Galvin at Windows Review

Sammii here! So last weekend was my annual fancy dinner meal with my girls from back home in Manchester, we like to gather together yearly just to celebrate in style all our achievements and milestones that we've made in the year. For me I would say the biggest one is that I've got into Uni and knowing for the first time ever what I want to do with my career. For anyone still on that path thinking, 'hey I have noooo clue what I wanna do', it really does take time and just throwing yourself out there trying different things. Everyone reaches points in their lives at different times, so don't put pressure on yourself if you haven't found what you want to do yet :)

Soooo anyway enough with the life talk :] We went to Galvin at Windows for this years fancy meal. We wanted somewhere with a view and we cut it down to this place or a restaurant at the Gherkin, we went for Galvins as I was told that the Gherkin's food isn't all that, and seeing as all three of us were big foodies, a place without decent food was a no go!

Galvin at Windows is on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane, it offered 270 degrees panoramic views of London. Unfortunately we were not sat at a window seat- we learnt for next time to request for one! We had a reservation at 7pm, and when we reached there it was still light outside and when we left it was dark out, so we caught the sunset which was laaavly. Great time to go on a date. 

So the olives and the bread came out first, we were asked if we wanted olives and we said ok. Is it me or whenever I go to a fancy restaurant I'm not sure when they ask if you want something, is that thing on the house or not? lol! But it turns out the olives were not on the house and cost £6. Bread and butter came out too which tasted fresh. 

This was apparently the amuse bouche which is eaten to cleanse your tasting palette before the dishes come out. It was lovely indeed to start off our meal, though I wasn't sure what it was as the waiter talked very quickly and in a strong accent xD 

For a fancy meal I always go for a cocktail, they had a very extensive list, so I had to ask the waitress what she recommended which was sweet, she said that this one was good, it was a whiskey based cocktail, which was barely sweet at all and quite strong! XD I had problems finishing it and only drank a third of it. The biscuit thing on top was very nice though. 

For our meal we opted to go for the 3 courses for £79, there was a tasting menu as well which was pricier. 

Orkney Scallop Ceviche, Soy Vinaigrette, Pickled Ginger & LIme

 I really enjoyed my scallop dish, I thought that the vinaigrette went so well with the tangy lime and coated the scallops. It really made the taste of the scallops pop and the flavour really complimented each other. 

 Our table of starters, the starters were good all around, bring on the next course! But first let us take a minute to appreciate this beaut view!

 It was relatively empty when we got there at 7, but it got much more busy at 8 when there were groups of people that came in and sat blocking the view you see here, they even requested the blinds to be drawn down T__T, you can tell a regular fancy diner to one that doesn't get this sort of view often. No way would I want anyone to put down the blinds on this view here if I were sat by the window. What travesty?!

Seared Fillet of Brill, Cauliflower puree, Orange Glazed Endive, Pine Nuts and Curry Oil. 

 We were told that Brill is the known dish of the Hilton and seeing as I've never tried this fish before I thought I'd go for this dish. The fish was cooked to perfection, it was very light and I loved the orange glaze and pine nuts that went with it, the textures and again the flavours came together beautifully. The cauliflower puree, I didn't even think tasted like cauliflower which was good cause i'm not a big fan of cauliflower. Thumbs up for this dish! 

I had a hard time choosing a desert but in the end i went for a souffle as I only ever had one one time before and I love the look of the spongy cake rising over the top of the pot. 

Mango and Passionfruit Souffle & Coconut Ice Cream

 Doesn't the pillowiness of it just make you so happy? :D So the thing with souffles is that I have only tried one once and I have a thought in my head of what it will taste like, this mango souffle did not taste what I thought a souffle would taste like, but apparently they are meant to taste a bit moist inside and not like a soft chiffon cake. The top was the best bit as it still had a little bit of a shell on the outside, after that it all tasted like moose. 

 The size of the souffle, I thought, was very big in comparison to the rest of the courses that came out, I felt like it was the size of the starter and the main put together and more! I couldn't finish it xD It was disappointing, but this may be because it didn't fit my expectations of what souffle were meant to taste like. Lesson- never going to order souffle again!

 They put postcards on our table and said that they can post them for us, so we each wrote a post card to the person on our right and got them to post it for us. It was a nice little touch.

At the end of our meal we were also given a pot of marshmallows for the table, which you can see peaking out of the receipt in the picture below. I wasn't keen on the marshmallows, they were very wet. 

All in all Galvin at Windows was a lovely place for a dinner, the scenery- gorgeous, the staff-very polite, the food- amazing (though it was let down by the desert). I would defo come here again, but let us see what fancy restaurant next year will take us. Cheers to another year of successes! :)

Atmosphere- 10/10

Service- 9/10

Food- 9/10

Chocolate Sushi Rating- 9/10

HKK: Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Monkey.

Written by Sammii

For all the fellas, if you have a date- TAKE HER HERE! 

This intimate restaurant is a sure fire way to impress her: a candle lit table, fine food and tip top service to add to it, you've got to be seriously making bad moves for this date to go wrong!

HKK is located on a unsuspecting street amongst the businesses of Moorgate. 

I went here on a girly date the week of Chinese New Year. The display was done up just for the occasion as you can see from my picture- the words mean good fortune! I ate my heart out in here so I hope good fortune will be coming my way this year and wishing you all good fortune for this year as well! 

We were meeted and greeted by a member of staff who took our coats in and showed us to our seats. 

There was only one choice on the menu for the night which was the set menu for £88, which included 8 courses. This is the most i've ever payed for a meal but I thought hey ho, i'm here and i have a reason to celebrate! Always nice to start off the year with festivities. 

My friend ordered the mocktail below- this was made especially for her as she wanted something non alcoholic (last time we had cocktails on a work night, it did not end well!) He mixed up a lychee drink for her which was very refreshing!

The table was laid out with a red book which was actually a story version of the menu. It was a beautiful book with stories of why each of the items on the menu were traditionally eaten in Chinese culture. I thought the book was a cute little touch to the menu. I will be writing the stories to go with each dish in this blog entry!

First up on the menu was the Prosperity Platter. This included 3 plates (below).

Prosperity Platter- Fortune Wrap

Black moss, or fat choi, sounds like fa cai meaning 'fortune' or 'prosperity'. This sounds very similar to the auspicious Chinese New Year greeting Gong hey fat choi'! Symbolising luxury. 

Fortune Platter- Grilled Spice Sea Salt Welsh Organic Pork, Mustard and Goji Berry. 

In ancient China, bamboo stmes filled with gunpowder were burnt to create small explosions that would ward off evil spirits such as the Nian, a beast that would visit at New Year and terrorise villagers. The meat sounds like a firecracker when its' being cooked. Symbolising celebration.

The pork skin was wonderfully crisp and the meat was fat and juicy. It was nice to see what my mum typically cooks on Chinese New Year seen in a fancy restaurant. 

Prosperity Platter- Prosperity Salad.

Prosperity salad, often referred to as yusheng or lo hei, originated 700 years ago in the Southern Song Dynasty, from Chaozhou and Shantou. Lo hei means "to toss": family members gather to toss the salad as high as possible signifying good luck and happiness. Symbolising abundance, prosperity and vigour. 

The waiter came and poured some dressing on this salad and some other touches you can see in the picture, he explained to us that he was building it up higher as it is more lucky. 

Next on the menu...

Tai Ji Supreme Seafood Soup.

While prosperity, luck and fortune are often wished for during Chinese New Year, health and long life are also desired, and soup has many natural health benefits: it aids digestion; provides nourishment; and contains many herbs associated with vitality and wellbeing. For these reasons and many more, soup has a prominent role in traditional Asian households. 

The ancient Chinese philosophy of yin and yang plays a significant part in Chinese cuisine, exemplifying the importance of balance and harmony in ingredients, textures and flavours.

The two soups represent the sky and the earth, and these complementary forces are prayed to during celebratory festivities to bring brighter weather and improved crops. 

We had to put the spoon of vegetables into the soup and eat it together. It was a delight! I loved the whole concept of it. 

Dumpling Trilogy. 

It is customary in northern China for family members to spend New Year's Eve making dumplings, or jiaozi. This tradition dates back thousand of years, and the dumpling is now one of the most widely loved foods in the whole country. 

It is believed that eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, traditionally just after midnight, brings good luck and happiness in the coming year. 

As the shapes of the dumplings are similar to the ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots, they bring prosperity and wealth. 

This dish was probably one of my faves! How can you go wrong with putting a paint brush with soy sauce as the paint on a food dish! I like to say that soy sauce is like a paint to a painter in Chinese cuisine. It tasted great and was bursting full of flavour!

Roasted Cherry Wood Peking Duck. 

Historically reserved for the imperial courts, Peking duck is associated with royalty and grandeur. 

It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty that the popularity of Peking duck spread from the imperial kitchens to the upper classes and the wealthy. In fact, it was so favoured by the literati of China that the dish inspired poetry from writers and scholars. 

The Peking duck, with its crispy skin and rich meat, represents luxury and symbolises fidelity.

My friend LOVED this dish, she said that it was the best duck she had tasted in her life haha. The whole duck was cut in front of us as well by the chef who wheeled out a kitchen top to showcase the chopping. The waiter explained each and every dish as they were brought out to us. This roast duck dish he said had taken 2 days to prepare!

Lobster Noodles, XO Sauce. 

The lobster, or dragon of the sea, represents the supreme emperor in celebratory banquets, as emperors often took on the symbolism of the dragon as they hoped to bring good fortunes to their lands. 

Lobster signifies unity and completeness. 

The symbolism of noodles extends far beyond the New Year: they represent the eater's life. 

It is customary on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year festivities to eat a bowl of uncut noodles, often made with a single lump of dough that is stretched and stretched again until each fold creates a thousand thin threads. 

These noodles, known as longevity noodles, are symbolic of a long and healthy life. 

The meat on the lobster was a very nice meaty piece and the dish was the perfect amount of flavour, it was a very fresh dish which is unusual for a noodle dish as usually in restaurants it is over cooked with too much oil. I made sure I didn't break my noodle, I'm eating for long life for you and me! :)

Sichun Mala Lamb.

Lamb is traditionally eaten in western China, especially in provinces such as the Xinjiang where the cuisine is more Islamic or Arabic in origin. 

By this point I admit I was getting very full up, but that didn't stop me! Those lamb pieces were too succulent to say no to!

Vanilla and Mandarin Dumpling, Osmanthus and Orange Infusion. 

Tangyuan dumplings are enjoyed on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year, known as the Lantern Festival. This festival marks the last day of the Spring Festival, and it's customary for revellers to light red lanterns and eat sweet dumplings.

The round dumplings, and the bowls in which they are served, represent family unity and union. 

Tangerines, mandarins and oranges are auspicious Chinese New Year symbols. In fact, the word 'orange' sounds like the Chinese word for 'wealth', and as such oranges are frequently given as gifts to encourage affluence in the New Year. 

This was our first dessert. I was very surprised by this dish and this was one of my favourite dishes on the menu. It tasted similar to white chocolate on the outside and the filling exploded onto your taste buds and I cannot explain the taste but it was honestly sensational.

Green Apple Parfait, Cardamom Cake and Crispy Apple Noodle.

In some parts of China it is traditional to eat and gift apples during Chinese New Year, as the word apple in Chinese 'pingguo' sounds like the word 'peace'.

I loved all the different textures of the dish, going from the ice cream like texture to the little cake bits.

Tray of Togetherness. 

It is customary to offer guests an assortment of treats from a Tray of Togetherness, or chen-hop, in order to provide a sweet beginning to the New Year. 

The tray is typically octagonal in shape and filled with sugared fruits and sweets. It has eight compartments, as the number eight is lucky in Chinese culture. Each food has a positive message, from wealth and prosperity to a long and healthy life. 

We got to choose 4 things from this tray each, from the bottom left corner, the one with the green square on it is the pandan choux, next is the lime marshmallow, I forget what the next one after that is, and the one on the end is the red bean choux. All were fabulous, in particular the 2 choux's were my faves!

These little treats went down nicely with my pot of tea! 

At the end of our 8 courses the waiter came to our table personally and gave us a copy of the menu and stamped it in the corner himself. We had a brief little chat to him and thanked him for the food. It was really nice how he came to introduce himself, yet again another neat touch to the experience.

When our bill came it was presented to us in a chest drawer, the damage was £110 each, this included the drinks we ordered which was one mocktail, a pot of tea and some still water, not forgetting the service charge too! Blood and sweat were dripped on the bill for this! But I must say it was worth every penny!

This may sound like I'm trying to promote the place for money or something but I am not and I can honestly say that this is the best restaurant I have ever been to!

The staff made you feel very special, like you were VIP on there restaurant floor. Our waiter, Jerome (shout out to Jermone btw for a fabulous time!) noticed that we were both taking lots of pictures of the food and asked us if we wanted pictures of all the food emailed to us as they had pictures of them. It is such a small gesture, but you would never get a waiter asking you that in any other place! 

The whole experience from stepping into the restaurant to eating was none other but an EXPERIENCE for both myself and my taste buds! I felt like there were so many different textures and flavours, different yet beautifully complementary to one another. I felt as though some of the dishes dared to be experimental as well, for example the tangerine dish, and it totally worked! It was amazing and I fully give a round of applause to this menu and of course a bow to the chef!

Atmosphere- 10/10

Service- 10/10

Food- 10/10

Chocolate Sushi Rating- 10/10