Spring Fling

Well if it isn't our old friend, Orrery... the inspiration for this blog, the home of the truly expensive Bellini! (see my first post, A Bellini Moment, when I was still hesitant about outing restaurants). If you feel so inspired, you still have a few days left, as the offer ends May 31^st. But you should be forewarned, I just had the wonderfully priced, Menu Prix Fixe for lunch at Galvin Bistrot de Luxe (love these titles), an offer which does not end on May 31st.

At £15.50, this 3 course lunch fell nicely within my recession budget, and was truly delicious. I especially loved the pollock. I did not sample the Bellini- wrong time of day- but a lovely chat just now with Mody at the restaurant, informed me that their Bellini’s are £7.75, and made with Ca’ Morlin prosecco. Though I don't know it well, Decanter.com says about Ca’Morlin: ‘Very easy-drinking. Everything is in its place, with pear drops, minerals, green apples and citrus rind tantalising the nose. The mousse is delicate and floral, with rosy apples in the mouth.’

I’ll return to Baker St. one evening soon to sample my beloved Bellini, but I also look forward to giving the B. girl a twirl across town, at Galvin La Chapelle.


Spring Offer at Orrery
During the month May we are delighted to offer a special three-course spring menu for £30 including a Bellini cocktail. This is the perfect excuse to sample Igor Tymchyshyn's elegant cooking in Orrery's stylish setting.
Menu Du Jour
First course
Jerusalem artichoke velouté, cumin seeds, crouton
Pâté de campagne, toasted Poilâne, apricot chutney
Smoked salmon, dill dressing
Main course
Roast sea bass with peas, lardons, potato gnocchi
Spinach and ricotta ravioli, ceps
Poulet farci aux morilles, broad beans, baby leeks vin jaune velouté
Dessert
Berry preserve frangipane, blackberry sorbet
Selection of sorbets
Farmhouse cheese from the trolley
(5.50 supplement)


3 courses £25.00
3 courses £30.00 including a Bellini Cocktail*
*Subject to availability

Galvin Bistrot de Luxe
66 Baker St.
London W1U 7DJ
tel 020 7935 4007

Orrery
55 Marylebone High St.
London W1U 5RB
tel 020 7616 8000

New Arch, Marble Arch

How did we end up there? Oh, we dropped the kids off for a sleep-over at the Museum, and then all the Mums headed for a drink. The Arch Hotel, a new boutique hotel off of Bryanston Square, on Great Cumberland Place fills a niche in the neighborhood. Quietly placed, and surprisingly busy and buzzy inside, with an eclectic selection of modern art- a must-have for any trend-setting restaurant/hotel- and a restaurant and bar. The owners, we were told, were Israelis, who also owned two other hotels, in the English countryside. Ahhh, the countryside… more on that later.

Bellini Brunch

Have you ever thought about the word ‘brunch?’ I realize that it is a combination of ‘breakfast and lunch,’ but on its own, without context or association, it sounds more like some kind of ancient forest ritual, or better yet, an obsolete part of factory machinery- the brunch-cross, the brunching, the brunch-mat, and so on.

Mix’n with Mr. Hix’n

Okay, so I realize I haven’t written for a while…basically, there is no excuse. Work commitments, grim winter days, the proliferation of pot holes in London streets, yea, yea, yea, you’ve heard it all before. Let’s just shake now, and call it February/early March over and done with!

Snowy Day Drinks

 
Work, a round of stomach illness, and half-term break have all led to a massive slow down in my Bellini posting output. Not to worry though- I sense a change in the weather… spring is finally around the corner, and with it, fresh frolicking and enjoyment of our peachy fizz! Any places you think we ought to try? Please let me know.

Bellini Bowl

There is an American-themed bowling alley, complete with American music and food, tucked away beside Whiteley’s Shopping Center in Queensway. Most of you probably already knew about All Star Lanes…I didn’t.

It’s not that I don’t get out much, but boring, monetary matters do sometimes figure in budgeting for life in London We live in a town where the price of soap can be anywhere from 99p to lots, lots more, and where a cup of coffee is equally stratified. It all depends on the neighborhood you live in, the supermarket you use, or, as far as we are concerned, the restaurant/bar we visit, and the drink we drink.

Family Meal

(forgot the camera- photos taken with Stella's phone)

Last night was the usual family meal. Our 9 year old was complaining loudly that she did not want to eat the chicken stir-fry and broccoli that I’d made, as she’d had the same thing for lunch at school. Funny, she complained the same way the two previous nights. Either I have an uncanny ability to guess what the kitchen ladies are thinking, or there is a big white elephant in the room. I’ll consult the weekly school menu from now on.

A Well That Does Not Run Dry

One minute I’m at home cleaning out the guinea pig cage, and throwing dinner together for the kids, and the next I’m in the Artesian Bar in the Langham Hotel, wondering if the woman sitting down at the next table is in fact Amy Winehouse. It is. I bet she doesn’t clean out her own guinea pig cage.

A Window on Marylebone

There is a couple that I secretly think of as the most Beautiful Couple in Marylebone. Not a secret anymore, but anyway… I rarely see them in the supermarket, bank, dry cleaners, or any other ordinary place. But I often do see them sitting in the window of Peter Gordon’s renowned Marylebone eatery, The Providores, our New Zealand local that is not a tapas bar.

How do you like your coffee?

Edith and I had a ball at the Bibendum Wine tasting last week, and I apologize for taking a week to blog about it. I can only blame the January doldrums, as Heloise so succinctly put it in an email to me this week. Heloise darling, sit down, put your feet up, play some Jimmy Reed blues, indulge yourself and have a Bellini on me. Those doldrums will just fizzle away…

Wine Tasting No. 1

Lou, media maverick and noble Bellini friend, sent me a link to his favorite Prosecco, made by the Bisol family, and through their website, http://www.bisol.it/default_eng.asp, I found out about the Bibendum Annual Tasting 2010. Just in time! My education begins… Bibendum is a ‘fine wine merchant,’ to put it mildly, here in London.

On the Fizz

 

                         granadillas from the Edgeware Rd.

It has occurred to me that a blog on Bellinis requires a certain amount of specialized knowledge on fruit, Prosecco, and the region of the Veneto, among other things. I have none of these. I like fruit, all kinds- my favorite is the granadilla, a delicious near-relative of the pomegranate, which we eat for pennies in huge quantities in Colombia, but which I can only find here for £1 each, on the Edgeware Rd. And I love wine, though again, my expertise is limited, and my preferences are actually reds from places like the Langhe hills of Piedmont, the La Rioja region in Spain, and the Rhone Valley in France. But please don’t ask me to name them.

It’s all in the Timing

                                                Will Rogers circa 1898

I keep thinking about this phrase and others like it, which deal with timing and time. I particularly like one attributed to Will Rogers, ‘Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.’ Besides being a movie star in the 1920's and 30's in more than 70 films, Rogers, famed for being part Native American Indian, was also a comedian, a Vaudeville performer, and a much loved columnist and social commentator. All these things accomplished in one life, and not even a very long life- Rogers died in a plane crash in his 50's. If he felt he was rushing through life, looking for pause, then we were the ones who benefited from his too short, but prolific career.

Peach or pink?

My dear Lady G, constant friend, good editor and writer, and her rock-n-roll, philosopher husband Ernesto invited us up to their house in Primrose Hill on Saturday night, along with our other mutual friends, Matilde and Finbar. Matilde is another writer friend, and is also an accomplished photographer and painter, while her husband Finbar is just really smart.

Holiday Homebrew

Gadzooks! The Holidays just flew by this year, and with them, many wonderful opportunities to mix, match and inadvertently murder our own beloved homebrew of Bellinis.

Christmas Day brought us to Lulu and Sinclair’s kitchen table, where we ate, drank, spat and put the world to rights. There was no spitting actually, there would never be any spitting at Lulu’s table, but we did laugh a lot, and I may have spewed a bit of roast parsnip on to Sinclair’s shoulder. Anyway, this year, Lulu had the good fortune to receive a stuffed goose as a present, flown in directly from France the day before.

The goose from Toulouse- isn’t that an Irving Berlin song?- was a gift from a foodie friend, who apparently 

Why the Bellini Project?

It all started last year when I went out for lunch to celebrate a few mutual birthdays. It was raining that day, and the recession was starting to hit home for all of us. Feeling the need for some joy, I ordered a Bellini. Obama had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize that morning, so perhaps all was not lost. Our bill for 7 Bellinis alone came to about £100. I was embarrassed, enlightened, and just darn mad.