THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
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15 years on, the London Restaurant Festival, in conjunction with American Express, organizes events with well-chosen city-wide restaurants and those in the know have it in their calendar to secure tickets as soon as they are released. Where have you been, didn’t know about it?
It happens twice a year and organized experiences include ‘Food Fest at Market Halls’, a ticketed event on Oxford Street with DJs from Ibiza’s OpenLab, and a Hopping Tour which guides you to four different restaurants in one night each with a tasting plate and drink. From Belgravia to Islington and Kings Cross, enlist your foodie friends, this will undoubtedly become an event that you want to do again.
I rocked up to The Pavyllon London Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane to gormandize multi-Michelin starred Chef Yannick Alléno’s modern French dining. As you enter the sumptuous room, it’s the golden pink lighting that invites you to sink into the perfectly selected capacious chairs in a magnificent, acoustically considered room that lends itself to any occasion. Each course is paired with wines from the Oregon Wine Board. The wines are available from Highbury Vinters and will be this year’s Christmas gifts to friends I really like. Around the Chef’s counter, we were presented with a front-row experience as the talented team prepared (they employed kitchen tweezers) then presented delectables such as the locally sourced scallop carpaccio in crispy thin tartlet. It was divine. It is always dessert that I hold out for, and as it is the last course it’s what stays with diners most, so make it unforgettable. Berries Méli-Mélo with lemon verbena and Chartreuse jelly, sorrel sorbet, and sugar free meringue (using stevia as an alternative), paired with a Willamette Valley Vineyards, Pinot Gris, 2020. A gob masterpiece.
What I love about the event is the idea that you have ‘petit tasters’ which enable you to savor the offerings without the commitment of an entire plate.
