an Austrian red (Spaetburgunder I think) from the lower end of the exciting wine list with the meal. This was a spectacular lunch - just about as good as anything I've had at Per Se at a fraction of the cost. Did not leave until I had extracted a promise from M to take me here for dinner on my next significant birthday.
Dinner that night was fish and chips and a bottle of white plonk at Geales - very good cod and haddock but the chips were, while good, obviously frozen. A pleasant change but next time we will go back tothe Golden Hind for F&C.
Lunch the next day was at Veeraswamy, which we happened upon while walking around Picadilly. It was good but not great - my chaat and M's tandoori set lunch were better than the rest of the meal. It is a beautiful restaurant and it was fun to see the pictures of vanished luminaries who had dined there before us.
We had seen Bentley's in the same street while walking around and so stopped in to make a reservation for dinner (I was in the mood for oysters). It turned out to be almost as exciting a meal as Hibiscus: Cornish oysters that winced when I squirted lemon on them with a glass of Muscadet to start for me, the seafood bisque for M, packed with all manner of excellent shellfish and crab, the Dover sole on the bone meuniere for me (didn't expect capers on meuniere but they worked well), and the goose confit with red cabbage for M. The sommelier did the magic trick of suggesting a bottle that went well with both of these dishes -a very lightly chilled red Santenay. It was a delight. Bravo.
Lunch next day was F&C for me and a venison pie for M at an undistinguished pub in Earls Court near our hotel - not bad considering. Then off to the airport, and home.
We had been in Paris for the 3 days preceding this - and ate much betterin London than we did there (we stuck to the lower-end - but good - places in Paris this trip, and were well fed, but the food in London was inspired).
Would go back in a minute!

[Harters]

Glad you enjoyed.

You probably know that Veeraswamy is Britain's oldest Indian restaurant. I well remember from the 1960s, my much older cousin telling me of his business trips down south and eating there. Of course, this was a time before there was any significant south asian population in north west England, so it all sounded very exciting. I promised myself that one day I must eat Indian food - still havtn been to this restaurant though.

[buttertart]

The food is more than acceptable and the restaurant is beautiful (it was its age that intrigued us initially) - it's rather expensive however, set lunches GBP 25.00 plus. I'm sure there is better even posh Indian food in London, but it happened to be close to our destination that day, which was snowy and sloppy out.

[PhilD]

My parents used to eat at Veeraswamy in the 1940's. It is now owned by the "Chutney Mary" chain and they spent a lot of money sprucing it up and revamping the menu. I agree with the OP that it is quite variable, some dishes are superb, others quite average. They do an interesting pakora that includes battered curry leaves, I am not certain if that is traditional, but it is very good.

[Harters]

I've just spotted buttertart's mention of capers with the sole meuniere and wonder how common this is. Reason is Mrs H is a great fan of sole when we visit Spain and they appeared on a dish in Tenerife the other week. She was surprised as well - not least that they worked.

[zuriga1]

John, I think the use of capers with a light, lemon sauce is fairly common with sole in the U.S. I've had that quite a few times. Capers are a surprising ingredient. I use them to make a sweet and sour aubergine dish, and it's delicious.

[buttertart]

They are indeed common with fish (esp skate) in the US - and I use them in cooking a lot - but I didn't expect to see them on a meuniere. They were great with it, and I wish I could eat Dover sole at least once every couple of weeks...the buttered spuds we had with were terrific too.

[zuriga1]

One great thing about the UK is the spuds. They have taste, unlike most of the varieties in the U.S. I'm always amazed at how many varieties there are in the supermarkets, and one gets to learn which are best for cooking which way. Of course you live close to Idaho, and the potatoes may be fresher for you. :-)

[buttertart]

Used to live in CA, now nowhere near ID...dependent on Greenmarket spuds to get any with taste. Miss my New Brunswick, Canada floury ones...

[zuriga1]

Sorry - I got you confused with the other person from Seattle. You are from my old neck of the woods.

[Harters]

I think that was my point. Meuniere is meuniere and doesnt usually have capers.

[buttertart]

Indeed.

[Harters]

Just as an aside - do you get caper-berries where you are? Big fat things with the stalk still on, for nibbling. An essential part of tapas or mezze at Casa Harters.

[buttertart]

Yes we do. They are good, aren't they? There's a Greek restaurant here that serves a salad with pickled caper vines - they look kind of scary (spiny) but taste good too (and aren't prickly). I've since found them in jars in Greek stores.

[pj26]

Thanks for your great review - I have lunch booked at Hibiscus this weekend and can't wait after reading this!

[buttertart]

You will love it. I would go back in a second!

[mariebrizard]

Dover sole is quite common in Spain, but not always done well. It can get quite dry...

Very tasty though...