Langan's Brasserie, Stratton Street, Picadilly, London

Perhaps as a direct consequence of it only being a few years since I was a student at Durham, where fine dining consisted of 'half-price-student-mondays-at-Bella Pasta' and 'all-you-can-eat-Chinese-which-is-even-cheaper-if-you-eat-fast-and-finish-before-6pm,' the majority of the entries on this blog, fall into the cheap and cheerful category.

However, I was recently lucky enough to find myself in Mayfair with someone willing to buy me lunch, so for perhaps one time only, here is a post about a restaurant whose website describes itself "as one of London’s top eateries to be seen in for Celebrities" (not that we saw any, but you get the idea).

Having initially spotted Langan's opposite Green Park station, it didn't appear overly interesting. It had a small neon sign on the outside, and I couldn't see inside. A couple of hours later, ready for lunch, I appreciated the plush interiors as we walked in, and was slightly bemused by the elaborate cloakroom ticketing system. We walked up an ornate staircase to the 'Venetian Room’ where I started to appreciate just how lovely a place this was. The walls were covered with beautiful paintings and but the atmosphere remained relaxed (I later found the ground floor gets manically busy, whilst the first floor is described as "more sedate," but that suited me just fine).

The menu was surprisingly extensive (even for lunchtime) and I appreciated it's handwritten nature (it changes on a weekly basis). Choosing was difficult. I decided against a starter, so that I'd be able to order Langan's Fish and Chips (which came very highly recommended by the person buying me lunch, who was a regular frequenter of the place). I was intrigued to see how it would be presented at such a classy establishment!

I wasn't disappointed. The usual rule of 'the posher the restaurant, the smaller the portions' didn't appear to apply, as my dish was generous. And oh the taste! T he batter was sublime - simultaneously light, crispy and melt-in-your-mouth. The fish was juicy and delicious and the handmade chips were of the perfect chunkyness. Every mouthful was an utter delight!

The restaurant was packed by the time we were midway through lunch. Only then did I realise just why such a comprehensive cloakroom system was needed, and just how famous this place was. The ground floor was heaving, but the atmosphere remained calm upstairs. Waiters were (almost surprisingly) friendly, and urged us to have one of the delicious sounding desserts, but I was so full, it had to be a pot of tea for me instead.

The moral of the story - You can take Writing on Bananas somewhere classy, but Writing on Bananas will probably order chips and a cuppa!

Overall

Langan's Brasserie confounded my prejudices against posh restaurants. It was neither pretenious nor stuffy, and the portions were generous. Food quality was excellent as was the atmosphere and service. Expensive but a truly wonderful place to be taken to lunch!

9/10

Guest Food Photos - Leandri's Duck and Egg Salad

Leandri's garlic bread

Beautiful egg and duck salad

Head Chef Cafe, 173 Farnham Road, Slough

To refer to 'Head Chef' on Farnham Road as a greasy spoon seems a little ungenerous. Technically, that is exactly what it is - cheap, cheerful, unpretentious and specialising in food of the fried variety. However, it is clear that effort has been made to make the interiors look relatively plush (and as it only opened two months ago - they are still looking pretty good). I'd only visited once before - for an emergency cup of tea whilst waiting for an emergency locksmith. On that occasion I had found it overly bright and slightly loud for 7pm on a Monday, but upon returning for a recovery fry up late on Saturday morning, the atmopshere was far better. There's a large amount of seating and the place was pleasantly full. We'd already checked the menu from the outside as we had to ensure that Rachael's one pre-requisite for a full english breakfast - hash browns - would be met.

We spotted 'Set 3' and we were satisfied, and upon seeing the sheer size of breakfasts that the other diners were tucking into, I was glad I was hungry!

Service was brisk and efficient. Breakfast came with toast and tea or coffee. Beverages arrived very promptly - toast soon afterwards (it turns out white and buttered was the default. I found this slighly amusing, but I liked how no-nonsense it was. I realised that there was little point in ordering a massive fry up if you were going to start being precious about that type of bread you wanted or whether you wanted your toast buttered!)

Rachael, using her hotel manager mentality, started timing how long it would take for breakfast to arrive, now that we had her toast. We both expressed our pleasure at how short a time that was - the toast was still lovely and warm as we dunked it into our beautifully runny fried eggs! Portions were very generous, and the hash browns were excellent!

Atmosphere - Not too loud or bright for our hangovers. A good number of other diners. Pleasant interiors and lovely toilets!

Service - Very efficient but could have been more friendly.

Value for money - £5.95 for a large breakfast with tea and toast was fair, but not as cheap as you might expect. As the prices had been handwritten on the menu, I couldn't tell whether they had put their prices up or down after opening, but they were advertising deals on breakfast during the week.

Overall: 8/10 - provided exactly the no-nonsense breakfast needed after the night before.

Cake(s) of the day - Alex's Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Alex made 100 cupcakes for Halloween (ably assisted by his sister Laura). They were all beautifully light, moist and the sponge was red! However the highlight was the Salted Caramel Cupcakes (pictured above with green frosting). The concept sounds unconventional but the end result was mouth-wateringly good. The salt bought out the flavour of the caramel, and the slight savoriness complemented the sweetness perfectly.

Cornucopia Bistro, 6 High Street, Windsor

As previously mentioned on these pages, Windsor is full of restaurants of the chain variety, and of the touristy-and-therefore-dubious-quality variety. Yes, there is an excellent seafood restaurant and there's the reliable but far too often-visited Bel and the Dragon, but I was keen to find somewhere new. A chance recommendation from a stranger on a train led to the discovery of Cornucopia Bistro - a fairly new addition to (the far end of - and therefore slightly less touristy part of) Windsor High Street.

Initial impressions were good. However things weren't looking so good when our group of seven was led to a cramped table next to a blazing hot radiator. I suggested we ask if we could sit elsewhere, and we were swiftly relocated to a far roomier table at the back of the restaurant, (as Leandri succinctly put it: 'have you got a bigger table? We've all had to sit really close to each other all day...)'

Space issues sorted, it was time to order wine and peruse the menu. The menu was pleasingly only confined to one page, but it took an age to decide between the 6 equally sumptuous sounding starters. Between us, we ordered them all.

The goats cheese with pear, red onion and rosemary looked quite beautiful.

When the smoked salmon with courgette and lemon blinis arrived, I definitely began to doubt whether my choice of mushrooms had been the right one.

But it transpired that there was nothing to fear! My starter of wild mushrooms in garlic and brandy cream (served on toast), was a heavenly concoction. Juicy mushrooms, intense garlic and a silky cream sauce. It could not have been any better.

Each starter was a good size, full of flavour and cooked perfectly (the other starters were a parma ham, fig and rocket salad, and a crab, avocado and spring onion salad). The mains therefore had a tough act to follow. Mostly steak / meat based (the vegetarian special of the day which no one had opted for, was stuffed aubergine with rattatioue, there was also the 'Cornucopia Chilli,' which won the accolade of being as good as Sharon's home made variety (and innovatively included chorizo).

My lamb shank (pictured) was slow roasted in a red currant and red wine sauce. The meat came off the bone beautifully and the flavours were rich and deep.

Soon it was time for dessert, and once again it was almost impossible to decide between the equally amazing sounding options (the fruit salad was no longer available, but that was no great loss!)

The concept of 'Eton Mess' intrigued our Dutch colleagues, but they were impressed when it arrived in a tall glass. The bread and butter pudding looked mouth watering - once again I wondered whether I'd made the right decision, but yet again, I was not disappointed by my white chocolate and lemon pannacotta. It was creamy but quite light - it tasted a little like a zesty lemon cheesecake, softened by the hint of white chocolate. Quite delightful!

Overall

Atmosphere: A fair number of other diners for a tuesday evening, but luckily giving us a larger table at the back allowed us to be a noisy group without (hopefully) too much disturbance to everyone else.

Service: Endlessly friendly despite our noisy group.

Food quality: Very good with truly excellent starters and desserts.

Overall: Delicious food - would certainly recommend to anyone visiting Windsor. 8/10

Cake of the day and other delights

Highlights from the delightful bubbly and battenburg themed party hosted by Amie and her flatmates

Mmm scones...

Home made battenburg

Cake of the Day: Amie's intensely chocolatey and gooey cake of joy

Cake of the Day - Anjana's Divali Cake

Anjana's latest cake creation