Four Seasons - London

Four Seasons
12 Gerrard Street
London
W1D 5PR



Apparently once the home of the best roast duck in London, we try the menu at Four Seasons.



Seated upstairs, we were in close proximity to their slop buckets. Although no noisome odour was apparent, the leftovers of many an other meal wasn't the best appetiser we could wish for.



Tea was duly served.



Aubergine hotpot - braised aubergine with minced pork. The aubergine was nicely braised, losing all of its 'raw' taste.



The sauce was savoury and generic, but certainly tasty. A good rendition of a memorable comfort food.



Braised (twice cooked) pork on taro.



There were two versions of this on the menu: taro, or mei gan cai (a dried fermented cabbage) - both being very traditional. The pork is usually cooked at least twice (but in actuality in several steps involving blanching, frying, stewing and steaming).



This version needed a lot of work. The pork wasn't as tender as hoped, and tasted like it might have been too old to serve. The sauce was sweet but lacked any defined or depth of flavour. The taro was chewy and had failed to pick up what little flavour there was in the sauce. A terrific dish done very poorly.



'Monk's vegetables' - a medley of bok choi and Chinese mushrooms. This was our favourite stir-fry of the set. The bok choi was tender and sweet, and the mushrooms juicy and full of musky xiang gu flavour.



I never know if they are just superior at soaking dried mushrooms, or if they use fresh or tinned. The texture is very fresh and bouncy, but I always think that the taste is superior to fresh mushrooms.



The crispy roast pork was one of the better versions I've tasted in the UK, and this was an improvement on Gold Mine's rendition.



The skin is highly crispy, and the meat salty and flavourful. Our only quibble was that it had been served somewhat cold.



The roast duck was disappointing - lacking real flavour and served tepid.



Patches of skin had been burnt, and the meat itself was slightly chewy without substantial duck flavour.


The damage: lunch for 5 not-so-hungry eaters came to £45. This could have been less had we passed on the entirely forgettable duck, or could have more if we'd ordered more substantial dishes involving seafood instead of vegetarian alternatives. The service is not prompt, and the usual heavy handed routine found in standard Chinese restaurants. Would we go back? almost certainly not.

What we've been eating - Easter!

A terrible photograph of A's amazing interpretation of Monet's gardener's masterpiece: water lillies.



Sunset on the Thames.



Vincent's 'big daisies'; sunflowers.




Fauna.



Scarlett Johansson's 'Girl with the Big Pouty Lips'.



Flora.



More flora.



More fauna.



Food colouring and icing sugar makes the most amazing fractals.



Try it, it's fun!



Easter lunch/dinner laid out for seven.



Everybody gets a little party pack, complete with plenty of chocolate, sugary things, and a little toy.



Tiny little eggs on a bed of home-sprouted mustard cress.



So cuuuute...



Cottage cheese and radishes.



Side servings of baby tomatoes and radishes.



My offering: a meat brick encased in bacon.



Mustard.



Horseradish cream.



Horseradish and beetroot.



A crusty loaf from Gatineau: those loving bakers who got up on Easter Sunday to provide us with freshly baked bread for our table.



This blue-tit mother is rather confused, and is sitting on quail eggs.



A sliced ballotine of fish, encased in aspic.



Roast loin of pork stuffed with prunes and roasted garlic.

Unfortunately the rest of the food was demolished before photos could be taken. Guests first, blog second, I'm afraid.



Our dear, dear friends K and A couldn't find a shop open to procure presents, so found an ethnic foods store that had dried fish. Thanks, guys!

Portabello

Portabello
7 South Parade
Summertown
Oxford
OX2 7LJ





Portabello is one of the nicer restaurants in north Oxford, serving good casual dining to the smarter dressed and well heeled citizens of Summertown.



The menu ticks all of the usual boxes. There is some emphasis on locality - in the beef and lamb - and the blackboard specials are interesting.



There's also a set menu which at £12.95 for two courses, and £16.95 for three, represents incredible value.



Cocktails, drinks, et al.



And the wine list.



My starter of smoked duck breast served with salad and rehydrated cherries was flavoursome, but the duck itself was a little overcooked, and thus the meat was mealy. The smoke flavour did not manage to penetrate the duck, and was definitely not as good as our own attempt.



A's calamari was a popular rendition, but done to a very high standard. The calamari was sliced a little too thin, but was dredged in seasoned flour and fried so nicely that the calamari retained its tender texture with a slight chew, while the outside was crispy and delicious, without a trace of cooking oil. The two dipping sauces: tartar and sweet chili were both well executed, flavourful and not overly rich.



Our friend K's goats' cheese salad was simple, as it should be. The cheese wasn't too pungent, and was creamy and well chosen.



K and A both ordered steaks, the former a rump served medium with a sauce Bearnaise.



A ordered a rare sirloin with garlic butter, which was unfortunately somewhat overcooked to medium.



My calf liver with bacon and mash was more bacon and mash than liver. Two small pieces of liver was topped with several large pieces of, admittedly delicious, bacon. The spring-onion mash was quite good, but the serving was rather small. The jus was on the thin side, but added a punch of flavour.



The biggest disappointment was obviously the liver itself. One could overlook a small serving, but as I ordered, the waiter asked if it's ok that the liver is served pink, which only added to my enthusiasm, which gave way to disappointment as the liver turned out to be dry and well-done. Nary a drop of juice survived the vicious attack on this poor piece of meat.



A's chips were crispy, and tasted of potato. We were assured that these were hand-cut in the restaurant.



The inside of A's steak - although still pink, it was far from the rare that she had ordered.



A dessert menu was produced.



A chose to have the Portabello 'latte': Kahlua, Amaretto and nutmeg.



K's cherry custard tart was declared to be delicious.



My white chocolate cheesecake nearly redeemed the overcooked liver. Rich, smooth, on a gingernut biscuit base, this was everything that I love about cheesecake.



Pale and buttery, the cheesecake tasted of rich white-chocolate/cocoa butter, but retained the smoothness of the cream cheese.



The damage: between three of us, having three courses each with two bottles of wine, the bill came to £111. Not bad, considering that the food was actually quite good. With a Gourmet Society card, the bill was reduced to £83 without tip, or just over £30 a head. Definitely worth a revisit.