It was 'The Buik's' birthday and I had managed to persuade him to go to London for the night to start Part 1 of his celebrations. Getting 'The Buik' out of Amsterdam is relatively difficult. He's a homely soul, quite low maintenance when it comes to birthdays and is content with a bottle of whisky, 2 packs of Malboro lights and friends down our local, than a full blown 5 course dinner in his glad rags.

So we decided, or should I say, I decided, for us to go to London for a night and eat somewhere we have always wanted to eat. The Buik has always wanted to go to Benares, an Indian restaurant in London, not the usual type of Indian restaurant usually found lining the streets of the UK. No, this is a posh one :) So off we trundled, suitcase in tow to London town on the Friday night.

We stayed at the Chesterfield Mayfair, which, if you like fully carpeted, old fashioned, kinda too small for comfort guest house type hotels - then this is bang up your street. After wading our way through guys peeing on the streets at 8pm at the bars around the corner from the hotel, we were told that the room I had booked was not available. Now usually, a hotel would try and placate the irrate traveller. No such luck here. We were 'downgraded' and offered breakfast, champagne (I'll have some of that please) and afternoon tea (that we wouldnt be around to try) as compensation. A grumpy Blondie and the Buik went up to our room.

No surprises here. A small room, typical of what you would get in a city hotel really. Toilet dangerously close to the shower, In fact, you would have been safer showering in the actual toilet. Buik wasnt happy :(

We donned our glad rags on regardless and walked to Benares which was a 5 minute walk from the 'hotel'
The staff were polite, and very efficient. We didnt have to wait too long for drinks or to be served. I asked for a nice table for us and they gave us the corner table in the main part of the restaurant, which was fab for people watching.

To start with, I had lamb patties with cucumber yoghurt sauce. This was particularly non descript. The texture of the patty was quite bizarre, dry but beautifully spiced. There wasn't enough sauce to go with all 3 patties and I was left with dry meat, which wasnt particularly pleasant. I mentioned to the waiter when he took the plates away that there could have been more sauce, he looked at me like I was nothing but a commoner! Anyway, 'The Buik' faired better with a squid and soft shelled crab salad. It did what it said on the tin, and came with a plum sauce but not enough of it. His dish was nice, but nothing to write home about.

Main courses - I had lobster tails with a goan curry sauce. That was absolutely divine. The lobster was cooked just a little too much for me, but the sauce was beautiful (incidentally, the waiter jokingly asked after I had finished if there was enough sauce with main course). Just beautiful. Nicest thing I have eaten in months. 'The Buik' had Organic chicken 'Supreme' with cilantro Curry. This was absolutely gorgeous. We were wondering if you were going to get the ubiquitous rubber pieces of chicken you usually get in an Indian restaurant - but you didnt. Beautiful, tender pieces of chicken in the mellowest sauce known to man. So so so so nice. We had this with naans and black and yellow lentils, which were really rather dull.

We didnt take dessert and had a cocktail at the bar afterwards.

It's a shame to say I wouldnt go back again . The main courses were just beautiful, but the starters were really nothing to get excited about. The bill was shocking. It came to well over 300 quid! The wine and champagne, I felt was vastly overpriced. Glass of Krug was 30 quid!!!!!!!!! Ridiculous. The mark up was beyond ridiculous. The wine list was varied, I'll give them that, the Sommelier who was a mad Italian girl was great and she picked out the nicest white wine by the glass that I had ever drank in my life, but at 25 quid a glass, I thought that was beyond hideous. Along with all the other drinks we had, it somewhat took the sheen off the whole thing for me.

Service was good, apart from the sarcastic waiter who probably thought I expected sloppy bland sh*ite that you get from most Indian restaurants in the UK. Very patronising.

I think if I was to go back again, I would stick to the bar snacks and cocktails. These were reasonably priced for London standards

Well. I had high expections for this meal to be honest. When I was watching 'Great British Menu' some time ago, I enjoyed the food prepared by Nigel Howarth and planned a visit to The 3 Fishes when I came up North next.

On Saturday evening, Blondie's Family, along with an A-Z, made their way from Notlob to Mitton for an expectant feast. What a lovely place it is too. Blondie and her sister ooh and aahed over the houses and after weaving in and out of country lanes, we arrived. First impressions were good - well, if the contents of the car park were anything to go by, I felt I was back in Wilmslow, with what seemed like the entire contents of Mercedes and Porsche garages in attendance.

We parked up our Focus (the Ferrari was being serviced that particular weekend haha) and we were met by a friendly chap that showed us to a spacious table, one that would have easily sat 6. We arrived at 6pm and already the place was full!!!

The menu was given to us and I scanned the wine list first (I seem to take more interest in wine lists these days, than the food menu!!!) The prices of the wine, I thought, were very reasonable (reds priced between 15 and 40 pounds) and they also did my favourite heavy Malbec by the glass :))))) I was suitably impressed.

We decided against ordering starters and plumped for main courses and desserts instead. After much deliberation, I took 'Chargrilled Bowland lamb cutlets, spring cabbage, cauliflower gratin, mint jelly and roast gravy' and a side order of chips in dripping (being a Northerner through and through, I havent managed to break my addiction to chips yet). Blondie's sister and Mum ordered Lancashire hotpot with red cabbage and Dad ordered a burger type contraption with chips and different dips.

My lamb cutlets (specified rare) came as that, but there was no evidence of any 'char' grilling going on. When I grill meat at home, on a griddle pan, rare can be achieved with a griddled effect with no effort as long as the griddle pan is piping hot. If the pan is pratically on fire, you can chargrill any meat and still have the centre rare. No such luck here, I am afraid. But, the lack of charring did not detract from the tenderness and flavour of the lamb, which was spectacular. I've not eaten lamb like this for years. The cauliflower gratin, was like moulton lava and burnt my tongue, but after 10 minutes cooling down, it was just fabulous. The spring cabbage was crisp and the gravy was divine. No packet or stock cube monstrosities here. The mint jelly, which I wholly condemn with lamb due to its strong flavour, was actually rather nice and Blondie was really quite impressed with her dinner.

Mum and Blondie's sister faired the best with their Lancashire Hotpot. Spectacular. Heaven in a pot. Tender chunks of lamb and vegetables under a layer of thinly sliced potatoes. Just beautiful. The red cabbage was also fabulous. Dad's burger was 'very nice' and I tried the piccalli, mustard and tomato ketchup. All home made and all the best I've ever tasted. No Heinz here!

I dont usually 'do' puddings as I have been blessed with no sweet tooth whatsoever, so it is usually left to my Dad and Sister to do the honours with puds. But I relented and ordered strawberries and clotted cream and meringue. Sister ordered lemon meringue pie and Mum ordered some kind of tart (no, not that sort ;) All the puds were fabulous, particularly Sister's which was the nicest, lightest, zingiest, tastiest lemon meringue pie I've ever had.

We all sat there, sighing, aarghing and generally cooing over the place. I was still feeling a piggy so ordered a cheeseboard to share and we all tucked in. Smoked, blue, garlic, crumbly and a few other kinds of cheese were presented alongside thin biscuits. Very nice end to dinner that was.

We stayed for tea and coffee and then we waddled out back to Notlob.

In conclusion, I would go back to this place again in a heartbeat. The service was excellent, plenty of serving staff on that night and the quality of the food and drink was very, very good. Bill for 4 of us came to 100 quid including a tip, which I thought was very reasonable. As we left, the Cheshire type set seem to be pouring through the doors, the skirtlines got shorter, necklines more plunging and handbags bigger. If that isnt your sort of thing, then best eat around 6pm. After having spent a good year in Wilmslow, I try and avoid being anywhere near 'that sort' :)))))