Not only was it lunch at one of Langham Hotel’s finest restaurants, it was also a chance to finally get a chance to meet one of my favourite PR representatives and extend the invite to four other special bloggers of my choice.
A beautiful round table reserved for us in the centre of the restaurant, with a beautiful white cloth covering it, a stunning arrangements of pink and peach flowers perched in the centre with eight chairs tucked around it. We had a couple of extra guests from a local London based magazine join us too, which was fantastic!
On arrival, everyone greeted one another and took their seats. It wasn’t long before we were presented with some delicious canapés to start with, a tartlet with cream cheese and salmon. As you can imagine, for somebody that doesn’t like raw fish I was a little taken back by it but I had a try of it anyway and to my amazement, I actually enjoyed it!
Once the canapés were finished, the waiter brought around a choice of red or white wine along with some bread and butter. I opted for red wine, as I find it is a more palatable type of wine to enjoy with food, however most of the ladies around the table went for white wine.
The wine glass polished to perfection, glistening under the light shining out the chandelier above us, the red vino going down a treat, so smooth and very delicious. Perfect choice, thanks to the waiter.
Our orders were taken whilst we consumed the perfectly soft sourdough bread with butter and salt spread over it. Freshly made bread is an absolute favourite of mine.
Just as we finished the bread, the starters arrived. Everything looking so divine, well presented with the most aromatic scents rising from each of the plates.
Other ladies and gents ordered prawns, seared scallops and onion consommé. There was a lot of happy noises and big smiles around the table, so that was a definite sign that everything was perfect and the starters passed the test of the food bloggers with flying colours.
Soon after, the mains arrived. Perfectly timed, just as everyone has finished their starters. Whilst the mains came out, a second waiter attentively topped up all our wine glasses – our glasses were not allowed to be half full, ever.
The mains definitely tipped us over the edge. I was positively full and debated to skip dessert until I saw the menu. I think I have a separate stomach, which I like to call my dessert stomach because I always find myself feeling less full when the dessert menu arrives. There was a lot of gasps over the toffee apple soufflé served with gingerbread ice-cream, but I had my heart set on something completely different – the crème brûlèe (my absolutely favourite!)
Pistachio and lemon roulade with berries and yoghurt meringue.
There was utter silence when everyone was indulging into their desserts. I find people don’t talk when they are really enjoying the food and this was definitely the case. I was completely in love with my crème brûlée, perfectly sweet and delightfully creamy. I vowed to myself when I came back from Paris earlier this year, that I would never eat another brûlée in England again but this was just as good as the pure Parisian sort. I could easily eat it all over again.
Dessert normally marks the end of a meal, but not at The Roux. Next was tea and coffee, where our waiters came and presented us with the most picture perfect sugar trays.
Starting with savoury canapés, means ending the meal with sweet canapés right? We were brought out the most divine little chocolate eclairs to mark the end of the meal.
A big special thank you to Sheepa from Food That Makes You Smile, May from Red Velvet London, Lauren from The Lifestyle Diaries and Mehreen from Wrap Your Lips Around This for joining me and to Aysem for organising and hosting such a fantastic lunch!
I will most definitely be returning and bringing all my friends too. I would certainly give The Roux At The Landau a rating of 9.5/10
Until next time…
