Dinner at The Oxo Tower.

Firstly, I apologise profusely for the rather long absence. June and the first part of July have been truly chaotic months including two weddings; lots of 30th birthday celebrations including my own ; a variety of other birthday celebrations; jubilee festivities and the exam season at work. Hopefully I'll be able to blog more frequently from now on.A while ago my fab husband took me for dinner at The Oxo Tower as a special celebration and it was such a delicious dinner and the service was so exceptional that I thought it deserved a blog. We arrived slightly early for our reservation so we were seated in the bar and served a drink. I decided to begin with style so I had a decadent champagne cocktail, one of their signature recipes. The name of it has slipped my memory but it was one of only about six in the menu and it stood out as an unusual one.

This was followed by an amazing three course dinner. I had a starter of langoustines with an avocado purée, apple and coconut. This was extremely tasty, the langoustines were full of flavour, the apple was very refreshing and there was just the right amount of the avocado purée. Beautifully balanced.

This was followed by a fillet of sea bream on a bed of spinach and accompanied by razor clams with spring onion and a champagne foam with a creamy risotto. The fish was absolutely delicious and cooked perfectly and the risotto was good. I was slightly disappointed by the razor clams. When I found a morsel it was lovely but there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of slices of raw spring onion mixed in which overpowered it.

I have to confess to having an exceptionally sweet tooth so I was in heaven with my desert. Four ways with chocolate. Perfection! Forgive the quality of the photo, as the light deteriorated it got harder to photograph the dishes discretely and I didn't want to annoy other diners by using the flash on my mobile. The chocolate torte, second from the left was extremely rich that even I struggled to finish it. My favourite one was on the far right, the cheesecake type one. The far left hand one was a hot chocolate sponge and the final one was an unusual but delicious mousse with a jelly on the top of it.

We also had a bottle of wine with the meal and found the sommelier to be knowledgeable, courteous and attentive. Our wine was kept in an ice bucket by the bar and he was very quick to top up our glasses when they became half empty. All the staff were very polite, well mannered and discrete. They were friendly and helped to lend the restaurant an atmosphere of calm relaxation. They didn't rush around or talk loudly and they all seemed to have their set role or function. My husband had biscuits and cheese for dinner and there was even a designated cheese waiter who brought a trolley over with a huge selection of cheeses and he was able to give a large amount of detail on each one and offer thoughtful recommendations.

This was the first time I'd visited this restaurant and I will certainly be going there again. I have just got to think of a good excuse for it! The restaurant was beautifully decorated and clean, the view was tremendous, the food was extremely good and the staff were top notch. It was a perfect end to a day of shopping and being spoilt at the Lush Spa.

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