In general, I pride myself on having a decent memory, I remember things and episodes in my life, sometimes though it’s hard to remember all the little details of every outing. Then there are those happenings which feel so special and wonderful that you know you will treasure each and every moment. This London Fashion Week trip one of the absolute highlights was cocktails and a dinner invitation to the fabulous Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard.
This night was special for a number of reasons – I had recently been too busy and on business trips away from home, hadn’t had that much free time available for dinner date nights with the hubby. One was long overdue and this was the perfect place. Another reason was that this was a fashion week day, I had been to numerous shows and presentations and had barely found time to eat. And another reason is obviously the location – The Shard – the views are breathtaking. The cocktail bar is on the highest floor – level 52 – best view yet.
We started out the night with cocktails and nibbles on the top floor. This is really an excellent place to have a great night out, order a few drinks, relax and take in the view. A perfect way to spend a memorable couple of hours when visiting London.
After finishing our cocktails and devouring the yummy nibbles they brought us, we then moved downstairs to TING restaurant – a perfect fusion of Chinoiserie meets modern Europe.
I immediately proceed to perform my usual routine of agonising over which dish to choose for about fifteen minutes, thankfully they offered to help guide us and I decided to base my choices around seafood. They also offered to pair different wine for us with each course, we gladly accepted since both our wine favourites and our choice of food was quite different.
Starter Time – The hubby chose a risotto with black pudding as a starter – although I generally refrain from eating black pudding, I had to taste this and I shared his sentiments of ‘yum, delicious’. For my starter dish, I chose the langoustine ravioli, simply excellent, the mushroom combination is a brilliant idea and of course, both dishes were cooked ‘ al dente’.
For mains, Kurt went for another rich and grand one – venison cooked rare which he described as so tender there was barely any need to actually chew the meat. I tasted his dish and did agree with him, almost asked him to switch them until I tasted mine. I went for my trust favourite – lobster, I think lobster is my single favourite dish, I have very rarely been disappointed. At TING this dish definitely didn’t disappoint, it was perfectly seasoned and cooked such that the taste of the lobster is never hidden or overwhelmed.
The wine pairings were always excellent, the sommelier was really very good at guessing our likes and matching the correct wine to the flavour of the dishes.
By the end of the meal we were both somewhat drunk, really well fed and pleasantly stuffed but there must always be room for desert. No surprises that I chose the chocolate mousse heaven creation with a raspberry sorbet. Kurt went for a concoction involving different flavours of apricot, caramel and sticky toffee that has too many ultra-sweet ingredients for my taste but was heaven for his sweet tooth.
Great atmosphere, top notch service from start to finish (attentive without ever becoming overbearing), diving cusine – a brilliant and absolutely memorable Saturday night in London at TING.
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