The 4th choice by Ingrid was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Pollen Street Social and for the first time we got to go out in the nice Christmas month of December.
Unfortunately that also meant that the traffic into London was quite bad so Ingrid, Manual and Carlos just arrived before our booking time and had to rush a bit with a cocktail before dinner whereas I had proper time to enjoy mine. However the cocktails were really nice but the bar area right by the entrance was quite small and with a lot of activity around us – so not that relaxed and we were pleased when taken to the table.
We got seated at a square table in the middle of the restaurant which was quite nice and the restaurant was also lovely decorated for Christmas so had a nice atmosphere. There was also a chair for the ladies bags – which we loved.
The first impression of the Sommelier we got introduced to was really bad. He seemed scared of actually making some suggestions for us and more or less left it to ourselves to pick the wines, which we were not impressed by. The white wine we chose was fine but when we got to the red – we had to send it out since it was not to our taste at all and for me it tasted like it was corked. At that point the Head Sommelier – a lovely Polish girl – came to our table and offered to take care of us for the rest of the evening. She showed a completely difference experience with the wines and with her enthusiasm we trusted her completely – so she managed to change a bad start to a really great wine experience.
We all 4 went for the 5 courses Tasting menu since the additional dishes on the bigger menu didn’t really appeal to us. However as always we added the additional cheese board, which turned out to be a great decision – since the cheese choices were really impressive. Overall the food was nice and we also got some nice tasters both before and after dinner but of all the dishes I think the cheese board stood out the most – so nothing exceptional about the other dishes.
In the end of the evening Carlos and I did our usual kitchen tour, where we got to see quite an impressive kitchen and speak to the Head chef while he was still preparing food – so a really nice touch.
Based on that we changed the Sommelier after the white wine and got the Head Sommelier to sort out all the remaining wines for us – we had really no idea how much the bill was going to be at the end but got such a lovely surprise. Ended up that we only paid for the 1st white wine, which we drank before the Head Sommelier took over. Everything else she served us was on the house – since she didn’t want us to leave with a bad experience. A really lovely touch and definitely the one thing that stood out and that we would never forget – so finished the evening on a high. Also meant that we jumped straight in a taxi and continued the night at The Churchill Bar (that we got to know last time) with some great whiskies and cigars.
