The Waterside Inn - Bray, Berkshire

The Waterside Inn: Situated in the village of Bray, Berkshire and over looking the River Thames, it is only a a stones throw away from The Fat Duck. The Waterside Inn is one is one of only three restaurants in the UK to hold 3 Michelin Stars. Opened by Michel Roux Snr in around 1974, the restaurant is now run by his son Alain Roux.

Review: This was my second visit to The Waterside Inn, the last being in April of 2007. Our table was booked for 8pm and we arrived shortly before. We were greeted by the doorman whilst still in our car. He very kindly offered to park my car and my guests and I entered the restaurant. We were met by a very nice French lady and told that unfortunately there was no room in the lounge area and would we be happy to go straight to our table adding that it was a table with lovely views over the river. The atmosphere was very warm and welcoming and our table was a delight, over looking the River Thames as promised. We ordered some pink champagne as it was a special occasion (my parents wedding anniversary) and looked through the menu. We opted for Le Menu Exceptionnel, a five course tasting menu along with a bottle of red which for the life of my I can't remember what is was!

Before the main event, we were served a pre-starter which include a nice little cheese puff twirl, some pork belly with Chinese spices and a tuna based munchie with a quails egg. All very nice!!

Our starter was Bluefin tuna and scallops marinated in virgin olive oil and yuzu juice, garnished with a spicy guacamole and lamb’s lettuce. This was absolutely delicious and a great start to the meal with coriander in the dish it packed a punch but allowed you to taste the scallop and tuna too.

Next up was the fish course, a Fillet of turbot baked in a vine leaf, served with white grapes and a “verjus” emulsion. I have to say, this was a little bland and lacked seasoning in my opinion. Beautifully presented, I felt the need to use the salt on the table which is unheard of for me to do in a restaurant of this standard. A little disappointing.

After the first course we were given a refreshing tutti-frutti citrus sorbet as a pallet cleanser which was lovely and set me up nicely for the main course.

Roasted loin of venison in a pastry crust with wild mushrooms, garnished with florets of broccoli, Hermitage wine sauce with blackcurrant vinegar. What a treat this was, absolutely lovely and perfectly cooked. This again lacked a little seasoning, but with a touch of salt this dish was perfection and without question something that I would order again and again.

Finally, we opted for the large selection of French and English unpasteurised farm cheeses with some biscuits and crackers to go with it. As expected the selection of cheese was amazing, it really was top notch and is making me hungry just thinking about it. We had a couple of glasses of port to go with the cheese and some coffee and petit fours to follow. All topped off with a visit from Alain Roux who very kindly wished my parents a happy anniversary. Tremendous.

Conclusion: I never fail to be impressed with The Waterside Inn, the service is superb, very friendly and relaxed whilst being completely professional at all times. The food was excellent and of a very high standard and given how much we enjoyed the evening the chef can be forgiven for slightly under seasoning a couple of dishes.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay - Royal Hospital Road, London

As part of my 40th birthday celebrations, my wife Debbie bought me a Masterclass day at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. A whole day in the kitchens Gordon Ramsays flagship three Michelin star restaurant in Chelsea.

Kevin and Head Chef Claire Smyth.


Here's the starter we made - Isle of Skye Scallops with Peas, Baby Gem Lettuce and Quails Egg.

La Pergola - Cavalieri Hilton, Rome

We visited Rome over the last May Bank Holiday weekend, a gift from my parents for my 40th birthday. As a surprise, my wife booked us a table for two at La Pergola, nestled up in the hills over looking Rome. La Pergola is the only three Michelin star restaurant in Rome, run by German chef Heinz Beck. It's situated on the ninth floor of the Rome Cavalieri Hilton.

Our table was booked for 8pm, probably early by Italian standards and we arrived slightly early. We were greeted by a couple of very pleasant staff who you almost looked straight past having caught the most magnificent of views across Rome, including the likes of St Peter's Basilica and The Colosseum.

We were lead to our table, a table with equally magnificent views of Rome and presented with the menu and a glass of champagne. We already knew we were going to order the tasting menu, although they have two options. The six course tasting menu or the nine course menu - not wanting to miss out on anything, we elected for the nine course menu as follows:

1. Composition of Lobster, peas and curry flavoured popped rice.
2. Terrine of Rabbit with artichoke foam and sweet and sour vegetables.
3. Fagotelli "La Pergola"
4. Squid and Scorpion fish confit in olive oil, with grilled vegetables and basil sauce.
5. Black Cod with marinated Anchovy's vinaigrette and sweet chilli pepper.
6. Escalope of Duck Foie Gras with a mushroom and cereal consomme.
7. Liquorice flavoured shoulder of Iberian Suckling Pig with herb potatoes and Taggiasca olive sauce.
8. A fine selection of cheese from the trolley
9. Grand Desert

We also ordered a bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Olmi 2004, followed by a glass of Muffato 2005 to go with our desert.

Conclusion: This is one of the finest restaurants that I've ever visited, although a large part of that has to be put down to the location and view over Rome. Rome is a beautiful place and for those lucky enough to eat at La Pergola it will only enhance your experience. A truly fantastic restaurant with amazing and interesting food and marvelous service. Well done Mr Beck!!

Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester - Kensington, London

As part of my 40th birthday celebrations, I decided to invite two really good friends of mine to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester. I had always wanted to visit an Alain Ducasse restaurant and having heard that he had set up in Londons famous Dorchester, I could not resist the temptation. I wanted something special, something to impress my friends and give them an example of what I thought would be the best cuisine they had experienced. We booked the Table Lumiere, a private dining table surrounded by curtain of 4,000 or so fibre optic lights. It looked amazing and the private dining menu also looked a treat. The expectation was high, very high and I'd talked things up too with reference to Monsieur Ducasse's Michelin stars and numerous acolades!!!

We'd decided to stay at The Dorchester and after a bottle of champagne in the bar headed straight for the resturant. We were greeted by very friendly and highly professional staff who led us to the Table Lumiere....the timing was superb and as we entered the 'room' the fibre optics were switched on and all of us were 'wowed' immediately. This was great and just the kind of effect I was looking for.

The menu sounded just as good and the staff were very attentive, professional and friendly making us feel realxed and at ease. The menu was a tasting experience as follows:

1. Delicate CRAYFISH veloute, royale of foie gras
2. Rose of MARINATED SCALLOPS lamb's lettuce and celeriac, black truffle sauce (pictured below)

3. Roasted CHICKEN & LOBSTER, sweetbread creamy jus

4. Braised HALIBUT, citrus and swiss chards egg plant condiment

5. Roasted rack and saddle of LAMB, spring vegetables

6. Selection of CHEESE

7. PRALINE-CHOCOLATE biscuit milk/salt flower ice cream (pictured below)8. Mignardises & Gourmandises

The starter was nice, nothing more than that. It was OK but sadly below my expectations. The scallops again were OK, nicely presented by lacking in the 'wow' factor department. The chicken & lobster was nice too but that was about it, dont get me wrong there was nothing wrong with it but all the hype surrounding Alain Ducass and the two Michelin stars awarded to this restaurant something was lacking. The Halibut on the other hand was was very interesting, no real 'wow' factor but a very nice dish. The Lamb also was very good and tasty, very nicely presented and delicious. The cheese was a complete let down, a real dissapointment with only a choice of four cheeses. Cheese is something I look forward to in this type of restaurant and very often is the highlight of my evening. The desert left us somewhat confused as to the order, we were brought a couple of extra dishes which were very nice but the communication from the staff wasnt great. However when the Praline Chocolate Buiscuit arrived with the salt flower ice cream, I thought it was amazing and wished that the rest of the meal had lived up to my expectations.

Another let down, but not the end of the world was that when I ordered a bottle of red the somelier pointed out that they only had one bottle left of the £100 bottle of wine that I had chosen. That was OK so I asked him to suggest something similar, so he suggested another bottle of wine which from where he was pointing was around £80 per bottle...fine I thought, but when I got the bill, it appeared that I had ordered 3 bottles at around £180 per bottle....not quote what I had in mind. Not really wanting to kick up a fuss and spoil my evening, I coughed up over £500 for 3 bottles of red.

Conclusion: The Table Lumiere is wicked, a great experience that allows you to relax in the restaurant but still hear and feel the ambience and buzz of the restaurant. The food was good but in my opinion you get far far better value for money at Marcus Wareing at The Berkley. It's seriously expensive and probably the most expensive restuarant I've ever been to. £2000 for the six of us.......OUCH and yes, can you imgine where you can go for that money? The Waterside Inn, The Fat Duck, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and still have plenty of change. Maybe I'm a little bitter about the £500 worth of red wine, but let's forget that for the minute. I would still have ad change from the other resturants. Hey Ho...onto the next one!

Update: Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester has now been given 3 Michelin Stars!!

Joel Robouchon - Las Vegas

Situated in the MGM Grand Las Vegas, Joel Robouchon is one of only six restaurants in the United States to have three Michelin stars.

The Fat Duck - Bray, Berkshire

The Fat Duck is situated in the very lovely village of Bray and is run by world renowned chef, Heston Blumenthal. It was voted the Worlds Best Restaurant in 2003, only to be knocked of it's perch by the famous El Bulli in Spain. However it's consistently been voted the worlds number two restaurant for the last few years. It is one of three restaurants in the UK to hold three Michelin stars.

I was visiting The Fat Duck with business colleagues of mine and the trip was arranged by myself. I had no problem booking, probably because we were going for lunch and I made a particular point of asking the restaurant whether or not there was a 'kicking out time' as what we were looking for was a 'lazy lunch' spread throughout the afternoon with a few bottles of wine, some good food and great company. We were told in no uncertain terms that if we opted for the tasting menu, it would take us approximately 4 hours.....our table was booked for 2pm.

I arrived at the restaurant just before 2pm, and walked through the door into a small corridor leading down to a table - I wasn't greeted by anybody and proceeded down towards what I thought was a member of staff sitting at the table....it wasn't, it was a guest!!! I then wandered through the first part of the restaurant where I discovered my guests sitting down at our table, sampling some rather fine Champagne. It was at this point, that one of the staff members actually noticed that I had entered the restaurant. I thought this was a bit odd for supposedly one of the best restaurants in the world.

Once in and seated, the food was...well, it was bonkers! It really was amazing and what I would describe as a once in a lifetime experience. I've never experienced anything even close to it.

The Waterside Inn - Bray, Berkshire

The Waterside Inn is also situated in the village of Bray, on the banks of the River Thames and is run by the famous chef Michel Roux. It is also one of only three restuarants in the UK to hold three Michelin stars. The Waterside Inn is also a 'restaurant with rooms' as they put it, offering visitors the choice of 9-10 rooms for those wishing to stay in Bray.

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