A lot to live up to: Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental, Knightsbridge

Another day, another gushing review, this time by a certain AA Gill. His two pages in the weekends Sunday Times will no doubt have many others slobbering with anticipation, keen to get a table at Heston’s newest venture. I was no different. The minute the reservations line opened, I got my name down and was ecstatic to have chalked up a booking. My reservation was a week after it had opened, and with every day as I inched towards my reservation, reviews started leaking out, all heralding Heston and APW as the second coming. I was excited, very excited. Alongside, I was bringing the harshest critic I knew, my dad.

So on the day, I got all dressed up and headed up to Knightsbridge, even arriving early enough to plonk myself at the bar, enjoy a drink and peer into the dining room. This is the first moment the doubt started to creep into my mind. The dining room is a little staid, and with my 2pm booking looming, it was beginning to empty. As I watched each person leave, it felt like little nuggets of character were leaking out of the room.

When we were finally seated, the room was half empty. It's a strange sensation walking into the Dinner dining room. Indeed, there is a quite pleasant view of some grass, and a rather large open kitchen on view to the world, but the dour beige & brown interior don't add much to the rooms atmosphere. I was slightly disappointed by the initial lack of pineapples on the now famed clockwork spit, but the thing that threw me the most was how laid-back the kitchen appeared. I took this as confidence as the four of us squabbled who would eat what.

To start, I settled on savoury porridge, a herby spelt risotto adorned with cod cheeks. What you get is a vivaciously green and light dish, with many flavours racing over your tongue. The salty cod cheeks were lifted by the multitude of herbs used in the porridge as well as those adorned over the top. Nuggets of beetroot added bursts of colour and flavour. It didn't make the earth move, but certainly got my appetite going, and I awaited my next course intently. There was of course the meat fruit, which with so many superlatives already applied in numerous write ups, how could it possibly live up to expectation? In all honesty, it was very good pate, with the chicken livers as smooth as I have ever tasted, and the expertly charred bread adding an additional smoky flavour. Of the other starters, I found the hay smoked mackerel a delightful combination of intriguing flavours, where the "meat and flesh" was sadly disappointing and a rather boring saffron risotto dotted with shreds of ox tail.

Unfortunately I didn't fare so well with my main. The black foot pork chop should be the dish of my dreams, but what I got was a chewy, over salted pork chop, with flabby edges and nothing more than a smattering of cabbage and some sweet sauce along for the ride. I tried to enjoy it, but chew after chew, I couldn't help but think that this was one of the least intelligent £28 I had ever invested.

Other mains were equally underwhelming. My fathers turbot was a mish mash of strong contrasting flavours, with the flavour of the "king of fish" totally lost. The powdered duck was better, but the Asian influenced flavours were quite ordinary. Best of all the mains was the cod in cider, which was delicious and comes highly recommended.

I really hoped the desserts, probably my favourite course in my old age, would lift the rather sombre mood, and on the whole, they were very good. Brown Bread ice cream may sound a relatively ordinary dessert, but I guess anything out of the Fat Duck stable is hardly going to be ordinary. The large scoop of ice cream was malty and rich with the bitter malted yeast syrup a pleasant contrast. A bed of crunchy bready nuggets, packed with wisps of citrus, all sitting on sweet and salty caramel. A dish packed with contrasting flavours and textures, reminding me of the invention and flavours I had hoped for.

Another dessert of "rhubarb" was quite straightforward, and at £8 for a few slices of rhubarb and sorbet seemed rather dear. Chocolate bar was reminiscent of the famous Louis XV I recently tasted at Gauthier Soho, sweet, indulgent, but most of all, chocolatey. Last but not least, we had to have the Tipsy cake and pineapple, which came out a little on the sloppy side, but was still extremely pleasant.

As we were brought out a white chocolate and earl grey ganache petit four, I asked my dad what he thought. He proclaimed that he had enjoyed his meal but remained restraint. Unfortunately, this wasn't really the reaction I had hoped for, but I understand where he was coming from. The food on the whole was good but there were inconsistencies throughout the meal, really not what I would expect from a restaurant of such stature. Fireworks were lacking at any point, although a faint spark was ignited by the time we had tasted our desserts, a bit late for my taste buds to start tingling. Service was on the whole decent, but at times, it took far more effort to get a waiters attention than was necessary. Reading other reports, I can't help but think that much of what we experienced was an "off" day, but restaurants such as this really shouldn't be experiencing off days. I guess we will see how Dinner develops, but for the time being, I am in no rush to go back.

Dinner - Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA

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A new burger enters the ring at Bar Boulud, Knightsbridge

Another day in London, and another new opening. It's been open a mere 4 days and already quite a buzz lingers around Bar Boulud in Knightsbridge. Located in the Mandarin Oriental, it is the latest restaurant from none other than Daniel Boulud. Fear not if you haven't heard about him yet, but you most certainly will in the near future. Bar Boulud is his first foray into the British market, but he is one of the most established chefs across the Atlantic in the US. This year, Daniel NYC, the flagship of the Boulud empire and owner of 3 Michelin stars, was named as the 8th best restaurant in the world at the San Pellegrino 50 Best restaurants awards, a rising star, having jumped a massive 33 places. Basically, it's a bit good.

So what’s this place all about then? Well, I was meeting the delightful @gourmetraveller and she had kindly sent me the menu in advance. This was a bad move, well, for my laptop anyway. French food with American influences, I was drooling quite heavily at his charcuterie, sausages and burgers, all things that the Boulud empire was famous for. Unfortunately in my unemployed state, I couldn't go crazy and give the menu the workout I desperately wanted, but the £20 prix fixe is pretty astounding value.

I started with a "Salade glace de petit pois" or a chilled pea soup. I was looking for something light to prep my stomach for the impending burger feast, and this certainly fulfilled that criteria. The first few mouthfuls were flooded with fresh flavours of pea and mint, with hints of rosemary from the dots of cream. As I delved deeper, I chewed on a crisp and delicious croutons and started to scoop the billed "spring fricasse" from the bottom. I'm not sure if my brain was playing tricks on me but the soup garnered a deeper, meatier flavour as I neared the bottom of the bowl, although I sense the "fricasse" had something to do with it.

So, the burger. The chosen burger was the "Frenchie", a burger comprising of a brioche bun, topped with confit pork belly, Morbier cheese and rocket, all sat atop a tomato and onion confit. I say chosen, the choice was thrust upon me. I did ask whether we could swap the "Frenchie" for another burger on their menu but I was shot down after a rather prolonged visit to the kitchen. Pretty disappointing seeing as the Frenchie is actually the most expensive burger on the menu. The poor waiter mumbled something along the lines that the kitchen was unable to accommodate me, a blip on an otherwise excellent service. The burger itself vexed me. I poked around and the advertised "confit pork belly" appeared to be two small bits of what looked suspiciously like bacon. I took a bite and the juices of the beautiful beef patty, perfectly cooked medium pink, flooded my mouth, only to be barged out of the way and invaded by the rather strong tomato and onion confit. As I continued eating, pockets of mustard were so strong that they started to burn the sides of my mouth. The beef is excellent but all the other flavours were so strong that they struggled to represent themselves, ending up in a bit of a mess. A little bit like the current election.

There were other good things about the burger than just the quality of the beef. The peppered brioche bun was just about as perfect a vehicle for a burger as you will find. It was light and slightly sweet, with a substantial amount of give, although keeping its shape and not falling apart. And I even liked the Morbier cheese used, which I really thought may overpower the burger, but in relation to the other battling flavours, was subdued and complemented the beef. Chips were ok, and had transformed from chunky chips earlier in the week, to thin and crispy (if slightly over salted) ones.

Unfortunately, things didn't get a whole lot better with my choice of the Gateau Basque. Advertised as a custard cake with cherries, the flavours from the cake again had my brow furrowed. The pastry was immense, as it was light and tasty, breaking away with a swift crack of the spoon, but the custard had a very odd flavour. Predominantly orange with a background metallic twang, I really wasn't sure if it was meant to taste like this but I wasn't particularly enjoying it. A tiny puddle of vanilla custard (no flavour) and a pile of cherries (redundant and probably an afterthought) sat alongside, looking at each other, outcasts wondering if they had been invited to the wrong party.

The Gateau Chocolat-Framboise was much more highly accomplished, a classic combination of flavours well executed in an extremely rich dark chocolate cake. Extra flairs of raspberries filled with raspberry coulis, an excellent sorbet and even a decorative raspberry chocolate stick were all touches so drastically missing from my dessert.

I know that I may have been quite critical but there were glaring faults in my dishes that left me rather disappointed. Daniel Boulud has a fearsome reputation and those burgers should be the burgers of my dreams. Instead, it felt like a burger that was just trying too hard to impress. And frankly, on reflection, I thought the dessert was a bit of a car crash. I still can't get that metallic flavour out of my mouth and that's even after a few mini martinis straight after. I really do like the room, a fairly open clean space, and the service was for the most part excellent, if a little too over attentive at times.

I realise that I only ate off the lunch menu, and I really do want to give it another go once I get on the payroll again, but it was a disappointing meal. However, it is still early days, and I spotted Daniel Boulud himself walking the room and chatting to none other than Lloyd Grossman who was dining behind me. I overheard that he is here for 2 weeks to ensure that the ship is sailing at an even keel and I do realise that we are only 4 days in. I am sure things will only get better.

Bar Boulud - Mandarin Oriental, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA

p.s. You should definitely check out his website. It has the funkiest music of any website I have ever heard.