petersham

petersham is a summer go-to and think was last there about 18months ago over third wedding anniversary. in fact, we ran from home and met my parents (who went by car!) there so we've fantastic photos of us looking fit in compression tights. or maybe that's just the endorphin high speaking. was much less energetic at 38 weeks pregnant but did still religiously walk my 10k steps / 7km in hope of walking the baby out. no such luck and prof later laughed at me because 'walking doesn't work'. oh well, that was reason enough for me to give up. 

there's a different charm to the place in winter. all lovely soft light and crisp blue skies. walking along the thames path towards kew after lunch was good fun, albeit cold. the restaurant wasn't too crowded and while it does cost a pretty penny to dine there it was a nice mid-week treat.

coworth park

was visiting a friend in berkhamsted when thought to check the coworth park availability on a whim. last there before june 2012 wedding and distinctly remember hiding my cocopops under a glop of yoghurt so the mister-to-be wouldn't clock my failed wedding diet. thought it fitting to revisit just before baby was due. turns out there was the one room left before NYE and in a stroke of doubly good fortune, managed to score a last minute reso at hand&flower (!!!). S, dear foodie friend, had invited us to join his hard earned reso there a almost exactly two years ago and he'd literally booked a year in advance, in faith that he'd have enough friends to fill the reso when it came round. brave, considering the credit card guarantee one needed to put down. it was our best meal that year and quite easily one of the best in 2016. 

late start meant rolling up just in time for check in, then cream tea in the beautiful restaurant. good thing h&f reso was late-ish, because there was space for cream tea and a fantastic meal heh.

berry souffle at hand&flower. the beer chicken was divine (but i didn't get a photo)

walked the grounds to kill time between checkout and antenatal massage

blissed out post massage :)

ikeda

monkfish karaage

it's no secret that i can't get enough of ikeda and it's always a treat. hands down my all-time favourite restaurant, and it's not just me. rumour has it that redhotchillipeppers went thrice last week, and yoko*ono stops by every time she's in town. the late david*bowie, too. often too excited to dig in before photos so i've missed a couple of courses but it's consistently excellent and i love my seat by the counter where i can watch the incredibly talented chefs work their magic.

fried oysters - light and crispy, neither greasy nor stodgy in the least!

iberico pork tonkatsu

razor clams

inaniwa udon that is discontinued come 2017 :(

paris day 2

after the 10pm seating at verjus, tasting menu no less so can't even remember what time i finally got to zz, i passed out till late morning then felt compelled to revisit best tofu for bean curd. stuck out like a sore thumb despite being chinese and chalked it down to a cultural experience. it's cramped, you're cheek to jowl with the next diner after using sharp elbows to get a seat. fast turnaround and snooze you lose! typically azn :P found a little farmers' market near best tofu and enjoyed looking at all the produce after breakfast.

had lunch reso at somewhere snooty but they'd the cheek to ring and cancel the night before because we'd failed to get in touch to confirm the reso 48h before. what nonsense. they should be the one reaching out to confirm, not the customer. but whatevs, don't need that sort of snobbery and clamato was a more than decent plan B. oysters, wine and carpaccio of all kinds. pregnant contraband but maintain that maternal diet is maternal choice and there are enough sanctimonious pregnant people out there without me adding to their numbers ;)

walked off lunch exploring bastille and couldn't resist crepe suzette with gran marnier before picking up some basics at uniqlo.

had another fashionably late dinner post defensive nap at frenchie bar au vin. no reservations so walked in about 2230, seated 2330 (stood with wine glasses in hand for over an hour!) and then ate till about 0100h. but all worth it for the incredible stilton from pasteurised milk. still dreaming of that blue. the yuzu mont blanc was also divine.

paris day 1

had annual leave to clear and decided to hop across the channel once again. was put off the eurostar after my parents' bad experience last month. as our dear family friend C put, with azn families it's once bitten, twice shy by proxy. too true! in retrospect, train still > plane because heathrow is such a mess and coming back, despite landing at 1615h, it took almost an hour to get to the gate because another plane was blocking us, then it was a busy thoroughfare and in the take off queue and basically one lame excuse after another. then the alien queue was about 45min to an hour long, and it took another hour to get home by tube. the immigration hassle is also not worth it because foundation doctors are on a tier 4 student visa, despite not being students, despite working >20h/week (duh) and no border control officer is familiar with this exception so i get questioned like a criminal every single time. it's really not worth it.  

anyway paris is always a dream and when i'm there i forget about work and its multitude of woes. not to go into too much detail but it's been a rough few weeks with ward burning down (no exaggeration) and another patient we'd discharged a few months ago murdering his wife. arrived late afternoon and made a beeline for sanukiya. udon is such a comfort, then purveyed some beans at overpriced cafe with unpleasant waiters.

had a defensive nap before emerging fashionably late for drinks at the newly reopened ritz (hemingway bar is so sexy!) and a 10pm thanksgiving dinner reso at verjus, at friends in the know's recommendation.

park chinois

voyeuring the menu before hand, the park carbonara done with inaniwa udon, uni, pancetta and sous vide egg made it hard to say no to a dinner reso there. dark, subterranean and with clubby music, beautiful moneyed types (arab, russian and asian, typical!) was not my scene and i kept judging us for going there. had to shout to be heard at dinner (not nice) and got annoyed with the general chi chi-ness of the place. because, believe it or not, my taste runs more simple and something without table cloths and where you've to pay before sitting down is increasingly becoming the sort of dining experience i lean towards. but the waiters were attentive, frequently topping up my tap water (so classy, i know) and hm in part that might've been the MSG speaking because darn did my lips sting and boy was i disproportionately thirsty! 

the king crab with home made noodles was even better than the park carbonara and if i were ever to return, it'd be for more of this silken goodness. although i'd need bottles of coke to counteract the MSG.

was overambitious and forgot how my appetite's shrunk now that the little space invader is occupying the space where my stomach used to be. natural gastric band, much! so most of the aubergine with tofu in claypot went to waste :(

coffee&donuts

harwood arms with cousin and cousin-in-law when they stayed with me a couple of weeks ago. they bravely left their stable careers (corporate lawyer-ing and ship brokering) to spend a year at le cordon bleu paris. and now they're on their babymoon, the obvious destination was paris! they broke journey in london and were kind to invite me to dinner at ledbury (which i'd to forgo because i was in the cotswolds!!!) which i would've ordinarily jumped at the chance to go to. haven't been to the ledbury in years but have the fondest memories of the two times i was lucky enough to feast there. dunno why i've not been back sooner, really, suppose being in london leaves one spoilt for choice and i rationalise that the ledbury is always there. 

the harwood arms didn't disappoint and having only just had dinner there with a different houseguest (i swear, sometimes i feel like i'm running a revolving door B&B!) the menu had been updated and i found stuff i liked.

with babies taking up more space than anticipated, we only had the 2 course but i couldn't resist the coffee and donuts so does that count as a third course? :)

harwood arms

is without a doubt my go-to when friends in town want a modern british meal. had a house guest for a week who i casually abandoned over the weekend to venture north but that's the beauty of old friends, eh? low maintenance. also i'm too lazy / uninvested to promise week-long hosting, because, really, i'm only good in small doses. plus with an intense job that leaves me craving sofa / duvet time at the end of the day, the last thing i want is to have to show someone around london. hey, providing RBKC accommodation should more than suffice, no? sparkling wit and charm not included. but i jest. 

said house guest was kind enough to want to buy dinner as a thank you and i suggested harwood arms cos it's sorta in the 'hood and consistently good. don't go often enough to tire of the menu but happened to go twice in a couple of weeks cos my cousin and cousin-in-law also stayed in quick succession. revolving door B&B much! 

had the quail with black pudding scotch egg (above) and sea bream (i think) followed by raspberry souffle for pud. all good and defo worth trying.

hinds head and harwood arms

on the way home from cliveden, my mother had the brainwave to ask the question at the hind's head in hope that they'd be able to take a last minute reservation. as they say up north, shy bairns get nought and we were thrilled with the spontaneous lunch. the food was excellent, and better than i remembered it to be when we last went with M and A. the scotch egg was out of this world and well worth the hike on its own. i had an unadorned steak (runny egg yolk, medium rare steak, really not complying with doctor's orders...) which was so good on its own and pea soup before the steak. strawberry tart for dessert and was too busy stuffing my face to take a photo of what my parents ordered.

and because we were on a hedonistic roll, we were further spoilt with more michelin starred gastropub goodness that same night. lucky to live a stone's throw from harwood arms and while i thought it might be too much of a good thing, i was impressed my lean and mean folks managed to put away a second pub meal in 7h.