The Most Amazing Day!

My whole family are big foodies (well, der that's why we are are all so fat!) and for my mum's birthday, I wanted to take her to Gordon Ramsay@ Claridges as a treat. It just so happens that my friend from school is now the Head Chef there so I emailed him to ask if he'd be in so I could say hello (haven't seen him in 13 years).

Well.... I thought he'd just come and say hello, but no...

We had complementary champagne and then three of the dishes below were what we ordered off the set lunch menu, the rest were all brought out for us specially!

sweetcorn soup, various breads and the best onion rings ever

Crab, coriander and crayfish linguine

Roasted Isle of Skye scallops, poached pheasant eggs, salsa verde, broccoli and salted almonds

Roasted sea trout with a smoked shellfish cassoulet

Raspberry mouse with shortbread and mango puree

Strawberry trifle thing (can't remember its posh name!) with granita and vanilla icecream with a strawberry jelly pastry finger

Coffee with lemon parfait chocolates and apricot madelines

We then got to meet my friend and he gave us a tour of the kitchens. Amazingly, when I went to pay the bill, the waiter told me that my friend had sorted it for us! I couldn't believe it!!

The food was just amazing and the flavours were phenominal - our favourite was definitely the scallops! The staff were all amazing and you only had to look up and they were at the table ready to deal with your request. I was frightened to drink my drink, because every time I put the glass down, someone would be there topping my glass up!

I am so grateful to the Head Chef. He made a couple of women very very happy!

On a weight loss note, I couldn't have pointed my meal, even if I'd wanted to. To be honest, this was a special occassion and one lunch is not going to scupper my weight loss efforts. I would never have had the courage to meet up with him before I started Weight Watchers and I didn't feel at all self conscious and fat, eating my posh nosh!

It was lovely to see my mum too and she was very complemetary about how I was looking. I think she enjoyed the day even more than I did and I think she wanted to join in with the chefs in the kitchen!

Back to counting, planning and tracking today - starting with a WW friendly fry up!