I have an never ending list of people I want to meet from the Blogosphere. Some relate to me more than others, like Maggie from Planes And Champagne. We share our love for delicious bubbles, fine dining and luxury hotels.
Binny, Honey and I were trying to get together with Maggie for the longest time, but her job sometimes means she is often in and out of London within days. Our busy schedules often prevented us from finding a mutually suitable date, meaning we had to plan months in advance. We finally got a date in the diary and the week leading up to it, we chose our dinner location.
Binny and I wanted to try Four Seasons Park Lane’s resident Italian restaurant Amaranto, since we visited the bar before Sheraton Park Lane relaunch party. Beautiful interiors, dim lighting and delicious cocktails – it was a no brainer.
We gathered in the bar at Four Seasons for a drink and quick catch up before heading to our table. I went for a ‘Watermelon and Basil’ cocktail without the basil, Maggie had a blackberry and marshmallow cocktail, Binny went for her usual mojito and Honey went for a negroni.
We got seated at our table, cracked open a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and toasted to blogger friends becoming proper friends.
We were brought over some lovely polenta bites with caramelised onion, accompanied by fresh crusty bread. A thin spread of butter on top and you’re good to go.
The buckwheat maltagliati with wild mushroom was a huge hit around the table, for starters. Honey, Maggie and I ordered that. However, the original dish also contained speck tirolese, a type of prosciutto.
My dish had a little twist, without speck triolese but with a generous helping of chargrilled chicken. Mmmm, delizioso! The dish itself was creamy, with the mushrooms finely chopped and mixed in. The maltagliati was cooked al-denete with the dish was garnished with some parmesan and parsley. Perfetto!
Binny ordered the Beetroot salad with cox apple and truffled tomino cheese. When Binny cut into the croquette, a beautiful stream of hot truffled cheese came pouring out. It looked so heavenly!
For our mains, I ordered the roasted cod with Jerusalem artichoke and candied celery.
The cod was a beautiful dish. Huge, soft, light flakes that literally fell apart. It was roasted to perfection and served in a delicious creamy white sauce with some cherry tomatoes. The candied celery offered a nice bite to the dish and artichoke was a lovely contrast, with a softer texture. Garnished with garlic chips and coriander, it was just what I needed.
Maggie and Honey had the braised beef with sweet potato puree, balsamic glazed baby onions and blueberries. The beef looked lovely and there were great comments from both Honey and Maggie.
Binny ordered the Barley Risotto with pumpkin, cured shallots and raschera cheese. I think the cheese gave it the creamy gesture and the pumpkin gave it the punchy yellow colour. It looked like a lovely hearty dish that would go down a treat on a winters day.
We were definitely ready for some Italian dessert. Honey, Binny and I went for the affogato and Maggie went for the red wine poached figs.
All of our desserts had come out and apparently the chef didn’t like the presentation of Maggie’s poached figs, so he replated it. In this time, our ice-creams starting melting so we just had to start.
When Maggie’s figs dessert was ready, it was brought out with another round of affogato for the three of us, just so we could enjoy dessert together. Great service I say! There was a lot of smiles and gratitude towards the team – something so little but goes a long way.
The affogato was delicious though. A nice about of warm coffee poured over cold ice-cream that slowly cooled the coffee as it touched it. Simple yet divine! Maggie seemed to throughly enjoy the poached figs, as her place was left completely clean.
We were brought out a selection of petit fours on the house, just to thank us for being understanding about dessert, but didn’t they already apologise with a second round of dessert?! None the less, we completely overwhelmed and extremely grateful.
Overall, a wonderful meal at Amaranto at the Four Seasons Park Lane with great attentive service and fabulous concoctions as always.
Star Rating of Amaranto at Four Seasons:
Until next time…
