For my 21st birthday, my parents gave me a trip to Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea – aptly named ‘Ramsay’s’. We went last Friday, and I’m now 23. That either says something about the organisation skills of my parents, their schedules (and mine!) or how difficult it is to get on the waiting list. Probably a combination.

It coincided nicely with the end of term, so I was really looking forward to going. I went with my parents and some of the family so it was great to have a group of us to catch up at the same time. It began with some canapes, of lobster cornettos, truffle, basil and parmesan dough and scotch quails eggs – which were all really beautiful. Next came an amuse bouche – yes those really pretentious things taken foam the French that are supposed to ‘amuse the mouth’. For us it was a pea and mint mousse, which was absolutely gorgeous. Next came the starters, so here is a picture of mine:


Pan-fried sea scallops from the Isle of Skye with heritage apples, fresh walnuts, celery and cider emulsion.

I’d have never have thought of putting scallops with apple, but it was actually a beautiful combination. And there’s nothing I love more than some hand-dived king scallops. Probably my favourite of all seafood. Next came the mains, mine was:

Isle of Gigha halibut with Atlantic King crab, cauliflower couscous, finger lime and ras el hanout infused broth.

The flowers were incredibly pretty. I’ve also wanted some on my main course haha. Next came what was called a ‘fruit soup’, I think it was orange, passionfruit and also had jasmine tea in it. With some sort of white foam on top. It was interesting, supposedly a palate cleanser I’m guessing. Next was my favourite part of all, dessert:

Banoffee pie souffle, banana and salted caramel crumble.

Lastly we were given some petite fours of chocolate ganache and turkish delight with gold leaf, which were also lovely. But along with those came some strawberry ice cream coated in white chocolate, and they came in dry ice:


The best thing about the meal (other than the food of course) was the service. The staff were formal, and proper yet friendly, but not overly familiar. Your glass was always full but you never noticed when it was topped up. They had an expert for the wine, an expert for the bread (mine was a rosemary loaf – amazing!) and the Maître d’ would come and talk to us, but would also serve like the rest of the staff. It gave out a really good vibe. They also overheard that the occasion was for my birthday… No one had told them. Yet they gave me a coconut ice cream surprise with a candle in haha!


It was an absolutely stunning seven course meal, the best I’ve ever had and completely deserving of his three Michelin stars. Ramsay, despite what people say about him, is still my favourite. Next I’d like to take a trip to Bray to go and see some of Heston Blumenthal’s creations at the Fat Duck. I expect he’s the only one that can pip Ramsay’s to the top spot.