November is proving to be a busy month for birthday’s within my friendship circle. Recently celebrating Binny’s birthday at The Rosewood and then a few weeks prior to that, we had Emma’s and Angie’s birthday.
When I got a paperless, yet very elegant invite into my inbox from Angie and Emma for a very #KiwiSpoonBirthday I was nothing but excited. Celebrating the life of two of my favourite people? Yes please! Our celebratory lunch location was at Marcus at The Berkeley Hotel. A 2* Michelin starred restaurant, definitely something I would expect from my fellow luxury bloggers.
Saturday arrived and I put on my smartest attire and pottered out into the cold, arriving at Silver Towers for a pre-birthday drink with the girls. Where I was greeted by Lauren and Mr. S, along with the two birthday ladies. Minutes later, out of the fridge comes the magnum of Perrier Jouët. These girls know how to be still my beating heart.
The magnum was finished in less than 60 minutes and we all hoped into a cab and headed for The Berkeley. Arriving at such a beautiful luxury hotel, with stunning decor and inviting warmth to match. We ready to settle down and check out the menu.
On arrival at Marcus, we ordered a beautiful bottle of Billecart-Salmon Champagne which was crisp and fresh. We enjoyed it whilst we caught up with Mina, who met us at the restaurant. Marcus had also left Angie and Emma a gift of his cook book, which was a nice surprise.
The amuse bouche was Foie gras which was served on the most perfectly shiny silver spoons, marking the occasion of our very own special SilverSpoon.
We went for the lunch tasting menu along with sommelier’s selection of wines that were paired with each dish.
The first dish was poached sea trout with trottolino pepper and buttermilk. However, i’m extremely finicky about seafood and certain fishes, so I asked to substitute my dish with a vegetarian dish. However, Angie who was sitting beside me, had the sea trout. She throughly enjoyed it but confirmed that it wouldn’t be my sort of dish. See – good friends know each others likes and dislikes!
However, I throughly enjoyed my substitute dish. Italian beans with duck egg and butter beans. Light and throughly enjoyable.
Once we had finished our champagne, it was paired with glass of 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, Domaine David Levin from Loire Valley, France.
The salt baked celeriac with hazelnut and truffle. Not the ingredients I would normally pair together, but it was surprisingly delicious. The hazelnut added a nutty flavoured crunch and the truffle offered a light aroma and flavour to the dish too. This dish was paired with 2015 Ribeiro Godello, ‘Cepas Velhas’, Godeval from Galicia, Spain.
The cod was one of my favourite dishes. I may not like many fishes, but I can never resist cod. The fillet was amazing quality, so light, flaky and poached to perfection. The sweetcorn puree and charred corn was complimented the fish so well. However, I did leave the clams to one side. This dish was paired with 2014 Coteaux du Layon St Lambert, Domaine Ogereau from Loire Valley, France.
For the meaty dish, there was an option of chargrilled Cumbrian veal neck with artichoke and radicchio or fallow venison with heritage carrot and glazed fig. Myself, Angie, Mina and Emma went for the venison and Lauren went for the veal neck. The meat was cooked perfectly medium-rare. Even though I prefer my meat well done generally, but the venison wouldn’t have been at its prime. The dish was paired with 2015 Zweigelt, “Puszta Libre!”, Claus Preisinger from Burgenland, Austria.
By this point I was feeling very light headed, to the point where I had congregated unfinished wine glasses and was slowly passing them over to Angie to finish for me. After all, she is one of the birthday girls!
There was an option to have an extra course of cheese and crackers before we got onto desserts. When the birthday girls want cheese, they get cheese! We went for the extra round and all had a taste of the five different cheeses.
Dessert was a scrumptious chocolate cake with clementine and dried rosemary. After all, the birthday ladies must eat cake for their birthday celebrations. Rich, creamy and indulgent. It was the perfect way to end the meal. Well, we thought it was the end until they brought out a small custard square out for a ‘post dessert’. There certainly was no counting calories at this meal!
Custard tarts are my guilty pleasure, so I was happy to enjoy it on a smaller and more elegant scale after a multi-course lunch.
After eating so much, you just feel so sleepy. Rather than having to walk anywhere far, we rolled ourselves into the Blue Bar at The Berkeley, famous for it’s amazing drinks. We popped in for one more glass of bubbly and a last hooray.
Angie, Emma and I were left, as Mina and Lauren had prior engagements. What shall we do? The three of us jumped into a taxi back to Angie’s to enjoy yet another bottle of bubbly whilst watching her wedding video. There may have been a few escaping tears, but i’m blaming it on the beautiful bride and too much alcohol.
All in all, a perfect birthday celebration spent with amazing friends. I absolutely loved the food, the service and the personal touch that Marcus at The Berkeley put on for us. I would definitely recommend it!
Star Rating for Marcus:
Until next time…
