It’s been a busy summer (and it is super sad that I’m writing about it in past tense). We’ve had friends come and go, and come and go again, and with this holiday and that, I really have been neglecting my London friends.

So with Panu going away last weekend, I took the opportunity to catch up with my beloved peepz, starting with Euwen who I haven’t even seen since he started his new job like seriously months and months ago. Bad bad me 🙁 We decided to have lunch to catch up with all the gossip, and since we were going to do it in a long and leisurely way, we thought we’d do it in style. Quo Vadis it was.

Dean Street being the main thorough-way for me to get to the gloriousness that is Chinatown, I should know about every shop and nook and cranny occupying space on that street. But Quo Vadis has always looked so mysterious behind its very proper façade, which apparently has looked this way since World War II.

[Incidentally the only other joint on Dean Street I am not familiar with is the Sunset Strip, but y’know, I haven’t quite made my way there yet.]

I’ve often wondered what sort of posh people dined in Quo Vadis, and when I realised that the menu actually isn’t stupidly expensive, I also figured out that yes, the sort of posh people who dined there were probably the kind of people who occasionally pretended to be posh. Like me! 😀

So I met up with Euwen ~ *kiss kiss* which incidentally I kinda mucked up because I’m just pretending to be posh after all ~ we settled into the beautifully private yet surprisingly sunlit dining room and started talking about everything.

And while we caught up on work, food, friends, life, food, movies, travel and did I mention food? we also ordered the following…

Chilli grilled squid with courgette & tomatoes ~ a stunning starter! Tender and beautifully grilled squid, sprinkled with the lightest hint of chilli.

Razor clams with garlic and parsley ~ another delicious starter, I almost stole the whole thing from Euwen. Super sweet razor clams!

Lobster spaghetti ~ I dropped the ball on this one by ordering the starter size (in all seriousness, I’d only eaten a huge bowl of porridge like an hour earlier). Lucky I ordered the small serve anyway, I found the sauce a little too salty and the three pieces of lobster a little too lacking.

Crisp pork belly with jerusalem artichoke & apple sauce ~ oh yeah, baby. This was Euwen’s main and what a main it was. I can’t remember if Euwen loved it, but the small piece I had was gorgeous and that crackling! *love*

Triple cooked chips ~ the most gargantuan (or as my word of the day taught me, “brobdingnagian”) chips I’d ever seen. Triple cooked to crispy goodness on the outside and soft as mash on the inside.

Raspberry and white chocolate millefeuille ~ a perfect tower of a millefeuille, crushed with one swipe of my fork. Fresh raspberries and little blobs of rich white chocolate. Delicious.

Tonka crème brulée with poached pear ~ the perfect crème brulée made in a large shallow dish resulting in a bigger spread of toffee! Whoever chose this plate was an engineering genius.

Euwen and I agreed that at over £40 per person (with a bottle of still water) it was a little pricey, but whatever, the main thing was that we had a fabulous time, followed by some disappointing shoe shopping meaning we didn’t buy any 🙁

Quo Vadis
26-29 Dean Street
Soho, W1D 3LL
0207 437 9585
website

Quo Vadis on Urbanspoon

9 Thoughts on “Quo Vadis: catching up over a posh Saturday lunch

  1. Those chips are enormous! And I wish someone here would start making triple fried chips! 😛

  2. I think you’re paying for the precision engineering, i mean, did they cut the pork belly with a laser? “Do you expect me to talk?” / “No Mistree Catty, i expect you to DINE”.

    *Ahem*

    I’ll get me coat.

    It does look tasty though, especially those clams, and the pork belly, and, indeed, the creme caramel. Hmm, methinks Euwen chose better this time round.

  3. Good Lord, those fries are MASSIVE. The lobster pasta does look a little meagre, but I can tell just from the photo that the pork was IMMENSE.

    Seems like you were out-ordered on this meal, missy 😉

    Jax x

  4. AH! Was trying to remember what dishes you said were good, but all I could remember was pork belly pork belly super crackling…

    Will have to try Ouo Vadis at some point, if not just to hold those gigantic chips in my hand.

  5. hello! *insert ridiculously long whistle* that’s some nice eating there. I would eat everything. seriously. razor clams? check. lobster pasta? check. cracking pig? waddyastandinginmywayfor. I’m so envious that you can pack away so much in one sitting. I have a ridiculously small stomach (me and my partner both), and we usually end up SHARING ONE MAIN dish, plus a small side. And we’re done. seriously. how embarassing is that? those fries have my name on it. egad. hmmm. was 40 pounds for that all that food expensive? it’s been yonks since i’ve been to london

  6. Lorraine: aren’t they huge? Someone SHOULD make triple cooked chips in Sydney!

    The Grubworm: I have no idea what you’re going on about but yes, I think Euwen made some mighty fine choices that day! 🙂

    Jackie: Immense doesn’t even cover it. It was seriously gargantuan (like the chips!) and so very delicious!

    Su-yin: Hehe yeah both the starters were great – especially the razor clams!

    Judy: Wow you need to train to expand your stomach! There is so much out there to eat! 😀

  7. @Catty – what, have you never seen Goldfinger..?

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