Anniversary meal at St. James Restaurant, Fortnum & Mason
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
There’s a special annual occasion which should (hopefully) be remembered and celebrated in some way between a couple. It being our first and being foodies we wanted to make it a special one. Ever since I took my mum to Fortnum and Mason in January on a lunch and ballet ticket deal I have wanted to take Chris there, not only to eat lunch but to swoon at the beautifully presented food they have in the shop.
It taking two and half hours to arrive in London, we decided to go for early doors and have lunch at 12:30. We were almost the first people in for lunch at St. James restaurant. It didn’t bother me too much though, I’m pretty sure the waiter service would have been just as efficient had there been fifty more occupied tables around us.
We splashed out a little and got ourselves half a bottle of champagne, although we felt cheapskates for ordering the cheapest one off the menu, it was actually the nicest champagne I’ve ever had as it wasn’t too dry. Chris was impressed that we had a waiter who never let the glasses get empty and seemed to be there specifically just to pour wine!
For starters, Chris had a cold mezze which included a selection of salamis and parma ham served with plump juicy black olives and crunchy bread sticks filled with herbs. I had corned beef, served with parma ham and truffle. The corned beef wasn’t especially to my liking and unusual I thought to be served in such a high class restaurant, but the overall taste of the dish was delicious.
For main (and the whole reason for going on a Sunday) was the roast beef. I loved that we were asked how we would like our meat, a far cry from the trays of heat lamp dried meat of the £8.99 Toby carvery. It was served with the most divine roast potatoes which we couldn’t quite put our finger on what made them taste so good, green beans and truly the most amazing cauliflower cheese I have ever tasted. It was a little bit crispy on the top and the cheese was wonderfully creamy underneath – I think if I’d just have been served that I’d have been just as happy! And don’t forget of course, no roast dinner is complete without a Yorkshire pudding! The portion was huge, too huge for me – Chris told me to “eat it all up do you know how much it’s costing us” so I proceeded to gorge myself until I felt like I might burst. Having done this, we asked if we might have a little break between that and the dessert course, so I could attempt to make a little more room in my tummy to squeeze it all in.
For dessert we both had plum bakewell with ginger ice cream and honey. The ginger ice cream really helped clear the palette and whilst I am not normally keen on plums, I found the tart delicious especially with the little drizzle of honey.
As you can imagine we were full to the gunnels at the point, and I felt we needed to get up and waddle around and start to work off some of the many calories we had just consumed. I suggested we looked around the shop but at this point it was just ridiculous as we had absolutely no inclination to look at food having just stuffed our faces, so we waddled outside and continued the rest of our day.
PS Sorry the photos aren’t as great as normal but when you’re in a restaurant like that you feel a little odd getting out your SLR and taking photos of your food so we took them with an iPhone.
You can find out more about Fortnum & Mason here.
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