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Restaurants

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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.

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…



Kitchen Table, visited 07/03-2020

2 Michelin Stars, British Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Wed, June 10, 2020 13:04:44

The 6th choice by Annette was the 2 Michelin star restaurant Kitchen Table, which only got 20 seats in a U-form around the Kitchen – so was very exciting about getting a table at this restaurant.

The restaurant is hidden behind the bar Bubbledogs – so when we arrived early as usual we just got asked to stand in the middle of the Bubbledogs with a glass of water until someone was ready to take us through to the restaurant – which felt a bit awkward. Would have liked to either be offered a proper drink or to be taken through to our seats straight away. Eventually we got taken through to the room in the back, which was basically the restaurant – so very tiny and quite unique where you definitely feel you are part of the whole cooking experience. The chairs are of course all next to each other – so we were pleased when we got 4 seats at the corner, which made it easier to have a conversation.

Basically we had the choice of going for 12 courses for £150 or 15 courses for £190 – all decided each day by the chef. However we thought the 12 courses and the price for them were enough – so we all 4 went for the standard menu. No doubt the focus was on the food here – so did feel a bit like the whole matching drink experience was missing. Took a while before we got a chance to ask for a Gin & Tonic as an aperitif – but then we ended up basically getting our Gin & Tonic with the first course which was not really the idea. The wine menu was also a bit limited and although we did get some recommendation – it was clear that wine was not really the main thing here, which I hope they will try and improve in the future.

The highlight of the night was definitely the atmosphere being so close to the kitchen and also the master chef James Knappett, who you could follow closely doing the cooking and who was also happy to chat to you in between the courses. Additional the food was a true delight – I was a huge fan of the Sardine dish and the Brill with the foie gras, which I thought both had so many flavours – whereas Carlos really loved the Bigusto Ravioli.

Their web-site was saying to allocate 3 ½ hours for the dinner, which we even thought would be slightly rushes as we normally spend between 4-5 hours at a Michelin restaurant. Unfortunately they cut the time down to just below 3 hours – so honestly we felt very rushes and at one point they even started serving the next dish before Ingrid finished the previous one – so we were not happy about that part as they could clearly see she was still eating. Ended up that we took part of the service charge off the bill – as we didn’t feel the service was up to the standards we normally get. Also if they haven’t rushed us so much – we would have bought more to drink – but they missed out on that opportunity.

We had a nice evening – but I was so much looking forward to try this restaurant – so have to admit that except for the food I thought everything else was lacking and was actually quite disappointed.

Link to the restaurant…



Murano, visited 16/11-2019

1 Michelin Star, Italian Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Mon, June 08, 2020 19:15:25

The 6th choice by Ingrid was the 1 Michelin star Italian restaurant Murano, and I think we were all excited about trying our first Italian restaurant with a Michelin star.

We only arrived slightly early as we got a bit lost walking from a nearby cocktail bar and this time we got seated at a nice round table close to the Kitchen.

The restaurant doesn’t have a tasting menu but we could choose 5 or 6 courses from the a la carte menu. 3 of us went for the 6 courses and 1 of us just picked 5. The 2 most popular dishes were the Carnaroli Risotto and the Artisanal Cheese, which we all 4 went for. The Risotto although not looking as great the way it was presented – was a real delight and the Cheese didn’t disappoint either. There was also a nice Tortellini pasta dish for starter and the Venison for main was really lovely as well. Overall the food was really good except for the dessert where I went for the Tiramisu Marquise with Coffee ice Cream. I always appreciate a good Tiramisu and most Italian restaurants know how to make a good one. However I expected this one to be the top of class and just got really disappointed. Was like they were trying to make it way too fancy – so it completely missed what a good Tiramisu should taste like.

Whereas the food was generally good the low point for me was the wine list. I love Italian wines and know what a huge selection of amazing Italian wines there are – but this wine list was really limited. Yes the sommelier was able to help us with both an Italian white and Italian red – but nothing fantastic and did feel like we were making a compromise on the wine. The biggest disappointment was that we were not able to get a nice glass of Port with our Cheese course. The restaurant only had 1 Port on the wine list, which they were charging £29 for per glass – so even though we love Port we thought that was too much. Just really took us by surprise that they didn’t have a selection of Ports to choose from to go with the cheese.

Although the evening had some highs and lows – we as always had a nice time. Also enjoyed that they had a few tables outside where we could sit and smoke a cigar. We also got a tour of their kitchen while they were doing a massive clean-up – but the staff were really friendly and keen to show us the place.

Link to the restaurant…



Alyn Williams at the Westbury, visited 06/04-2019

1 Michelin Star, Modern British Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Sun, August 25, 2019 11:49:34

The 1st choice by James was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Alyn Williams at the Westbury – and we were all very excited to try out the first restaurant being picked by James.

We arrived at the restaurant slightly early after a few cocktails revisiting the excellent Mr Foog’s just around the corner. Straight away we got directed to an excellent round table in a corner, which left us with plenty of space – so immediately we had a good feeling about this place.

The standard tasting menu was 9 courses with the options of adding Lobster Tail with caviar and the Cheese board at something extra, which we couldn’t resist – so ended up all of us went for the full 11 courses. The service was really great and we got some nice recommendations from the sommelier as well about the wines. You could see the sommelier was passionate about his job when he told us a great story about the logo on the red wine.  

The highlight was when the 1st course got served – as it was served by no one else than Alyn Williams himself. That was quite a surprise and we were really pleased to meet the master chef at our table. Also managed to get a photo with him and the guys, which was a nice memory from the evening. Pleased we insisted on getting the photo though – as Alyn first said we could get one later with him in the kitchen. However at the time where we were allowed to go and see the kitchen – it was very quiet and Alyn had already left the restaurant – so good we didn’t wait for that opportunity.

All the food was really nice – but I guess I was waiting for the really wauw experience, which never came. There was also a bit too much beetroot served with the main pigeon for my taste – but to be fair to the waiter he did offer to replace the dish if I didn’t like it – but I felt I was having enough food already – so just went with it. On top of the 11 courses we got treated to both 4 tasters before dinner and 4 small sweets after dinner – so for sure we had more than enough to eat and no one was leaving hungry.

Overall I can say that the atmosphere and whole experience was really nice and we spent nearly 5 hours in the restaurant so really enjoyed it. Also felt a lot more like this should have been a 2 Michelin star place instead of just a 1 star – so can only hope they would be considered for a 2nd star soon.

Link to the restaurant…



Portland, visited 15/12-2018

1 Michelin Star, Modern European Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Tue, December 18, 2018 19:47:05

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The 5th choice by Carlos was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Portland an interesting and different choice.

We arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes early as always but for the first time we experienced that the restaurant was not able to accommodate an early arrival. Basically the restaurant was tiny and didn’t have a bar area or even a space where we could stand and wait – so the only thing the waiter could do was to direct us to the pub on the opposite site of the road. Told him that this now meant we would be slightly late – but he was fine with that.

When we did get back to the restaurant we got seated next to the also very small and totally open kitchen – so had a great view to all the action in there. The whole restaurant was very different to any other Michelin restaurants we have tried before. Very relaxed atmosphere including the waiters outfit as everyone was running around wearing aprons. The restaurant don’t have a sommelier – so our waiter helped us with the wine list – but got some really nice wines, which were very fairly prices compared to other places we have been to.

However the restaurant does have a Tasting menu, which we all 4 went for and we got a big cheer from the kitchen next to us when we ordered the Tasting menu – so clearly also a highlight for them. There were 9 courses on the Tasting menu – but the first 4 were served together as they were smaller plates – but a really nice surprise actually. I particularly loved the Crispy Chicken Skins and the Lobster & Miso rolls, which were just delightful. The Cured Ocean Trout was also a lovely dish and the whole experience was just great value for money. They don’t have a cheese trolley – but we were able to add a few cheese plates in between our main and dessert – so did get a bit of a cheese experience as well.

The kitchen was too tiny to really ask for a kitchen tour and we could see the whole thing anyway. However we did ask for the main chefs to come to our table – so we could say hello and get our picture taken with them – which they were very happy to do.

Our final bill was one of the cheapest we have had, which was an added bonus – and despite that the whole place didn’t have the ambience of a typical Michelin restaurant – we all had a great evening. Continued the night at The Churchill Bar with some great whiskies and cigars as we thought it was time to introduce our newest member of the Michelin club James to this special place.

Link to the restaurant…



Claude Bosi at Bibendum, visited 28-04/2018

2 Michelin Stars, French Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Fri, August 10, 2018 11:17:13

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The 5th choice by Annette was the 2 Michelin star restaurant Bibendum in a very unique building, which used to be an old Michelin garage – so the Michelin name and man was represented in many places.

We therefore also started with admiring the building from the outside and take a few pictures – that this was quite special. The restaurant is on the 1st floor and again really impressive from the inside with beautiful stained glass windows with pictures of the Michelin man. It was also really spacious and we got a nice round table with a view to the action in the kitchen behind some big glass windows. We also found out later that the Michelin man was being used in many places – so we both saw him on the napkins and the plates with the butter.

We all 4 quickly decided on the 6 courses surprise menu + the additional cheese board, which we didn’t want to miss. The Sommelier helped us to choose the wine and we watch with interest when he poured the red wine into a carafe over a candle – not something we had seen before and made the pouring quite interesting.

Before we started on the Surprise menu we got some nice tasters and one of them particular stood out when we had a mushroom compote served in an egg shell. I am not normally a big fan of mushrooms but this tasted absolutely delicious. When we started on the menu the Vegetable Nosotto was really special but the smoked French green asparagus just made me laugh. Looking at a big asparagus with a spoonful of Hollandaise sauce served right at the end – I am sorry but that just gave me associations to something completely different – I say no more but definitely brought at smile to my face. The other thing that was really special was the dessert the Tarte Tatin Parfait, which got served looking exactly like an apple so really beautiful and tasted good as well.

Despite being able to follow the action in the kitchen through the glass windows – we still asked for the kitchen tour since really just wanted to say hello to the kitchen staff and also just feel the action from the other site. Therefore Carlos, James and I went out there and had a good chat and laugh with the Head chef who could be proud of the very modern kitchen.

We all had a really great evening and a good interaction with the staff but unfortunately things got ruined a bit when we got the bill. The bill was over a grand, which was not surprising but we noticed that they charged us £20 per person for the additional cheese board whereas in the menu it was only mentioned as an additional £10 per person. We pointed this out to the waiter, who said she would check with her manager – but she ended up coming back saying that the £10 was only if you have chosen the a-la-carte menu – so we had to pay the £20 each. We could have gone in to a big discussion at this point since no one told us up-front about the £20 per person and that price was not mentioned anywhere. However I decided it was not worth the discussion – but since they were not willing to take £40 of the bill – there was no reason to pay the optional service charge, which was £140. Felt badly for the staff who lost out on the service charge – but it became a principle and I was just a bit shocked that the restaurant was so
stubborn about the additional £40 on such a big bill.

Yes we had a good evening but unfortunately it is the last impression that you are leaving with – so where this could have been a real highlight we now left with a bit of a bad taste in our mouth instead – such a shame.

Link to the restaurant…



Quilon, visited 16/12-2017

1 Michelin Star, Indian Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Thu, December 21, 2017 11:35:26

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The 5th choice by Ingrid was the 1 Michelin star restaurant Quilon, a very interesting choice where we for the first time were offered a Tasting menu with matching Beers.

Started the evening in the nice bar next to the restaurant where we had some nice cocktails in a really relaxed atmosphere. When we got seated at our table we got presented with their standard 5 courses menu but since we were up for a nice long evening at the table we requested to have a look at their 8 courses menu with matching beers with sounded really interesting. Didn’t took us long for all of us to decide on the 8 courses and was quite excited about trying something new and different.

For each course we had 1 beer between 2 people, which might not seem a lot at first but it actually worked out really well. The beers were all very different and from different parts of the world with Belgium being the dominant country since 3 of the beers where from Belgium. The abv was between 4.2 and 8.5 % – so some of the beers were quite strong but worked perfectly with the spicy Indian food. The most unique beer was the ‘Liefmans Frut’, which we got at the end with the dessert. Tasted more like cider and a lot of strawberry but worked perfectly with the Pistachio cake.

The food was also really lovely with a good kick to it and every dish had basically 2 different things on the plate. Loved the Grilled Scallop served together with the Peppered Shrimps and also the Mini Vegetable Dosa served together with the Mango Ginger Chicken were really special.

Carlos and I also went for the usual kitchen tour and like the rest of the restaurant there was also a very relaxed atmosphere in here – so just a pleasant visit.

We read about that the restaurant has a no tipping policy – but have never come across that before so we actually had to ask – when we got the bill – if that really meant they wouldn’t accept any tips. We were told that this was exactly what it meant since the restaurant is paying their staff well and they don’t want to make a different between the service staff and the kitchen staff. Thought that this was a really nice policy and also meant for us that where we normally see 10 – 15% being added to the bill in service charge – suddenly we didn’t have that extra cost. Therefore it also turned out to be our cheapest Michelin dinner so far but definitely great value for money and we all had a really enjoyable evening.

Link to the restaurant…



Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, visited 27/05-2017

2 Michelin Stars, French Posted by Annette JorgensenPosted on Sun, October 29, 2017 09:21:05

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The 4th choice by Manuel was the 2 Michelin star restaurant Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, one of the rare Michelin restaurants we have been to with a woman head chef.

The evening started with some really nice cocktails in the Connaught Bar. The bar was really stylish and offered some delicious cocktails, which was all well presented. We then got taken to our table in the also nice and stylish restaurant where we again had a great start. This time each of us got presented with a board game with marbles, where you first of all had to decide whether you wanted 5 or 7 courses and then you left either 5 or 7 marbles behind each representing a course with the name of the main ingredient you liked the most. A fun and different way to start the evening.

The 2 things all 4 of us went for were the Scallop and the Rum Baba. The Scallop was really delicious and another thing that stood out for me was the John Dory – so couldn’t real fail them on the fish dishes. However the Rum Baba was a big mistake. I don’t know if this was because it was at the end of the evening but they basically drowned the Baba in Rum and it didn’t taste nice at all. Another thing that we didn’t enjoy was that we never got the same courses together. Of course we understood that based on what we have chosen – things were served in a specific order – but we specifically asked to all have the Rum Baba together since we wanted to share that experience – but that request just got ignored, which was just irritating.

The whole evening started on a high but finished on a low – it was like in the beginning there were a lot of attention to details and the waiters were there to provide an excellent service. However the further we went through the evening the attention started lacking and we were even struggling to get them to our table at the end. The Sommelier was there to help with the wines – but again did miss some enthusiasm and we didn’t get any fantastic recommendations. Also meant we ended up having less to drink than usual – since there was no temptation to try another glass.

The really low point was the toilet experience. I know this restaurant is part of a hotel and that the toilets are shared between the other restaurants and bars at the hotel – but still this is a posh place so how can this be so bad. First of all I cannot stand that there is a service person at the toilets expecting a tip to keep the toilets clean. When I am paying that amount of money for dinner I am totally expecting that the toilets are always kept spotless but also that a visit to the toilets are free of charge. Also the guy in the men’s toilets started commenting on how many times the guys have been to the toilet. Completely unprofessional and just showed totally lack of manners – so put the overall experience down.

Carlos and I did our usual kitchen tour, where we saw the very hot kitchen in the basement in their busy hours – so at least that part was nice. Also all of us got a nice cake to take home when we left the restaurant. However overall we were not impressed and Hélène Darroze at The Connaught ended nearly at the bottom of our list.

Link to the restaurant…..



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