Restaurant review: BRASSERIE MAX (Covent Garden)

About two or three times a year, I deviate from my questionable practice of dining at mediocre restaurants using Groupon deals (and then absolutely destroying the dumps on my blog, and give patronage to restaurants which don't need deals in order to get custom. Although such an act (of paying full price for a meal) doesn't strike most as out of the ordinary, when I do, I always feel like Charli XCX, in that 'I'm so fancy', and it means I've gotten to eat at some pretty awesome places.

I had the Thanksgiving dish, which, given the time of year, I felt was apropos:

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Savoy Grill (Strand)

For my birthday back in April, I treated myself to a meal at Gordon Ramsey’s The Savoy Grill. It was quite a pricey dining experience, but I’d heard that my personal heroes Marlon Brando and Marylin Monroe liked to frequent this place, and if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. On a superficial level, The Savoy features a pretty classy clientele and I wanted to give my brand new Michael Kors handbag an outing, and you only turn 26 once!

My eye was immediately drawn to the Grills from the Wood Charcoal Oven, in the end opting for the Hereford beef sirloin steak, with a side of mashed potatoes and mixed lettuce and spring onion salad. I selected béarnaise as the sauce. It was all scrumptious – I completely abandoned by (already barely there) table manners and wolfed it down in less than ten minutes. Of all the steaks I've tasted in London, the one I had in The Savoy Grill is second only to Hawksmoor.

It wasn’t just the food that was good. Savoy Grill also featured an eye-watering drinks menu, with wines from Bordeaux, Rhone, Burgundy, Loire, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and more. And there was a real range in prices, from £60 bottles of wine to £2000 ones. In the end, I ordered a bottle of Latinamerican red wine and it complemented my red meat dish perfectly.

At The Savoy Grill, the waiters were much more attentive than at your typical restaurant, taking the time to get to know you and talk you through the options on the menu to gauge the perfect dish for you. Were I ever to come back, I would quite fancy the lobster which I eyeballed on a few fellow diners' tables and looked immense.

As amazing as it was to feel Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX for my birthday, The Savoy Grill was too much of an extravagance to visit other than for very special occasions. Such was the decadence, in fact, that the washroom featured cotton towels instead of paper ones! Here’s an oblig mirror selfie I had to take because it’ll be a long time before I go to such a posh place!

Grade: A-

Told you the washrooms were posh!

Emma's Favourite Songs, 2016.

Influences: Taylor Swift breakup songs, Quentin Tarantino movies, songs covered in Glee, tracks frequently used in Sky Sports football montages and basically anything I can turn my swag on conduct terrible karaoke to.

1. Homecoming (Kanye West ft. Chris Martin)
2. Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield)
3. Alison (Elvis Costello)
4. What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction)
5. Rocky Raccoon (The Beatles)
6. Hallelujah (Rufus Wainwright)
7. Sinnerman (Nina Simone)
8. I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor Swift)
9. Sexy! No No No… (Girls Aloud)
10. Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie (Joanna Newsom)
11. Off to the Races (Lana del Rey)
12. Fancy (Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX)
13. November Has Come (Gorillaz)
14. Samson (Regina Spektor)
15. Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits)
16. Stuck in the Middle with You (Stealers Wheel)
17. Run this Town (Rihanna, Jay-Z and Kanye West)
18. Power (Kanye West)
19. Untouchable (Girls Aloud)
20. This is What Makes Us Girls (Lana del Rey)
21. Paper Planes (M.I.A.)
22. Talk Show Host (Radiohead)
23. Lullaby (Dixie Chicks)
24. All These Things that I've Done (The Killers)
25. Angie Baby (Helen Reddy)

26. 22 (Taylor Swift)
27. Wild Boys (Duran Duran)

28. Love the Way You Lie Part II (Rihanna ft. Eminem)
29. Head over Heels (Tears for Fears)
30. Boys Don't Cry (The Cure)
31. Problem (Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea)
32. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (Queen)
33. We Are Never Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift)
34. Glory Box (Portishead)
35. Empire State of Mind: Broken Down (Alicia Keys)
36. How Do You Like Me Now? (The Heavy)
37. 2am (The Saturdays)
38. Adia (Sarah McLachlan)
39. Tiny Dancer (Elton John)
40. Baba O'Riley (The Who)
41. Wildwood Flower (June Carter Cash)
42. The Loving Kind (Girls Aloud)
43. California Dreamin' (The Mamas and the Papas)
44. Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (David Bowie)
45. Chelsea Dagger (The Fratellis)
46. My Father's Gun (Elton John)
47. What I Go to School for (Busted)
48. Bang Bang (Jessie J ft. Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj)
49. When She Loved Me (Sarah McLachlan)
50. Royals (Lorde)

51. Cell Block Tango (Chicago OST)
52. Hey Jude (The Beatles)
53. Brandy Alexander (Feist)
54. Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)
55. Defying Gravity (Idina Menzel)
56. Sueños (Diego Torres)
57. Love Affair (Regina Spektor)
58. Video Games (Lana del Rey)
59. I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea (Elvis Costello)
60. Dragon Queen (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
61. Under Pressure (Queen ft. David Bowie)
62. Brown Eyes (Lady Gaga)
63. See You Again (Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth)
64. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference (Todd Rundgren)
65. Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears)
66. Underneath Your Clothes (Shakira)
67. Blank Space (Taylor Swift)
68. Travelin' Soldier (Dixie Chicks)
69. Numb Encore (Jay Z ft. Linkin Park)
70. Lovely Head (Goldfrapp)
71. Bad Girls (M.I.A.)
72. Fucking Problems (A$AP Rocky ft. 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar)
73. I Wish I Knew How it Feels to Be Free (Nina Simone)
74. Shout (Tears for Fears)
75. Good For You (Selena Gomez ft. A$AP Rocky)

76. She (Elvis Costello)
77. Vincent (Don McLean)
78. As Long as You Love Me (Justin Bieber ft. Big Sean)
79. Golden Slumbers (K.D. Lang)
80. Lullaby (The Cure)
81. Picture to Burn (Taylor Swift)
82. All Along the Watchtower (Devlin ft. Ed Sheeran)
83. Ay Vamos (J. Balvin)
84. Waka Waka (Shakira)
85. Pennies in my Pocket (Emilio Estefan)
86. Wonderwall (Oasis)
87. Airplanes part 2 (B.o.B, Hayley Williams & Eminem)
88. The River (Joni Mitchell)
89. Hey Mama (Kanye West)
90. 6 Inch (Beyonce ft. The Weeknd)
91. O Saya (A.R. Rahman ft. M.I.A)
92. Baby (Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris)
93. Take a Bow (Rihanna)
94. Work (Kelly Rowland)
95. Ignition (Remix) (R. Kelly)
96. Notorious (Duran Duran)
97. Call the Shots (Girls Aloud)
98. Shake it Off (Taylor Swift)
99. Let Me Love You (Ariana Grande ft. Lil’ Wayne)
100. White Horse (Taylor Swift)