Top service

The Waterside Inn is one of 4 restaurants in the UK that has 3 Michelin stars and the only restaurant in the UK to have retained 3 stars for over 25 years. The Waterside Inn gained its first Michelin star 2 years after it first opened in 1974 when the guide originally came out, the second one in 1977, and the third one in 1985. The Waterside Inn is located in Bray, 16th century village, about 1h drive from central London, in close proximity (5 min walk) to another 3 Michelin star restaurant – The Fat Duck. The Waterside Inn, as the name suggests, is a restaurant next to the Thames river. We came here for lunch and so we could perfectly see the nice countryside and the river with a very quick current. When you come here for dinner, you don’t really see the outside so well. The Waterside Inn has been run by the famous chef Roux Family for years and nowadays it is run by Alain Roux.

Arzak is one of the best restaurants in the world (it has 3 Michelin stars) and is located in San Sebastian, where the best female chef (as voted in 2012 by the St Pellegrino awards) Elena Arzak works with her father Juan Mari Arzak. Ametsa is a collaboration restaurant located in London, by Hyde Park, that has been influenced by the cooking of the Arzak family and the restaurant. Although many times Elena and Juan have said they don’t want Ametsa to be exactly like Arzak and a sister restaurant, Ametsa is influenced by Arzak, but there is only one Arzak. Ametsa opened in the spring 2013 and has been one of the most anticipated openings of this year. It is located in the Halkin hotel, by Hyde Park Corner and has recently won 1 Michelin star. Ametsa, just like Arzak, present ‘New Basque Cuisine’, pairing the earthy flavours and techniques of Spain’s Basque region with modern, surprising twists featuring locally-sourced and organic produce.

Lemonia is a neighbourhood Greek restaurant in Primrose Hill and it is one of those old school restaurants that people have been going to for years (it has been open for 30 years). People say that the best thing about this Greek restaurant is the service, as this is a family run Greek restaurant, and all the people who work there are Greeks and they welcome you very well. I found this to be true, and when we arrived we were eagerly greeted and seated outside and given the menu right away.

I love Hakassan so when I heard that they opened a new Chinese restaurant HKK and Fay Maschler, the restaurant critic, said it served the best dim sum outside of Hong Kong, I was super keen to go. I actually managed to go twice during the same week (by coincidence) for dinner and for lunch (see all pictures below) so I feel like I have truly experienced HKK. HKK is like a more upscale Hakassan, and the dim sum and the duck dishes I think are better, but the problem (for some and also for me) is that during dinner they only serve a 15 course tasting menu (during lunch you can have smaller and different tasting menus as well as order a la carte). I personally don’t like to be forced to eat tasting menus and whilst I sometimes have them, I don’t like the fact that I don’t have a choice and I must have it when going to a restaurant.

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