The Midland Grand Dining Room Restaurant

Goodbye Mr Powell

Roasted chicken, wild mushrooms and riesling sauce

Since Midland launched in the early summer of 2023, it has become one of my go-to places for top-quality French cuisine. I have been there 4 times in total and not long after I have been for my 4th time, I discovered that Patrick Powell, the chef behind all the wonderful creations is leaving. This is a shame for me as Midland is one of my top French restaurants in London. Below is my experience from my 4th visit just before he left, I went for 2 courses only, mains and desserts:

Park Chinois

 Dim sum champion, so long

Pumpkin dumplings, scallop dumplings and xiao long bao

Without a doubt, Park Chinois is my No. 1 choice for Chinese cuisine in London, it has a really strong dim sum offering, as well as some high-class stir fry and seafood items, it is the whole package as far as food-wise. When the news broke out that the dim sum head chef Ming was leaving the business, it was sad news for me as I enjoyed so many of his creations over the years. For my 28th visit, I went pretty much full-on dim sum mode and ordered almost the entire dim sum menu, which in a way was a good tribute to enjoy Chef Ming's creation one last time.

Brooklands by Claude Bosi

 Class act within the poshest hotel in London

Canapes

Brooklands, located within the super luxury 5-star Peninsula hotel has been on my to-visit list for a whole. I enjoyed Chef Claude Bosi's cooking in the early days when he was still running Hibiscus in Mayfair. He has since opened Bibendum in South Kensington which I followed, and in late 2023, Brooklands launched and it landed itself 2 Michelin stars within 6 months, an amazing achievement but not one I was surprised given Claude is such a talented French chef. His Brooklands offering has a mixture of French and British flair, and I was interested to see what is it like vs his flagship Bibendum.

Morchella

Innovative flavours of the Mediterranean region

Salt cod churros

It is hard to look beyond Mediterranean cuisine for a summer feast with fresh flavors. Flavours from Italy and Greece etc provide some of the most attractive and colourful tastes. However, many restaurants that offer Mediterranean cuisine can fall into the trap of doing traditional things, but nowhere as good as the real deal due to not being able to source local ingredients at their peak form. Therefore, some innovative twists to take advantage of the best British ingredients is a welcoming change and in Morchella, a brand new opening has a short but interesting menu that I was more than happy to explore.

Mountain Beak Street

Upmarket BBQ but why the hype?

Lobster caldereta

2024 has been a great year for Mountain, a grill restaurant by chef Tom Perry who found success in Kitty Fisher, before launching his own restaurant Brat. Mountain has gained a Michelin star in the 2024 guide, as well as coming into no2 in the UK's best restaurant list from the much-respected trade press Restaurant Magazine. I have been to Mountain once when it was opened back in the summer of 2023, while the food was solid, I never really understood why it is packed with so much hype. However, there is one dish I enjoyed which is a lobster stew and that is the reason I went back.