Thursday, 9 August 2007

Cosmically fantastic lunch

A very nice colleague from the other Centre we support left yesterday. Sadly this wasn't a triumphal, elective exit to some swish new job - the money for her project has run out, so she's off. A great pity as she is lovely.

She obviously decided to leave in style because her farewell lunch - to which I felt privileged to be invited - took place at a rather good restaurant, round the corner in St John's Street.

The Clerkenwell Dining Room was quiet, pleasant and served wonderful food. The menu prices are a touch disconcerting but (at the moment anyway) lunchtime was half-price though I am not sure if this was because we were a group, or what. See Toptable or The Guardian for more, but take a tranquillizer first if you are easily upset by bad spelling or grammar.

I had:

  • Pork belly, scallops, celeriac puree, baby cress, apple and walnut salsa - priced at £17. Absolutely sensational. A huge round flat tower of extremely tender and delicious meat topped with its own lid of exquisite crackliness. The superb scallops I could have eaten as a meal on their own. Trimmings - delicious. A stunningly excellent meal.
  • We had some kind of very nice white wine whose name I am ashamed to say I cannot remember. Bad bad Vogel.
  • Dessert: Chocolate mousse with almond cream, caramel sauce, and pistachio ice cream - menu price £7.

Although the dessert was excellent I should not have had it: I usually eat quite lightly at lunch and it was pretty greedy to have the mousse after such a great main course. I felt I could hardly walk back to the office. Twit. Oh well.

I think this has gone straight into my Top Ten Great Lunches. I hope I can think of an excuse for going back soon, without having to lose any more nice colleagues.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your middle child keeps telling us we should have lunch one day, no?

Strawberryyog said...

Goshdarned right we should, yep! Watch that Telephone Of Mobility. :)