For all the ladies that lunch..

Today I had the good fortune of being taken to lunch by a rather delightful 'roomtobreathe' client. We decided to meet at Harvey Nichols' Fifth Floor restaurant as it's a short bus ride from me and just round the corner for her. What a treat, hadn't been to Harvey Nichols in years, having previously worked within spitting distance of Selfridges, it became my second home. It's changed considerably since my last visit and it really has become even more of a temple to Fashion (if that's at all possible) I was a little sad that their Gift/Home department has now gone. It was a fantastic place to purchase small gifts especially at Christmas when it was always so enticingly decorated.

Despite its high fashion appearance, it is still an approachable, welcoming store and I thoroughly enjoyed daydreaming in the shoe department this morning.

The restaurant occupies part of the Fifth Floor, together with the bar and the delectable Food Market. The bar where I waited for my Lunch partner is bright white and lime green with comfy sofas and low tables with a huge circular bar in the middle filled with Perrier Jouet bottles.



The restaurant itself is an impressively large room, with windows overlooking Knightsbridge and the Hyde Park Hotel. It is decorated in mute colours with huge Venetian Mirrors, elegant and refined.





Service was impeccable, attentive without being too intrusive and our privacy respected. We kicked off the proceedings with a Glass of perfectly chilled Rose Moet Chandon bought round on a trolley. Lunch, I thought, was extremely good value with a menu of 2 courses for £19.50. I opted for a seafood salad to start which was refreshing and delicately flavoured with Dill. Main course was Guinea fowl with hazelnut polenta with Chantenay carrots and mange tout. The Guinea Fowl was perfectly cooked, the Polenta slightly too dry for me but I loved the addition of the crunchy Hazelnuts. My lunch partner had the Rabbit terrine, which by all accounts was delicious followed by the Root Vegetable Gratin which looked very impressive. Whilst we were waiting for our starter we were served a delicious taster onion soup with some nutty bread which in actual fact was my favourite dish of the lunch. Creamy, thick and truly scrumptious with a hint of crispy sweet red onion. Loved it. The puddings looked quite appetising too but sadly we'd run out of time. An excuse to return that's for sure.



I felt perfectly decadent having such a special lunch midweek but what the hell! It was lovely pretending to be a Chelsea Lady that lunches! A quick browse around the shops before heading back to resume my normal life was the sublime end to a wonderful lunch and great company!

http://www.harveynichols.com/fifth-floor-london