ROBIN EDWARDS
London

Hoppers, Soho

Hoppers is the cheaper sister restaurant from the people behind the Michelin starred Trishna and Gymkhana. It’s named Hoppers after the traditional Sri Lakan egg pancake bowls that they serve. It’s another of those annoying no reservations restaurants. So they put your name down on a list and they give you a rough time a table will become available and then give you a buzzer that lets you know to come back when you’re table is ready. The buzzer works over quite a distance so you don’t have to stay at the restaurant, we actually went for a drink several streets away and it worked fine. We waited about an hour for a table, which given it was a Friday night we didn’t think was too bad. We had a couple of delicious Indian inspired cocktails to start and then on to the food. Obviously we had to go for the the classic Hopper which the restaurant is named after. We had it with two karis (curries) one lamb and one black pork and  a rather spicy sambal (chutney). All utterly delicious with some really unusual flavours, pretty good value for Soho as well. I will be back.
London

Quiz

Quiz is a play written by James Graham based of the true story of Major Charles Ingram and the coughing scandal that surrounded his attempt to win £1,000,000 on the gameshow ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’. I remember this scandal happening and all the press coverage at the time so was interested to check out the play. It was really good, very cleverly staged and also interactive with the audience. The actor who played Chris Tarrant was particularly amusing. It really went into the story I felt and explored the story, threw up a lot of information I didn’t know. At the end the audience votes as to whether or not you think he did it or not. Apparently the results it varies between performance. The night we went by a slim majority we and the audience actually voted him innocent. A great play, I’ve recommended it to several people now and they’ve also been and really enjoyed it.

London

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

For my birthday this year I decided I fancied going for dinner somewhere special, so decided to go out with my friend Marc to Dinner by Heston Blummental. I’d be wanting to go for ages so it seemed as good an excuse as any. We had a couple of cocktails at the bar at the Mandarin Oriental, the hotel in which the restaurant is situated before moving through to our table. For starters I ordered one fo their signature dishes, the meat fruit, a chicken liver parfait covered in a mandarin gel made to resemble an actual real piece of fruit. Apparently it’s the most instagrammed dish in all of London. It’s certainly impressive and realistic looking as you can see from my pictures. It wasn’t a case of style over substance either it was as delicious as it looked. For main I had pork, it was nice, but of all the dishes maybe the least successful. For dessert we had another of the restaurants signature dishes, the tipsy cake, which diners are advised to order in advance To allow for the gradual alcohol basting of the cream filled baked brioche. It’s served with a beautifully spit roasted caramelised pineapple. Delicious. We also had liquid nitrogen ice cream that they prepare table side, a bit gimmicky but impressive none the less. Also as it was my birthday they very kindly sent me another pudding on the house where the chefs had written me a happy birthday message in chocolate. A lovely meal all in all, really enjoyed myself.

 

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