Parts and Labour Restaurant

As a foodie I love the East End of London mainly for Brick Lane which does wonderful curries (Aladin and Sheba being two of my favourites). 

But as you know I am always open to trying out new restaurants, so when Parts and Labour a modern British restaurant asked if I would like to come and try their restaurant just a short walk away from buzzing Brick Lane, I thought I would give it a try. 

Exiting Aldgate East tube station the restaurant is a five minute walk, tucked away down a side street on the ground floor of the Qbic Hotel.

Entering the hotel you are instantly hit with a vibrant colourful space that is Scandinavian in design.

When first entering the venue, it appears to be a cross between a student union bar and Ikea, with an eclectic mix of suited and booted City workers and casual student types, that made us slightly dubious. However, after a friendly welcome, we began to relax.

The quirky design continues through to the restaurant, with some tables having bowler hats as the central lighting for the table.

The evening we visited, the restaurant was hosting live music, something that they do once a month. Whilst we perused over the menu the Bloom Twins who were singing that night were busy getting ready for their set. 

Once started they were superb, with an electro pop style mixed with a blues element. They drew quite the crowd for a Wednesday evening and are well worth a listen if you get a chance.

For starters we opt for grilled flatbread, broad bean and asparagus hummus, pickled with spring onions (£6). 

It's a generous portion and I love that the hummus is flavoured with seasonal vegetables and the addition of the asparagus was yummy. 

The other starters for the table were squid, chorizo, chickpea and coriander (£7.50).

The flavours from the chorizo and the texture of the squid were the perfect combination and this dish was incredibly flavoursome. 

The third and final starter for the table was pulled lamb shoulder croquettes accompanied with mint mayonnaise (£6).

The croquettes were wonderfully filling but for me they were too rich and there were too many for a starter. 

The restaurant offers a good selection of mains from fish, meat and pasta dishes. 

My dining companion for mains continued the fish theme with seared sea trout, barbecued cucumber, wasabi crème fraiche (£14.50). This I was informed was again of excellent quality.

Now I normally steer clear of fishcakes within restaurants, mainly because they can be hit and miss. But I thought based on the quality of the starters that I would take a punt on the salmon fishcake, buttered spinach and lemon chive butter sauce (£11.50). 

The fishcake was perfectly cooked with a good mix of salmon and potato, the chive butter and chilly spinach was a excellent combination. 

The third main was lemon and thyme spatchcock chicken (£11).

The chicken was perfectly cooked and had a perfect balance of lemon. The naughty serving of chips on the side was especially welcome. 

Based on the mains, as a table we were looking forward to Parts and Labours offerings for dessert. 

My personal choice was ease, lemon and elderflower posset, with basil shortbread (£6).

I love lemon desserts to finish off a meal, the tartness of the lemon and the addition of the basil shortbread was a great choice. 

Other choices on the table gooseberry millefeuille and Pistachios (£6).

I am reliably informed that this was delicious and I love the fact that the dish uses gooseberries such an underrated fruit.

The last dessert for the table was milk chocolate, salted caramel tart with vanilla mascarpone (£6.50).

Now general hotel food normally disappoints me as a foodie; but I have to say the quality of the food in Parts and Labour surprised me. The menu is inventive, the food served is delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed the live music.

The hotel and restaurant is perfectly located for visiting Petticoat Lane market and Whitechapel Gallery.

www.partsandlabour.london

Qbic London City Hotel
42 Adler Street,
London 
E1 1EE

Thank you very much to Parts and Labour for a wonderful meal. Our meal was complimentary for the purposes of a review, but this is an honest and fair reflection of the restaurant and our meal.  

Coworth Park Hotel

This is my second post focussing on my recent stay at Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot. If you haven't read my first post on the spa and wonderful afternoon tea you can have a read here. 

Entering the driveway to Coworth Park you really do feel like you are leaving the city behind. The 240 acre parkland is beautifully tranquil and the grounds are stunning. 

We spent many happy hours over the long weekend walking in the grounds. 

Coworth Park Hotel is part of the Dorchester collection but has more of a country house feel inside compared to their other hotels in the UK collection.

On checking in we were shown to our hotel room which was stunning and had beautiful views over the grounds. 

The copper bath above made for a wonderful relaxing soak.

It is not often we get to actually relax, we spend our lives running around so having some quite contemplation time was very welcome. I would never tire of this as a view.  

For the Saturday evening the other half had booked us for a birthday dinner at Coworth Park restaurant in the Mansion House. As a foodie I was expecting great things as the restaurant prides itself on modern British dishes, using the best seasonal ingredients and locally sourced produce. Something you know following my blog is very important to me. 

We are warmly greeted and shown to a table near the windows. The first thing I notice is the setting of the restaurant which is beautiful, with copper leaves decorating the high ceilings, autumn coloured leather seats and floor to ceiling windows looking out over the landscaped gardens. 

The menu offers guest two choices the option of a tasting menu (£85 per person) and À la carte menu (£70 per person). 

Knowing from experience how filling taster menus are we opt for the À la carte menu. This receives a rather strange response from the waiting staff as though our option is the less favourable choice. 

For starters I chose the heritage carrots, Watts farm nasturtium salad, sweet wine and caraway dressing. What arrives at the table is a visual feast for the eyes. 

The orange and purple carrots with the nasturtium salad were the perfect sweet and peppery combination.  

The other half loves fish so his choice is easy, home cured west coast halibut, Watts farm beetroot, blood orange and fennel. 

This dish also is a feast for the eyes. The halibut, beetroot and orange is a wonderful taste explosion. 

This however is where the praise well and truly stops and I more than anyone am so disappointed. The food and service seriously went downhill from here. 

For mains I opt for loin and belly of Hunstman farm middle white pork, butternut squash, burnt baby onions and sage.

Now I should start by saying I love belly of pork, secondly as you know I would happily eat any food. So when I tell you that the pork and sauce was absolutely tasteless and that I did not finish the dish you might have some idea of how bad the dish was. The breaded stick in the middle of the dish was dry and inedible and the pork was flavourless had a soft and rubbery crackling. 

Things don't improve with the main meal, roasted Windsor Estate venison, Kohlrabi fondant, spinach, pearl barley and toasted pine nuts.  

The meat was perfectly cooked and beautiful in taste but considering the ingredients that had been used in the dish which are numerous the rest of the dish is flavourless.  

I am not sure what went wrong with the dishes, did the chef leave the kitchen? Was it an off day? Who knows but when you are charging such a 

premium for food you have to deliver on quality and taste. 

I am pleased to say that with dessert they managed to redeem themselves. 

The lemon curd mousse, gin and tonic sorbet and botanical dessert was wonderfully refreshing. The bitter lemon and biscuit crust was just what I needed to pick the meal up. 

The forced Yorkshire rhubarb de-constructed cheese cake was also a hit.   

During the meal we were made to feel rushed, that our personal choice of À la carte was not an acceptable one and there was an air from staff serving that they were more important than guests. Thus with the issue of the flavourless mains, overall a rather disappointing meal and one that I certainly would not repeat.

Luckily the hotel, spa, afternoon tea and The Barn restaurant all make for a wonderful and unforgettable stay. Coworth Park Hotel really is a wonderful place to stay but they do need to quickly resolve whatever issues they are experiencing with the restaurant as this seriously lets what is a truly luxurious hotel down. 

My top tips for the perfect stay would be:

1.Book a massage in the wonderful spa in advance as weekends can be busy. 

2.Opt for a room that has views over the gardens which are breathtaking.

3.Make sure you have breakfast which is a treat to behold.

4.Book yourself in for afternoon tea which is superb and certainly one of the best that I have experienced.

5.Don the wellies or walking boots and walk some of the food off in the beautiful 240 acres of land.

6. Before heading off make sure you eat Sunday lunch in The Barn. It is the perfect place to enjoy fine food and watch as the horses and riders trot past. Did I mention that you can also bring your own horse to the stables?

www.dorchestercollection.com

Coworth Park

Blacknest Rd,

Ascot, 

Berkshire 

SL5 7SE

Coworth Park hotel and Spa Ascot

Afternoon tea is one of those things that I will never tire of, regardless of how many I have had, my interest in them and desire to try new ones never dwindles. Some of that is due to London having an amazing array of afternoon tea offerings, but also that each one experienced has been a very different affair.

For my birthday I was lucky to be whisked away for a wonderful weekend stay at Coworth Park, a luxury country hotel and spa in Ascot. The hotel is part of the Dorchester collection and is set in 240 acres of beautiful parkland. 

For those of you who have not read my Dorchester Hotel afternoon tea have a read here. 

More on the wonderful hotel and restaurants to follow in my next post on Monday. This post is paying homage to my afternoon tea and the Spa where my weekend kicked off.

The spa is set in a separate building to the main hotel. The first thing I noticed was the idyllic location of the spa which screams relaxation. Set in beautiful landscaped grounds, with floor to ceiling glass making up a large proportion of the building. The relaxation room and swimming pool look out over well tendered lawns and a beautiful pond.

One thing I personally loved (am I really admitting this?) was the diminishing of the phone signal strength on entering the spa. I am not sure if this is intentional but it was a very welcome and a relaxing relief. There is nothing worse than beginning to feel your shoulders unwind as you hear Mr Smith gabbling away to a client on the phone or getting stressed about a deal.

On entering the spa you are issued with a locker that houses a wonderful comfortable robe, slippers and towel. 

The spa houses a beautiful pool, which I am pleased to report has the temperature of the water perfectly set. 

Other amenities include a gym to work off some calories, steam room and relaxing treatment rooms to beautify, polish and revive. 

The Spa at Coworth Park has an extensive menu of treatments to choose from. Over the course of the weekend I was lucky to have a few treatments, the essential rose facial (£80) which lasted for 50 minutes and was absolute bliss. 

The rose and frankincense products used during the massage toned, nourished and moisturised my skin. My skin was noticeably fresher and my dry skin had all disappeared. The smell of rose left on my face was divine. 

We did however have a few disappointments with treatments. The other half really fancied having a head and scalp massage (£55) to get rid of some built up stress and knots. Whilst the massage was really lovely and relaxing very little time or focus was given to his head and the majority of the time was spent on his shoulders. This was disappointing given that it was booked especially for the head and scalp element. 

For a birthday treat the other half booked me in for a manicure (£55) and pedicure (£65). Now I must say that whilst both were lovely and I now have beautiful red nails, my feet on completion still had dry skin on my toes and heals as they only use a foot file. To top this off on return home my mother noticed that one of my small toe nails was only half painted, which for a price tag this high isn't very impressive.

The spa is far more primed for massages and facials which based on the one I experienced was excellent and probably one of the best I have had.

Having built up an appetite from all the strenuous exercise, or should I say chatting in the swimming pool and general lazying around with my free copy of Vogue; my afternoon was completed by indulging in afternoon tea in the conservatory of the drawing room.   

All good afternoon teas begin with a nice bubbly and this one was no different. A wonderful flute of Veuve Clicquot Champagne. 

The Drawing Room has a wide selection of teas, after a perusal I opted for their signature brew; Coworth Park afternoon blend and the other half winter white Earl Grey. 

We were presented with a wonderful tier of goodies. Sandwiches come in classic smoked salmon and dill, egg mayonnaise, beef and horseradish and poached chicken with rosemary mayonnaise. 

Pastries and scones complemented by seasonal homemade plum and strawberry compotes followed next.

We had  a truly wonderful afternoon tea the service was exceptional throughout and for (£42.50) with champagne, (£29.50 without), I think it represents very good value for money. 

It is for this reason that Coworth Park definitely rates as one of the best afternoon teas I have had. 

What a wonderful first day, I can't wait to share the rest of our stay in the hotel and restaurants with you on Monday. 

What is your favourite part of visiting a spa or having an afternoon tea?

www.dorchestercollection.com

Coworth Park
Blacknest Rd,
Ascot, 
Berkshire 
SL5 7SE

Godiva and Momo a feast on Regents street

If you're a foodie, you just can't beat ice cream and bubbles, even when the weather is cold, wet, windy and wreaking havoc with your hair. 

On Wednesday Godiva had invited me to their flagship store on Regent Street to get a taste of Summer and try their soft ice cream. 

When I left work with my umbrella struggling to stay the right way up, I must admit that I doubted that ice cream was really what I needed. It's amazing how wrong you can be though and how a day can be improved by ice cream and chocolate. 

The concept is simple select your base, delicious waffle cone, dipped chocolate waffle cone, small cup or large cup. 

Choose your luxurious ice cream either vanilla, dark chocolate or a wonderful combination of both. Then finish with milk, white or dark crispy pearls, chocolate syrup, flakes or a nutty caramelised hazelnut crumb. 

My favourite had to be the combination of vanilla and chocolate, topped with nutty caramelised hazelnut crumb and flakes. Heaven in a cup. 

As a foodie I have no strict rules in the order that food should come. So having had our wonderful dessert we headed for dinner. One hidden gem that I love on Regent Street is Momo's restaurant. 

Started by the talented Mouraf Mazouz of Sketch, Momo's Restaurant offers Moroccan food at its very best. 

Entering the restaurant reminds me of wonderful holidays we have had in Marrakesh. Just look at the beautiful interior.  

For starters we opt for seared scallops with aubergine, and yellow beetroot (£10.75).

The scallops with the yellow beetroot was a perfect combination. 

Next up was humous served with Moroccan bread (£4.75).

Mains for me in a Moroccan restaurant are always the highlight; it either has to be a tagine or a dish that is couscous based. 


Chicken couscous charcoal grilled and marinated chicken breast (£19.75). 

The vegetables are wonderfully cooked and the couscous with bouillon sauce is superb. The perfect warming food for a wet and windy day. The chicken cooked on a grill is wonderfully flavoursome. 

The other half opts for couscous Momo, Lamb shank, charcoal grilled lamb skewers and merguez (£28.50).

As we had already had our dessert we finished our wonderful meal with a fresh mint tea. 

What started as a miserable and wet Wednesday ended up being a brilliant evening with wonderful Godiva ice cream and a perfect Momo meal. 

When have you had a day that started off one way and took an unexpected turn for the better?

Momo's Restaurant
25 Heddon street
London 
W1B 4BH

Godiva Flagship Store:
141 Regent St, 
London