Cooking Across 4 Generations

Our second night in London saw us meet friends at a gallery opening for Patrick Morgan in Soho. Great exhibition of many varied works by the artist. The exhibition was held at The House of St. Barnabas Club, a not for profit club that has a charity wing providing hospitality employment opportunities for homeless people.

After the exhibition our group went for a quick walk down Greek Street to The Union Club. The Union Club is a private members club located in a 270 year old Georgian townhouse. The decor is rich and cosy, blending antique and modern with style and wit to create an effect that is both contemporary and bohemian

The dining room combines wood panelling, crystal chandeliers, open fireplaces and a superb eclectic art collection to create an ambience that is a nice change from most modern minimalist restaurants. The rich glossy red walls give an old world feel.

The menu features organic and sustainably sourced products. There is a great range of old favourites and some modern combinations. Bread is baked daily in house and sometimes they need to do a second lot. Mr. CA4G and I shared an entree of seared scallops, peas and crispy prosciutto.

I decided to have more peas, this time in the form of a pea and ricotta crespelline with girolles. Got to love having mushrooms that are hard to get in Australia.

Mr. CA4G loves a burger (seemed to be the most popular dish with the group). The Union burger came with homemade ketchup and rustic fries.

Fries and beans were ordered for the whole table. The fries were nice fat hand cut ones served with a homemade mayo.

Desserts were tempting but we decided to pass and just have a coffee.

Should a member of The Union Club invite you to dinner, jump at the chance to go. There is nothing like dining in an eclectic room.

Just a quick post without many photos, as photography inside the restaurant is banned. We headed over to the Hyatt Regency for Lunch at Locanda Locatelli as we both love pasta and enjoyed watching Giorgio Locatelli on TV.

Locanda Locatelli is part of the Hyatt Regency Churchill, located at 30 Portman Place, Seymour Street, London, yet feels separate from the hotel. A window box of wild flowers is a softening touch to the stark white and grey exterior.

The interior was designed by David Collins in light woods and neutral tones, offering up a relaxing atmosphere. The clientele at lunch is very much of the business brigade, but don’t let that put you off.   We did walk past at night and it looked lovely with the soft lighting.

The menu is a great selection of Italian delights. After perusing the menu, Mr. CA4G and I both went for pasta. As Mr. CA4G loves his lobster he couldn’t resist, Linguine all’astice (Linguine with lobster, tomato, garlic and chilli), I have wanted to try ‘nduja sausage for a while so my choice was Strozzapreti al pomodoro, `nduja, olive nere e ricotta (Homemade pasta with tomato, spicy salami, black olives, buffalo ricotta), nice and spicy!! I will be keeping an eye out for ‘nduja next time I trek over to the delis in Five Dock.

We did have a quick glance at the dessert menu and were very tempted by the cheese plate but decided to give our bellies a bit of a break.

We really enjoyed our lunch at Locanda Locatelli and were able to tick off another ‘have to visit’ restaurant. We only have a couple of hundred more to get through LOL.