Green Dining at The Park Terrace Restaurant, Kensington

This week Foodie In London was most excited to recieve an invite to the new Park Terrace Restaurant at The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

The Park Terrace, What’s The Deal?: The Park Terrace has just re-opened at this classic London hotel that’s been around for so long that my mother remembers visiting the lobby to phone home (she’s American) when she was a student at the nearby Royal College of Art.

The towering 5-star hotel is also home to the swish Chinese restaurant Min Jiang which opened a couple of years back. One of the waiters gave us a quick tour of the top floor restaurant and the views of the city skyline really were spectacular. Note to self: book on NYE to see fireworks over the London Eye minus the crowds and cold.

Come on back down to the ground floor with me though as this my friends was the reason for mine and my dining companions visit (known affectionately as Mom).

The Park Terrace, The Food: This restaurant was in fact already called The Park Terrace but the dining room has been revamped where executive chef Steve Munkley is bringing a newfound dedication to local produce.

Local suppliers include Mrs Tee’s for wild mushrooms, venison sourced from the New Forest and smoked salmon comes from the John Ross Smokery in Scotland.

Even more local still is the cocktail list. Peering out of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Kensington Gardens, with even a glimpse of the palace in the distance, we pored over a cocktail menu inspired by the adjacent royal park.

Alcoholic inventions include Elfin Oak (Château Damasse, Amaretto, Angostura, fresh mint and soda) – named after a painted 900 year-old tree stump in Kensington Gardens, Betwixt & Between (a Peter Pan creation of Absolut Citron, Passoa, Mandarin Napoleon, orange peel) – JM Barrie was said to be inspired by his strolls in the gardens, and Green Woodpecker (Mud House Sauvignon Blanc, Amaretto, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice). The waiter assured us that although he had not personally seen a green woodpecker (yet) they were known to nest in the gardens.

However my mother doesn’t drink and in a bid to be healthy for once and try to go for a novel 24 hours without booze, I joined her in a ‘mocktail’.

We had a Parkside Cooler (strawberry puree, peach juice, fresh mint, orange juice) and a Virgin Vanilla Mojito – (apple juice, fresh mint, lime juice, vanilla sugar and lemonade) which were both fruity and delicious but my Parkside Cooler was perhaps a bit filling to kick off a three-course meal.

After debating about whether it was wrong to have fish to start and more fish for a main course, I settled on rosemary and sherry marinated Shetland organic salmon with crème fraîche and oyster crisp to begin with, followed by a meaty main of loin of New Forest venison with celeriac purée, confit root vegetable terrine pink fur potatoes and port jus.

Throughout our meal we were served by the adorably charming manager Jorge Canela who was such a cutie, I find it hard to criticize even the slightest thing but here’s my honest opinion.

The starter was nicely presented and generous in size but I found something a bit too slimy about the salmon – perhaps the sherry infusion had this effect. I wasn’t a big fan of the thin slivers of cucumber that came with it either. Too fussy. Altogether a dish that just didn’t excite me much.

The venison was really good – beautifully gamey and flavorful and the ‘oh so rich’ port jus that accompanied it was fabulous. The celeriac puree complimented everything on the plate and the root vegetable terrine had a nice tough texture too.

By the time the dessert menu came round we were getting a bit full but we opted to share the white mozzo coffee tart with mascarpone cream and coffee crisp which Jorge said was his favourite. AMAZING! Really, this was one of the best desserts I have had in long time.

The tart filling was rich and creamy and punchy and filled the mouth with all sorts of lasting sweet sensations. Jorge revealed the secret of this gloriously sweet treat. There is white chocolate in the tart filling.

To finish we had coffee and some beautiful petit fours, which came served in an edible leaf-shaped biscuit.

Park Terrace, Toilet Watch: Grand, spacious and filled with marble and mirrors. Plenty of room to swing a cat.

The Park Terrace, The Final Word: A fancy hotel restaurant with adoring staff and a serene setting. Visit a) if you’re a tourist, b) if you love British produce, or c) if you’re in the area and looking for a tranquil spot for lunch. Let’s hope The Park Terrace lives on.

Details:
Park Terrace
Royal Garden Hotel
2-24 Kensington High Street
London
W8 4PT
www.parkterracerestaurant.co.uk

Hanging Out With Hix

Just got back from a gloriously satisfying and marvellously impromptu visit to Mark Hix's new Soho restaurant.

"We'll never get a table," I said to my spontaneous dining partner, "but let’s just walk past and check it out on the off-chance anyway".

We peered past a heavy metal door into the reception and lo and behold there was a table for two with our name on it.

The upstairs dining room looks very much like an old-skool Conran restaurant although a cooler version with a scattering of art deco details and one-off art pieces from London's art fash pack including the likes of Emin and Hirst.

Wooden tables are dotted about, a little too close for intimate chats, and the room is backed by a large bar running the length of the restaurant featuring a back-lit crusteca section complete with seashells. Over on the right, there's a row of booth seating and a semi-private dining room.

Onto the menu: Hix's thing is British dining with a big hearty focus on red meat. This was perfectly evident by the fact that nearly every table of suited and booted guys (and there were a few) had a great hunk of hanger steak hanging off of it.

Being a lady however, the starter of cod's tongue and girolles caught my eye.

"Does cod actually have tongue?" I sheepishly asked the waitress.
"Yes it does."
"They must be rather small then?"
"Well the dish actually contains some cheek glands as well as the actual tongue." Mmm, that's sold it for me. No really, I ordered it.

The cod's tongue was served grilled and breaded mixed with some perfectly chestnut-coloured mushrooms and slices of spring onion. It was a bit too salty for my high blood pressured liking and if I'm honest I couldn't taste any difference in cod tongue to any other parts of cod flesh, but it was tasty all the same.

But the starring starter was my partner's De Beauvoir smoked salmon 'Hix cure'. A generous portion of six slices of the thickest and most tantalizingly-smoky smoked salmon I have ever tasted.

For my main course I had a seasonal salad of roasted squash with pickled walnut and goat's cheese (actually a starter on the menu) and my dining buddy opted for steak, which appeared to go down very well.

After our meal, we popped down to the basement bar for a nightcap. True to the rumours of being London's most sociable restaurateur, Hix was propped up by the bar entertaining friends including Peter Blake whilst sipping on a pink cocktail.

The bar is a funky den of purposely mis-matched furniture, distressed mirrored walls, an embossed tin ceiling and soft, sexy lighting. Shelves of homemade jars of of an alcoholic nature sit happily on the back of the bar, fermenting into tempting liqueurs, mixers and aperitifs.

The cocktail menu is a drinks history novel and thirst quencher all rolled into one, brimming with British berry-infused concoctions and fruit punches. Not surprisingly, the man behind the drinks is Nick Strangeway the fabulous mixologist from Hawksmoor.

Hix: www.hixsoho.co.uk.

Great British Nosh at The Wharf – Canteen

After years of being a relative dining void (with the exception of course of the marvellous, magical Plateau Restaurant), Canary Wharf is swiftly becoming London's hottest new dining spot.

Jamie's Italian opened this summer to rave reviews. I still haven’t managed to try it as the wait has been over an hour for a table every time I've tried and they run an annoying no bookings policy.

At the other side of 'The Wharf', The Lower East Liquor Bar and Inn has opened next to Goucho serving up American food and cocktails at the riverside.

Now diners are flocking to the Park Pavillion where a medley of restaurants have sprung up on the new spot which overlooks Canada Square.

You can take your pick from the vast bar The Parlour, a new Roka, (those that know and love Roka, Charlotte Street will be salivating at the very thought), Mexican street food café Wahaca is to open imminently and last but not least a new Canteen.

We visited for dinner last Sunday.

Canteen does classic British comfort food well, served in unimposing identikit surroundings (other Canteens can be found at Spitalfields, Baker Street and The Royal Festival Hall).

Canary Wharf's Canteen had a bit of an American feel to it when we visited on Sunday evening. We sat down in a cosy green-carpeted booth in the serene and airy restaurant with glass floor-to-ceiling windows throughout and some chilled out jazz playing in the background.

All the roast dinners had sold out. A good sign!

We ate:

Devilled kidneys on toast
Spiced parsnip soup

Chicken tarragon and walnut salad
Prune, chicken and ale pie with mash and greens.

This was all washed down with a nice bottle of Primitivo Sangiovese and a banoffee pie to finish.Perfect Sunday night comfort eating.

Our only complaint was the banoffee pie had way too much crust (which you practically needed an electric saw to permeate) and not enough banoffee filling. In true American style we piped up and made our banoffee pie feelings known.

Look out for a Canary Wharf Wahaca blog post coming soon.