We were lucky enough to get a reservation at the world renown Noma and I was so excited to try René Redzepi’s innovative and ground-breaking take on Nordic cuisine, especially since 2014 is the 10 year anniversary of the restaurant’s opening and the year in which they have regained the top spot on the San Pellegrino world’s 50 best restaurant list.
Given Copenhagen has earned itself a reputation as one of the food capitals of the world over recent years, we made sure that a (probably disproportionate) number of our stops over the weekend revolved around food. One of the most memorable stops was at Amass, which is quickly rising to the top of Copenhagen’s restaurant scene.
Madrid boasts a very high concentration of Michelin star restaurants and we thought it would be rude not to sample at least one of them on our girly weekend. We opted for the two star Sergi Arola Gastro as it’s website offered an inventive, tasty looking and very reasonably priced lunch menu.
After reading a few reviews I was really excited to try Fera – Simon Rogan’s London venture within Claridge’s. As you might expect, the restaurant’s name (which means wild in Latin) is a reflection of the concept – Fera uses a lot of high quality, natural, seasonal ingredients. The abundance of vegetables and edible flowers weaved through the menu meant it took some persuading to get the boy there but a couple of weekends ago we settled in for a Friday night tasting menu.
My time in Tokyo pretty much started my love affair with food and my first taste of fine dining – the two Michelin starred Narisawa – was definitely a tipping point for me…
Seeing as I’m yet to be let down by any of the restaurants/pop-ups run by the Young Turks, The Clove Club has been on my list since it opened in Spring 2013. The focus of the tasting menu is on seasonal, British ingredients and innovative flavour combinations. Their approach resulted, overall, in a really delicious meal and I would definitely return.
On our second day in the Basque region, we hopped in the car and drove towards San Sebastian, stopping on the way for another indulgent meal at the three Michelin star Akelaré. Perching high on the cliff tops, Akelaré is built to look like a boat and as such is light, spacious and has spectacular views out over the sea.
I was wondering how I would fit another meal in after our meal at Azurmendi the night before but once the bread basket was waved under my nose, I knew I would somehow find space for our second tranche of gourmet fare.
After my first visit to the Ledbury I became a firm fan and even though I’ve now returned number of times, I am always excited to go back. The menu tends to repeat a number of signature dishes (all of which I am more than happy to eat time and again) but also serves up some new and exciting combinations of flavours.
The first gourmet experience of the weekend was a trip to Azurmendi – a restaurant that a number of sources ensured us wasn’t to be missed. They weren’t wrong!
The other restaurant on our list for Mexico City was the renown Pujol. Given the restaurant has been a feature on the last few editions of the world’s 50 best restaurants list, we were keen to see what the fuss was about…