Hélène Darroze at The Connaught

I had brunch today at The Connaught - Hélène Darroze, whose cuisine is usually inspired by her roots in south-west France, bizarrely was doing an traditional American-style brunch, with dishes ranging from "The Connaught hot dog" to a posh burger.

First off, there was an impressive buffet, with lots of things to choose from. I went for some smoked salmon from a remote Scottish island, which was good but not quite on par with Forman's in my opinion, which is less smoky. I liked the salad of prawns and celery with a bloody Mary dressing, and the buffalo mozzarella and beetroot were refreshing. An interesting concept were these filled brioches - one with milk chocolate, the other with raspberry. I tried the raspberry one, which was delicious - a bit like a doughnut!

For my main course, I had macaroni cheese. I was a little shocked to see that all of the main courses had meat in them, but they were very kind and cooked some macaroni without the Bellota ham for me! It was truly scrumptious, with tasty Comté cheese and a crispy gratin - but still managing to be not too heavy.

Dessert was a real treat. The waffle was cooked to order, and topped with whatever I wanted - I opted for the waffle-maker's favourite: a drizzle of maple syrup, a dollop of Chantilly cream, a dusting of icing sugar and a dash of chocolate sauce. Indulgent, oh yes.

Apsleys

Last night I dined at Apsleys, an Italian restaurant at The Lanesborough in Hyde Park Corner. It was created three years ago by Heinz Beck, whose restaurant La Pergola in Rome has three Michelin stars.

First I had poached lobster, which had lots of lovely fresh flavours from the fish to avocado, tomato and bean sprouts which added an interesting taste and texture. It also looked beautiful, with a strange purple garnish which tasted like popcorn!

Then I tried what was called "Fish Crudo" - crudo means 'raw' in Italian, so this was effectively a platter of sashimi, just my sort of thing. The little plates just kept on coming, it was almost overwhelming! There were lots of completely different ways in which the fish was served, one even in a cocktail glass. I particularly liked the sea-bass, which was coated in a crisp cannelloni-shaped crust, on a bed of melon. It actually tasted a bit like seaside scampi. There were three different types of tuna - my favourite was the yellow-fin. I also enjoyed the scallops, which were in a sauce that tasted of white miso paste.

For my main course, I had a fantastic risotto with langoustine carpaccio, continuing the fish theme. The risotto was rich and creamy and the langoustine delicate and flavoursome. The little 'crisps' on top gave a nice, contrasting texture. I've never had a risotto quite like this before.

For dessert, I started with a fruit salad which was full of lovely exotic fruits and served with a great ice cream. The raspberry sauce was delicious with a very intense flavour.

And finally, I had this stunning dessert. The Amadei 'Chuao' chocolate dome, which has an unbelievably rich chocolatey flavour, was accompanied by hibiscus ice cream and berries, and adorned with a beautiful white spiral.

Nahm at Benares

As part of 'Chef Season' at Benares, Atul Kochhar teamed up with David Thompson, the renowned expert in Thai cuisine from Nahm restaurant in Bangkok, to create a shared menu of Thai dishes. I went this evening to check it out ...

We tried David's menu first. I had a 'miang' of lobster - miang is a Thai street dish in which the food is wrapped in a special leaf. Personally, I found this a little too spicy since there was a lot of chilli in it, which overpowered any taste of the sea from the lobster. However, the diverse texture was great with the crunchy leaf against the soft lobster.

My favourite of David's dishes was the 'yam pak', which is a mixed vegetable and fruit salad and was dressed with tamarind, palm sugar and sesame seeds. Again, there was a fantastic range of textures, and this was combined with a lovely sweet and spicy dressing. There were some interesting vegetables used including raw aubergine. The whole dish was lovely and refreshing.

I really liked Atul's paneer with apricot and tamarind chutney. The paneer is an Indian cheese, which was cooked on a tandoor giving it a smoky flavour. This went well with the sweet tamarind chutney.

Also cooked on the tandoor was some trout, which had a great smoky flavour as well. The crispy skin was encrusted with chilli and garlic, and the whole fish was full of complex spicy flavours.

To drink, I had a wonderfully refreshing lassi of blueberry and hibiscus, which was useful to cool off after the hotter dishes. I tried my mum's cocktail made with vodka, ginger and wasabi - it had a real kick!

La Boqueria & Lab G

Today me and my mum went for tapas at La Boqueria for lunch, as a foodie Mother's Day treat! Located on Acre Lane in Brixton, it was just a quick cycle ride for us to get there. It's named after the famous market in Barcelona, and features a section on the menu called "de mercado", which lists the more unusual dishes.

We started off with some "pan con tomate" (bread rubbed with olive oil and garlic, then topped with tomato), which brought us back to idyllic holidays in Spain, where we had it for breakfast every day! These were very light and refreshing.

I really liked one of the day's specials, king prawns sautéed al pil-pil (in a garlic-y sauce), with fresh spinach, which were full of flavour.

I liked these aubergine cannelloni too, which were filled with mushrooms, topped with goats cheese, and then drizzled with balsamic, which brought through a delicious sweet taste.

Another great special was this roast cod, which had a lovely flakey texture, and was served with sweet roast peppers.

We also had some great cheese croquetas, made with manchego and goats cheese, which had a beautiful creamy texture and flavour, with a crispy 'shell'.

A tapas meal wouldn't be complete without calamares. These were quite good and fairly crispy, but not the best I've had - perhaps better eaten by the sea!

For dessert, we shared a tasty "Crema Catalana" - with a crispy caramelised top hiding creamy custard.

After discussing the possibility of flamenco dancing on the perfectly suitable wooden floor with our charming waiter, we headed off the finish the outing with an ice cream at Lab G in Brixton Village. I had the salted caramel and pineapple flavours - the salted caramel is definitely a winner!

Sticks'N'Sushi

I had a delicious lunch today at Sticks'N'Sushi. It's a Danish group of restaurants, which has 9 locations in Copenhagen, and recently opened its first London restaurant in Wimbledon.

The atmosphere was very warm, with all the chefs cheering "Welcome" in Japanese as new customers entered. I liked the décor, with beautiful Japanese lights which resembled colourful 'Jenga' blocks, and long wooden tables with big wheels which reflected the previous use of the building as a horse-carriage factory!

We started off with a great fresh and clean-tasting Japanese seaweed salad, and a yummy marinaded squid salad with kikurage mushrooms.

Then we had some amazing sushi. My absolute favourite nigiri sushi has got to be these sweet ebi (prawns), which were so lovely and fresh.

Also great were these Hamachi bites, which were adorned with green wasabi tobiko (flying fish roe), giving a nice contrasting texture to the soft fish. The tomato added a good sweet taste to the hamachi.

There was a great range of textures in these maki as well. They were very suitably called "Yummi Kaburimaki" and consisted of crunchy prawn tempura inside-out rolls, topped with a creamy mixture of hamachi fish, Japanese mayo and a sprinkling of chives.

Of course we couldn't leave without trying the "Sticks" - and these miso-marinaded white fish "yakitori" were a perfect example. The salty miso was delicious and went perfectly with the grilled fish.

I really enjoyed my dessert - yuzu and lemon sponge, with vanilla ice cream, macha (Japanese green tea) foam and freeze-dried strawberries. I liked the juxtaposition of Japanese and English fruits (and especially the more interesting textures with a powder and the freeze-dried), and the ice cream was fantastic.

The presentation in all of the dishes was immaculate and inventive, and really showed the creativity of the chefs in the kitchen.

I definitely hope to return soon, and would thoroughly recommend a visit whether you're an avid lover of sushi, like me, or just want to try it out!

H. Forman & Son

This morning I went to visit the legendary H. Forman & Son Smokehouse, just a stone's throw (or should that be discus?) from the new Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Olympics.

It was very interesting to see the smoked salmon being produced using the traditional methods and skills that Lance Forman's great grandfather, Harry Forman, would have used over a century ago, in 1905.

Lance is very passionate about smoked salmon, and is on a mission to rid the world of bad 'smoked salmon', the poorly produced, often old and too smokey 'smoked salmon' that lines supermarket shelves. The secret to great smoked salmon he says, is being able to taste the freshness of the fish.

All the fish arrives to the smokehouse within 48 hours, where it is filleted before being salted and stringed ready for hanging, all by hand. Smoked salmon was originally just a means of preserving the fish, and this is achieved by removing the moisture. The salting and hanging makes the water drip out of the fish, drying it out - it is this drying process which is often missed, but is crucial to a great smoked salmon.

The salmon is dry smoked in oak smoke for a light smoky taste, before being carved by hand and packed, or sold as beautiful full sides of salmon.

It is, without doubt, the best smoked salmon I've ever tasted, with a very delicate smoke so that the full freshness of the fish can be appreciated. 

Dinner - Heston Blumenthal

I've been begging my mum for ages to take me to Dinner, Heston's latest restaurant which focuses on British dishes that have been inspired by cuisine and food concepts originally dating from the 19th or even the 16th century. Finally, as an end-of-Christmas-holidays-back-to-school-and-exams-treat, we went for lunch today!

It was a wonderful setting in the very grand Mandarin Oriental Hotel, but once I entered the restaurant, it could only be Heston: a floating pineapple inset into the wall above the reception, and jelly-mould-shaped lights were pretty wacky, but it was great to be able to see directly into the kitchen from our table (even if that did mean seeing the pigs' ears being prepared as we awaited our dessert!).

The humorously named "Green Goblin" cocktail that I tried had a great fresh aroma, made with lychee and kiwi juice and a touch of maple syrup for an uplifting sweetness.

To start, I had a lemon salad (supposedly influenced by a recipe from c.1730) with goat's curd, buckler sorrel and raisins. I really liked the pickled lemon segments, which had the distinctive sour taste of lemon (something I love - when people serve lemon slices with fish, I tend to suck the lemon dry while no one's looking!) and a tangy bite from the sliver of rind that contrasted well with the goat's curd in both flavour and texture. The dish looked lovely with different coloured leaves drifting about making it almost resemble a garden floor.

I then tried what seemed like a bizarre concoction to me: a crab 'brioche', made with crab-infused butter and custard, lending it a soft bread-like texture and a subtle flavour of crab. It was actually very tasty, served with a white crab meat mayonnaise and a delicious, clean flavoured cucumber ketchup.

For mains, I had cured salmon (c.1670). The fish was very delicate, and the leaves of flesh peeled away pleasingly. The top of the salmon was caramelised, which added a nice crunch and barbecue-like flavour to the fish. The artichokes were tasty (even though I'm not a big fan of them) although I found the beetroot a little hard. Nonetheless, the kidney-bean-coloured beetroot sauce was very flavoursome, with a great vinegar kick.

For dessert I had an indulgently buttery sweet 'loaf' ( c.1630 ) made from orange, which was covered in crispy caramel that added a lovely sweetness, but had a soft, spongy inside which was very orangey and yummy. The mandarin and thyme sorbet was delicious, with a not-too-strong acidity and clean finish. 

It was a fantastic lunch, with very friendly and talkative staff, who really knew the dishes inside-out and seemed to take a real pleasure in presenting them in all their glory. And trust me, they deserve that glory!