B put some sparkles on my finger and I said yes to spending my life with him.
We went to the Clove Club to celebrate. It was perfect.
A glass of Champagne at the bar: oaky, rich Champagne as was required for two smiling, excited people.
The service at the Clove Club is always immaculate: it treds the fine line of being super friendly, but always stays just the right side of formal. Hours spent at the table didn't drag by, instead they dissolved into glasses of wine and more and more plates of food, until I couldn't eat another scrap and needed to surrender to my mattress and duvet.
It all started with salami made from their mangalitza pigs and cured in-house. Far too easy to eat an entire plate of this.
Wood pigeon sausage, buttermilk fried chicken (the classic - and the sole reason the people next to us had come to eat here), Japanese-esque oat biscuits & a light fish broth with chilli and orange zest followed. And that was just the 'snacks to start'.
A delicate, fresh wild irish trout tartare, citron bachès, sesame and chives came as course number 1.
Swiftly followed by walnut wine glazed Cornish cod, jersey royals & white courgette. I need my potatoes to taste like that. I wish I knew how.
Yorkshire suckling pig & south Indian spices. B thought he had gone to heaven when he tried this. A pot of salty-spice mix in the middle of the table, which we sprinkled sparingly on the crispy, tender pork (a little bit of lots of different piggy parts), spinach with a crunch and the most wonderful tasting spiced-mush and the crispiest potatoes that was tying it all together.
A portion of cheese split between two (we were starting to flag at this point): sesame crackers, bright green apple, and thin oatcakes accompanied a perfect mini mix of wonderful fromage.
Then the best bit: Amalfi Lemonde & Sarawak Pepper Ice Cream. Who knew that whipped cream could be fizzy and sparkly and full of bubbles? I wish I could eat this every day. It was like the best Summer holiday had been fizzed up and towered into the bowl.
Because one pudding is never enough, warm blood orange, ewe's milk yoghurt mousse and wild fennel granita fitted perfectly into the Clove Club desert style of beautiful bright colours. Those that always involve a mousse, something fresh, and something bright. Bold flavours working together to make me smile.
A mug of fresh mint tea to help digest was accompanied with more and more treats: barley cakes which tasted like madeleines that had been made with Horlicks; coffee-tainted dark chocolate in a perfectly wrapped bar; and the strongest, but most wonderful Fernet Branca sweets to make the walk home even more cheerful.
Highlight: Amalfi Lemonade & Sarawak Pepper Ice Cream
Lowlight: Too many highlights
The Clove Club, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London, EC1V 9LT
