Apsley’s, a Heinz Beck Resturant

Mum Officially turned the BIG 40 over the weekend (well a couple of weeks ago!), and to celebrate we went out to a POSH restaurant. I’m not sure whether you’re like my family and I; who like to visit these fine dining places, for special occasions. I  guess with my family, when it’s a special birthday, we’d go all out for dinner and go some place real Fancy! Like for Ajay’s 18th we went to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant in the Mandarin Hotel in Knightsbridge. And that was AMAZING! Honestly I cant explain how cool the food was. Pate disguised a Mandarin fruit. It was hilarious when the waiter brought over an orange and some toast. The look on dad’s face, it wasn’t until 10 minutes later when we all realised the orange was really yellow fat (like the the butter on top of pate). It even had a leaf poking out of the top. I would have rated that 9 1/2 out of 10. Just my dessert was a down fall-summer fruit something. cant remember.

Then for Dad’s 40th a couple of years ago we went to the Ritz. Now that was more POSH. That was a bit too… i don’t know, I guess we’re not a quiet family, well dad isn’t anyway.  I would rate that a 7, just because of the toilets and the decor.So beautiful!!

Back to Mum’s birthday Meal, oh just look at the Pictures! The decor of this restaurant is just WOW. seriously I don’t know how to describe it. almost like a movie scene; grand and majestic. i know it may sound a little over exaggerated BUT it was truly beautiful. Let’s start right from the Beginning: somehow we ended up being half an hour late, since dad was determined to drive since he’s a snob to public transport. But the Hotel/Restaurant is like a minute away from Hyde Park. The staff were really considerate and moved our booking to eight, which was really nice of them, since other places would have warned us the table will reserved for 15 minutes. so yeah when we finally did reach Lanesborough Hotel which is all slim and quite grand looking. It was abit awkward because usually when you come to a hotel you’re greeted with the reception desk. instead we got slightly lost and had to ask the doorman where the restaurant was, since it was like gully (sorry the closest i can describe it- but a very sublime one).Turned out it was right down the other end of the hall. So when we actually reached the restaurant, we were told to wait at the bar, since our table was getting ready.

Now the bar was really cool. Well would have been if it weren’t for Arji, since he is only 14, there’s a rule where you cant be in the bar after half 6 if your under 16. So we waited outside of the bar area into, i’m not sure what you would call it, a lounge maybe? I thinks its where like all the afternoon teas are held and that kind of thing.  where the rich people would ‘hang and chat’. Hah, I actually sound like a commoner. you know when you know somethings RICH and POSH when drinks are £15. seriously a cocktail was £15 and lemonade was £9. But since dad was paying mum treated herself to a little cocktail since it was her birthday. I guess you can say Dad weren’t too pleased but he enjoyed himself. In the End. Now the thing Which wowed me was this:

Excuse the poorly taken Picture BUT this was given to us whilst we was waiting for our drinks. Now on the top tray (sorry you can’t see ’em, but its actually homemade Pretzels. I can’t explain what it was about them, but they tasted yum, almost like it was fresh! And then on the second tray it’s your typical Nuts. like freshly roasted, where they have a crunch to’em.  And now we get to the Best bit. if you can see through the poor camera with trying to eat the lovely big fresh and tasty olives. See i’m not a olive fan, but these were just soo NICE. Like you don’t get that normal tangy after taste from the brine or oil. It has this almost sweet taste but i definitely give it 2 thumbs up. Bare in mind this is a fancy place and i was a little embarrassed to take pictures I thought i’d had to get a few sneak peaks for you all. This place honestly seemed like something out of a film. The waiting staff we’re lovely especially the bread man. He walked around our table 4 times with different selections of breads. the one i remembered was this thin Sicilian bread. it was so thin and crispy and so light. we all took our order and the first dish brought out was this:

This was an apatizer- chicken liver spring Roll

This was something Arji ordered, Carbonara Fagottelli. I think that’s what it was called. it was basically inside out Carbonara- egg yolk ravioli with Parmesan gratings and sprinklings of crispy pork cheek. YUM, no? we ended up swapping since Arji freaked out with the smell of Parmesan. Like the better older sister i am, i opted to swap dishes. To be fare this dish was better. This dish was rich and slightly heavy but soo cool. like you have to have each pasta bit in a whole mouthful. so once you bite into it, egg yolk would bust out in my mouth. oh it was soo good, a little cheesey but GOOD.

This was MY dish I had picked out. I cant exactly remember what exactly it tasted like but all i can remember is that the Duck was moist. i think it was a little boring but to be honest i just wanted to show you how pretty it looked.

Now the Main I can not remember what I had and I didn’t really take a picture so I am sorry!

Now below was my dessert: Chocolate and passion fruit. so i’m thinking when I read the menu, hmm i guess it might a chocolate bar with some sauce on the side or something like that. Instead they bring this out. Now i am really sorry, the waiter come out explaining each of our dishes,like what flavors they used; a proper foodies talk. And well I’ve completely forgotten what it was he said. Apart from chocolate sorbet. SORRY i guess this’ll punish me for not writing this sooner. But at least the pictures look alright. REMEMBER they are all sneaky shots me and Arji took!

Now this was DEFINITELY something I remembered. The PRE DESSERT. Yes there is such thing as that. It apparently is known to cleanse the palette so you can really taste the flavors of the dessert. But again i’m gonna be straight with you, I think this WAS my dessert. Lime cheesecake and banana ice cream. The lime was so Tense and strong, that it really did clean my palette, i definitely recommend the restaurant just for the cheesecake.

YUMM!

AFTER dessert. i love this when after your meal, dessert, you get the little treats at the end with teas and coffees. Oh it was so pretty and cute. Top to bottom: Hazelnut and Praline, Almond shortbread (moon shaped), Apricot centered Bomb, toasted almonds and shortbread based truffle, Raspberry Jelly (made in Sicily)

And Last but not least the manager I guess of the restaurant knew it was one of our birthdays (Dad told him, but won’t admit to it). So he came over with a little dessert dotted with candle in the center. It was too cute. And after that, the head chef walked over to each table asking how the dinner was. I thought that was really polite and sweet. he also gave dad a tip on how to get the lamb so tender (cook it with love). He was quite funny how he was so quiet and shy, but during the dinner we could hear the chefs shouting, well “talking more abrupt” with each other, which was funny!

Happy 40th Birthday Mum! xx