Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Having a ball

I promised the glamorous Swedish M that when she felt better we'd treat ourselves and eat out somewhere fabulous - purely for medicinal reasons of course. And for this recuperative mission I chose the Ballroom. The Ballroom is described as "plush but not pretentious, a haven of West End kitsch with genuine East End hospitality" and "a luxurious and spacious with soaring ceilings, gold pillars, polished wood tables and floors and an unbelievable pair of Posh 'n' Becks style gilt thrones." What really would a pair of divas really need for a night out?
I couldn't persuade gsM to join me in a plate of carpaccio so we went straight for selecting the main course. Whilst we are making our choices I spot that they sell the richly dark orb of pleasure othersie known as Chambord so ask if they make use a Kir Imperial with plenty of crushed raspberries. It seemed most appropriate in such an opulent environment, sipping exotic pink cocktails whilst we checked out the extravagant décor. I adore the chandelier and thrones (though they were occupied so we didn't have chance to check them out)
I'd read excellent things about the Ballroom burger with my beloved béarnaise sauce so we both thought we'd give it a try. Our Parisian waiter shook his head and said that he wouldn't have chosen the burger, I remarked that I heard it was their signature dish and thus thought it would be a good dish to try. He suggested we had steak instead. I said that I really fancied the creamy béarnaise sauce but he retorted that of course I could have steak with the béarnaise instead. But that wasn't even on the menu and unless I absolutely have to, i.e. every dish is positively dripping with tomatoes and goats' cheese, I try not to be too high maintenance. I've seen When Harry Met Sally, I don't really want to de-construct and reform each menu item before I'll eat it, well not every time anyway!
The burger was very tasty, the steak was moist and cooked too perfection there was an elegant sufficiently of the hand cut chips and plenty of spinach, cheese and béarnaise, and when asked we did get a little more béarnaise. The only downside was the burger bun is was a little too bland and dry and wasn't worth finishing. Good meat though!
To accompany the burger we choose a bottle of Chilean Merlot, This also didn't go down with our strictly old world school of wine waiter either; he said that we should order a French wine instead. We stuck to our Merlot decision though - clearly he'd met his match in these divas!
However he really did approve of our chocolate mousse and cherry dessert. He said it was his recipe and that it was the best choice. And it was very fine indeed; it was rich, unctuous, supremely chocolatey and a good petite size - even I have limits to how much chocolate I eat on one sitting!
I would be happy to go again to the Ballroom, I loved the ambience the food was pretty good and the service - well a little unusual but certainly memorable.
I guess it would be the perfect place to go if you prefer someone else to order your meal for you - i.e. the waiter. A gilded, dripping with crystal fork for the Ballroom!

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