A Tweet Up at Hibiscus

If you’d have told me a couple of years ago that I’d be meeting people and making friends on Twitter, I’d have never believed you. Actually before I started my blog, I barely understood how to use the popular form of social media…I didn’t know what a hashtag was, or the difference between tweeting someone or DM’ing them…

But now I am addicted to Twitter, and you can’t get me off it! Through my addiction I’ve come to know many, many bloggers…and then there’s some who you feel like you know but you’ve never actually met. For example, I’d been tweeting and messaging Mehreen from Wrap Your Lips Around This and Gary Berry from The Foodaholic, for the last year but I’d never met either of them before!

When I met Tom (Food and Drinks Noob) and Tahira (Ramblings of a Food Addict) at an event last year, they invited me along for dinner and I was finally going to meet my Twitter buddies and fellow food bloggers, Mehreen and Gary.

And for such a prestigious occasion why not choose one of the best? Two Michelin starred Hibiscus in Mayfair!

I was last to arrive and sat down to enjoy the amuse bouche and some very rich gougeres….

It’s kind of nerve-wracking isn’t it? Meeting fellow food bloggers for the first time?

It’s actually a little bit like online dating….you head out to meet someone but you have no idea whether you’ll have that chemistry that you have online.

Fortunately, a little lubrication goes along way…Gary is a wine expert and skilfully chose the best wines to accompany our eight-course tasting menu.

The menu kicked off with chestnut mushroom, coconut and curry, ‘en cocotte’ which was a feather light foam, beautifully presented in an egg shell.

Norwegian king crab, with smoked haddock and granny smith apple was like a very delicious posh prawn cocktail!

Cevennes onion consomme with cinnamon dumplings was a beautifully presented, but a dish that didn’t really excite.

Now on a table made up on five food bloggers, I don’t think I need to tell you what our conversation mainly focussed on! Actually I was very excited to meet Mehreen because I’d been a fan of her blog for a while and hers is some of my favourite food photography. It was great to get some tips from her, as you know I’m really working on improving my photography skills. Thanks Mehreen for all your help!!

A dish of Scottish scallops with black radish, almond and truffle was my favourite and I heaped the raw cured scallop on to the opposing crisps.

The lovely waiters seemed rather unphased by three large DSLR cameras, a digital camera and an iPhone snapping every dish, though as we were all attempting the perfect picture, I imagine they were worried that the perfectly prepared dishes would go cold.

Cornish Cod a la Grenbloise was delicious, now despite being a big fish fan, cod is one of my least favourites, as if it’s done wrong I think it can be a little dry and chalky. However, this dish flaked apart beautifully and I very much enjoyed it.

The foie gras, was served with nashi pear and liquorice. I’m sorry I’ll just never be a foie gras fan, I just find it too rich and fatty, however Tom happily took it off my hands.

Loin of venison, pumpkin, passion fruit and smoked grand Veneur sauce.

One of the things that I loved about hanging out with these guys, was though we are all food enthusiasts, none of us claim to be experts. We’d all been to some great places but still loved learning and finding out more about what we were eating and trying new combinations like the dish above.

Our cheese course was very refreshing, St Nectaire with Sharon fruit and chestnuts.

And then Panna Cotta with golden delicious apple.

Another cool thing about hanging out with food bloggers is that it’s perfectly acceptable to have your phone on the table for the occasional Instagramable moment or tweet…Mr S gets pretty fed up when I sneakily check Twitter during date night.

Chocolate millefeuilles with Indonesian Basil Ice cream was a delicious dessert and the flavour wasn’t over powered by the star anise.

Now, by the time we got to the petite fours, we were a pretty tipsy bunch o’ bloggers… in fact I marvel that I got a decent photo of the nougat! But sign of a good night right? I had a fantastic time with Tahira, Mehreen, Gary and Tom and I’m looking forward to turning it into a regular occurrence!

Hisbiscus
29 Maddox Street
London
W1S 2PA

020 7629 2999