Wilton's In London - How Do I Love thee?

I received this today from one of my favorite restaurants in London - All I can say is , I have booked my flight and can't wait until September.
This my friend is true eating, not that insipid food that trendy restaurants try to pawn of on you. And of course, this is not for the impoverished of pocket nor dress. Thank goodness!

The DP Dinner 29 September 2010

29th Sep 2010
Wiltons and Dom Pérignon invite you to experience a very special champagne dinner, tutored by Richard Bampfield, MW and European Champagne Ambassador 2009.

This is truly a unique opportunity to enjoy a variety of Dom Pérignon vintages alongside the exceptional food of Wiltons award-winning celebrity chef Andrew Turner.

Champagne canapé reception served with Dom Pérignon Vintage 2000: 6.30pm

Dinner: 7pm (prompt)
Dress: Lounge suit ( if you have to ask - then this is not for you!)
Menu

Butter poached native lobster and scallop fondant - Oh! My! My favorite!

Dom Pérignon Vintage 2002

Breast of guinea fowl and confit leg with salsify, - OMG - Another favorite!
Wild mushrooms and rosemary

Dom Pérignon Oenotheque Vintage 1996

Pear William Pavlova, cardamom and almonds

Dom Pérignon Rose Vintage 2000

Coffee and sweetmeats

Glenmorangie Signet
£180 per person
.......................too expensive?  Naw!
Just remember what Victor Hugo once said
"As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled'..............and stomach!

Happy Christmas....2009

The Dining Room at Rules Restaurant (London) for Christmas

It is strange that the word 'comfort' does not appear in any modern architectural curriculum: you can go to lectures ad infinitum on new technology, flexible living spaces, sustainable development and demographic trends, but none on comfort. I would have thought it was a fundamental element of creating a desirable house, let alone a desirable restaurant. Students could well study Rules Restaurant for a definitive explanation. Not only is it utterly comfortable in the purest sense of the word, but, in the lowering gloom of December, it is also deeply comforting. You feel safe there. Everyone looks happy- the clients and the waiters-and isn't that, after all, the point? Try one of the latest clickety-clackety restaurants, with tile floors and chrome fittings rendering mobile-phone tunes cacophonous, and test the level of contentment. Its not there and willnever be there!
'There are some restaurants that give one a sense of being at home,' wrote author Graham Greene about Rules, 'more at home than in a friend's house, welcome, at peace'...
To me, Rules is not just cozy, it has an air of voluptuous indulgence that makes the whole experience of going there feel slightly illegal. Having tramped long sunless streets on the edge of Covent Garden you come off gaunt Maiden Lane into a wave of warmth. Even though it's only lunchtime, it already feels like twilight. Everything is effortless: unobsequious waiters and waitresses hover discreetly, slide off your coat and take your shopping bags.
You sit on a half-moon shaped red plush banquette, linen falling heavily on our laps, a swirly red and gold carpet underfoot. There are swaggy red velvet curtains at the windows, marble busts in black niches, dried hop vines trailing over a huge gilt-framed looking-glass, and stained glass in the lantern above. The walls are painted in old Great Western Railway cream, with every cornice, arch and piece of woodwork picked out in black and gold; everywhere there are oil paintings, prints, caricatures, playbills, layer upon layer of Rules' mementoes and relics from the past 200 years.In the end, Rules is home to me and will always be, especially at Christmas time.
I hope someday, that  you my readers will be able to experienced it, if you have not already! It is paradise found!
Happy Christmas
~ H.E. Lewis

My Comfort Food - This gray and rainy day in Beverly Hills

When I was young and spent the weekends with my Edwardian grandparents, my grandmother use to serve me for breakfast either asparagus on toast or finnan haddie (smoked haddock). Eggs and bacon were NEVER on her menu.

Today, it’s raining and cold in Beverly Hills and I am dreaming of those days of eating smoked haddock for breakfast. It was my comfort food and still is. Its not found in too many homes and any restaurants that I am aware of in the United States. So....I long for London and eating Parker Bowles Smoked Haddock at his St James restaurant, Greens Restaurant and Oyster house.
Smoked haddock Parker Bowles’ is prepared: , a nice piece of undyed haddock topped with a scoop of chive-flecked mash, crowned with a soft-poached egg and this along with a glass of Vintage Champagne is heaven. just heaven.......ah! To Be in London This Evening!