Blog Image

Restaurants

About the blog

Have you also been visiting one of the restaurants that "The Michelin Club" have been to - then we would love to hear your comments and whether you agree or disagree with our view.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, visited 9/12-2023

3 Michelin Stars, French Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Sun, December 17, 2023 09:39:47

The 8th choice by Annette was the 3 Michelin star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, where we for the first time decided to go back to a previous restaurant, as we were celebrating our dinner no. 30 and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay was until now our Top Choice.

We were all so excited to be back at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay after 12 years and it started well with the door man, who obviously did his homework and acknowledge our reservation by welcoming me by name. Unfortunately that fell apart as soon as we then entered the restaurant – as the people in reception did not do their homework and now I had to tell who I was.

We then probably got the worst table in the restaurant. Actually I was very happy to get a window seat – but I do not expect a table where one person get put in the corner and can only get out if someone else is standing up as well. That is not a 3 star Michelin experience for me as I am expecting all seats at a table to be easy accessible. Instead it feels like the restaurant is just cramping in too many people.

12 years ago the restaurant had an amazing German Head Sommelier who immediately understood the price range we were after and had no problem recommending and telling stories about different bottles of wine – but this time we barely got any help. We are normal people who love nice food and don’t mind spending a bit of money on that – but we cannot afford to spent £200 on a bottle of wine. It took a while for the Sommelier to even come up with some suggestions for a red and then I was just shown 3 bottles from the same region in Italy all around the £200 mark. When I said that this was too expensive I was given one other choice from Australia – but barely got any explanation about the wine – also it would have been nice to have a few choices as I am still not convinced we had the best red within our budget. For the white we got no help at all and again the wine list was not easy to navigate – so we were struggling but no one offered us any explanation or told us anything about how we could navigate through the wine list. The Assistant Sommelier was slightly better to explain a bit about the wine when it was served to us – but overall the Sommelier experience failed and again definitely not what we would expect from a 3 star Michelin restaurant.

We all went for the Surprise menu and I enjoyed most of it, whereas some of my friends where struggling with a few of the courses. However what we didn’t like was that we felt extremely rushed and twice we had to ask the restaurant to slow the courses down. We are going out to have a lovely experience, which we pay a lot of money for and normally we spent 4-5 hours in the restaurant as we like to have proper time to enjoy the food and each other’s company. This time the room felt more like a train station with too many people rushing around and not with a nice relaxing atmosphere, where we could fully enjoy our meal like we did last time.

While booking the table the restaurant asked if we were celebrating anything special and I told them about our ‘Michelin club’, that we have been running since 2011 and that we were celebrating our restaurant no. 30 at our so far Top restaurant. This obviously was no big deal for them – but for us this is quite a thing and we thought they would have acknowledged that. Except for a welcome back – we didn’t see anything to say that they recognised the celebration we were having. I could have told them that we were also celebrating my 50th from last month – but thought I would just mention one thing – obviously I mentioned the wrong one as they might have been more willing to recognise a birthday celebration.

Finally when we got the bill I think we all 4 nearly had a heart attack. I know the Surprise menu was £260 per person – but we didn’t go crazy on the wine – so it never occurred to me that the total bill would be over £1700 or more than £400 per person. I guess if the whole night had been amazing then it would have been different – but we just felt there was so many things that did not match that the restaurant is still holding 3 Michelin stars and it was way overpriced for what we got.

I couldn’t help raising a complaint about our whole experience with the restaurant the following day and wrote to them a pretty similar story to what I have said above. To be fair the restaurant did send me a nice reply and said they took my feedback very seriously. We also ended up getting our 15% service charge paid back to us – so a small compensation for a very disappointing night unfortunately. Afraid we won’t be back anytime soon,

Link to the restaurant…



Le Manoir, visited 11/06-2023

2 Michelin Stars, French Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Wed, December 06, 2023 16:43:11

The 8th choice by Ingrid was the 2 Michelin star restaurant Le Manoir in the countryside of Oxfordshire with a beautiful garden where they grow all their own vegetables and herbs. Therefore we also for the first time went for lunch instead of dinner – so we could fully enjoy seeing this place in daylight and make a whole afternoon out of it.

We took a taxi to the restaurant that it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and got greeted as soon as we arrived – where the reception staff came outside to welcome us and show us to a table in the beautiful garden to have a drink before lunch. So a great welcome but we then had to sit nearly 20 minutes and wait for our drinks, which was a bit unexpected.

There was no rush and we got proper time to enjoy our drinks before being shown to our table in the very light and bright restaurant. Another reason why it felt great to be there during daytime. We did have a Sommelier providing a bit of help with the wine – but there was nothing about that service that stood out to me.

All of us had the 7 courses lunch menu – don’t think there was any other choice – but because I am not a huge fan of beetroot, which was the first course – I got to change that and Carlos who is not a huge fan of chocolate got to change his chocolate dessert – so the restaurant offered us some flexibility. The starters were really great – I loved the salmon and also the lobster dish, which were both really delicious. However as we have unfortunately experienced quite a few times – the main course cannot live up to the starters. We had lamb for the main – but mine was really fatty and for the first time I left some of the meat behind.

As usual we love a cheese course and did ask to add a plate from the cheese trolley. Turned out that one plate was enough for the 4 of us and we had some lovely cheeses to try. The main strawberry dessert was huge – I liked it a lot but because of the size it became a bit overwhelming. After the final dessert we were again offered to move to the garden for our coffees, which we were happy about as we also brought a cigar to enjoy in the garden with a whisky as well. The only downside about being in the garden was that once more we experienced a really slow service and had to wait ages for our whiskies.

The whole day the weather had been perfect but in the afternoon some clouds started to turn up and we decided it was time for a walk in the garden if we didn’t want to suddenly get rained on. The garden is really impressive and have got some amazing sculptures as well. It was just a beautiful walk after a nice lunch. We literally just managed to finish the walk when heaven opened up – so this time we escaped to the bar inside for a final drink before ordering a taxi back. Once more we waited for ages for someone serving us – so that is one thing that could definitely improve together with a better main course. Otherwise we spent 7 hours at Le Manoir and had a lovely afternoon in stunning surroundings.

Link to the restaurant…



Hide Above, visited 10/12-2022

1 Michelin Star, Modern European Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Sun, June 04, 2023 20:17:26

The 3rd choice by James was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Hide Above in a beatiful location in Mayfair overlooking Green Park.

The restaurant is a big place spread over 3 floors – but if you are there for the Michelin experience you will be seated at the first floor where we got a beautiful table in the corner with floor to ceiling windows providing us with a great view of the lively street below us just opposite Green Park. We were slightly distracted in the beginning as England was playing France in the World cup – so we kept checking our phones for the first 45 minutes but unfortunately England lost.

We got presented with a massive wine list and the Sommelier said – that for some of the wines – they would be picked up in a wine cellar down the street – but it should be possible to deliver any of the wines to our table within 15 minutes. Our Dessert wine was one of the ones that needed to be picked up and yes I believe we had it within the 15 minutes promised. We got some help from the Sommelier to pick the wines and they were all OK but I think the wine list was a bit overwhelming.

There was a choice of a 5 courses or 7 courses tasting menu – so 3 of us decided to go for the full 7 courses experiences whereas 1 person just wanted the 5 courses. What was slightly annoying when being presented with the menu was that for nearly every course you had to choose between 2 dishes – but one of the dish would have an extra charge – so for a 1 star Michelin restaurant the prices were quite high compared to other places we have been. The dish that really stood out for us on this evening was the Venison, which was so tender and just melting in your mouth – so that dish made it to our Dream menu. We were also really impressed by the Cheese Trolley, which had a great selection and some delicious cheeses. 2 plates were enough to share between us and ended up being voted as our 2nd best Cheese course ever.

We had a tour of the kitchen at the end of the night but it was so late that we didn’t really see much. What was much more interesting was that they have their own bakery on site, which worked throughout the night – so there we saw 2 very busy bakers. Also need to compliment the restaurant for their bread, which was really delicious.

So despite England losing in football we had a nice evening. Although we believe the restaurant was overpriced for being a 1-star and the service could have been more attentive – but that is what sometimes see when the restaurant has only got 1-star.

Link to the restaurant…



La Dame de Pic, visited 01/10-2022

2 Michelin Stars, French Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Wed, October 05, 2022 22:38:24

The 7th choice by Carlos was the 2 Michelin star restaurant La Dame de Pic, which we couldn’t help being excited about as the setting for this restaurant looked proper Michelin star and not like sitting in a tent like we tried last time.

For the first time we actually went to the East side of London for one of our dinners so also got the chance of trying the nice cocktail bar ‘Savage Garden Rooftop bar’ for pre-dinner drinks where we had some amazing drinks and a great view to Tower Bridge and the Shard. When we got to La Dame de Pic our expectations of the interior for a 2-star Michelin restaurant didn’t fail. The restaurant is in the ground floor of the Four Season hotel and have got a really beautiful décor. It is slightly dark inside but it also makes it really cozy and our table was in a nice spacious corner.

The Sommelier came over to help us with the wine selection but failed judging our budget and ended up recommending some really expensive wines. Didn’t seem to be able to get him down to our level – so had to more or less pick the wines ourselves which was slightly disappointing.

We got the choice of 3 different menus but the whole table had to pick the same one – so ended up going for the 6 courses Journey menu. As usual we also added an additional Cheese selection to that – but 2 plates of cheese were enough to share between us. All the food was well presented but for me nothing specifically stood out as a favorite dish. Whereas one of my friends loved the Turbot and another one the White Millefeuille dessert.

Finally since COVID we were again allowed to do the Kitchen tour and they took us out to visit the kitchen while it was still very busy and we got to chat with the evening’s Head Chef Marc Mantovani. He showed us around and explained how they used a paper diagram and pen to keep track on where they are with all the tables. Really nice to be back getting a proper feel for the Kitchen.

We overall had a really lovely evening and the service and atmosphere in the restaurant was excellent and lived up to the 2-stars – so ended up taking a current 4th place based on our total scores of all the restaurants we have been too.

Link to the restaurant…



A. Wong, visited 11/06-2022

2 Michelin Stars, Chinese Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Mon, August 29, 2022 18:11:36

The 7th choice by Annette was A. Wong with 2 Michelin stars and I was so excited about trying this restaurant as this is the only Chinese restaurant in the world that hold a Michelin star and not only 1 but 2.

The restaurant was not easy to book and when I realised the tables were always released at midnight exactly 3 months in advance – I had several trial runs to see how successful I was. At the time of booking you also have to pick the menu you are going for and we really wanted to try the whole Taste of China. However every time I did a trial run – and even if I was on their web site precisely at midnight – I always ended up on the waiting list – so decided that was never going to work. When I was ready to book the real thing – I therefore booked the menu 5 movements, which secured me a table and then afterwards emailed the restaurant and asked if we could change it to Taste of China, which they allowed me to do if we would turn up 15 mins earlier – so all good. Unfortunately a few hick-ups happened before our dinner as a month before I received an email that the Taste of China menu had gone up from £160 to £200 per person – quite a significant increase of 25%. Did think that they should have honour the guests, who already booked when the old price was advertised – but couldn’t be asked to fight about it. A week before I suddenly received another email that my reservation had been cancelled – so I nearly had a heart-attack. Luckily I saw the email straight away and phoned them up. The woman said they received a cancellation email from me, which I never sent – so still not quite sure what happened – but at least she was able to sort me out on the phone and gave me my booking back.

Finally the day had arrived where we were going to try this exotic place so we were all very excited. Wasn’t the easiest place to find but also because I think the entrance was nothing like we expected. Basically we entered via an outside extension, which was really just a tent and turned out that our table booking was also in the tent, which was definitely not where we expected to eat a 2 star Michelin dinner. Tried to ask for a table inside, but it was already full and after seeing how crowded the inside was, we realised we were probably better off in the tent. The other thing that was not Michelin star were the toilets. The toilets were Unisex and not very nice at all – so again a massive surprise – so the look and feel were nothing like any Michelin restaurant we had tried before.

Because the price of the menu had increased that heavily we decided to save money on the wine and just went with some cheaper options that we picked ourselves. However again it was a surprise how slim their wine list was as we thought with 2 Michelin stars you had to have a significant wine cellar – but maybe the rules have changed.

With everything else said – the real highlight and the only thing that was feeling like proper Michelin – was the food. That was for sure an amazing treat and I have never tasted any Chinese food like it. Our first dish – the scallops – were so beautifully done and so tasty. I loved the memories of Peking duck too but my absolute favourite were the ‘Shaanxi pulled lamb ‘burger’ with Xinjiang pomegranate salad’. It was so full of flavours and the meat so tender and delicious as I could have eaten more than one. We basically had 16 dishes and there were nothing I disliked. The other big highlight of the night was of course that Andrew Wong himself was in the kitchen and stayed the whole night – so we managed to say hello to him and compliment him on the food.

If you are going to this Michelin restaurant solely for the food – I can only say you will get one of the best experiences ever. However if you are going for the whole Michelin experience – then this is not a place I would recommend. Cannot help wondering what this would have been like if the restaurant itself have had a nice décor and with a nice atmosphere – then it would have been truly amazing. Not sure how they got away with getting 2 stars in their current settings and also their prices are a bit too steep.

Link to the restaurant…



The Dysart Petersham, visited 11/12-2021

1 Michelin Star, Modern British Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Wed, February 23, 2022 10:24:05

The 7th choice by Ingrid was The Dysart Petersham with 1 Michelin star. The restaurant got its first Michelin star recently and for once we were outside London, which was nice for a change.

The restaurant is an old gastro pub and in beautiful country surroundings just outside Richmond. It was also fairly easy to get to for all of us and for the first time I could just take a direct bus whereas the 3 others arrived by taxi. Ended up we all turned up really early but it was not an issue for the restaurant as our table was ready and we got a nice welcome by the door. The restaurant still insisted that we had to wear masks while walking around the place (although that was not required by the government anymore) but clearly they wanted to look well after their guests.

The restaurant is really spacious and we got a nice big table by the window. Also we got plenty of time to enjoy a few cocktails before looking at the menu – so was never rushed by the staff, which was really nice. The whole place just had a really great atmosphere.

The Tasting menu was 9 courses, where we of course also added the additional cheese course and for the 2nd time we had the choice of doing a beer pairing. As we were basically in an old pub and it was 4 years since our last beer pairing we decided to go for it. The food in general really exceeded our expectations. The 2 dishes that really stood out for me was the bream with ginger and champagne sauce for one of the starters, which was just amazing and then the main Chicken dish, which was so tender and delicious.

The beer tasting was on the other hand slightly disappointing. When you first beer is a Camden Hells lager, which you can basically get in every 2nd pub in the UK – you do feel they could have done a bigger effort. Also I got slightly put off by that half of the beers were in cans. Yes some of them where nice – but still a can just feel so much cheaper than a proper bottle – so not sure I will do the beer tasting again.

Beside the atmosphere and the food the other highlight of the night was really the staff. They were very attentive to the table and didn’t mind having a nice chat with us – so had this homely feeling where you are surrounded by friends. Overall a really good night out in December, which did feel more relaxed that some of the restaurants in central London but where we didn’t feel we had to compromise on food or service.

Link to the restaurant…



The Five Fields, visited 18/09-2021

1 Michelin Star, Modern British Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Sun, October 17, 2021 21:19:30

The 2nd choice by James was the 1 Michelin star restaurant The Five Fields in Chelsea, which we got really excited about when we found out the Polish woman sommelier we met at Pollen Street Social 5 years ago actually now works for this restaurant. Even more excited was to do another Michelin dinner after a year’s break because of all the COVID restrictions – so were very happy to be out again.

The restaurant is a little bit off the beaten track so we ended up taking a taxi from the pre-dinner cocktail place at Kensington Hotel. Entering the restaurant was like entering someone’s living room – so had a really nice cosy feeling about it. We also got shown to our table straight away, which was nice and spacious in the middle of the restaurant.

Firstly we got appointed the other sommelier of the restaurant to serve our table but when we mentioned that we remembered the Polish lady from before – they quickly got things changed around so we once more could have a nice experience of her amazing wine knowledge and incredible service. We of course also told her that we remembered her from Pollen Street Social – but we must have been on best behaviour 5 years ago as she didn’t remember us :-).

We all went for the 8 courses dinner menu plus added the optional cheese and there was some interesting things on there like a Fennel starter and a Rabbit main course. Overall the food was really nice and well-presented but I was missing the wow-factor where you get this amazing dish that you just remember long time afterwards as standing out. Never really happened unfortunately.

Overall a really nice experience with a great atmosphere and some very friendly staff but again nothing stood out as being exceptional and once more we had to miss out on the Kitchen tour because of COVID so no idea what the kitchen looked like, which is always nice to see.

Link to the restaurant…



Core by Clare Smyth, visited 12/09-2020

2 Michelin Stars, British Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Mon, September 14, 2020 15:35:56

The 6th choice by Carlos was the 2 Michelin star restaurant Core by Clare Smyth, which we were all very excited about. Clare is the only female chef that have ever run a 3 Michelin star kitchen in the UK – when she worked for Gordon Ramsay in his flagship restaurant at Royal Hospital Road.

The restaurant is very spacious and nice looking and our evening started really well when Clare herself greeted us from the kitchen when we entered the restaurant. We got a nice round table in the middle and were spoiled for choice by 2 different excellent 7 courses menus. We ended up with 2 of us going for the Classics menu and 2 of us went for the Seasons menu. All the dishes were so beautifully represented and you could really see a lot of effort went into every single course. Don’t think I can say which menu was the best as we all had some delicious food. For us who had the Roasted Monkfish – that was definitely one of the highlights.

The Sommelier was also really knowledgeable and helpful – so supported us in picking some excellent wines for the 2 different menus. Overall the service and staff were really good and the whole place just had a really good vibe.

Again because of COVID restrictions we couldn’t get into the kitchen itself – but when we left the restaurant Clare came out to have a chat with us and we managed to get a few pictures with her. Amazing to see the Head chef staying longer that we did – as we are normally the last ones to leave – so have never experienced that before.

Can only say we had a fantastic evening and Core ended up being voted as our current 2nd best restaurant that we have ever been to. We were also very pleased when 6 months later Clare received her 3rd Michelin star – can only say this is fully deserved.

Link to the restaurant…



Next »