The Boundary, London, UK

The Boundary offer three dinner choices: the Boundary restaurant located in the basement of the building, Albion on the ground floor, and the roof terrace.

I went to the Boundary restaurant for a Sunday brunch with a friend and we eventually ordered a French brasserie classic dish: a half roasted Landes chicken.

Something silly and not very interesting, but that I want to share anyway. Anytime I see poultry, it reminds me of the ad for Compete for the meat, made by Dave. I still do not know what this show is but I know it is for people who want some British poultry.

Regarding my French poultry, it was a fat chick. Nice and tender but the skin was too soft while I was dreaming of a crispy skin like the spit roasted chicken that can be found in any French market. It came with wilted spinach, roasted potatoes and some whole roasted carrots for the British touch.

Landes roasted chicken

The pudding was more elaborate. It was a refreshing passion fruit parfait.

Passion fruit parfait

Some chocolate-coated candied orange to go with a fresh mint tea.

Cost~ £30

Dinner by Heston, London, UK

Mandarin Oriental has made some brilliant dining choices lately. After opening Bar Boulud and the highly anticipated Dinner by Heston in London, Mandarin Oriental has appointed Thierry Marx, the Bruce Willis of nouvelle cuisine to head its Paris branch (opening 28 June).

Due to open in February, the new restaurant of the famous Fat Duck head chef has quickly been fully booked until summer. Since I had been calling Mandarin Oriental since December 2010 in order to secure a table, we were lucky enough (and persistent) to get a booking for the second week after the opening. (And Yes, we are in June, which means that it took me a mere 4 months to write the review...and the menu may have changed since.)

To start, I had a delicious saffron risotto. The rice was cooked to perfection with and intense but not overwhelming saffron flavour. It came with small bites of calf tail that were melting in the mouth. A delicate and fragant dish.

Rice and flesh

The broth of lamb was very good as well with a slow cooked egg, celery, radish, turnip and sweetbreads. It was an interesting combination of textures in a tasty broth.

Broth of lamb

The beef royal came with a very soft puree, and bites of ox tongue. It was maybe one of the least original dishes on the menu but was well done.

Beef royal

The pigeon was a marvel. Once again, the meat was perfectly cooked and had a fabulous spicy ale jus.

Spiced pigeon

We shared a platter of British cheeses, which were good but I still prefer French cheeses (think melting Epoisses, creamy Brillat-Savarin or aged Beaufort with salt crystals...)

British cheese

The poached rhubarb dessert was brillant and had a perfectly balance of sweetness and tartness.

Poached rhubarb

I liked less the taffety tart, as I found that the blackcurrant was overpowering. And as a matter of fact, the taffety tart was too tart.

Taffety tart

To finish our meal we had a complimentay Earl grey ganache that was creamy, sweet, and with an intense tea flavour.

Earl grey ganache

We had a very pleasant time at Dinner, eating lovely food with view on the park. We were not as amazed as at the Fat Duck, but we have not been disappointed by the quality of the food at Dinner by Heston. The attention given to each of the dishes gave them the same perfection in terms of flavour and cooking we had experienced at the Fat Duck.

Cost:

Starter: £12.50-£16

Main: £20-£36

Dessert: £8-£10

The Princess of Shoreditch

I have been several times to the pub, on the ground floor of the Princess but have never tried the restaurant upstairs. The pub has a very relaxed atmosphere, with a beautiful bar, grey/green walls and high ceilings. I would like to decorate my dining room (if I had one) like the pub at the Princess of Shoreditch. The Princess serves gastropub classics (pie of the day, sausage and mash, fish and chips...) including a delicious rib on the bone.

For starter, a pint of pear cider.

Then, pig cheeks melting in the mouth. I personally love pig and beef cheeks but don't know where to buy them. Anyone has a tip?

Braised pig cheeks with mashed swede and cider jus

And delicious braised venison in a thick sauce. Not a light meal though, with the puff pastry and the vegs being wrapped in bacon and deep-fried...

Venison pie with fine beans wrapped in bacon and parsley mash

Beef burger with white truffle mayo, foie gras, and hand cut chips

Desserts were not memorable and we ordered the usual suspects, a chocolate fondant and a Crème brulée that was too thick to my taste.

Chocolate fondant

Crème brulée

Cost:

Starter: £5-£10

Main: £10-£17.50

Dessert: £5.50

Saint John Restaurant Smithfield, London, UK

I have been lazy lately. I guess because I had too much spare time, I did not find any to update my poor Sardine.

For my defence, my laptop was very capricious and I had to get a brand new pink netbook in order to be able to write again.

A big chunk of my free time has been dedicated to cooking, eating and taking pictures of delicious food. Now it is time to write about it, in order to calm down my followers who have been sending me hundreds of sardine cans to protest...
NOT.

One of my memorable lunch was at Saint John Restaurant. I had already tried their weird menu in Spitalfields and at the bar in Smithfield, but this time I managed to secure a table at the Restaurant in Smithfield for lunch.

For starter I had celeriac soup and snails. Which was an obvious choice because, after all, French people do eat snails, don't they? An Aussie guy asked me after I told him I was French: "So do you eat snails?" "Yes, snails are staple food back home" did I (not) replied. "And you, do you eat a lot of kangaroos?"

Anyway, these snails at Saint John were a good match to the thick celeriac soup.

Celeriac soup and snails

Nothing much to say about the second starter, the name "veal brisket, potato and green sauce" speaks for itself.

Veal brisket, potato and green sauce

I like offal, and whenever I have the opportunity, I order tripe. I have a wonderful memory of an Italian tripe soup I had during a Mangialonga last year in Lugano (a walk in the countryside with ten stops to sample the local food and wine) and I quite like the Vietnamese pho with tripe at Song Que. However I was quite disappointed by the bland taste of the tripe I had at Saint John.

Tripe, bacon and carrots

The pigeon did not look better than the tripe dish but tasted much better. Pigeon is such a delicate meat, I can hardly believe it is the cousin of these obese flying rats which always want to have a share of my peanuts when I am having a drink al fresco.

Pigeon and turnip

Our desserts were very very sweet, I loved the honeycomb ice cream, full of caramel and nougatine. The chocolate terrine was too dense for my taste.

Honey comb ice cream

Chocolate terrine & Milk toffee ice cream

We had a great time at Saint John Restaurant Smithfield, and a excellent bottle of wine which name I do not remember. I am however surprised that Saint John Restaurant is the third best restaurant in the UK according to the S. Pellegrino World Best Restaurant ranking because I would rank several other restaurants higher than Saint John, which is great for British cuisine, but is certainly not suitable to everyone's taste.

Cost:

Starter: £7, Main: £17, Dessert: £7

An advice: book several days ahead and have a pear cider while waiting for your table

Saint John Bread and Wine, London, UK

I opened my duck season at Saint John Bread and Wine in Spitafields market. Every time I go to one of Saint John's restaurants, I struggle to understand the menu, which changes everyday and uses seasonal products. I usually order randomly and get the surprise. This time I played it safe and ordered some rock oysters, and a delicious Mallard duck breast fillet with girolles.

Rock oysters

Mallard and Girolles

Oysters were large, meaty and fresh. The duck beast fillets were the best I ever had. They were pink, tender and juicy and were served with gorgeous girolles sautéed with pasley. This dish was good enough to make anyone love autumn.

Now, after Saint John Bread and Wine, my next mission is to find fifteen friends who are willing to share a whole roast suckling pig with me for a proper feast at Saint John restaurant in Smithfield. Anyone interested?

Cost: £1.50 per oyster, £14.10 for the main

"If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck"