Dinner at work

Following a complete re-hash of my schedule at the beginning of the month, I had to give up all my Saturdays to come into work and also cancel a reservation for a follow-up meal at St John which I wasn't too happy about at the time. I then decided to hatch plan B and take JD to have dinner at the place where I work instead so a couple of Wednesdays ago, we headed "back to work" (one perk about being an employee means a 50% discount on meals for up to 2 people, not bad, huh?!).

The menu is split into different parts: one can order a variety of small tasting dishes or alternatively, order from a more classic a la carte menu. There is also the option of ordering a tasting menu of 8 courses but then you are restricted to only eating what is on that menu. There are no set rules so JD and I ordered a few tasting dishes to begin the meal before opting for a more substantial main course each from the a la carte menu.

What can I say about dinner? It was very enjoyable and nice to be able to experience it from the point of view of a customer. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything extra but just to enjoy the meal but we were blown away by the generosity of the sous chef and the sommelier who gave us extra courses and I also had the chance to taste several wines with my meal.

By the time I had finished all the food presented to us, I truly did not have any room left for dessert so did not order anything (and also because I get to taste everything on a daily basis). JD ordered a chocolate dessert and afterwards, my pastry chef decided to bombard us with an extra 4 desserts!!! All very nice but I just felt at the end of what was already a very heavy meal, probably a bit of overkill......

As I said, lovely food, great company and we were very well looked after by my colleagues so a big merci buckets to them :)

 Amuse bouche of foie gras with port reduction and parmesan (known affectionately by the staff as "foie gras royale")

Langoustine wrapped in rice paper and deep fried, served with pesto

Clams stuffed with garlic and mushroom

Extra course no. 1: green asparagus soup with crunchy croutons

Pan fried red mullet with tomato concasee and aubergine - my favourite dish of the night

Extra course no. 2: Scallop with kumquat sauce, baby leeks and some caviar

Extra course no. 3: foie gras ravioli with truffle

Mini burger with chips

My main course of veal chop served with white asparagus and morel mushrooms in a cream sauce. (JD had the halibut and said that it was the best fish he had ever tasted, apologies for lack of photo)

One of the (4 extra) desserts we were served - strawberry soup with tequila sorbet and basil oil