Reviews Pictures

A couple of weeks ago when I told a certain someone we were headed to Shepherd’s Bush for dinner on Friday night, he casually replied ‘oh cool, somewhere you’ve never really been before…’ while humming the theme tune to Only Fools and Horses. To which I not so casually retorted, ‘um excuse me, I’ve been there several times now… remember how I whinged about the platform changes while lugging my shopping bags around?!’. And then as quickly as those words escaped my mouth, I was wishing they really hadn’t because I then had to admit that a certain someone was right. These admissions are not something I take pleasure in.

It’s surprisingly difficult to find a good afternoon tea in London on a Saturday.
Eventually I found Dorsett Shepherds Bush hotel. They were open, had room for us and the menu looked lovely.

The sweet stuff was a ‘Fruit Shoot’ – essentially a smoothie of kiwi, papaya, lemongrass, banana and coconut – and various cakes.
All of the cakes were excellent; highlights included blueberry meringue with mixed berries and red Victoria sponge cakes.

Though the most impressive was definitely the ‘Chocolate Coffee Cup’. A perfectly formed cup, immaculately made from chocolate filled with rich mango chocolate mousse.
It tasted every bit as good at it looked.

For London Restaurant festival this year I only managed to try out one deal from bookatable.com . Pictures at Dorsett Hotel, a Chinese owned hotel filled with seductive dark colours and an art deco feel. £15 seemed like a great deal for a 2-course meal, that was nearby to go after work with colleagues. The hotel has a tiny bar at the corner, with few chairs and tables. The restaurant Pictures is an all day brassiere, with Asian-Western food, taking up the side of the hotel.

I live near to this beautiful hotel and watched it being built (not constantly !), it took a very long time and they restored the facade of the old building in such an amazing way. It has uplifted the whole of Shepherd's Bush green so Thankyou to the hotel group that made this happen.

The hotel is still relatively new (jan 15) and still hasn't quite bedded down. The bar area is very stylish and the atrium above it is so luxurious, like bands of gold. The furniture and drapes are really funky.

Onto the food .....

For starters we had chicken caeser salad - nice twist to add anchovy but a little too much for a starter - and popiah, which is a Malaysian spring roll - a little bland.

For mains we had organic salmon - pretty standard - and beef rendang, given it comes so highly recommended. I've never had this dish before, the beef was incredibly tender but there was just way too much and, being half Polish, I never like to offend by not finishing the dish! It also lacked a bit of zing and needs spicing up.

The table layout in here also needs a bit more creativity.

Overall nice and it wouldn't take much to turn this from good to excellent. Maybe get Gordon Ramsay on the case !

For London Restaurant festival this year I only managed to try out one deal from bookatable.com. Pictures at Dorsett Hotel, a Chinese owned hotel filled with seductive dark colours and an art deco feel. £15 seemed like a great deal for a 2-course meal, that was nearby to go after work with colleagues.

The plate of duck watermelon arrived, shredded pieces of duck confit, and with the thumb sized chunks of watermelon accompanied with greens. I liked the sweetness of the fruit and contrasting saltiness of the duck, lightly dressed in a sweet sauce.

Ok, the next dish may look like something that came out of your butt; you know the caramelised looking brown colour, rough lumpy texture of meat. I assure you Beef Rendang is good. Rich in spices, layered with garlic, shallots, ginger, meat oh so tender and not chewy. The final aftertaste is the coconut milk that the beef was simmered for hours. It went down very well, without any rice.

Stick around for desserts, as it was a great ending for the evening. Apple tarte tatin is becoming a favourite of mine ever since I had it at Malaysian Nyonya Supperclub. The upside down French tart, plenty of fruits compressed together in a bowl of cream, swirled with raspberry sauce.