Creative food

Bo London is a Chinese restaurant created by Alvin Leung (aka the Demon Chef – how he likes to call himself but don’t worry he is not a demon, and this apparently comes from the Greek word "Daimôn", meaning "good-spiritedness") and in Bo London which opened in December he showcases his X-treme Chinese food. The restaurant has been getting more negative than positive reviews but that is because of the price, as for dinner you are supposed to order Bo’s tasting menu which costs £138 and at the moment is the most expensive tasting menu in London (despite the fact Bo London at the moment does not have any Michelin stars it is more expensive than Gordon Ramsay’s 3 Michelin star restaurant tasting menu). But considering Alvin has apparently invested 1 million in his restaurant (which you can’t really tell when in the restaurant) I can see why he would want to charge the customer a lot to get his money back.

This is such a gem of a restaurant. Sola has 1 Michelin star and serves fusion French and Japanese food for very reasonable prices (EUR50 for a lunch tasting menu which has 6 courses that could easily be served in a top Michelin star restaurant and for a price you don’t usually see in any Michelin restaurant) it is an absolutely bargain and just wonderful. The main chef is Hiroki Yashitake and he comes from south of Japan and he has worked in many French restaurants around the world before starting in Sola in December 2010 at the age of 30.  Sola is located in the 5th district close to Notre-Dame Cathedral and it is located on a side street so unless you know where to go, chances are you are not going to walk past this place.

The following day was my birthday so my boyfriend surprised me and took me on a Friday night to Nottingham to eat in one of the top 100 restaurants in the world (at number 97), and it is the only restaurant in the world’s top 100 that is not located in London or up to an hour’s drive from London. I am very glad he took me there as I probably would not have gone there at least for a while, and it was a super thoughtful surprise as he knows how obsessed I am with ticking off the top 100 restaurants on the list. Restaurant Sat Bains has 8 bedrooms, so it is a small hotel, and in the same place there is also a 2 Star Michelin restaurant (they won their first star in 2003 and then the second one in 2011) serving modern British cuisine.

Alinea is the only 3 Michelin star restaurant in Chicago and when I went there it was ranked the 7th best restaurant in the world by the St Pellegrino restaurant awards (now Alinea has dropped to number 15). I went to Alinea a few months after I had been to Noma (1st best restaurant in the world at the time), and whilst the food that both restaurants served was excellent, the two restaurants are very different. The main chef at Alinea is Grant Achatz and people say he serves “food of the future” and is known for his preparations and deconstructions of classic flavours. The restaurant is located in Chicago in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and opened on May 4, 2005.

This is officially the tallest restaurant in Europe. Duck and Waffle is located in the Heron Towers on the 40^th floor, one floor above Sushi Samba but contrary to Sushi Samba, Duck and Waffle does not have an outside area, but that does not change the fact the views of London from this restaurant are impressive. I went there for lunch with my friend Paul and before going there I had had a sneak peak at the menu, which I thought was extremely creative and contained dishes I had not seen before in similar type of restaurants that offer “seasonal food”. The menu is a one page A4 piece of paper and consists of smaller dishes, plates to share, plates from the oven and then larger 3 dishes for the table, which includes the mysterious “duck and waffle” dish.