The Accidental Socialite - cheesecake Archives

Food

The Portman

November 13, 2015

I love free food, so when The Portman invited me to have dinner (partially) on them, I was like, ummm, yes please! The Portman is a gastro pub situated on top of a real pub near Marble Arch. I wasn’t sure I was at the right place at first because downstairs kind of feels like an old man’s pub. However, as I had a drink downstairs and waited for my other half, their hits of 2010 playlist was on fleek! Don’t let the exterior fool you!

Upstairs is fairly newly renovated (although the ladies toilet could use a little work) and the banquette was really comfortable. Seems like a place you would go with colleagues after work, as the hubs and I were the only couple there. Playlist moved to 80s slow jams and it was awesome.

It was really hard to choose what to eat. I was leaning towards the crispy squid but my love of soups got the better of me and I had the broccoli and Stilton soup of the day. It was so good! Not too blue cheesy and the croutons were covered in garlic butter. It was a tad too hot though, so by the time I was able to eat the croutons, they were a little soggy. Still delicious. My husband had the ravioli that was fresh, al dente and tasty. I liked that they allowed you to chose if you wanted to have the sauce and how much.

For our mains I went with good old steak. It was an OK cut of meat but cooked and seasoned very well. I was super excited about their ‘stealth’ fries, which were apparently double cooked with the skin on. The real thing was slightly disappointing (but I did have pretty high hopes). The fries weren’t that crispy. Don’t get me wrong, I still ate them all, but maybe they need to be triple cooked? My steak also came with a salad but I don’t think there was any dressing, so after a few bites of dry leaves I stopped. Plus, I already got my five a day in the soup.

We obviously had dessert and I inhaled the Ferrero Rocher cheesecake. I had to curb my inkling to devour their entire cheese selection because I already had the cheese soup. People who bake cheesecakes are like people who put raisins in cookies (insert rolling eyes emoticon here). Thankfully this one wasn’t! It was really good, a tad rich and, in my opinion, emphasized the worst part of a Ferrero Rocher: The nuts… which actually isn’t that bad.

Overall we had a really good time, the staff were very friendly. They also had a great wine list. I would probably go back if I was in the area doing some shopping. I will say it was a bit expensive for a gastro pub. That being said, we did drink a lot, so that was a big chunk of it.

The Portman

51 Upper Berkeley Street, W1H 7QW

0207 723 8996

www.theportmanmarylebone.com

Food

Burger and Lobster

April 25, 2012

Stephanie

2 Comments

After seeing it on several sites/magazines, one drizzly Tuesday my girlfriends and I decided to take the plunge and try Burger and Lobster.

First things first, send one person from your party as early as humanly possible to put down your name. My friend Malin managed to put our name down at 6:30. Undeterred by the projected 2 hour wait time we headed to Hakkasan in Mayfair where I had the Hakka cocktail which not only came in a beautiful bamboo shaped glass, it also provided a decent buzz for the wait.

Venue: Hakkasan
Location: Hakkasan Mayfair, 17 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QB
Cost: £11.50 for a cocktail
Look out for: tables full of cute men in suits on business dinners

After an hour at the bar in Hakkasan we moved on to meet the other two ladies in our party at Babble (59 Berkley Square). Where I had a £4.50 Vodka soda and was asked to have my picture taken with a random woman in the loos. We left shortly after that.

At 8:30 we were called by the manager Alex and told to make our way to Burger and Lobster. When we arrived there was a further 45 minute wait but we had the reasonably priced house wine (A Sangiovese red) and got drunker while leering at the table of gorgeous men in the booth by the window.

When we finally sat down at 9:15, a lovely Irish girl took our order which was made simple because you have 3 choices: Burger (with or without cheese and bacon), Grilled Lobster with butter or garlic and lemon butter, or a Lobster Roll. All come with chips and a salad. I thought about having the burger (all prime cuts of meat, buns made in house) but Malin insisted that “Nobody goes to Burger and Lobster to have a burger, we could have just gone to Byron.” Fair point.

Now, I’ve been to Maine and had several Lobster rolls, so I was willing to give this one a shot and compare it directly. There are no words to describe how good this was except to say it went from this:

To this:

In like, 14 minutes.

The rest of the girls had grilled lobster which was equally as mouth watering and the main point of conversation. This was my favorite piece:

Kim (who is new to eating lobster): “How do you know which part to eat?”
Cat (Canadian and eats loads of Lobster): “Just put it in your mouth and if it tastes good swallow.”
Me (clearly raised in a barn): “That’s what he said.”

We followed on with dessert and again there were only two choices: Bailey’s mousse (as Kim said to the witness: “You had me at Bailey’s”) with salted caramel or vanilla cheesecake. We ordered both, and both were amazeballs.

Vanilla Cheesecake

When we finished we asked the waitress to send over Alex, the manager and gushed for a solid 10 min abut the food. He offered to take us downstairs and see the kitchen and the brothers and sisters of the Nova Scotian lobsters we just ate.

He totally looks Canadian, right?

So to recap:

Venue: Burger and Lobster
Location: 29 Clarges street, Mayfair London W1J 7EF
Cost: £35/each for four girls with wine and dessert.
What to wear: Something sexy and stretchy. I had a food baby well into the next day. They also provide chic bibs we all wore.
Look out for: Cute Welsh rugby players who will walk you to the tube and invite you all out for more drinks.
Verdict: I never thought I’d say this, but Burger and Lobster is worth the 3 hour wait.