The Mad Hatter's Tea

No, no, no, wait a minute, I always have tuna on toast. Nothing's ever worked out for me with tuna on toast. I want the complete opposite of tuna on toast. Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted, and a cup of tea

George Costanza (Seinfeld episode “The Opposite”)

Afternoon tea must have been a creation of a Hobbit. I love the fact that between lunch and dinner you can go bananas and have and all you can eat finger sandwiches, scones, and cakes without remorse. There are plenty of options in London but one quite particular is in the Sanderson hotel, The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea.

Tea Time

Attention to detail, fun, and great execution is what will you find in the Mad Hatter afternoon tea. All the food was great, the sandwiches are ok, the different types of bread gives a nice twist otherwise they will be standard. They have 3 special teas and also the classic ones, our favourite was the mint choco chip. Cakes and sweets are really nice and exotic, mango cheesecake, tea chocolate cup, and even the mushroom marshmallows. But I have to say the highlight probably are the scones, best ones I have ever had.

Where is Alice?

Highly recommended, definitely great fun having it. Finger sandwiches with spinach, sun dried tomato, or lemon bread, the special quiche, great sweat and savoury scones, and on the sweet side the tick tock victoria cake, melting mango cheesecake, or the drink me potion.

Highlight of the afternoon scones and drink me potion

Sanderson Hotel - The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea

T: 020 7300 5588

Afternoon Tea

Approx Damage: £44pp

Area: Fitzrovia

Borough: City of Westminster

Twitter: SandersonLDN

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Hotel Burger [On The Road/BurgeReview: Melbourne]

©Hyatt Corporation

Another burger I had to try in Melbourne was in the Grand Hyatt hotel. The place Collins Kitchen, renowned restaurant in Collins St. I don't fancy much hotel restaurants but I read a solid recommendation about the place and decided to give it a try. Modern décor, dark lights, huge space, staff with fluorescent wristbands, the restaurant is hide in the hotel, and at the back you can see the hectic kitchen in action under the command of chef Jason Camilo. A menu displaying Asian and International cuisines and if you're into wine 2,700 bottles in the ru-co bar's wine-wall. 

Inside

Got the menu, no burgers so immediately asked the waitress and she handed the all-day dinning menu. A focaccia to start the show, well executed rustic, nice seasoning. Finally their Wagyu Burger, caramelised onions, and avocado and tomato mix similar to a rustic guacamole. Great burger, the meat flavour was outstanding, the bun held the juices in places till the end, perfectly cooked, the avocado nice touch, no cheese though, that would have given perfect score, but did I mentioned the patty was awesome! No chips so order as side if you want. 

Focaccia

Burger time

Kitchen reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Gymnast” 

Jerry: So let me get this straight, you find yourself in the kitchen. You see an éclair, in the receptacle. And you think to yourself, What the hell, I'll just eat some trash 

George: No, no, no, no, no. It was not trash! 

Jerry: Was it in the trash? 

George: Yes 

Jerry: Then it was trash 

George: It wasn't down in, it was sort of on top 

Jerry: But it was in the cylinder! 

George: Above the rim 

Jerry: Adjacent to refuse, is refuse 

George: It was on a magazine! And it still had the doily on 

Jerry: Was it eaten? 

George: One little bite 

Jerry: Well, that's garbage 

George: But I know who took the bite. It was her aunt! 

Jerry: Well, you, my friend, have crossed the line that divides Man and Bum. You are now a Bum

Collins Kitchen

T: +61 3 9653 4831

International Cuisine

Approx Damage: AU$50pp

Area: CBD

Melbourne

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Not all hotel restaurants are bad [On The Road: Houston]

I try to avoid hotel restaurants, unless it’s run by an acclaimed chef or the reviews are too obvious. Houston has a particular restaurant scene, the venues and cuisines are quite good and diverse, the plates are most of the time huge, and the restaurants close quite early. Believe it or not they shut down at times when other cities are just starting dinner time, I learnt this fact the hard way, when a couple times after 9:30pm was almost mission impossible to get a decent place serving food. 

One of this was after a delayed flight, I arrived to Houston with a couple colleagues and we realised it was impossible to make it to any restaurant, so we decided to give it a try to the hotel. The venue, JW Marriott in Galleria, their restaurant Destino, good name as it was basically destiny to eat at that place that particular day. Executive chef Robbin Murphy and chef de cuisine Hassan Obaye in charge of our fate. 

Our Destiny

We started the night with charred corn guacamole, tortilla chips with guacamole, they were outstanding, the tortillas home-made, crispy and still hot, and the guacamole was quite good, nice acid touch, excellent start, things were now promising. As main I got the Niman Ranch baby back ribs, they were quite good, the bbq sauce had a nice sweet touch. The side some truffle chips and a Hill Country blue cheese slaw, chips were excellent and the slaw was nice, sweet and good punch of the blue cheese. 

Guacamole and tortillas

Rib time

Sides

A nice surprise, pretty good diner that make me believe there is still hope for hotel restaurants. 

Hotels remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Trip” 

Lupe: Hello. I have more towels 

George: Oh good, good, come in. Come in, welcome. I'm George. And this is Jerry, over there, on the phone, that's Jerry. And you are, um? 

Lupe: Lupe 

George: Lupe. That's very nice, very nice. Listen, are you going to be making up the bed in the morning? 

Lupe: Yes 

George: Fine. Excellent. Could you do me a favour? Could you not tuck the blankets in? Because I can't sleep all tucked in 

Lupe: Oh, yes, yes 

George: Yes, I like to just be able to take the blankets and swish them and swirl them, you know what I mean? You know, I don't like being all tucked in. I like to have a lot of room, you know I like to have my toes pointed up in the air. Just like to scrunch up the blankets

Destino

T: +1 713 961 1500

American Cuisine
Approx Damage: $40pp

Area: Galleria

Neighbourhood: Uptown

Houston

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