July 23, 2010

Great Rivington Lobster Massacre

On Tuesday night I met up with Kanga_Rue, Aussie_Foodie and CookSister at Rivington Grill & Bar in Greenwich. Three fellow foodies who I had only talked to through Twitter before. Arriving on the dot (I'm Swedish) I was the first one to arrive, but Kanga_Rue and Aussie_Foodie arrived just after me. Settling down for a drink outside CookSisterBlog soon also arrived.

Inside again we got to sit at great round table where we started to look at the menu. What to eat? So many nice typical British dishes. The waitress told us that tonight's special was Isle of Wight lobster and chips and that it was half price. On the dot it was decided that we were all going with the lobster. No hesitation there and it's always nice to be in the company of people who appreciate seafood.

For starters Aussie_Foodie, CookSister and I went for Heritage tomato salad with lovage and Wensleydale whereas Kanga_Rue decided to have Chilled beetroot and horseradish soup. Being on a quest to find the best oysters in the UK Aussie_Food also ordered a Maldon rock oyster.

Three oyster arrived in the end as pre-starters which really didn't matter as then CookSister and I also got a chance to have an oyster each. And yes, they were delicious. Served on a tray of ice and with a fork for each of us. A few drops of Tabasco and a hint of black pepper and down they went. Salty and just perfect.

The tomato salad was also perfect. The tomatoes, in all sizes and colours, were lovely lush and at room temperature which made them taste like tomatoes should do. The Wensleydale cheese added some acidity as well as a sweet honey-like after taste.

And then they came – the lobsters. Rather big, spilt in half, along with home made chips and Béarnaise sauce. We also got a big jar of mayonnaise (home made as well of course) and we dug in. Eating with our fingers, sucking, cracking claws and oh- and a-ing over some very good lobster. The pile of shells soon got rather big as we in the end just eat because it was just so very nice. And of course it's not every day you have lobster.

To drink we had a perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc from Chile which went very well with everything we had. Matching food and wine wasn't really the big thing here. The food solemnly was.

Happy and satisfied with what we had eaten so far we moved over to the more comfortable lounge area to have desert. Aussie_Foodie and CookSister had been talking about Honeycomb ice cream with hot toffee sauce all evening so their choice was easy. Kanga_Rue decided on a classical chocolate mousse. Myself I wasn't really sure what to have. I always go with the chocolate or crème brûlée which is very safe, so I decided to be a bit adventures and have Eton Mess. A typical British desert which consist of fresh strawberries, whipped cream and crumbled meringues all mixed together – in a mess.

Not being a big fan of a lot of whipped cream it wasn't the best desert I ever had, but it was nice to try. Gooey meringues, fresh strawberries and whipped cream is a very good combination. I have to admit thought that I like the combination of chocolate, bananas, meringues and whipped cream a lot better. I'm just a chocolate girl.

With one hour to travel back to Holland Park I unfortunately had to leave a bit abruptly to catch my train, but nevertheless it was a very nice evening. It never seize to amaze me that the love for food can bring people together. Here we were in Greenwich, two Aussie girls, one South African and Swede just because of the love of food. Amazing, isn't it?!

2 comments:

AussieFoodie said...

It was a marvelous night - good food, good booze, and awesome company. I look forward to you coming back in September and seeing what we come up with next. Will blog by version on Sunday morning....will have to have the same title I think!

Jeanne @ CookSister! said...

It was a fantastic evening - Lovely to meet you & break bread... umm, lobster with you ;-) It is amazing what the internet can do - how else would the four of us ever have met?? Look forward to our next outing :)