Up on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane, Galvin at Windows offers awesome views of our fair city. The contemporary style French menu from chef Chris Galvin is also as picture pretty as the views.
Both Neelam and Deena celebrate their birthday's within a few days of each other so we decided to book a table and celebrate. To start, we enjoyed Galvin's summer spritzer made with watermelon juice and Prosecco.
Once seated we were offered some postcards to send to friends and family 'to make them envious of our view'. A nice touch from the hotel, who will send any postcard worldwide.
To start, I opted for a salad of heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, goats curd, black olive caramel and stem ginger. Light and refreshing, just what I needed after sitting in the park during the hottest day of the year.
Both N and D went for the fillet of sea trout 'mi-cut', peas, heritage radish and smoked trout pâté. Gorgeously presented, delicate fish with a scattering of pea shoots.
For mains, N went for the saddle of rabbit, pancetta, sweetcorn, liver, truffle and Madeira jus. Succulent, tender and perfectly balanced with the crunch of popcorn and the sweetness of the creamed sweetcorn.
D enjoyed the roasted fillet of Cornish cod, brandade, samphire and red pepper ketchup. I'm already looking forward to recreating this ketchup at home, Heinz will never be the same again! Large white flakes of cod and crisp, salty samphire are the perfect pair.
And, in order to cover as much of the menu as possible, I had the tarte fine of summer vegetables, gorgonzola and basil pesto. The seasonal vegetables were perfectly presented on a thin square of pastry. It was perfectly crisp and buttery, but as a pastry lover, there could have been a little more. The pesto was a little on the rich side, but nothing another glass of wine couldn't balance!
For dessert, N had the apricot and cherry almond tart with verbena ice cream. A light sponge with baked in cherries and apricot dotted around the plate.
And my favourite, equatorial chocolate ganache, mint chantilly and earl grey tea ice cream. I'd have been more than happy to have taken a gallon of the ice cream home, such a great flavour with the rich chocolate ganache.
To finish, our waiter bought over a selection of homemade marshmallows and chocolate truffles. Both N and D had never tried 'proper' marshmallows before and were well impressed with the strawberry and passionfruit flavours.
We all enjoyed our experience at Galvin at Windows, the impressive views and food. Although I do feel that prices were a little pricey, especially on the drinks front. We arrived early and was ushered to the bar to wait for our table to be ready. Most cocktails on the menu were around £17 so felt a little out of place not ordering anything whilst waiting for the table, however impressive they looked. A bottle of Pinot Grigio started at £34 too.
Our meal was part of a set menu for a Groupon voucher, two courses and a summer spritzer for £37. With dessert, water and service charge it was bumped up to £52 a head, with no extra wine/cocktails.
I look forward to trying a few things at home: the red pepper ketchup, earl grey ice cream and passionfruit marshmallows.
As mentioned, we paid for our meal and were not guests of the restaurant. All opinions are my own.
