The Restaurant Eater Review...London Town

MOSIMANN'S CLUB

I recently got married...yipee! The reason I mention it, is because we had our meal in one of the private rooms in Mosimann's Club (11B West Halkin Street, London, SW1X 8JL, T +44 (0) 20 7235 9625 F +44 (0) 20 7245 6354 dining@mosimann.com). Even though Mosimann's is a club, only tending to be open to members, you can book in the private rooms:

• Montblanc
• Davidoff
• Veuve Clicquot
• Bentley
• Parmigiani
• The Belfry
• Blake

Our wedding meal was in the Belfry, and even though it may look a little plainer than the other rooms, it meant that one could add their own personal touch to it. So we had the florists add all the bouquets, candles, petals and even some lighting effects...It was awesome, and very picturesque! The service was superb, especially because the waiters/waitresses had to climb so many stairs to give us food etc (there was a lift, but not all the way to the top)!

The food was absolutely delicious! They even created a slightly different menu for the vegetarians in the group, and the mushroom risotto was to die for! Anton Mosimann even gave us some bread and butter pudding as a taster before the cake - I had bad memories of bread and butter pudding from school and would not normally touch the stuff, but it was my wedding and I was going to try everything. Boy, am I glad that I did! It was really amazing, I had no idea that was what bread and butter pudding was supposed to taste like! It was a real shock, I can certainly tell you that! I even bought his cookbook and have been making it ever since! Scrumptious, is all I can say about the food. Everything was perfect.


Anton has cooked for the Royal Family and he has won numerous awards and gained many achievements, and in my opinion, rightly so.


Mosimann's
Ambience: 10/10
Decor: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 10 Well, I had to give it a perfect score, because it really was that good. I also think it was the best place to have our wedding meal and it was certainly a perfect end, to a perfect day.

The Restaurant Eater Review...A Short Visit to Sydney

BOTANICA BRASSERIE

We visited Sydney over the Easter weekend, ate at as many places as we could get into at such short notice. It is always good to go through the hotel concierge as they can usually squeeze you in at the hotspot.

We first ate at the hotel, Sheraton On The Park at their award winning Botanica Brasserie (Sheraton on the Park, Level 1, 161 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000, T (02) 9286 6650) buffet style restaurant, which is a good idea if you are meeting people since it caters for most tastes. You can find an abundance of sushi, salads, desserts, roasted things and so forth!

We met our family there for dinner, and although most were pleased at the variety, I felt that it was a let down. The homous and some of the other dips had been left to crust over, the food was good quality (which seems to be the norm down under) but a little bland and not terribly interesting. My husband and I walked round and round trying to pick some things, so variety doesn't always mean interesting. We thought we must have been spoiled from trying Melba at the Langham in Melbourne, as that was faultless and exceptional to say the least.

Goodness me, I almost forgot to mention the service. They obviously do not know what they are doing. At least three of us were waving to get the waiter's attention who on a few occasions seemed as if he had seen us and just chose to ignore us. He also filled the red wine glasses too full and I think that was wrong as it meant buying more wine for some, when others couldn't finish theirs.

Another complaint for the Sheraton On The Park, would be the bar right next to The Botanica. We wanted to have some after dinner coffees there, but were told they were shutting at 10.30pm...which was in a few minutes, because they felt they were not busy. They are a hotel bar and I would expect them to be open a bit later, especially for their guests (is that just me or is that crazy?).

The Botanica
Ambience: 6.5/10
Decor: 7/10
Food: 5.5/10
Service: 4/10
Overall: 5.75 Not a great score, it just was not what I would call award winning. I would probably only dine there with less guests and if I was staying in the hotel.

The Restaurant Eater Review...visiting Melbourne

VUE DE MONDE

Vue De Monde (Normanby Chambers, 430 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, T +61 3 9691 3888, F +61 3 9600 4600, E vuedemonde@vuedemonde.com.au), is a fabulous restaurant, probably one of the best in the world I would say. In the Australian Good Food Guide, it even won restaurant of the year.

You notice it is a class above the rest as soon as you step into historic Normanby Chambers...you see waiters as in a dance going to their tables with such calculated speed and experience, you see the many chefs preparing as you take your seat, and after all that the ambience is just so fun and alive.

On any given night they prepare 60-70 different dishes, which I think is very cool! We went for the gourmand menu so that we could try as much as possible! Your waiter will find out from you exactly the things you like/dislike and my dad even asked if they had any esgcargot (snails) on the menu, which for my husband and I is not exactly our cup of tea, but no problem, we had a lovely Wagyu Beef dish instead. It was just so flexible and our waiters were really nice and good fun. My dads friend that came with us, was begging to come back again before they had to leave back to the UK!

I know that I am not the hugest fan of truffles, but wow, the ones they had shaved on top of the risotto was just yum! So here, quality really is worth the price!

(Photo taken from their website at, http://www.vuedemonde.com.au//the-menu_recipes.aspx)

One of the refreshers were so simple, yet so amazing: a kiwi slice on a stick (like a lolly) that had been frozen, then when ready to serve, it was dipped in a mint jelly, which by the time it got to you had jellified and was just so refreshing to the palate! Goodness, I requested a chocolate soufflé, and the waiter got me that as well as a taster of all the other ones they were doing that night!

We really did have a great time and have been twice already! It is a bit on the expensive side, but that depends on what you order with you email e.g. wines and so forth. I think for someone visiting, they would not find it as expensive as in the UK with a restaurant on its level.

If you did not want to spend so much, there is always the Cafe Vue and Bistro Vue, the latter offering a Parisian fare and the former lunch in a box! Anyway, make sure you visit their website and see what you would prefer...

Vue De Monde
Ambience: 10/10
Decor: 10/10
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Overall: 10

As you can imagine, it is hard to get in, so you must book in advance!

.........................................

I recently moved to Melbourne from the UK and my husband and I struggled at first to find somewhere to eat! That's simply because a lot of the restaurants are hidden down mystery alley ways...On the day we arrived, we were so tired from the jet lag that we ended up walking around for quite a while and everything seemed shut or not too decent! We were based in the CBD and it was dead, I guess it would be the same in the City (London), everyone commutes in I suppose.

So the very first night we ended back at our apartment eating scrambled egg on toast!

The next night we were a little more successful, getting tips of where we should be looking! We headed to the Southbank and into the Crown Casino complex to find an array of eateries, mostly on the posher side, and walking further in, one can find a foodcourt (which now I have seen everywhere in Melbourne).

CAFE GRECO
On the ground floor, we saw lots of nice looking cakes and desserts at Cafe Greco (T 613 9686 9733, open Mon to Sun: 8am - late) and decided to join the short queue (compared to The Waterfront) as we were still too tired from jet lag! It seemed quite a casual affair, which suited us fine that evening! We were shown in and then out again to sit overlooking the Yarra. I would say the style of food was a mixture between Greek and Italian...We ordered mains and dessert (me, being the dessert kind of person, it was only natural). The mains were good but maybe compounded with the tiredness and jet lag, we were not too fussed about the meal. It was good quality, just a little bland. I disliked the dessert, I guess it was just a little too much sickly sweet. It is a good restaurant on the whole, but I wouldn't bother going there again as there are just so many place to try out. I did not think it was expensive, but then I compare everything to the UK, at first it sounds like a lot, but just convert to sterling and in most places you will be astounded at the quality you get for what you have to fork out.

Cafe Greco
Ambience: 7/10
Decor: 7/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 6/10
Overall: 6.5 Not a terrible score, it was good, just not great. So fine for a simple dinner.