Every year I have a special day out in London with my Mum in the summer. This year we booked tickets to see the exhibition of Her Majesty's dresses as part of the Buckingham Palace tour, and I had a look around for some tempting lunch offerings to book. Obviously after a morning at the Palace we would want to continue our elegant day of refinery so I was on the lookout for a luxury hotel or Michelin restaurant. I usually start with Bookatable to compare the various deals that are on, and through there booked a 3 course lunch at Fera in Claridge's. The offer I booked included a glass of champagne and three snacks for £45 per person. If you are wondering what a Michelin starred lunch in a 5 star hotel looks like then read on...
The hotel
Calridge's enjoys a reputation as one of London's top luxury hotels. It was built in the 1920s and the art deco design influence can be seen throughout the hotel. There is a light and airy atmosphere as you enter, and you can see the afternoon teas which are served in the Foyer. We were greeted as we entered and shown to the places we wanted to go by a welcoming member of staff.
As our champagne was served we enjoyed an amuse bouche of a crisp topped with rosemary chicken and beautiful edible flowers. (I think this is regularly included in the set lunch menu, obviously exactly what you have will vary according to what the chef is making that day).
The bar
We arrived a little early for our lunch so paid the cocktail bar a visit. There are two areas to the bar, and it was quite busy when we entered. The area which you can see below is large and bright, with a smaller more intimate area tucked to the side. We were in the smaller darker area which had a very different feel to the main bar (perfect for a pre-dinner drink if you are a couple, not so much the thing for me with my Mum...).
Drinks are priced fairly consistently with other similar establishments, with a champagne cocktail coming in around £18. We both had champagne cocktails which were accompanied by nuts and moreish flavoured pastry sticks (upmarket cheese straws). After our morning walking around the Palace and up to Claridge's itself these were very welcome indeed! There was a relaxing atmosphere in the bar which helped us transition from the busy tourist filled experience of our day so far.
Lunch
We moved on into Fera for our lunch reservation, and I have to say I am in love with the decor in this room. The grey blue and oyster hues are beautiful. (photo at the top of the page)
Our champagne was swiftly produced as we sat down - a glass of Laurent Perrier (my favourite btw) and we selected our courses. Set lunches usually have limited options, which is partly why I go with my Mum - there is little we don't like. And of course I know it will all be delicious. The lunch menu we selected from is usually £39 without the offer, so for £6 more we were able to enjoy snacks (usually £10 on the a la carte menu) and a glass of champagne; well worth it in my opinion.
The menu:
To start
Roasted cauliflower, crispy chicken skin, sea lettuce and lemon verbena
or
Flamed mackerel, apple, kohlrabi, oyster and horseradish
Mains
Cotswold white chicken with carrots, baby gem and tarragon
or
Steamed cod, tomatoes, courgette and grelot onion
Dessert
Buttermilk custard, marinated raspberries, anise hyssop
or
Pineapple weed ice cream, sheep's yoghurt, honey and lemon.
So you can see, plenty to choose from. As ever the description on the menu only gives an inkling of what the final dishes are really like.
Snacks
As our champagne was served we enjoyed an amuse bouche of a crisp topped with rosemary chicken and beautiful edible flowers. (I think this is regularly included in the set lunch menu, obviously exactly what you have will vary according to what the chef is making that day).
Then our additional three snacks followed, all presented in unique and unusual ways that demonstrated the amount of work that had gone into each creation.
Stewed rabbit with lovage
This had a lovely crispy shell. The rabbit inside was soft and delicately flavoured. Definitely one for meat lovers.
Seaweed cracker, lemon sole and sea herbs.
The cracker was similar to a prawn cracker in terms of consistency and the lemon sole was tartare style (which I am very partial to). Neither flavour was too strong or overpowering; a delicious morsel.
Pea mousse with cod and calamint.
This was very obviously pea! It took a couple of spoonfuls before I discovered the cod puree at the bottom which is what really made it tasty.
Lunch dishes
We both chose the mackerel to start.
There was quite a lot of mackerel in this dish. Anyone who thinks they won't be filled up by a Michelin lunch, or that you are served minuscule portions is very wrong. The crunchy vegetable ribbons and peppery horseradish cream complimented the oily fish very well. I didn't find an oyster, or detect it as a flavour amongst the other elements of the dish so if you may have been put off by this don't worry (or it may have been missed out?).
I chose the chicken for my main course. Mum had the cod, and on comparison I think the chicken is the one to go for. It had so much flavour. and included both light and dark meat portions. There were a lot of vegetables that accompanied the chicken including heritage carrots and braised baby gems (which am I also partial to). There was just a touch of jus to add an extra layer of caramelised depth to the dish. The whole course was filling and every element was cooked delicately, making the most of all the flavours.
We often like to have a glass of wine to accompany our dessert, and the sommelier provided us with a couple of suggestions based on what we were eating. We again chose separate desserts. I chose the pineapple weed ice cream...I mean how often will you come across something like that? Obviously I was slightly apprehensive as to what would appear, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that although not described, there was a moist slice of cake to enjoy yoghurt and ice cream. I did try Mum's buttermilk custard, which I thought was the better option of the two on this occasion.
To finish our meal we had coffees, almost accompanied by petit fours (not in the description - another unexpected treat); a juicy pastille and portion of (green) sponge cake. I definitely needed that coffee to get me going again after such a satisfying meal!
Lunch at Fera is certainly an experience I would recommend to anyone, and a must for foodies. The flavours of each mouthful really are something that has to be tried. I would also recommend going through Bookatable as you get a few extras for only a little extra. This undoubtedly is fine dining, and comes with a fine dining price tag. However, for the quality of the experience and food which we ate, and the level of attentive service throughout our visit, I don't think it was overly expensive.
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