It’s Harry’s birthday next week.
He’s having a big shindig at home in Somerset. All of his friends will pile into cars & trains and make their way down to the country. He’s going to set up a great big table in one of the barns and drape the whole place in candlelight. It’ll be a raucous affair which will last late into the night and probably feature one or more of them leaping stark naked into the pond.
Sadly I’m going to miss it as I’ll be in Sweden for Midsommar.
I’m a terrible sister, I know.
In an effort to make it up to him I decided to take him to dinner.
Harry’s a bit of an old soul so I wanted to take him somewhere classic. Somewhere old school. Somewhere special.
I told him to meet me in the bar at Christopher’s for martinis at 8.
He had a classic martini & I went for a “New York Tart” which was really more of a milkshake than a martini.
Having unwound a little & enjoyed our drinks we headed up to supper.
I chose one of H’s favourite wines from the list. (It’s also one of mine, but don’t tell him that.)
I started with the foie gras, pata negra, sweet mango, pickled melon & balsamic glaze. Which almost looked too pretty to eat…
…almost.
Harry went for the pea, mint & rock shrimp risotto.
Followed by the lobster in garlic butter.
And I couldn’t resist… I plumped for the wagyu beef fillet.
We shared truffle fries, green veg & lobster mac & cheese on the side.
The wagyu beef was unbelievably well cooked. Almost charred on the outside & perfectly succulent & pink in the middle. I couldn’t decide between peppercorn sauce or chimichurri so opted for both on the side. The chimichurri totally blew me away. It was perfect with the rich flavour of the meat.
You already know I’m a mac & cheese nut but this stuff was un-real!
I’m going to have to go in & beg the chef for the recipe. If I get it, trust me, I’ll share it with you! You need this in your life. Lobster can be a messy business so Harry cleaned up…
And we took a little breather to enjoy the view & chatter.
It also gave me the time to give Harry his pressie.
A Daniel Wellington St Andrews (where he went to uni) watch.
Now we match*!
(You can find mine here.) Having eaten all that rich food, we needed a little pick me up.
I had an espresso & H had an espresso martini… with cookies.
I could easily have done without pudding but seeing as it was a birthday dinner, the selection plate had to be ordered.
We had cheesecake, brownies, pie, tart, fruit & molten chocolate sauce. If you’re planning your own special dinner I cannot recommend Christopher’s enough. I’ve put a lot of thought into what I’d want for my “last supper” and I can honestly say, I would die happy if that was it. It’s also a great spot if you’re heading out to the theatre as it’s slap bang in the middle of them all. Find them online here. Whenever I look this sneaky, something is usually about to happen…
You can’t have a birthday without candles!
Happy Birthday baby brother! I’m very proud of you & so lucky to have had a built-in best friend for all these years. Our adventures aren’t over yet, kid! *My watch was a gift from Daniel Wellington & I got a cheeky wee discount on Harry’s using “CLASSY” at the checkout (which you’re welcome to use too!).
