During the summer months, I would often pop in for a quick alfresco drink with friends and would be tempted by the mesmerising foodie aromas wafting towards me from the stylish dining area - so when I was invited to sample the delights of their autumnal kitchen with a friend for dinner, I eagerly accepted.
I arrived with an empty tum and my identical food twin Melissa. I refer to her in this endearing manner due to the fact that our friendship was forged as a result of our ardent love of similar culinary delicacies.
We bonded at work over fine cheeses, juicy meats and sultry sushi, marvelling at how similar our food tastes were as we feasted on bountiful platters of fine wares, whilst our colleagues looked on enviously from behind their unappetising Pret sandwiches.
Due to our mutual tendency for developing severe bouts of food envy, we decided to share everything we ordered, as we sat in the plush dining seats of The Phene.
A generous starter of Tuna Tartar and Avocado Salad arrived first, drizzled lovingly with cajun dressing and topped with a thin sesame cracker in a rather dramatic fashion.
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| Holy mother of.... |
Next came a happy mass of beef carpaccio - embellished with salty slithers of parmesan and garden-fresh herbs.
These was devoured in a shamelessly hasty manner before we were presented with our mains - half a lobster drizzled with chilli and lime butter and a 6oz fillet steak with a golden hollandaise sauce - all served with the best tasting hand cut chips I have ever had the pleasure of noming.
Both dishes were so good that conversation dwindled to a minimum. We then started to feel slightly saddened that our once smugly heaving table was no longer heaving, so we decided that the only way to quell our mournful foodie longings was to order yet another main!
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| Oh the joy... |
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| Sorry vegan readers! |
Our friendly waiter recommend that we try the slow cooked lamb, which arrived nestled on a green mound of wholesome vegetables and a pleasingly decorative adornment of ruby red pomegranate seeds.
This dish was of such an epic nature that no words can describe its true splendour. I can only urge you to seek out this fine meal with haste and bask in its exotic meaty glory.
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| A third main? Why not? |
At this point we were ready to roll off home, but decided it would be rude to not stay for pudding - especially when there was a rich Malteaser cheesecake paired with a Valrhona chocolate sorbet on offer.
After a quick Google, I discovered that Valrhona was a French manufacturer of luxury chocolate - and luxurious it was....
The smoothness of the sorbet was the perfect match for the moreish maltiness of the cheesecake, which vanished within minutes - again in serious silence.
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| Meal-loving Melissa and I |
My beloved identical food chum and I left The Phene in a happy haze of gastronomical wonder, clutching our food babies and pondering on when to arrange our return...
