Any restaurant that undergoes a sizeable building extension is doing something right, and Gaucho in Richmond is no exception. One of our favourite restaurant chains in the UK, we’ll never turn down an opportunity to review a Gaucho and the finest steak money can buy.
Gaucho Richmond is one of the latest restaurants to join the chain and is nestled bang on the riverside within an absolutely idyllic setting. The restaurant itself is glass roofed and fronted, which allows for a cracking view of the Thames, it’s ducks and some rather athletic runners and rowers pretty much wherever you sit.
Once you’ve parked up somewhere along the main road you’ll simply need to make your way down to the river and you’ll see it – just looked for the huge’ glass house’ and you’re there.
The restaurant comprises the familiar furnishings and dimmed lighting to the other Gaucho restaurants – the cow hide chairs, long bar, delicious smells and extremely friendly and welcoming staff. However, we felt that there was an absolute elegance to Gaucho Richmond that surpasses the others we have been lucky enough to review to date.
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We recently visited Wyndham Grand, Chelsea Harbour for a spot of lunch on the terrace overlooking the delightful harbour. Luckily the sun was out for the occasion so we celebrated with a delightful glass of white.
The restaurant (named Restaurant and Lounge TwentyTen) has recently undergone an impressive revamp, along with the rest of the hotel offers a very modern yet tranquil setting for a meal.
There’s a little more to this restaurant however, it is in fact a unique pop-up up restaurant concept, which means that whilst TwentyTen has a permanent space – the concept and name will change every year (i.e. TwentyEleven etc). As with all top class restaurants the menu changes on a seasonal basis and includes featuring fresh seafood, prime cuts of meat and fresh produce as you’d expect. All ingredients are sourced from regional farmers and are entirely free from nitrates and additives.
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Are we surprised, when we arrive at the Sorrel River Spa & Ranch in Moab, Utah, that it’s been winning prestigious award after award these past few years? Amazingly the ranch is everything the last twenty minutes have not been; a oasis in the desert, settled and relaxed. The horses corralled by the entrance await their next outing are unaware of the severity of the landscape, the swollen Colorado river sweeps silent by just a few feet from the ranch buildings and the face that greets us as we pull up to the lobby is warm, inviting and unassuming.
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Puerh is a compressed, post-fermented green tea that is grown and processed only in the Mekong river area of Yunnan Province in China. Puerh leaves are processed into Raw or Green (Sheng) and Cooked or Black (Shou) puerh.
Puerh is worthy of the attention of the true Lussorian as aged examples are the most coveted of all tea types. This is one of the few teas that improves with age, and 40 or 50 year old examples can fetch enormous prices. Puerh collectors buy the tea as an investment and trade in it as a commodity. 2003-4 a ‘Puerh bubble’ pushed prices up to stratospheric levels and sparked widespread counterfeiting. Teas from this period are still regarded with suspicion. Despite the controversy, the market for fine puerh remains robust: in 2009 two kilos of aged puerh were sold at auction for $160,000.
The best quality aged Puerhs can be infused up to 60 times to produce an astonishing range of subtle and complex flavours, ranging from earthy and musty to sweet and fruity. For this reason, Puerh inspires widespread devotion among aficionados and has suffered from almost equally devoted counterfeiting by unscrupulous producers. However, today it is possible to enjoy authentic and reasonably-priced Puerh. The golden rule is to buy from a reliable source. One such is cantonteaco.com.
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A friend of mine who works in the city wanted to celebrate his birthday with some great food in a place a little bit more special than the usual city bars but not as stupidly expensive. I had the perfect answer- le Pont de la Tour. This famous riverside restaurant also has a brassiere section which serves delicious food and drink in a less formal set up than its main dining room. The brassiere still boasts the same fantastic views across towerbridge and has an equally impressive wine menu, it just feels a little more relaxed – so perfect a birthday treat. Also, being part of Terence Conran D&D franchise the food is guaranteed to be great, after all these are the people who turned the OXO tower in a world famous dining destination.
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