Pollen Street Social Club

I've been a little quiet on my blog of late for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have been working pretty long hours and so have not had time to write about much and secondly, because I have been working such long hours I have not really been doing anything interesting to write about. My husband and I have also decided it is about time we should start thinking about getting on the property ladder and so have been trying to save rather than splurge, easier said than done when you live somewhere with so much choice in terms of places to shop, eat, drink and entertain oneself!

We did however have the chance a couple of weeks ago to meet some friends for dinner at the Pollen Street Social Club just off Regent's Street in Mayfair. For any foodies out there, Pollen Street Social Club is the flagship restaurant of leading chef Jason Atherton, the ex-Gordon Ramsey employee who oversaw the opening of Maze and his restuarant offers an exclusive à la carte dining experience at equally exclusive prices.

Of course, a new dress had to be on the menu in order to enjoy our evening out and, having spent the last few weeks eyeing up the dresses in the window of Cop Copine on Richmond Hill every evening on the way home from work, I thought a new LBD would be perfect for a night out dining in Mayfair.  As I have previously mentioned (I cannot remember whether on here or Twitter), I have been really impressed by the quality of material and cut of the clothes I have seen and their French/Japanese influences are pretty evident when you see the quality and structure of their clothes.  I tried on a few dresses but decided on one with a halter neck detail that went over the body of the dress and would do a good job of carefully disguising any bloating that may occur after enjoying a large meal and a few glasses of champagne! 



Dress: Cop Copine / Necklace and Earrings: Maje / Opaque Cashmere Tights: Marks and Spencers / Rings: From Qatar’s Souk / Bracelet: H&M / Watch: Gucci / Shoes: Christian Louboutin Bianca’s



I teamed the dress with some Maje jewellery, which I am still so glad I purchased in Lille earlier this year and my wedding shoes as I don’t have many an opportunity to wear them at the moment. I absolutely loved the outfit and I think I will wear the same for a press launch I am attending next week, although I may swap the Loubs for my Jeffrey Campbell sparkle boots.





The dinner at The Pollen Street Social Club was delicious.  Unfortunately for my figure I can never resist homemade bread and butter which were served before the starter, for which I had Cornish crab salad, avocado, wood sorrel ice, crab toastie.  It was a taste sensation, the ‘wood sorrel ice’ gave the avocado an unusual texture as it was so cold but it totally worked.  If you’ve ever had a meal where weeks later you are still thinking about the taste of something then you know it is good! For main I went for the roasted red mullet with Spanish prawn rice, cockles and samphire.  I had never tried red mullet before and it is quite a strong flavour but the Spanish prawn rice complimented it nicely.  My husband and his friend shared the 1kg of beef with duck fat chips and his wife decided on the roasted sea bass with celeriac truffle.

1kg of beef with duck fat chips

After the main courses were finished we were invited over to the bar for dessert where we were given a number of tasters to try, from lime cheesecake sorbet to little petit fours straight out of the oven.  I shared the cheese board for dessert whilst the other couple shared the 70% chocolate ganache.  We were then invited for a tour of the kitchen which, whilst spotlessly clean was ridiculously hot and I didn’t want to risk my makeup melting on my face so made a pretty hasty exit.  Not before being shown a truffle the size of a small rock but worth over £600!  It never ceases to amaze me how something which is grated over your food can cost the same as a precious metal, but people are obviously willing to pay for it!!



Red Mullet with Prawn and Cockles

I think, possibly the best thing about moving to London so far has been the fantastic choice of restaurants here that come in all shapes and sizes and for all budgets.  Although The Pollen Street Social Club definitely would be classed as a rare treat for us, next week we are trying out somewhere with a fantastic reputation at a price that won’t break the bank.  I’ll blog about it once we’ve been so watch this space.