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The week before
my 25th birthday was full of dinners and celebrating with friends. On the Thursday Jasiminne and I went to
One Aldwych to test out their Spring Aperitivos collection cocktails, and the gluten-free and dairy-free menu at their informal restaurant;
Indigo. Considering everything on the menu was gluten-free and dairy-free, we were both incredibly impressed with the choices available and the gorgeous surroundings of the hotel.
The Lobby Bar’s Spring Aperitivos collection includes five sensational botanical cocktails which are available until 30th June. I could never cope with five cocktails (I’m a little bit of a lightweight), so I decided to just try the Bee Treat, which was a beautiful refreshing blend of Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka, Kamm & Sons, rose liqueur, Prucia Plum Liqueur and lavender bitters.
The presentation was top notch, although it made me sad to ruin it and remove the slice of dried orange, lavender, and flower petal in order to drink it. Jasiminne on the other hand went off-Spring-menu and opted for the Old Cuban, and we reminisced about our 2014 trip to Cuba (Havana and Cayo Largo Del Sur) while she sipped on the concoction of Barcadi 8 with fresh lime juice, fresh mint, sugar syrup & aromatic bitters topped with champagne.
After an hour or so of sipping on our cocktails and catching up after months of not seeing one another, we moved upstairs to Indigo for dinner. We started with Samphire bread which tasted a little like a savoury muffin, and perused the menu.
I decided to have the Organic Rhug Estate Pork with crackling, slices of granny smith apples, and truffle mayonnaise. After all, it was my birthday week, so I was allowed to ignore the healthier options 😉 I love this dish, the flavours all worked brilliantly together, and I was surprised by how light the truffle mayonnaise was.
Jasiminne chose the Terrine of corn fed chicken and young leeks, which looked really delicious!
For mains Jasiminne had the Loin of rabbit with brasied shoulder, wet polenta, and wild garlic. She ummed and ahhed and I’m pretty sure that means she enjoyed it.
I on the other hand had a favourite (after all, birthday weeks are for favourites, right?), the classic and very British fish and chips. An excellent chunk of fish with delicately light batter, and those oh-so-perfect crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside chips.
After our mains we had a little break and chatted and people-watched. We had a table in the mezzanine section of the restaurant looking straight out over the Lobby Bar where we’d sat earlier. The entire bar and restaurant has such a great atmosphere, and it was packed the entire time we were there.
When it came to desserts the over-indulgence continued, as I chose the Caramelised banana with custard & bitter chocolate sorbet. I’m still in shock that this contained no dairy – you would never know the difference!
Jasiminne decided on the Valrhona chocolate mousse with cherry sorbet & pistachio meringue, but it was quite large and she struggled to finish it.
The classic British food at
Indigo was a refreshing change from the multitude of international restaurants in London. They do the classics exceptionally well, and with the added bonus of being gluten-free and dairy-free, this is one informal but luxe restaurant you should definitely add to your list!
Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
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This all looks amazing! I can't believe it all contains no gluten or dairy too, it all looks so yummy.
Georgie xo
It's so hard to eat gluten free when I travel, but this place looks stellar!
Looks so tasty, I love One Aldwych they really do have amazing cocktails.
The food looks wonderful, especially the chocolate mousse with cherry sorbet, I LOVE some cherry with my chocolate x