Captains log 21/07/13 ok so were back in London, and we finally are meeting up with Nic. We start our day off with another hotel change from easy old road to easy Paddington. Lucky for us the Paddington version was quite nice apart from the 3 floors of stairs with 2 suitcases and no lift, oh well, Bella did a lot of heavy lifting that day :p. after we set down our suitcases we headed off for a good old fashion English breakfast. We settled in at a corner steak house which looked like a decent place. Bella and I both had the full English which was really good, one of the better ones we have had all together, the sausage was especially nice. After that and a quite embarrassing toilet moment (in which I will explain in person to people who want to know ) we set off to kill time, and find a hair dresser before we meet up with Nic. I found a small Turkish hairdressers and settled down for a cut and a shave. I'm not big on fashion and style but by god did these guys do a good job. I've never had a better haircut and the shave just made me feel like a king. Finally I didn't look like some form of homeless backpacker. All said and done and feeling very happy with my new do, we sat at the corner pub with three pints waiting to see Nic. We waited, and waited and he didn't come pass, until just by chance I looked back at our hotel and saw him standing there looking around, some how he walked right past us on the other side of the street. Oh well we finally had the meet up, we sat about the pub watching the joke of a cricket match catching up. Another few drinks and everyone was feeling a little hungry. Bella and I now had a local tour guide and you would think he never left England, walking us about side streets and ally's to little areas in enjoyed. We settled in at a nice Japanese place he had went to a few days before. It was really good, we shared a giant plate of mix sashimi, sushi, some miso soup. For mains I had a katsu pork, Bella had a Japanese curry and Nic who is secretly a vegetarian had a tofu dish. All washed down with some lovely sake. Off to another old English pub, trying a different local ale at each one. It was good to catch up with Nic, and I finally had a drinking buddy that wanted to sit about talking rubbish then just try hunt down a girl after 2 beers. All is good. Ok after that we headed on back to catch the rest of the cricket :(! And so Bella could get ready, we were heading to Heston's! Nic and I were at the corner pub drinking a pint watching our dreams of watching a game at lords disappear in the terrible display put on by the Australians. It kind of destroyed us both, and we didn't take wise advice once given to us and that is never have a few drinks before a dego or nice meal at a fancy restaurant. Solid advice but it didn't affect us this time. We head off to get change and meet back in 20 to start our way to Heston's. we got there at 8:15, 15 minutes early, that's fine a nice per dinner drink and we will be in..... But wait, Nic doesn't realize that 22:30 is 10:30pm not 8:30pm, so we are 2 hours early, good one Nic. We sat down at the bar but upon realizing the drinks were 20-50 pounds each we decided to spend our 2 free hours at a Taylor walkers pub down the corner. At this point I was like a great white shark and slowly taking down Nic's mistake at every opportunity. I love these pubs, beers for 3 pounds, then we moved up to a very nice grey goose on the rocks with a squeeze of lime, thinking it would be 10/12 pounds I was very happy when they were also 3.5 pounds! Success! Slowly but surely time went on and it was time to drag ourselves back to Heston's for the meal! This time welcomed with less funny looks and we settled in for a pre dinner drink, Nic and I both had a very smooth very nice 18yo Japanese whiskey and Bella had a cocktail. Before we knew it we were being walked though to our table. The dining room is quite big and we sat with our backs towards a large glass room in which 10-15 chefs are busy cooking all the food. It's 10:30 and it's still guns blazing, amazing! We get our menus and we are all giddy with excitement, I'm sitting in the number 7, restaurant with my best friend and my lovely girlfriend, life is f***ing good. Even if we aren't going to lords you can't bring this down! I will try to explain my dishes as best but, it will be better done in person and I will be happy to do so! Oh I almost forgot after a little chat with the waiter at our table he explained to us the story behind dinner with Heston, and that is the whole menu was designed with a history professor about food that was relevant in a certain time period in England. Then it is given a modern twist and a sexy presentation and bam! Number 7 baby. Ok so I had, the meat fruit, the duck breast and the tipsy cake. Bella had sea broth, duck breast and burnt Carmel ice cream. Nic had bone marrow and snails, halibut and the tipsy cake. Firstly guys they were all out of this world, and after getting some advice from the very friendly and extremely knowledgable sommelier we had an amazing bottle of Californian Pinot noir that just worked so well. Ok, the meat fruit. It was a piece of foie gra sharped and made to look like a mandarin, with a gel like skin made out of real mandarin but all completely edible. Oh my god was that good, the best pâté I've had. It was so smooth so rich, it was amazing! A true highlight for me. The duck was sous vide at 55 degree and then seared, with roasted fennel with an amazing jus. We had a cheeky cheese board after that, which was really nice, however Bella and Nic gorging themselves on dirty stinking blue was enough for me :)! At this point we changed to a really nice 30yo sherry and Bella a 20yo port, for our cheese and desserts. The tipsy cake was really cool, and it came with a spit roasted pineapple. The cake was flavored with brandy, and it was really nice but I was so full I couldn't finish it all. A really nice coffee to wash it all down with and we just sat there talking and enjoying each others company. Even with the 2 extreme douchey guys next to us, oh well, some people have to much money that they want to waste that experience. We got a cab home and settled in for a well needed food sleep!!! Pub crawl tomorrow!