Victoria and I went to London for our anniversary and Victoria’s birthday, at the weekend. It’s actually our anniversary on Wednesday and her birthday on Friday, but my parents were coming down to look after the kids and July 11th we are up north for my brothers wedding – so going away for the weekend of the 5th wasn’t really applicable.
Anyway, we travelled up by train on Saturday morning; went first class which was nice. We stayed at The Rookery Hotel in Clerkenwell, over near Farringdon station. It’s a lovely hotel; actually very romantic considering it’s probably used a lot for business people visiting the financial city. The staff were very helpful; especially as I had arranged for Flowers, Fruit, and Champagne to be in the room when we arrived. They took care of everything for me – even contacted me on the Friday to check my arrival times etc…
I’ll allow others to describe it;
So, quirky, creaky, admirably unfussy – and cosy. You can curl up by the fire with a drink from the honesty bar, or in warm weather sit in the sliver of garden, wittily enlivened by a mural of cows being herded by two smocked peasants, portraits of the hotel’s proprietors… – Fiona Duncan
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Is there a more romantic hotel in London than The Rookery? We seriously doubt it. With the vaulted beams of its wooden ceiling above, and the beautifully chosen antique furniture below this is a paradise for lovers. Add in a location that puts many of London’s best traditional restaurants in walking distance, friendly, discreet staff, and the most amazing period bathroom fixtures, and you know that you have stepped into a dreamy paradise. – LondonTown.com
We did a bit of shopping during the day; Victoria was looking for a dress for Andrew’s wedding. Tried a lot of shops but didn’t find anything.
In the evening we were eating at Fifteen.
This time we were eating in the downstairs Dining Room; previously we ate in the Trattoria upstairs.
We started with appetizer of Rosemary focaccia with dressed olives and salumi ; followed by a small spoon of Scallop covered with stuff! ( Sorry can’t be more precise than that because I actually have no idea! It was lovely though! ) Victoria’s Insalate course was Freshly picked crab with raw Italian zucchini, tarragon and lemon aioli and I had Carpaccio ‘di polipo’ – Octopus with marinated Florence fennel, olives, red onions, rocket and chilli-mint dressing.. Victoria followed with Ravioli of romanesco, baked ricotta and mint with a caper butter sauce. My Primi was Pappardelle ‘fatte in casa’ with a rich lamb and beef ragu, parmesan and Fontodi oil. Victoria’s Secondi was Char-grilled wild salmon with sott ‘olio of seasonal vegetables and marjoram salmoriglio.Mine was Pot roast shoulder of Pete Gott’s rare breed pork (cooked in onions, rosemary and white wine) with borlotti beans ‘in umido’, beet leaves and pan juices. Desert was Lime and creme fraiche panna cotta with sherry sabayon, summer fruitd and Mixed nut caramel crostata with hazlenut mascarpone cream, dried banana respectively.
With the food I had the wine pairing menu; basically the wine waiter pours you a glass of a chosen wine that complements your dish – this went – Champagne, White, Red, Red, Desert… Having already drunken a bottle of champagne back at the hotel, I was starting to feel the affects of the wine by the end of the night. The wine pairing was great; I really enjoyed that.
All in all the experience was fantastic. I not sure I would choose the Dining Room over the Trattoria in future, although I would happily do it again.
Sunday morning we woke up to breakfast in the hotel – in bed; Fruit, Youghurt, danishes, bread rolls, Croissant, Jams, Orange, Coffee, and Tea.
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Weekend Away, Fifteen, Rookery Hotel, London
This year we had a fairy theme and we started with the invite. I wrote a small story about how Garak the evil goblin was about to capture the Guardian of the Forest and that we needed help from Fairy children to either stop him or rescue the guardian. The children all turned up in Fairy costume and with fairy names. We started the party by reading them the next installment of the story and then taking them through the Golden Arch, which was temporarily located at the entrance of our garden, and into the world of the Dreamgate. Once in the garden the had to find the Ice Crystal that Garak had dropped in the Fairy Glen. This gave them a stone and a riddle on how to find the next puzzle and prize. They slowly made their way around the Hub solving puzzles and playing games, before being let loose on to the plains to find the dwarfs that were holding the guardian.
