Trader Vic's Hilton Hotel

FoodieForce has been having quite the week of celebrations.

On Tuesday we celebrated a milestone, with one year of blogging, hooray! In the evening the celebrations continued visiting Trader Vic's a French-Polynesian restaurant located on London's Park Lane. 

This year is the 80th anniversary of Trader Vic's and the 70th anniversary of the Mai Tai, the cocktail synonymous with Trader Vic's around the world. So it was the perfect place to have a celebration. 

Today, Trader Vic’s has locations in 17 countries across the globe, they sell over 2 million Mai Tai's annually.

Arriving at Trader Vic's Hula Bar is a lot like visiting a tropical island. It reminds me lots of my adventures in Maui, Hawaii. The only difference in the UK was the torrential rain and winds that we had experienced before entering Trader Vic's.  

On arrival we are greeted by Tiki the symbol of a warm welcome. Aloha! 

For a Tuesday night the bar and restaurant was a hive of activity, with many couples and friends enjoying a lovely cocktail and Trader Vic's have quite the cocktail list. 

We begin the evening celebrations with the original 1944 Mai Tai (£13.50). 

Wow this drink kicks a punch, it has lots of rum and on a cold autumn night in London, warmed the cockles. If you fancy making one at home check out this YouTube clip. 

The Trader Vic has so many cocktails that choosing our next drink was quite difficult. I love that they have a Mai Tai aptly named 'Suffering Bastard'. The perfect drink for any bloggers suffering other half, who spends the night not being able to drink or eat anything until the perfect picture is taken. 

Next up was the 'Mai Tai Wave' (£16) including three flavours: Guava, Maui (pineapple) and Mango. 

Favourite definitely the Maui Mai Tai -perfect pineapple and rum mix. 

Trader Vic's has the perfect bar menu to accompany the cocktails. We start with the Cosmo tidbits (£19).

Crispy prawns, crab Rangoon (Crab ragu soft cheese and spring onion), char siu pork BBQ ribs. The ribs were cooked in the Chinese wood-fired ovens, where the meat is roasted to perfection in the true 'roti' tradition. I'm not normally a great fan of anything in pastry or that has been deep fried but the Crab Rangoon was totally delicious lovely and cheesy. 

The pork ribs had a wonderful smoky flavour and the meat melted off the bone. 

Tiger Prawn Mimosa (£9): Grilled king prawns, garlic compound butter, Pickle vegetables. These for me were a highlight. It is extremely difficult to cook tiger prawns well, without them being overcooked and going chewy. These had a wonderful flavour and were perfectly moist. 

Beef and reef (£29): Wok fried beef tenderloin, shrimp, garlic, black pepper,spring onion, red onion steamed rice. 

The beef in this dish had a wonderful black pepper and garlic smokiness. Considering this was bar food I was impressed at the quality. But I guess the price reflects this. Trader Vic's also has a restaurant and based on what I have tried as bar food I will definitely be back to give the restaurant a try. 

Trader Vic's is like walking into another world, with fantastic cocktails, great service, lovely ambiance and wonderful bar food cooked to perfection in the oak smoked oven's, you couldn't fail to have a great evening. Trader Vic's is definitely a place to go to relax and have cocktails. 

Trader Vic's
22 Park Lane
London 
W1K 1BE
Tel no: 020 7208 4113 

www.tradervicslondon.com

*I was kindly a guest of Trader Vic's, however in no way did that affect this review I had a wonderful time and I am looking forward to going back and trying the restaurant.