Today we feauture the the cosy home of Queen Victoria and the dresses of Lady Di.
This nice palace that was built to keep the commoners out is now an estate open to all. Kensington Palace reopened after a £12 million renovation that created the space for several new exhibits and revamped nearly every part of the building and grounds — from gardens first created in the 1730s to the interior State Rooms, where royal family members such as Queen Victoria and Princess Margaret once lived. Prince William and Princess Kate plan to continue the royal tradition and make this their home once they leave Wales.
The new exhibits include an in-depth look at two former residents: Queen Victoria in an exhibit called Victoria Revealed and Princess Diana in a timeline of her evolution as a fashion icon. A small collection of her dresses are on display, some of which have never been exhibited before in the United Kingdom.
This project is one of many improvements in the Historic Royal Palaces, a consortium that also includes the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House and Kew Palace. All are meant to broaden their accessibility to the public. Other initiatives range from raising the profile of the choir program that has been in existence since 1542 to providing a free phone app that asks visitors to help prisoners “escape” the Tower of London by correctly answering questions as they tour the building.
Kensington Palace is easily accessible from the High Street Kensington tube stop.
Resto tip: Gordon Ramsay Food Typ lets say: French
The kitchen here is cooking at very high two/three Michelin star level, service is of a very high standard here, and the main problem is getting a reservation. Clare Smyth took over as head chef in 2007 and retained the restaurant’s three Michelin stars after having trained previously at Louis XV, amongst other restaurants.
The meal began with cheese gougeres, which are always a welcome way to start a meal. A lot of restaurants make these, but not so many do them well. They should ideally be served warm, have plenty of cheese flavour and of course the choux pastry should be very delicate. Bread is supplied from the Flour Station, a selection of white, brown, black olive, rosemary and slices of potato and honey bread. This was certainly very good, though I always think that bread should be made from scratch by a top kitchen (unless you are in Paris or Lyon, where near perfect bread can be bought).
Pumpkin soup was poured over roasted cep, ricotta cheese and Alsace bacon, with a bacon tuile on the side of the plate with pumpkin seeds as garnish. This dish was perhaps the least successful of the meal, the bacon flavour coming through nicely. Ballotine of smoked confit duck with pears (pickled, poached and pureed) was served with walnuts and pain d’epice. This dish had good balance, the acidity of the pear working well with the richness of the terrine. Even better was warm foie gras with sweetbreads, carrots and almond foam and Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar. The foie gras was of high quality and had silky smooth texture yet deep liver flavour, the vinegar gave balance to the dish and the sweetbreads themselves were a triumph, having gorgeous texture.
A take on carbonara was made using soft hen egg yolk, smoked pomme puree, caramelised onions, Iberico ham, smoked bacon and onion consommé, topped with an emulsion of four year old Parmesan. This was a rich and comforting dish, it could be argued that there were a lot of flavours going on here, but it was yummy and delicious.
Scallop was cooked with with lardo di colonnata (pork lard from Tuscany) and served with apple, walnuts, celery and cider emulsion. The scallop had nice natural sweetness and was lightly cooked, the apple provided a balancing sharpness, but while this was an enjoyable dish the flavours did not really stand out for me.
Roast turbot was served with cannelloni of artichoke and parmesan, cep and truffle with a sauce of black truffle, red wine and beef. This was a very good dish, the turbot carefully cooked and well able to stand up to the rich sauce, the cannelloni particularly good, having soft texture and with lots of cep flavour packed into the pasta. I slightly preferred this to sea bass that had been pan-fried and served with rock samphire, Oscietra caviar and a veloute of caviar and oyster. The fish was excellent and accurately seasoned.
Pigeon with polenta was served with carrots and braised shallots, foie gras and smoked ventreche, and a sauce made from dates and the cooking juices. The pigeon (from Bresse) was itself excellent, the sauce very good, and I admire anyone that can make polenta taste decent (8/10). However the star dish was pork done in five separate ways: a sausage using the shoulder, roast loin with crushed new potato, bacon and spring onion, pork belly served with apple, pig cheeks wrapped in Savoy cabbage with Dijon mustard, and ham hock with pineapple. This was accompanied by an apple puree and braised pork jus. This was a well-designed dish, the various elements of the pork coming together well as a whole, enough apple to give balance, and the cooking of the pork was technically superb; the sausage in particular had superbly deep flavour.
Pre-dessert was lime and apple sorbet with lime mousse and avocado, diced Granny Smith apple, eucalyptus and shiso (Japanese mint). This was a pretty and refreshing dish, the sorbet having excellent texture and the lime providing freshness.
The bill came to £250 with some lovely wine. Clare Smyth is clearly a top class chef. Her cooking and own style have clearly developed since she took over the reins here, and the meal today was as good an overall culinary experience as you are likely to encounter in the UK.
London calling.
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