Petrus

All the drama of the Gordon Ramsay-Marcus Wareing relationship aside, I was excited to try the newly relocated Petrus, just a stones throw away from its previous location.

It has all the trappings of a team pitching at the Michelin star market. The decor is all neutrals and red, with an amazing cylindrical wine store dominating the centre of the room. Staff are completely charming and relaxed. We started with interestingly flavoured popcorn nibbles (lemon and pepper or barbeque) and excellent bread.

A richly flavoured amuse bouche of onion veloute followed:

Roast curried pollock fillet with braised lentils and cauliflower soup:
Crab and salmon cannelloni:
Pan fried sea trout:
Boiled beef cheek in consomme:

Although they lacked the bon bon trolley (seriously, an entire trolley from which you could select from a variety of differently flavoured bon bons -how amazing is that?) that I loved when it was Petrus at the Berkeley, the puddings were the stars. I wanted every single one on the menu. Spying on other diners, we knew that they were all gorgeously presented. Here we have spiced toffee apple which was served with a flourish at the table. Beautifully spiced, maybe a touch too sweet or could have done with a smidgen more of the sage yoghurt parfait, but ultimately, divine:

And the star turn was the Chocolate bomb - the house signature dessert. It arrives as a perfect chocolate dome cushioned in a pillow of white mousse. Hot chocolate sauce is drizzled over the dome so that it elegantly collapses, revealing it's centre of milk ice cream and honeycomb. Puddings like this can sometimes tickle the visual senses and leave the tastebuds wanting. This however, was amazing.

With coffee came the usual extras, this time armagnac ice cream balls served in silver bowls and sitting in tendrils of dry ice.

In the foreground, 72% chocolate thins that came wrapped and placed in individual slots in a gorgeous wooden drawer. In the background, a whole bowl of chocolate covered almonds :)

Should you still be hungry after all of that, something to take home with you for later:

A Nails Inc break

Nails Inc have been busy lately. Their nail polishes are being given away with In Style magazine, or if you buy 2 500ml bottles of diet coke from Boots. There are 3 colours being given away with In Style, 1 with each copy of the magazine, and there are 4 different colours to choose from in the Boots version.

I have one of the In Style colours in Mink. I also know someone who lives on Diet Coke but doesn't wear nail polish, who thoughtfully picked all 4 of these up for me.

L-R: Nails Inc In Style Mink, then Diet coke London, New York, Milan, Paris

I thought it would be interesting to compare the 2 nude/greige shades on the left, together with the other one I own, Guppy No25. The Guppy polish is one of the polishes that MissChievous wore in a YouTube video on her channel, that I had to get hold of. They are in keeping with the whole greige trend that seems to have been made even more popular by the whole Chanel Particuliere release.

Here are the bottles lined up:

L-R: Nails Inc Mink, Nails Inc London, Guppy 25

And this is how they appear on the nails, in the same order:

L-R: Nails Inc Mink, Nails Inc London, Guppy 25

So the 2 Nails Inc polishes are different. Mink is browner, London more pinky-mauve. Guppy 25 is a more peachy-nude version.

This is Nails Inc Mink worn by itself:

This is Nails Inc London:

And for interest, this is the Guppy 25:

Next up we have the Nails Inc brights:

L-R: Nails Inc New York, Milan, Paris

And a full manicure with New York:

I have Paris on my toes at the moment, but you won't be catching sight of those any time soon :)

I admit that New York and Paris are both are shades I would not have picked up myself, had they not been generously donated to me. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy wearing them.

Overall, the Nails Inc polishes have applied well in 2 coats. I can't really comment on wear time as I can't resist changing them daily at the moment.