Hibiscus

On Saturday evening we went to Chef Claude Bosi's restaurant for dinner to celebrate a little anniversary. It was everything one would expect from a two Michelin starred establishment with several extra delicious surprises among our six course surprise tasting dinner along with matching wines.

Along with a glass of champagne we were served cashew and peanuts with sea salt and vinegar powder, but before we had too many, some canapés arrived - choux pastries filled with oozing cheese, and savoury biscuits and little cups filled with tasty creams.
Then came a tiny biscuit cone filled with truffle ice-cream sprinkled with crushed sesame and topped with a sherry reduction. Just a little taste, but intense.
This was our menu, which was only given to us as we left - so every course was a complete surprise before it was served.  One course missing from the images is the Goosnargh Duck, which was eaten before I realised we hadn't taken a photo! Also missing is the little shot glass filled with Meadowsweet Panna Cotta topped with a Golden Delicious apple jelly.

Cabbage Royale, coconut and curry en cocotte

Norwegian King Crab, Smoked Haddock, Granny Smith Apple

Scottish Scallop, Black Radish, Almond and Truffle

Line caught Sea Bass "à la Grenobloise"

Roasted Adour Foie Gras, Nashi Pear and Liquorice

Goosnargh Duck, Pumpkin and Passion Fruit

Chocolate Millefeuilles, Indonesian Basil Ice Cream, Star Anise.

Nougat with pistachio, cranberry, carrot and beetroot

Hibiscus Restaurant, Mayfair, London

Benares

Benares is the Michelin starred restaurant of  Indian Chef Atul Kochhar. It was to celebrate my birthday that we went along to taste the delicious food of this remarkable chef - the first ever Indian chef to receive the accolade of a Michelin star. We were welcomed and taken upstairs to the restaurant and bar, being shown straight to our table. A glass of fizz and a peruse of the menu, and we soon decided to go with the tasting menu with matching wines. and so the fun began. Seven courses and five different wines - all superb, of course, and impeccably served. 

First here are two views of the restaurant:

Our nibbles with a glass of champagne.

Spinach and Apricot Tikka

Crispy Soft Shell Crab, Apple Relish,

Scottish White Crab Meat and Coronation Slaw

Baked Organic Salmon, Spiced Vermicelli,

Hand-picked Scottish Crab Croquette,

Coconut and Curry Leaf Sauce

 

Chutney Grilled Fillet,

Tandoori Spring Onion and Saffron Supreme,

Crispy Wing from Free Range Chicken

Nimbu Pani Sorbet

Roasted Rump of English Lamb,

Baby Spinach and Chickpea Masala,

Minced Shoulder Samosa

Mint tea with Petit Fours

 

Rose and Raspberry Bhapa Doi, Pistachio Burfi

The five matching wines were:

2012 Viognier, Clay Station, Lodi, California, USA

2012 Sequillo Eben Sadie, Malmesbury, South Africa

2009 Gewürztraminer Atul’s Signature, Jean Claude Gueth, Alsace, France

2012 Pinot Noir Muddy Water, Waipara, New Zealand

2009 Chenin Blanc Les 4 Villages, Domaine FL Coteaux du Layon, Loire, France

Benares, Mayfair, London

Chihuly

There is a Dale Chihuly exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery and we went along. (8 February - 5 April)

Dale Chihuly
Halcyon Gallery

RHS London Shows

The RHS holds several shows at the Horticultural Halls in Westminster each year, two of which take place in October. There are pumpkin competitions, fabulous autumn veg displays, chrysanthemums and other plants and flowers on display from the top nurseries and photo and art exhibitions. They also have a late opening where the visitors get to taste exotic cocktails and snacks in a relaxed, clubby atmosphere.

RHS London Shows

Once again we visited the Proms this year, just one concert that consisted of two visions of India and a portrait of London.
Gustav Holst’s fascination with Sanksrit literature found early expression in the 1903 tone-poem Indra, composed before the first set of his Hymns from the Rig Veda.
David Atherton conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in this and the world première of Nishat Khan’s Sitar Concerto No. 1, with the composer as soloist.
First performed in 1914, Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony evokes the chimes of Westminster, a chill November in Bloomsbury and the bright lights of the Strand in a city that would soon be scarred by war.

Gustav Holst Indra
Nishat Khan The Gate of the Moon (Sitar Concerto No. 1)  BBC commission: world premiere, Nishat Khan sitar
Ralph Vaughan Williams A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2)


 (Taken form BBC Proms website)

No 2 Prom is No 69

Our second visit to the BBC Proms tonight was Prom no 69. We heard one of the great orchestra's of the world, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig conducted by Riccardo Chailly. He has apparently been 'recovering' their Mahler tradition and tonight was no exception.
The concert began with some Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. This is a memorial to the dead of the first and second world wars, and is a bit difficult to appreciate, but there was some strong playing of the wind and percussion that made up the orchestra - no strings at all.
After the interval and a complete shuffle of furniture on the platform, a huge orchestra came back into the Hall to play Mahler's 6th Symphony. Though called 'Tragic', it is uplifting with sweeping themes and those wonderful horns, but in the last movement we were fascinated by the playing of what looked like a large cupboard with a sledgehammer, that cut them off when in full flow. This is the hammer of the gods overcoming the hero of the piece who dies - the end, an ultimate finality.

Proms 2012

Tonight was our first visit to the Proms this year, although they are almost over by now! We found ourselves almost sitting in the orchestra, which was very interesting, giving us a close-up view of conductor Vasily Petrenko. This was Prom 54 and the programme was:

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

  Symphony No.9 (25 mins)
  London Premiere

• Delius

  Violin Concerto (25 mins)

• Shostakovich

  Symphony No. 10 in E minor (45 mins)

• Tasmin Little violin
• Vasily Petrenko conductor
• Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

The Davies was very modern; Tasmin Little played Delius beautifully; and after the interval we really enjoyed Shostakovitch's 10th. Vasily Petrenko coaxed some great tone out of the Liverpool Phil whose soloists were terrific.

Men's Individual Time Trial, London Olympics 2012

We decided to go to Cobham to watch the Olympic Cycling Time trial, today. It would be a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park, so we took the train and walked into the village from the station, then found a spot along Portsmouth Road to watch the cyclists hurtling by. We were very lucky to be by a tree where there were few people, and eventually I got a space by the railings where I could try and track the competitors as they flashed passed. The atmosphere was terrific with plenty of cheering, but the biggest cheers were for Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins who were almost the last to come through and clearly catching the folk in front of them after the half way mark. Wonderful results of a Gold and a Bronze medal for these two (Wiggo getting gold). And we were there - love it!

 

At first I had to try over the heads of the other spectators, but some of them moved on and i could get down and try panning through the barrier. They whiz by so fast it wasn't easy!

 Each cyclist had his support vehicle and also a police motorbike escort in front to warn everyone they were coming through.

 But the biggest cheer was for the Team GB cyclists. Go Wiggo!

War Horse

We went to see War Horse and it is such a wonderful play. Adapted from Michael Morpurgo's children's book, it is a beautiful story of a horse and it's master who go to war, but not together. They eventually find each other in tragic circumstances, but there is a happier ending than one imagined.

I have copied this image from the official website (see below) as photos are not allowed. Do visit the website for information about when and where the play is being performed as it well worth seeking out.
The horses, and there are several, are all puppets albeit life-sized ones that can support an actor riding them. There is also a very lovely goose with bags of character! Each horse requires three actors (or rather puppeteers) to bring it to life and they do so in an extremely life-like manner. Brilliant!



War Horse

We went to see the Old Vic's production of Michael Frayn's play Democracy which we really enjoyed. A brilliant play about the final months in office of the charismatic West German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Superb acting and a very clever minimalist set with several locations on stage together giving plenty of pace as the characters moved from scene to scene.

The Lion in Winter

A day in London, first to see Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement at the Royal Academy followed by dinner and the theatre. The Degas exhibition is very interesting, involving contemporary photography showing, for the first time, the mechanics of movement. This fascinated Degas and helped him when he was portraying his dancers moving. It was quite crowded in the gallery, but nevertheless, we saw everything and really enjoyed the exhibition.

Borrowed from the Royal Academy website

Following this we walked down to the Haymarket and went in for dinner to Assagetti. This is an Italian tapas bar! Well, the concept is to order lots of little dishes which come 'as they are ready'. The significance of this is that some of the hot dishes arrive before the cold ones, and you feel obliged to eat them while they are hot, even though the ham and pate are conventionally starters. We felt that maybe, we should have ordered two or three starters and when they were done, order one, two or even three warm dishes to follow. We'd certainly return to test this theory as the food was very good and the atmosphere quite vibrant. Wine by the glass is available as are desserts, coffee and tea.

Courgette chips and warm pate with toast

Prosciutto, mushroom risotto, duck ragu

and 

p

rawn ravioli

Cheesecake with berries, sorbets

  






























Now it was time to cross the road to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to take our seats for the evening's performance of The Lion in Winter. I remember this as an intense interaction between Henry II (Peter O'Toole) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katheryn Hepburn) in a film from the late 60s; lots of intrigue and irony. In fact, the film won three Oscars, 2 Baftas as well as nine other awards. It had premiered as a stage play (written by James Goldman) on Broadway. 
 How different this production is; but none the less for that. Trevor Nunn is playing this one for laughs, and the audience certainly was with him all the way. Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley are very clever in their parts, sparking off each other. going for outright laughs, which is fine, but I missed the irony. It's just how the director sees the play, and this way also works. I think that as the whole episode is a figment of the author's imagination - no Christmas at Chinon apparently took place - it can be taken with large pinches of salt and so why not bring out the humour. We certainly enjoyed ourselves as did the rest of the more or less full house.

 




The Royal Academy
Degas
Assaggetti
Theatre Royal Haymarket
The Lion in Winter
Robert Lindsay
Joanna Lumley