In the dark

Dans Le Noir in Farringdon presents an absolutely unique, dining experience. Yes it's pricey, yes it's french and yes it's worth it. You chose a menu - vegetarian, meat or surprise. Then you are escorted by blind waiters with bulging biceps into absolute, impenetrable darkness. It is so unusual. You feel you're sitting quite close to people, yet you get absolutely no perception of the size of the room or of the amount of people sitting around you.
For all those perverts out there - you'd think that the place is made for petty frolicking but there is a green light camera monitoring the place and making comments to waiters who all wear black clothes and a headphone.
It is really interesting to guess which food you're eating and to try and use knife and fork in pitch black. I'd managed to distinguish tuna from chicken but not lentils from rice. And bread became a very handy tool for delivering the food off my plate into my mouth. I wouldn't go twice but as an experience it was definitely worth it.

Sketch Up

Right now London boasts over 40 Michelin starred restaurants. 34 have one star. It is my goal in life to really understand how and why these stars are given out. What comes first - the design or the cuisine. Some are classically dull while others blow your mind with their interior. One of the latter is Sketch in Mayfair. It is sufficient to visit their website to understand exactly how much they've made the effort to impress. Furthermore somewhere in the back of my mind I think they've even won some kind of best toilet award in the early 2000.
I must admit I've been to Sketch a while back. Things might have changed. But the set menu I got, consisting of cold pasta salad with salmon and steak and caramel for dessert that had upset me. It was the only occasion where I was actually glad that the portions were small. Never the less, the bar presented wonderful, chocolate, alcoholic cocktails and I drank myself merry.
The sketch website merits a special mention - they've made an effort. It's unusual and fun to use. A bit of a hassle if you want to check something quickly but then it's fair to assume that if you're planing an outing to such a high end eatery; you're probably going to take your time checking it out anyway.
Ambiguous Sketch. I believe it merits another visit to make a final yay or nay. Undoubtedly, at least visually Sketch gets an A star. To be continued...

BlueMoon....

A great place for Thai is Blue Moon on Fortress Road. It's very miniature and cute, designed with candles and Buddhas. The girls that work there are extremely nice and pleasant to be around. There's a very warm, subdued atmosphere. It's good for a chill out meal when you live nearby and have a craving for some good Thai. If you fancy they do speedy take away as well.
I had the duck, the spicy green curry, the prawn noodles. All very flavoursome. If you're not one for spice make sure you look at the spice level of you dish because some of them can really make your ears burn!

3 Garcons .. oh yes!

J'adore Les 3 Garcons. Whereas most restaurants are of standard design and stand out through their food services rather than interior, 3 Garcons, near liverpool street tube get 5 stars for innovative design. Imagine the kitchiest dream sequence you ever had, hued in dark purples and opulent reds and you get 3 Garcons. I was so busy admiring the design , I could hardly concentrate on the food. The latter for the matter was french. The whole premise of french cuisine is that its very hard to really mess up because even the basics entail high quality of the food and complex flavours. Was it the best french I ever had in my whole life? No. None the less it was a french of very good standard. The braised beef was tender and the starters very varied.
Les 3 Garcons is not something you would want to visit every now and then unless you work in the city and its nearby. I would say its best for special occasions, occasions when you want to impress, to show your eclectic taste and insider knowledge of London's hidden gems.
Lounge lover, located right behind 3 Garcons, is an equally impressive cocktail/lounge bar belonging to the same company. It's great for a final woe after the wine and dining experience at the restaurant itself.

Plateau

Plateau was a real find. You take a lift from the Canary Warf shopping centre concourse, near Waitrose and you end up in a futuristic milieu known as plateau. If you're a fan of science fiction and translucent glass views you will certainly appreciate the effort put into design and choice of location. An important thing to remember about plateau is that it was opened by the Conran Designer Group. The latter make an effort, when I say effort - I mean they design all the entrails of the restaurant - from head to toe.
Whether you want to chill out with a cocktail and take inn the view of Canada Square at night or you want a quiet, sophisticated meal - Plateau is for you.
I visited it many times and was never disappointed. All the food is top notch but what really stands out from the crowd is the steak. The steak is perfect; thick, juicy it melts like butter under the knife and has the perfect texture. Before you get to the main though, forget the guilt and indulge in the butter - it's almost as good as the steak.

Cock of Silver

Coq d'argent is another rooftop venue, offering a view of the city. It's a better venue for a late lunch rather than a celebratory dinner. I entered the restaurant ready to wine and dine in pomp and splendour and I must say I was a bit off the mark. It's more of a stylishly casual venue. The food was normal, french cuisine all around. ... based on slightly false french stereotypes. Frog legs made an appearance on the menu. Frog legs. First of all who eats frog legs these days anyways? Not the French that's for sure! The only place where you could find frog legs in France would be a Chinese restaurant.
That being said, I recently had a look at the Coq's website and I must say they must have taken some advice on board. The new menu became more varied, they added oysters and caviar and started doing breakfast. Perhaps it has become a must see after all.

Silvas Portugal

Silva's in Hampstead was a bit of a random find. We were strolling round the neighbourhood when behold there is a restaurant on Heath street which is so inclined that the building seems to be suspended in mid air. The cuisine being Portuguese was another surprise because you don't really get much Portuguese around London. I was curious to find out what Portuguese tastes like anyway. There was a lot of fish involved. We had a massive bouillabaisse like fish stew which also tasted a lot like bouillabaisse and was very much to my liking.
On the downside the design was quite conventionally uninteresting and we did get a tummy ache shortly after our visit. However I do tend to contribute that ache to overindulgence or greed as some like to call it.