Best meal I've had all year (Other Restaurants in Mayfair)

Member Name: Leolover

Product:	Other Restaurants in Mayfair
Date:	06/08/02 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fab food, fab drink, very special surroundings

Disadvantages: pricey

It's been a fortnight of celebrations for me, what with an anniversary, a birthday and landing myself a new job. I think I've had more champagne in the past couple of weeks than I have for the whole of the rest of the year! Not that I'm complaining, of course!

For my birthday, I decided to try a restaurant in Mayfair called Bullochs at 116, which is situated in the Hotel Athenaeum at Mayfair. I subscribe to an internet restaurant booking facility called Toptable (.co.uk) which regularly sends out newsletters with details of special offers at various restaurants across the country, and Bullochs happened to be offering 50% off your entire food bill for lunch or dinner, which sounded like a brilliant deal to me. I booked a table for four online (myself, my partner and our two closest friends) and looked forward to a lovely birthday meal.

*** FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The hotel itself is fabulous. Decadent but not garish, comfortable yet elegant, and it smelt great! I know that's a really strange thing to say but I often instantly either feel at home or on edge by the smell of a place. I wished I'd booked a room for the night, I felt so instantly relaxed and happy there. The restaurant was tastefully decorated in shades of green and cream, with a very quiet and relaxed atmosphere. The staff were friendly and welcoming, and gave us a really nice table in the corner where we could chat comfortably.

*** MENU CHOICES

The restaurant is quite small and the menu reflects that, with a selection of about five starters, five main courses and five desserts. The starters ranged from crab salad, wild mushrooms with roasted pine nuts or bouillabaise soup and were all priced at £7.95. The main courses are all £19.50 (apart from the dover sole which has a supplement of £8) and you could choose from Thai Fish medley, monkfish, roasted rack of ribs or a vegetarian option. The desserts sounded fantastic - Banana and Apricot par
fait is the one that sticks in my mind - but we were all far too full to ponder over the list by that time!

*** FOOD

I chose the crab salad followed by dover sole, off the bone, with salted new potatoes and mixed seasonal vegetables. The crab salad was delicious, and quite large for a starter, and the dover sole was simply exquisite, not a single bone in sight. A special mention must also go to the potatoes which were tender and flavoursome, and I'm not even a fan of potatoes!

My partner had the Thai fish medley which he said was fantastic, and our friends tried the monkfish and roasted rack of ribs, which were also pronounced delicious. None of us could find anything bad to say about the food, it was cooked to perfection and the flavours blended really well together. Ten out of ten.

*** DRINK

The cheapest bottle of wine was £19.00, so we decided to go for broke as it was a special occasion, and splashed out on two bottles of vintage Bollinger champagne. I won't tell you the price of those, as you'll probably nearly faint, like I did, but I can honestly say it was worth the money, as I?ve never tasted such gorgeous champers! There was a selection of about forty wines, plus various spirits and soft drinks. The coffee at the end of the meal was superb, and served with a selection of mini truffles - yum!

There's a whisky bar next to the restaurant, and we popped in after our meal. Whiskies cost upwards from £7.50 a shot, and the whisky bar is lovely and cosy, complete with bookcases and an open fire to relax in front of.

*** SERVICE

The service was good, although we did have to wait quite a long time for our starters. Our waitress was friendly and attentive, and made sure our glasses were topped up regularly. They were aware that we had booked under Toptable and took the 50% off our food bill without even having to be asked.

*** PRICE

It's not cheap, bu
t I wouldn't hesitate to go back for a special occasion, even if I had to pay the full price. Our bill for four came to £208, but I don't think that's TOO bad considering £112 of that was champagne...(aaaargh! I know, I know! It was lovely though...!) It was the nicest meal I've had in a long time, and I thoroughly recommend the restaurant. It would be perfect for a romantic occasion.


*** HOW TO GET THERE

The Athenaeum hotel is at 116 Piccadilly, about five minutes from Green Park Tube Station and eight minutes from Hyde Park Corner. The entrance to the restaurant is through the main entrance for the hotel.

Telephone : 020 7499 3464

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