We caught the Eurostar from Paris to London and arrived on Saturday 12th May. We said a sad goodbye to C & JR as they were staying with friends at Richmond, whilst we were to stay with my cousin L in Fulham.
After unpacking and a decent cup of tea, we went for a walk along the Thames to Hammersmith, where we had a drink at a pub on the waterside, before returning home.
Dinner that night at Odette's. We had been tempted to try this by this review on London Eater. This review is so good and has such lovely photos I can hardly better it. We had similar entrees, although we didn't have the degustation. I had the duck egg with truffle, and J had the pigs head and black pudding terrine, and both of these were exactly as KL describes them on his blog. Very very tasty.
We had some different dishes as we weren't having the tasting menu. These were:
Organic Salmon with sprouting broccoli and pea puree
Sprouting broccoli, blue cheese gnocchi, walnut pesto
Braised Welsh beef, mashed potato, glazed shallot, parsley salad
Lemon sole, charred leek, brandade & grapes
They were all delicious, though JG said the lemon sole was a little overwhelmed by the sauce.
Desserts were:
rhubarb in mango soup with honeycomb - it was sensational, not too sweet despite the collection of flavours, refreshing, interesting
Warm chocolate cake, banana, caramel ice cream
Blackberry soufflé & vanilla ice cream
All delicious, if rather conservative. L and JG live in Fulham, and Odette's is in Primrose Hill, clear across London for them. They said that whilst the food was very good, there were many good ones also between Fulham and Primrose Hill. They'd be back if in the area. As for me, I'd try it again on my next visit to London.
The next day we raced into the city and went to the Turner and Claude exhibition at The National Gallery. This exhibition shows how Turner was influenced by the French painter Claude, and it's amazing how many works they have in common, for example Claude's Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba inspired Turner's Dido Building Carthage, although Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Night is completely Turner's own, and shows a grip on reality painting that Claude doesn't seem to have. Since we love Turner it was all good, and I have long been a fan of Claude's landscapes with their depth and fantastical imagination. Here's a link to some photos of the paintings in the exhibition.
We went back to Fulham to prepare my Slow Cooked Greek lamb for JG's birthday dinner. Which was lovely and we had some great wine and prosecco and conversation and tumbled into bed.
Next morning we got up early and caught the train to Oxford! Next post....