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.

Landing in Hong Kong on a Friday afternoon found us checking in to our hotel, having a quick siesta and then heading out to stretch our legs and find somewhere for dinner. We settled on a restaurant with a view, Hutong, located on the 28th floor of 1 Peking Building, just behind Heritage 1881.

Since our last visit three years ago Hutong has had a change of theme, but ever so slightly. The new theme is ‘old Beijing’. Gone are the bird cages and in are little rickshaw models, along with a large rickshaw at the entrance. The dark woods and antique architectural details that we love are all still there. The lighting is still low, but this allows for greater enjoyment of the nightly light display across the harbour.

The menu has changed as well, which is to be expected. For entrees we ordered chili spiced bamboo clams(steeped in Chinese rose wine and chili sauce)), seared scallops topped with pomelo segments.

We then chose two mains that were quite similar in that they both came with pancakes. Double Happiness (roasted suckling pig with Pancakes) and crispy boneless duck. Both were served with traditional pancakes and accompaniments. You may notice in coming posts that we have a thing for duck. No wine this time around, we decided to go with Chinese tea.

For the first time we also went for Chinese traditional desserts and selected Double Decker Dessert Box.  Attractively served in a double bamboo steamer, the box contained: mango glutinous rice rolls coated with shredded coconut, pumpkin pudding with sticky rice, osmanthus flavored jelly with white fungus.   The desserts were quite different to anything we have had before. The pumpkin pudding was nice with the flecks of sticky rice through it, the osmanthus jelly was interesting, but our favourite was the mango pudding.

During a our dinner we had not only the light show from across the harbour but a huge storm came through as well. While most would be put off by that, the rain gave another dimension by hazing out the lights and giving a soft ethereal look to the view. The lasers lights off some of the buildings became a really spectacular sight through the rain.

We are looking forward to visiting Hutong again next time we are in Hong Kong. If you go, book well ahead and request a window seat, as long as you don’t get vertigo LOL.

Arriving in New York this year it was, thankfully, not quite as hot as when we went last year. I was able to get my bag rather quickly of the carrousel and straight out to the cabs, where, unexpectedly there was a very short queue. 30 minutes later I arrived at the Waldorf Astoria, met Mr. CA4G, freshened up and then we hit the sidewalks. Always great to walk around a city after 20 hours in a plane.

We were decidedly peckish so really needed to find some where to eat. Our first choice, a restaurant that we went to last year in Villard Mansion, was sadly closed due to renovations to the building.

Walking through the Rockefeller Centre we discovered Brasserie Ruhlmann. Named after Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann a legendary French designer, whose concepts and craftsmanship epitomize the glamour and style of the French Art Deco era, Brasserie Ruhlmann pays homage to this early 20th-century icon and the art-and-intellectualism era of the Parisian brasserie.

Headed by respected chef Laurent Tourondel, Brasserie Ruhlmann serves modern versions of dishes that are reminiscent of his French homeland.

We settled on burgers for our dinner. For Mr. CA4G a Black Angus burger topped with gruyere cheese and for myself a lobster and shrimp roll seasoned with a curry mayo. Served simply on wooden boards with paper lined tin cups to hold the chips. Of course a good burger requires a glass of Moet.

Such a joy to be able to sit outside for dinner, especially when you have a lingering sunset and twilight. The first of many great meals during our 4 week trip around the world. Bon Apetite!

Walking over to Knightsbridge one day we passed a restaurant that had a name that sounded familiar. It was one that had been written about as a haunt of London’s elite.

Mr. CA4G and I were in need of somewhere for dinner so decided to head over to Scott’s and try it.

Located on Mount Street in upmarket Mayfair, it was a short walk from our Marylebone accommodation.  An elegant black and white frontage with large windows is manned by a bowler hatted doorman. A cosy interior in creams and browns is highlighted with stunning lighting, art and mirrors. The clientele tends to be a older money and slightly more relaxed, not try hards at all.

Scott’s is big on seafood of all kinds and has a good range of land and air based foods as well. An oyster and champagne bar dominates the centre of the room, with oysters being freshly shucked to order. Scott’s are big on sustainably sourced seafood and organic produce, and make a point of specifying where there produce is caught, raised or grown.

Having  had a good lunch, we decided to only have a main course each and a glass of wine. Mr. CA4G’s favourite John Dory was on the menu served with globe artichokes, anchovies and capers, so he had that.

I chose Devonshire chicken with foie gras stuffing, mousseron mushrooms and tarragon. Mousseron mushrooms (Scotch Bonnets) were new to me so had to try them, and who can pass up foie gras? My chicken was quite large so I had to palm some off to Mr. CA4G The mushrooms were delicious!

Of course we had to have some chips to go with our meal. We both had a glass of white wine, both were chardonnays and from Burgundy. Mr. CA4G had a Francois Gaunoux 2009 Puligny Montrachet while I went for Domaine de Chaude Ecuelle 2011 Chablis. Having French chardonnay is an interesting experience. The variations are remarkable and show just how much terroir and the winemaker impact the final product. They tend to be a little more nuanced and subtle than some of the in your face Aussie chardonnays. We had several chardonnays from Burgundy on our trip and Mr. CA4G has now become a convert to chardonnay.

After a fabulous meal dessert was tempting but we had to pass. Scott’s is definitely on our list of restaurants to head back to when we go to London again.