Staying the courses on London’s first food safari

As the sun was setting over central London, I began my pan-seared scallop starter at Michelin-starred Roussillon.

Served with fresh apple and ginger, and accompanied by a delicious glass of Gosset champagne, it is safe to say the Pimlico Green Safari — part of the London Restaurant Festival — had got off to a roaring start.

With a reputation as one of London's leading restaurants, the internationally acclaimed Roussillon, with its modern French cuisine and range of vegetarian dishes, did not disappoint.

Sampling the avocado and Bloody Mary dip with parmesan shortbread, drunk with modest amounts of chilled white wine, the award-winning Roussillon proved the perfect starting point for London's first culinary safari.

If only we could have stayed for the whole meal. But a stone's throw away lay the rather chic 101 Pimlico Road, where our main courses awaited.
101 mixes pan-European cooking with traditional English cuisine — the finest example being the excellent pork loin lasagne with morteau sausage and savoy cabbage.

The food was superb and together with what seemed like never-ending glasses of pinot noir, provided an excellent second stop.

Our final port of call was chocolatier pâtissier William Curley in Belgravia's Ebury Street, which offers an alarmingly large selection of chocolate delicacies. We were presented with an array of desserts and quickly devoured the basil-infused ice cream (not a fan), red wine-poached figs (heavenly), and chocolate mousse with yuzu jelly (revoltingly rich). While overdosing on chocolate we also managed to fit in a final glass of extra-dry champagne — not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings — before being dispatched into the night with a selection of dark chocolates. They did not survive the Tube ride home.

The Pimlico Green Safari will be available on November 22, £100.
For bookings, contact: reservations@roussillon.co.uk