24 hours in London - A trip to parliament and a 3 Michelin star dinner at The Connaught in Mayfair. A food review as someone who is definitely not a foodie.

We embarked on a whirlwind 24 hour trip to London to visit parliament and decided to make the most of it with a trip to the Connaught hotel for a fancy dinner and for my partner to share his oysters with the chefs to let them try them before serving them (how crazy to think that Toms oysters are now served in Michelin star restaurants across the UK and this was the first one we supplied). Our trip went a little like this...

We left Edinburgh on the 10:50 am flight to London City and then hopped on the tube straight to Parliament. We were lucky enough to snag an invite to celebrate 25 years of Seafood Scotland. After showing our invites at the gates, we went through security which was very thorough and Tom almost got in trouble for smuggling an oyster shell in in his pocket. The event was set to kick off at 2:30 pm, so we had about half an hour to hang out in the hall—and wow, what a building! As soon as you walk in, you're blown away by the huge ceilings and stained glass windows. To give you an idea of the size, there was a cherry picker fully extended, just so workers could fix the lights. On our way to the event room, we passed the House of Commons, which was in session and heavily secured, with no phones allowed in that area at all. The Seafood Scotland event started with a welcome speech from Torcuil Crichton, followed by some great talks from Ian Murray and Diane from Seafood Scotland. Then it was time for networking, catching up, and, most importantly, enjoying sandwiches, cakes, and champagne.

We had to dash out to make it to the Connaught restaurant in time to catch up with the chefs before tonight's service. When we got there, the oysters we'd sent ahead were already in the kitchen, waiting for the head chef to try them. He loves them, so fingers crossed this means Tom can start supplying them in here. Being in the kitchen was amazing, with everyone hustling to prep for dinner. We let them get on with it and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our own dinner plans.

The Connaught hotel is visually striking—a grand, historic building full of character and charm, with the friendliest doorman to welcome you as you come and go. An Aston Martin and a Rolls Royce parked at the entrance hint at the type of clientele the hotel attracts. However, the guests are quite diverse across the different rooms, and I believe everyone should experience a visit at least once in their lifetime.

We were told to go check out the Connaught bar so we popped in ahead of dinner. This was a charming bar area bustling with guests. As soon as we sat down, they brought over some olives and crackers, plus a welcome drink on the house. I don't drink alcohol so I opted for an alcohol free cocktail and I'm not 100% sure of exactly what it was or what was in it but it tasted amazing - it did have the biggest ice cube I ever did see in my glass though. Tom decided to give the famous martini truck a go. They wheel it over to you and the first step is to

choose your base flavour. The wonderful server proceeds to drop a tiny tincture of flavours onto a piece of card and allows you to choose which aroma attracts you the most. Meanwhile he is mixing up your martini like a boss and putting on a thrilling show! Finally, when all is done, your martini is served. I have it on good record that it was an extremely good martini. Just a heads up, a few drinks at the bar could easily get quite expensive with some of the cocktails ranging up to £2000 for the ones with aged spirits. My jaw was on the floor.

It was now time for our dinner. We were both completely ravenous, which was lucky as we were about to be served seven courses - plus some surprise additional courses courtesy of the chefs - which was a remarkably kind gesture and we got to really experience what the Connaught menu was all about. Their menu offers a set 7-course meal (with an option to choose 5 courses) and includes the possibility to upgrade three of the dishes. The cost of the dinner is £225 per person, not including the supplements or drinks.

The restaurant's interior was spotless, and the service was outstanding. For each dish, one waiter would introduce the course, while two others would serve you, ensuring the plates were placed on the table simultaneously.

Now I'm about to talk you through every course here, so be prepared.

This was a seven course taster menu and we were also given some surprise dishes courtesy of the chefs. Tom enjoyed some glasses of wine with his dinner, where as I opted for alcohol free wine from Germany which was actually really lovely, you could taste the beautiful grapes.

Mushroom & Pine Nut Consume.

This was a little pallet cleanser to begin with, it was like a clear soup. I really enjoyed this as it lots of flavour. You could really taste the mushrooms, it tasted really earthy but in a good way (Tom says the word is umami apparently)

Canapés.

In front of us were three of the most exquisite looking canapés, resembling works of art that seemed almost too beautiful to eat. Two were adorned with edible flowers, while the third was covered in gold. They featured anchovies with Amalfi lemon, cured venison and wild mushrooms coated in gold, and sea trout with dill. My favourite was the sea trout and dill, but all of them were incredibly delicious.

Course 1 - Red Mullet.

We both opted for this dish instead of choosing to upgrade to caviar. Red mullet is type of fish for anyone who didn't know as I didn't, it was quite raw almost like the fish you get in sushi. I really enjoyed it, it wasn't an overly strong tasting fish and there was a delicious foam alongside it. I really liked the foam part - I think it had a taste of hazelnut. We were off to a good start with this dish.

Surprise Course - Caviar.

We could have picked the caviar for our first course, but we didn't. However the chefs very kindly sent this out for us to share so we could try it. The caviar was atop of a bed of a blended seafood which consisted of langoustine, sea urchin, cauliflower and pine nuts. I really loved the caviar but the seafood mix was just a little too over powering for me, it was very strong in flavour, so I only had a little and focused on the caviar. On the flip side, Tom was all over the seafood blend and thought it was one of the best things he had tastes. I guess it just goes to show how different tastes can be!

Course 2 - Smoked Beetroot. 

This was my favourite savoury dish of the evening. The flavours were simply exceptional. I never knew beetroot could taste like this. It was smoked in the kitchen and dropped in the fire, with the top layers removed to reveal a delightful taste underneath. It was served with a wonderful creamy sauce, along with pike and trout roe. Wow!!

Intermediate - Homemade Bread and Butter. 

The butter looked amazing it looked like something from a reef under the sea or as if it had been pushed through a playdough machine. The bread had been baked freshly in the kitchen and was really lovely but I was aware of how much food we still had to come so I didn't eat too much as I didn't want to take up any more room in my stomach.

Course 3 - Scallop 

This delicious large Scottish scallop came all the way from Scotland, just like us. This was served alongside a carrot puree which was lovely and there was a hint of spices throughout the dish. It was a lightly poached scallop which is different from the way we would usually cook ours. This tasted lovely but I'm not too keen on a lot of citrus flavour so that put me off slightly.

Surprise Course - Sweetbread & Tuna Heart. 

This was an option from the specials menu, and yes you read that correctly... tuna heart! Did I ever envisage myself eating tuna heart? No, I absolutely not. But did I eat it and even enjoy it? Yes, surprisingly I did. The tuna heart was two years old and had been dried and aged. The server had to wear a glove whilst shaving on to the top of the dish - like you would a truffle. The smell was very strong but it didn't taste too strong in the dish. During the meal I asked Tom what sweetbread was and he politely told me that he would tell me what it is after I finished eating it, which now in hindsight I am thankful for. Sweetbread is a baby calf's pancreas - never thought I'd see the day that I would be eating this but here we were. Overall the sweetbread was nice and crispy and full of flavour and the tuna heart complimented it perfectly.

Course 4 - John Dory. 

So, I didn't know what a John Dory was at first, but now I know it's a type of fish. I think this one was caught in Cornwall? The dish was amazing, especially with the creamy bagna cauda sauce that I loved. It's like a creamy lemon sauce, and even though I said before that I'm not really into citrus, this was different because it was creamy.

Course 5 - Pigeon. 

This was a tough one for me, I mean the taste was lovely but it was just the texture that threw me. You are supposed to have pigeon quite rare but it's just too spongy for me. I know most people enjoy it this way but it just weirded me out, which is annoying cause I think I could have really liked the taste. I'm not too sure what the thing in the side dish was but I preferred that. The dish was served with pumpkin puree, blood orange and mole sauce - my favourite part of the dish, the flavour as lovely.

We actually ended up taking a little break here, as we had eaten so much by this point it was hard to keep going without feeling like we were going to burst. We were taken down into the kitchen where we thanked the chefs for an absolutely incredible meal and the delicious food we had enjoyed so far.

Pre Dessert.

This dish was similar to a sourdough bread pudding served with apple ice cream and compote, accompanied by a story about Helene's childhood and her upbringing in France.

Course 6 - Rhubarb.

This was hands down my favourite dessert of them all. The rhubarb came with these amazing meringue sticks on top and also came with a glass of kombucha. The dessert was nicely light and super refreshing, which was just what I needed after a big dinner. I could eat this one over and over again.

Course 7 - D Chocolate, T Signature Baba.

I opted for the chocolate and Tom was given the baba from the specials menu. Mine was lovely and had little artichoke crisps on the top. As tasty as it was it was a little too rich for me and chocolatey  (I'm not a huge chocolate lover) at this late stage in the game after having ate so much already. Tom picked the Signature Rum Baba which was a sponge pudding. You got to choose which aged rum you would like from the trolley to pour over the top of it - Tom chose the 20 year old rum for one side of the pudding and the 30 year old for the other side - best of both worlds. This dish also came with a sorbet - which was grapefruit flavour which I ate, this was stunning.

Final Treat - Truffles.

Just when you thought you couldn't eat any more, two truffles show up for one last treat. By this point I'm literally about to burst but the food is so good I just can't resist. One's a cream and almond truffle—super light and refreshing. The other is a chocolate truffle with a whisky kick which I found sooooo strong, I found this one pretty tough to handle.

So as you can imagine, after eating all that, I was understandably like a burst couch. I don't think I could have eaten another thing if I tried. So off we wobbled to the hotel to settle in for the night. Full but happy. We were planning to go out for drinks but I couldn't move so we opted to spend the night back at the hotel.

I would absolutely come back here again. Although it can get quite pricey, I do think it was value for money and absolutely worth every penny. For some people in the hotel spending this amount on a dinner and drinks would not be a big deal at all.

My favourite dishes - BBQ Beetroot and the Rhubarb Desert.

Toms favourite dishes - Sweetbread and Caviar Starter dish