| It was an epic month by any standards. My Barbican window boxes have never looked so good and watching bees & butterflies enjoying them brings me so much joy. Soleil (Sun) by Claude Bosi on the 8th Floor of Peninsula, London While the weather for the launch was damp & overcast, lemons from Calabria, perfect soft scrambled eggs, David (Director of Rooms), Scott (Manager) etc coming to chat & Chef Francesco Dibenedetto presenting me with a very special bottle of his family's olive oil made it a perfect way to start a special month. The Mark Hotel New York's Hotdogs at The Connaught The Mark in New York's hotdog stand sold beef or chicken hotdogs but in London Jean-Georges Vongerichten served turkey hotdogs. Delicious but I would have preferred beef. However, still a good way to mark 4th of July. The next week I returned to The Connaught for their sublime scrambled eggs with black truffles breakfast and to meet MD Sandeep Bhalla properly. Issy now has a Connaught hound staff pin. My New Dante, NYC at Claridge's Baseball Cap With lunch with COO Roland Fasel at abc kitchens at The Emory next week, it has been a very Maybourne couple of months. Dante, NYC was such a fun experience at Claridge's. I had huevos rancheros; a Fluffy Margarita Royale; met Dante owner Linden Pride and his sweet daughter and Claridge's Restaurant Manager Will Rogers presented me with a baseball cap to mark the occasion that I now treasure. 30 Years of Chef Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck at Bray at Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park Another dream came true during the month. Eating Snail Porridge, while drinking an 'SF Martini'. The Heston dishes were all divine (who knew white chocolate goes with caviar) & his triple cooked chips, dipped in a bone marrow gravy, were insanely good. It was such a memorable meal & being presented with a further bottle of the scent of Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park was the perfect way to end the evening. A Beautiful Ceremony to Bury Dad's Ashes in the Graveyard at St Chad's Dad's brother Roland & Aunt Tricia came down from Scotland for this ceremony in Shrewsbury and Vicar Sam did a brilliant job, even mentioning dad's late brother George & his Moscow based granddaughter Maria. The spot in the graveyard where they are buried is beautiful and mum even kept some of the roses we were meant to scatter. Chef Tom Booton's 'Last' Meal in The Grill at The Dorchester The month culminated with an exquisite Chef Tom Booton lunch. Everyone should get to eat Tom's chicken at least once in their lives. The quality of the apron I was given with my name embroidered on it says it all. The above text justifies an '8 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) month score but I should also mention breakfast at Mandarin Oriental, Mayfair where I was given more of their hotel scent; getting to try the 'Robert Omelette' at the Ol' Chemist in Shrewsbury; Tanja's unforgettable birthday party; and consistent perfection from The Wolseley, The City; C Sons, Shrewsbury & The Golden Cross. |      |
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 It was another dream come true to meet the legend that is Chef Alain Ducasse and Chef Wolfgang Puck & now knows each other. What a month. From a moving Shropshire funeral, funerals of younger people are always particularly difficult; to one of the most elegant weddings I have ever attended, you could feel the love at both events; to Chefs Alain Ducasse & Wolfgang Puck preparing a 'Four Hands Dinner' for me at 45 Park Lane.
45 Park Lane also produced a cocktail for me from The Beverly Hills Hotel, that was not on their Sunday lunch menu. As that meal, the black truffles on Chef Elliot Grover's sublime roast beef tasted better than ever. I also got to eat in Chef Yannick Alleno's Pavyllon at Four Seasons at Park Lane, before it opened to the public and was back on Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square's roof sipping a cocktail. Must also mention Chef Tom Booton's revolutionary breakfasts at The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester again. Finally I have to talk about mum & the excellent food scene in Shrewsbury. As part of the two weeks I spent in Shropshire during the month, I tried to spoil mum with meals out. My hake at La Piazzetta in The Square was sensational, our steak frites at Cote were delicious and the spicy cooked breakfast at C Sons, Shrewsbury is still morishly good. A family friend also took mum and me around his stunningly beautiful garden. Mum was almost back to her old self, talking about garden design, that afternoon. Hope you enjoy the photos below and they demonstrate what a memorable month June 2023 was in my life.  I sent Easter lamb to Shrewsbury. This holiday was one of mum's favourites but I ended up spending 10 hours in A&E with mum on Good Friday, after she had another fall, getting out from a car this time.
A difficult time for our family has been exacerbated by Shropshire Council's Social Services. I am still unclear if they are incompetent or lack integrity, or a mixture of both. There are now Royal Shrewsbury Hospital discharge documents for mum that misrepresented my views. This erroneous information must have come from ICS Social Services but they are now trying to distance themselves from the mess they have helped to create. I have made numerous formal complaints to Social Services and PALS at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and a Freedom of Information Request to Shropshire Council. Organising mum's care arrangements (including physiotherapists, that RSH should have arranged); visiting Shrewsbury, while constantly correcting Social Services and undertaking my Board role at Jordan International Bank Plc, has taken me near breaking point. Hope the photos below evidence that I am still doing my best to maintaining a life for myself, while ensuring mum is well looked after. Lunch at C Sons: 'Locally Sourced & Globally Inspired' Food - Shrewsbury, Shropshire - November 201617/11/2016  The four Crouch brothers' eclectic restaurant. I still recall when this was Poppy's Tea Rooms and savaged by the late Michael Winner in a review. I have eaten in C Sons on a number of occasions and have never been disappointed by their flavoursome food and being able to try unusual products.
On this occasions I had a very emotional funeral to attend the next day and one of my best friends in Shrewsbury agreed to have lunch with me to try to take my mind off this. |
The AuthorsSi Frew has lived in the UK, Bermuda, Qatar, Cyprus & the Cayman Islands. During this time he met Whoopi Goldberg (in Claridge's), Mike Tyson (in the Concorde Lounge at JFK) , Gordon Ramsay (in the Doha Four Seasons), Chris Eubanks (in The Dorchester), Cherie Blair (in Bermuda & again in the Doha Four Seasons) etc. There are funny stories attached to all these interactions, feel free to ask Si about them when you meet him. Archives
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