Reviewing Gordon Ramsey's Foxtrot Oscar, London

Foxtrot Oscar
79 Royal Hospital Road
London SW3 4HN, United Kingdom
020 7352 4448
Food-3.9/5.0
Service-4.1/5.0

I know I shouldn't daydream too much but I was half-expecting Gordon Ramsey to come out of the kitchen and yell a couple of choice expletives. The food was simple, rustic and fresh, adjectives Mr. Ramsey uses a lot on air. Unfortunately, while he owns the restaurant, he did not cook the food. By the graces of my bff Carrie (and her sister Peggy), we were taken out for lunch by Peggy's boss, who does some fine lighting installations around the world. We later got a tour of his lovely London townhouse, which made me wonder if I should have been an architect instead of a struggling scientist.

My navarin of lamb was delicious; the meat was tender and well-flavored and the potatoes soaked up all the red wine gravy... The remainder, while delicious, was forgettable and I thought that the portions were too tiny actually. I might have had overly high hopes but the food was not as interesting as I thought it would be. 

Crab cakes with mayonnaise

Battered hake and mushy peas

Navarin of lamb

Confit duck leg with cassoulet

Fish Pie

Knickerbocker Glory-meh

Lemon meringue pie-meh

Chocolate tart-slightly bitter, smooth and totally decadent. Thumbs up!

Solo Food Travels-Vienna, Austria. Land of the Cafes

A while ago, I stopped in Vienna to visit some friends who lived there. In between my time at the many museums (Belvedere had some amazing Klimts and Schieles) and opera (at the world-famous Vienna State Opera), I spent the remainder hunting down good eats. Vienna's cakes and cafe culture are hands down, its highlights. I wish I had a better experience with the dinners and appetizers.

Wiener Schnitzel at Figlmueller. Compare Size relative to my legs. But guess what, I finished it all! People at my table were so amazed considering that they were over 6 ft tall, twice my size had 1/2 of what I had. Well, I'll be honest here and admit that I ordered wrongly :P

Figlmueller, Vienna's most famous schnitzel. Took me an hour to get a spot for 1 person.

Pencil-thin but juicy and delicious. Could use with more lemons.

 Cafe Landtmann, frequented by Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler etc. My lunch there was ok.

 Demel's k.u.k., my favorite cafe by far. *Guess what, I just found out that they have A NYC BRANCH!!!!!!! But no sign of my favorite esterhazytorte.

Demels has such an old-world feel. Love it!

 Trying to navigate and plan my time wisely. I ordered 2 cakes and hot chocolate and more tea....

chocolate torte

 esterhazytorte-This delectable pastry and I were meant to be. Hazelnut!!!

 At the next cafe, Gerstner's, K.u.K. which I felt was so-so

More maccies.

 Empress Cici's (sp) and crystallized violets. I bought some. They were ok.

 Hotel Sacher.

 The renowned Sacher torte. (But it was dry and I thought that competitor, Demel's tasted way better, sorry.) Later, I heard from my friends that the whipped cream was typically eaten together because of the dryness, which made me wonder...Why make a dry cake in the first place?

Wine & Cheese 11 at Tory's

The Lineup (not quite. All the whites were chilling on the fridge). Smithsonian Orangutan for my friends who are studying apes.

Blueberry pie from Athan's.

Theme: Sheep's Milk Cheeses (all cheese from Formaggio's)

All of us got a chance to visit Tory at her new apartment and it was lovely :) There is something about red walls (or was it orange) that I absolutely love. This w&c was a little different because the sheep cheeses took center stage and wines were paired with respect to them. Darn! If only I had time to make a sheep's cheese, cheesecake. Wouldn't that be yummy? We had a blueberry pie from Athan's as a finisher and it was a great option because of the tart berries. I did not pick cheese #2 as my favorite (even though it has truffles) because I felt that the truffle's heady aroma overpowered the taste of the cheese. But I went for seconds all the same :P

As always, w&c always begets a wonderful time with friends as more plans and ideas are generated for future gatherings. I always get a giggle when our reader, Ritesh, puts on his *French/German/Italian/European* accent with respect to the wines and end up sounding the same, basically. But I will henceforth hold my peace lest he refuses me an additional splash of dessert wine :)  

Tory's Pairings after the jump with my favorites in highlight. Bread as always, from Clear Flour Bakery. 

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