London: dinner at Gordon Ramsey, Royal Hospital Road

Lesser folk might have been put off by this sign at the corner of Tite Street and Royal Hospital Road,

but we were on our way to dinner and would not be deterred. Gordon Ramsay is, of course, all over London, and owns, has an interest in, or consults for more restaurants and related businesses than I have tee shirts, but the restaurant on Royal Hospital Road is his first and, so I'm told, the one he'll hold on to wherever life takes him. And, leaving aside all the tv and the hoopla, this place is very well run and the food is pretty close to perfect. This was our first meal of the trip and we usually try for a little self-control at the kick-off, so I blame our total lack of restraint on the still vivid memory of the frozen bread-like lumps dealt out by the flight attendant shortly before we landed.

Seated and inhaling champagne, we did our best not to drool as we read the menu, and we agreed that we deserved the tasting menu. The adorable teeny amuse-bouche was inhaled before I could take a picture, as was the exquisite lobster salad with baby vegetables and (blushes) the risotto with morels, asparagus and sweetbreads almost disappeared too.

I regained enough control to get the next course

which was unbelievably good eggplant filled with seasoned whipped ricotta. Note lovely topping of perky baby veggies.

This was followed by the rabbit main course, tender, flavorful


and then the parade of desserts began:

sorbet

dark chocolate cylinder filled with ginger mousse


white chocolate truffles


strawberry ice cream bubbles in white chocolate shells.
So this was Friday night; tomorrow, we'll do a lot of walking to be in shape for dinner.