I am not what you would call a binge drinker. I much prefer my alcohol to come in a constant and hopefully never ending flow. Binge drinking implies that the participant stops for periods, which strikes me as a bit odd. So when I spy that you can get a three course dinner, with unlimited wine supposedly from the sommelier’s collection, for thirty nine pounds I’m all up for it. This is the offer at The Park, a hotel restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge. Don’t get me wrong I don’t hang around hotel restaurants, but I was travelling alone in London and couldn’t be arsed to be the Johnny-business-no-mates sitting in a ‘real’ restaurant, it's easier dining alone in a hotel because it is what business people do all the time. First up they did it absolutely perfectly: asked if wanted something to read, enquired if anyone would be joining me and when I said no cleared the other place and then (others please note) spread my place setting wider so I had the whole of the table. Wonderful. I had a nice table too, over looking Hyde Park in the rain. What more could I want?

Well, better food for one. It was disappointing. The Peking roll lacked elegance and was a tad cloying, and I hoped didn’t set the standard for the evening. Well, got that one wrong. My main course was also dry and a bit tough; something was clearly going wrong in the kitchen. Anyway I tried to comfort myself in the wine. The waiter seemed none too impressed with my Olympic prowess with wine tasting (surely the event that we should be permitted to have in 2012), and poured it much like a vicar would at Sunday lunch – trying to make a little go a long way - but i think I eventually got the amount that made up for the lack of good food. Overall not a good performance, and really something to be avoided. By the way, while nobody joined me Jane Seymour sat at the table directly opposite and gave an interview, and I noticed that she didn’t eat and only sipped her one glass of wine. I wondered if she had been there before.
Fellow Traveller