the french laundry at harrods

ok, this post is a couple of weeks late but i thought some people

might like to see it anyway.

as i mentioned at the start of the month, i had a few shoots at the french

laundry pop-up restaurant which was due to open at harrods.

the set menu cost £250 per person and every sitting was completely booked

for the 10 day duration of the restaurant.

so for those of you who are interested, this is what the food looked like

and tasted like.

first up

a little tiny cone with a ball of smoked salmon and a warm cheesy bread / puff type thing.

next up ( or this may have been before the salmon cone... i can't recall )

yes, i think this was first up.

4 tiny tiny little things.

i ate the little toasted pork sandwich. it was about the size of a postage stamp

but tasted a lot better. i would say it's the nicest pork sandwich i've ever had

( though far from the biggest )

this is perhaps the most famous dish at the french laundry

it's called "oysters and pearls" and it's the dish everybody raves about.

i didn't try it... sorry.

oh, look at how it was presented though...

in a little bowl on top of 3 plates.

it was actually presented to the table with a little white lid on the bowl,

which was then theatrically removed. the whole thing was a great experience.

next up, salad of hawaiian hearts of peach palm

which i also didn't try.

then came "chowder"

which i did eat.

it was... well i don't know really. i guess it doesn't look much but it was 

kind of magic. really tasty fish and the little thing on top was a bit like

a chip. i think i was told it was their substitute for chips.

"beets and leeks" came next

the menu describes it as:

sweet butter-poached maine lobster, heirloom beets, leek "mousseline"

la ratte potato and red beet essence...

i didn't try it.

oh, but interestingly, i was told that the lobster is flown over to london from maine

with a lady who has the lobsters sit alongside her on the plane rather than being in

the hold " so that the lobsters don't get distressed "

to follow was "poularde en brioche"

moulard duck "fois gras au torchon" with warm sauternes "gelee"

tokyo turnips, green apples and perigord truffle coulis.

i didn't try it.

this beef thing was next

yes i ate the beef, yes it was magic darts.

no i didn't eat anything else on the plate.

yes i did mention to the waiter that some chips would have been nice.

i guess this signified the end of the main course type dishes

and was to prepare us for desserts

i ate the little toasted ham and cheese sandwich like a boss.

the cheese was very nice too.

i didn't eat the figs.

desserts aren't really my thing

but i tried some of the sorbet, which was good. the biscuit thing was cracking too

but the interesting part of this was the white froth-type stuff.

it tasted like nothing i can describe. it didn't taste anything like it looked.

it was perhaps my favourite part of the meal.

i wonder what it was ?

i was advised that if i like peanut butter, i'd love this.

but i don't like peanut butter.

i did however eat a few of the little marshmallow things which were very tidy.

last up was a very interesting plate which looked a bit like a flying saucer.

in 5 little spaces on the dish were 5 little sweets.

i ate the one on the top right which was the french laundry's take on a raisinette.

it was ok but a bit too chocolatey for me.

i also had the one on the top left which was their version of a coca-cola mushroom.

i certainly don't like mushrooms and i'm not a fan of coca-cola but this little 

thing was genius. it tasted like coca-cola but 10 times better.

so there you have it. my rubbish review of some of the best cooking

in the world. if you want to try it you'll have to book a table a couple of months

 in advance... and travel to california.