Floating Islands - Ile Flottante - French Dessert

First time we tried this french dessert was in the L'Eglise restaurant. It was so yummy.

Ile Flottante means "Floating Islands". As you can see from the photo, the meringue "islands" float on a sea of custard sauce. It is a French traditional home cook dessert. We are not sure why but it is not usually served in French restaurant in UK. May be the presentation doesn't look attractive?!

We miss it so much so I googled some recipes. And here is the result.

Click here for more home cooking photos.

Sago Pudding with Red Bean Paste 豆沙西米糕

My first sago puddings.

After talking to Sa Sa yesterday, I planned to make it myself. I just miss sago pudding so much.

Very yummy! Thank you Sa Sa.

Rhodes W1 Brasserie Bar - Gary Rhodes

Today we went to Rhodes W1 Brasserie Bar for lunch. This brasserie is part of the The Cumberland Hotel which is very close to the Marble Arch underground station. The interior is very contemporary and spacious.

Rhodes W1 Brasserie Bar

We had the lunch menu but have to say that when first looked at it, we thought it was a bit boring and were a bit disappointed. However it was good value for money considering it is a celebrity chef brasserie restaurant. It was £24.95 for two courses and £29.95 for three courses including one drink.

The food was presented well and taste very good, what we would expected from Gary Rhodes. The waiting staff on the other hand was not as high standard as other celebrity chef restaurants we've been to. Our reservation was at noon and the brasserie was empty. During our dining, only one other lady was having lunch there.

Grilled mackerel with orange and fennel salad

Fresh figs, Parma ham, Gorgonzola and basil butter

Medallions of beef rump with braised red cabbage and horseradish cream

Roasted chicken breast on butter spinach with tomato and thyme fondue, melting Swiss cheese, and shallot white wine and cream sauce

The Rhodes W1 Restaurant is in the same premises but they have their own entrance at the corner. It is under refurbishment at the moment. I am sure we will give it a try.

16/08/2008 Saturday

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Links to our other postings:
The World Best Restaurants 2008
Le Manoir aux Quat - Raymond Blanc - Two-Michelin-Starred Restaurant - UK
Craig

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (Royal hospital Road) - Gordon Ramsay - Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant - UK

We have been looking forward to today and were so excited.

Peter, Fat Bear and I went to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. We have been talking about eating there for ages but never managed to book a table.

It is not easy to book a table at this particular Gordon Ramsay restaurant. It has to be exactly 2 months prior the day you plan to dine there. We were planning to do dinner on a Friday. So Fat Bear called them on 16/05 to try to book a table for 18/07. He was told that it was a wrong day to call and was asked to call back the following Monday on 19/05. Fat Bear was on a business trip that day so he asked me to following it up on Monday. He told me to make sure I make the call at 9am which is when the reservation office start the day. So I called at 9am and the phone line was not yet open. I kept redialing until there was a ringing tone. It was picked up by an answering machine. I waited and waited, 40 minutes later I managed to speak to a person. I asked her the available time for dinner booking for 18/07. She said 10pm is the earliest available time. I nearly screamed!!! and was thinking to myself... ... 10 o'clock for dinner and that's the earliest available time!!! And I was almost the first person to call on that day!!! So I asked her the availabilities for lunch for that Friday. She said 12:00 or 12:30. I said "Great! Let's do 12:30."

We took a day off and dressed ourselves smartly, as the dress code is smart and no jeans, T-shirt and sportswear.

There were three types of menu. The Set Lunch 3-course menu was £45 with with 3 choices of each course. The A La Carte 3-course menu was £90 with 8 choices of each course. The Menu Prestige was £120 for a 7-course tasting menu.

Everything on the menu looked so appetising and yummy. We decided to go for the A La Carte menu. It was hard to pick just one item for each course because we just wanted to try everything. Luckily there were three of us and could just pick different items to share.

We were not disappointed. The food was outstandingly delicious. The presentation of each dishes were so pretty. We really could feel, see and taste the chefs enthusiasm for food. The waiting staff and sommelier were also very professional and have good knowledge about all the items on the menu and the wine list.

Before starters, a small bowl of cold clear tomato soup with asparagus slices and tomato dices. It was very tasty and refreshing. Pre-dessert, a glass of pineapple and coconut thick drink was served.

For dessert, we highly recommend the Assiette de I'Aubergine. It is a selection of desserts for two people or more. After lots of desserts, some strawberry ice-cream balls coasted with white chocolate and some chocolate truffles was served.

For tea and coffee, Peter and Fat Bear had Espresso and I had a cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves tea. It was so fragrant and refreshing. I wanted more.

Sauteed foie gras with roasted veal sweetbreads, Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar and almond veloute

Salad of Scottish lobster tail with charlotte potatoes, caviar, creme fraiche and watercress vichyssoise

Slow braised pied de cochon pressed then pan fried with ham knuckle, poached quail's egg and hollandaise sauce

Limited production French wine

Pan fried fillets of John Dory with Cromer crab, caviar, crushed new potatoes and a basil vinaigrette

Oven roasted pigeon from Bresse with grilled polenta, crispy lardons, braised shallots, baby golden beetroot and date sauce

Pot roasted Northumberland beef fillet with meat and potato pie, baby turnips, red wine sauce

Hazelnut souffle with milk ice-cream

Part of Assiette de I'Aubergine
(Granny Smith parfait with honeycomb, bitter chocolate and Champagne foam)

Part of Assiette de I'Aubergine
(Marinated pineapple raviloli with mango and raspberries)

Part of Assiette de I'Aubergine
(Left: Caramelised tarte Tatin of apples
Centre: Bitter chocolate cylinder with coffee granite and ginger mousse)

Strawberry Ice-cream balls coated with white chocolate,
Chocolate truffles

We had a fantastic time in the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Everything was so delicious. We sure will eat there again. Now we understand why their reservation system has to be that strict because there are only about 10-12 tables in the restaurant. The head waiter told us that they received around 300 calls daily for bookings. After all, we think it was worth the wait.

18/07/2008 Friday

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Links to our other postings:
The Fat Duck - Heston Blumenthal - Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant
Something We Felt in Love at First Sight!
Brighton in Snow

The World Best Restaurants 2008

Good food is our passion!

Here is the new list for top restaurants. Lets see where we manage to go this year.

The S.Pelligrino World's 50 Best Restaurants 2008

全球100佳食肆

Links to our other postings:
The Fat Duck - Heston Blumenthal - Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant

Brighton in Snow

Sunday 06 April 2008

When I woke up this morning, it was all white outside. I got very excited.

The photos below are taken by my colleague, Mat, in Brighton city centre. They are beautiful pictures.

The Brighton Dome

The Brighton Pavilion

The Brighton Pier

Click here for more photos.

Links to our other postings:
The New 7 Wonders of the World 世界新七大奇蹟
Our Veggies!!
Fashion Show on Great Wall of China