As part of my great birthday treat (thanks to nearly everyone for their cards) Jen took me to Claridges for lunch. Well, lunch is a bit of an understatement when you’re eating six courses of nom from the “prestige menu”, but that’s what they call it. Here was our menu…

• Butternut squash soup with parmesan
• Casterbridge beef carpaccio with confit foie gras and beetroot salad (Salad of chargrilled courgettes, creamed ricotta and pine nuts, rocket pesto)
• Native lobster and salmon ravioli, lemongrass and coconut bisque (Black pepper gnocchi, sweetcorn velouté, fricassée of wild mushrooms, savory and broccoli )
• Crispy Suffolk pork belly and braised cheek, sautéed scallop, apple fondant and rocket pesto (Braised mixed English carrots, grelotte onions, dauphinois potatoes, morel sauce
• French and British cheeses (supplement)
• Cold malt chocolate fondant, mandarin ice cream

The food was fantastic, really well presented and the staff were very friendly. The highlight to me was the plainly stated “beetroot salad” which actually included the most amazing beetroot and horseradish ice-cream, wow!

As for Claridges itself, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it didn’t quite live up to the name it has. Hmm I’m finding it hard to explain why. Ah, I’ve got it… it felt like you were in a hotel rather than a restaurant. That’s exactly it! It’s quite a big thing actually and it knocked a few points off compared to Le Manoir which always felt like it was all about the food. The watermellini in the bar before the meal was gorgeous… in fact if anyone does go then it’s worth going to the bar and paying £15 for a cocktail because you get a gorgeous selection of snacks included crispy thin cheeeeese!

We’ve decided to cut back on swanky food for a while now, for the cost of the last two big meals we could have gone to Jamie’s Italian in Brighton 27 times. Yeh, exactly.