This weekend I was lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of some of the many treats on offer during Discover Food & Wine on Regent Street, a week-long event from 3-9 August where customers can create a schedule for themselves to explore Regent Street for the evening. I opted to take my husband along for the ride, which turned out to be the best decision I could have made. But more on that later. So, onto our food safari…
First stop, Café Royal, to sample their exclusive Givenchy Cocktail Collection. Although it was tempting to try all eight, with a long night of overeating ahead of us, we stuck to a very restrained one each. This menu was about perfumes and aromatics representing L’Atelier de Givenchy, and all the cocktails were designed to smell as good as they taste. I selected the sweet sounding Bois Martial with Jamaican rum, pineapple and sage, while my husband was spoilt for choice with all the whisky-based mixes. He opted for the Ambre Tigre, which contained Rye American vodka, Dutch honey whisky and English amber beer. Both cocktails were a short, strong and visual treat, and a very chic start to the evening, in Café Royal’s sultry green room.
Next stop, the Hawksmoor. As far as my husband and I were concerned, the preserve of good, good meat, but we were about to be surprised by a fantastic seafood and cocktail starter pairing selection. In what can only described as a rare sharing amnesty, both parties got to sample smoked salmon with a Burlington Royale (a gin and honey affair that takes inspiration from the lemon in the salmon cure – yes, that’s the level of detail here), Fried Queenies (rare, tiny mussels, that Grazia’s plus one talked about for around a hour) paired with another gin-based affair, The Regency Cocktail and finally, pork belly ribs with a concoction called a Suze and Liberty (a tequila and sherry cocktail). Who knew tequila and pork were such a magical combination? The Hawksmoor, that’s who. The difference in taste of having the right food with the right drink – paired so expertly – is really quite something. Stomachs dangerously full for so early in the evening, and already four cocktails in, we made our way to our next venue.
Upon arrival at Piccolino, we were led downstairs to the buzzy Cicchetti Bar. The bar serves a wide range of tapas-sized ‘casual’ sharing plates which are designed to pair perfectly with the wine and cocktail menu. And with that in mind, we proceeded to misjudge our eyes to stomach-size ratio, and ordered away. Among the seven (yes, seven) dishes we shared were Tonno Tartarra, hand-chopped line-caught ‘sashimi grade’ tuna with avocado and chilly salsa, hand-dived West Coast scallops marinated in vodka (yes) chilli (double yes); Tuscan bread and tomato salad with grilled king prawns; Tagliata di Manzo, sliced 28-day-aged British fillet steak, rocket with Parmesan and lemon; Vongole, with steamed South Coast Palourde clams, white wine, chilli, garlic and parsley, and finally some arancini, with Taleggio cheese, black truffles and wild mushroom. The dishes were all so delicious, light and fresh that despite our full stomachs, we managed to finish every last morsel (this is where the husband came in handy). This was an intense period of pleasurable groaning, cries of ‘Oh my God! Have you tried this yet?’, and general disappointment that we couldn’t fit even more in. But the clock was ticking so we finished our expertly made Negronis, and moved on to our next destination.
Next up, the Ice Bar. Now, there are two parts to the ice bar. There’s the actual bar itself, which you may be familiar with, which is quite literally, made of ice. This would form the after-dinner drinks part of our Ice Bar experience however, as we were first taken to their restaurant for some pre-ice food. The menu comprised of simple, tasty meat and fish dishes to line our stomachs in preparation for the ice room. We enjoyed monkfish with a red wine reduction, torched king prawn, roast chicken breast with red onion purée, duck-fat fries, and a rather tasty roast onion slaw. Yikes. With that, it was off to the Ice Bar itself, where EVERYTHING is made of ice. EVERYTHING. After slipping on our customary capes, we had yet more sweet cocktails from an ice block glass, and enjoyed Instagraming ourselves inside giant ice pineapples, ice trucks, and, well, anything and everything made of ice. Did we mention the ice?!
Not at all flagging at this point, and completely able to navigate (ahem), we ambled our way to Aqua, which would be our last stop. At this point, we were pretty full, but Aqua’s role in our little tour was for dessert, so we were confident we’d make room. As everyone knows, dessert goes in a different tube. Aqua has three distinct areas, Kyoto, the Japanese restaurant, Spirit the cocktail bar, and Nueva, which is where we spent the final leg of our indulgent little tour. The Spanish-themed restaurant has a full range of delights, but we were there for dessert. We enjoyed white chocolate bavarois with cherries and rose perfume; as well as chocolate, bread and olive oil, and a final little cocktail just to finish off the experience. It should be noted, given it’s part of ‘Discover Food And Wine Week’ that wine is also available across all venues.
In conclusion, although we’ve literally never been fuller, we can honestly say that we’ve never sampled so much diverse delicious food, all in one night. Now to plan the return visits… But first, we have some serious digesting to get done…
Discover food and wine starts today and runs until the 9 August. For a full list of all participating restaurants and bars visit http://www.regentstreetonline.com/Feature-Articles/Discover-Food---Wine-on-Regent-Street.aspx If you fancy taking advantage of exclusive menus, irresistible offers and competitions that are not to be missed simply quote ‘Discover Food & Wine’ in your chosen restaurant. As part of the week-long event, diners can enter the exclusive ‘Tweet for a Treat’ to be in the chance of winning foodie treats, plus plenty of the area’s most sought after venues will be offering exclusive menus. Diners can win prizes from top spots on Regent Street including dinner at MASH and cocktails at Brasserie Zedel by simply tweeting a photo of their meal to participating restaurants using the hashtags #RegentStreet and #Treat.