Dining at the IOD, Pall Mall (with a surprise extra guest)

I was delighted to be invited to dine at the Institute of Directors by good friend and PR guru, Alan Burnside who was in London on Business.

I have to say, my favourite night out entails a combination of good company and good food.  While I knew for sure that Alan would provide the former, I really hoped that the IOD would deliver on the latter…

The IOD building in Pall Mall is an impressive grade one listed building with elegant and impressive decor.  the location is perfect as it is only moments away from Covent Garden and Theatre land.   Its quite an exclusive membership only venue so I was pleased to be welcomed in.

After a visit to the cocktail bar, where Alan and I had a brief catch up over a refreshing Hendricks gin with cucumber and tonic, we were shown to our table in the restaurant.  I was surprised by just how quiet it was and by how few people were dining.  I have heard a lot about the Head Chef, Roger Evans and had seen him in action on Masterchef, so I was expecting a much busier restaurant.  That said, the staff were extremely attentive without being overbearing ( a particular pet hate of mine).

There was a good range of choices on the menu with 8 starters, 10 mains and 7 desserts (2 courses for £32.00 or 3 for £36).  Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of smoked salmon, so I had no hesitation in gravitating towards the Gradvalax of salmon with orange and dill (featured picture).  While I enjoyed this, I must say that I couldn’t really taste the orange which was a bit disappointing as I was interested in this combination, as opposed to the traditional lemon.

For my main, I chose the Caesar salad with breast of free range chicken.  By my own admission, this was not the most exciting choice but I really fancied something light and this salad seemed ideal.  I know that there is not a lot that can be done with a Caesar salad to make it stand out but this one just didn’t.  A parmesan crisp on top  was a nice touch but sadly the photo that I took was corrupted so I can’t share it with you!

We both decided to order the Trio of Brulee which had 3 individual pots of flavoured Brulee.  One of these was divine, lemon flavoured and the perfect consistency but the other 2 were sadly a bit over cooked

A nice touch was the little plate of truffles that came with our post dinner drinks.  Neither of us had room for them but they did look very appealing.  It was while enjoying said after dinner drinks that we caught the first sighting of our unexpected dinner guest, A little mouse!  I was a bit taken aback when I saw him first but by the time we had seen him for the 3rd or 4th time, we were really laughing.  What I found most funny was that the staff seemed surprised when I mentioned it.  There really was no way that mouse was making his debut appearance.  Perhaps he could recommend the cheese board!