A fan of Pan Asian?

After last night's rather dubious Tex Mex restaurant I will admit that my heart dropped somewhat when I realised that we were off to Elements of Asia for tonight's feast. Though it being DD's birthday, it did seem so very suitable. However I thought, it can't always be French food! As soon as we walked through the door they started serving us huge boats of sushi and sashimi. And I have to admit; the salmon was seriously fresh and very good. Not being a fan of rice, I plumped only for the sashimi.

I consulted the menu and crossed my fingers that they had crispy duck and pancakes because I have to say it’s really the only option I’d choose in a Chinese restaurant. I am sure that there are other fabulous things to eat there but especially as I don’t like the taste of soy sauce and countless other flavourings, many options are ruled out.

I am very partial to duck, spring onions, hoisin sauce and pancakes so I haven’t found the need to explore the options further yet.

The artistry of our dishes was amazing; I was kept busy snapping everyone’s beautiful dishes including birthday boy DD’s sea bass. My duck pancakes didn’t look so artistic but certainly couldn’t be accused of being a meagre portion. The waiter stood by our table at a special stand and carefully shredded an entire plump duck, and then proceeded to hand me plates and plates of pancakes. Needless to say I couldn’t (despite how yummy they were) consider eating my body weight in duck so I shared them round the other tables.

N ordered a striped bass and even though it looked good was definitely a case of style over content, was rather lacking in flesh and was a lot of effort for little reward!

Sorry N, you should have had the duck – there was enough to sustain an entire village!

P and K very thoughtfully bought DD and I a bottle of Verve Clicquot each – extremely suitable for a pair of divas!

And we were presented with bowl of pistachio ice cream and a vanilla ice cream with a birthday candle in so we could blow them out. Thoroughly spoilt!

And in case you’re wondering – P didn’t get us lost tonight! Those breadcrumbs we sprinkled on the road must have helped or was it the kind yet explicit instructions from the fabulous French S?