Weekly Wrap – Holborn Dining, Easter Egg Shortages & Where to Buy Last Minute Chocolate

Last week Lieutenant No1 told me of good new restaurant in Holborn, The Holborn Dining Room at the luxury Rosewood Hotel, in Holborn of course. So I had to give it a review, however when I arrived I realised I’d been there before, it’s past life was Pearl restaurant run by Jun Tanaka. I had eaten there and his food was wonderful, he’s apparently opening a new restaurant later this year. I was therefore curious to see how the place had changed, access was really easy as it’s via the hotel courtyard which has some cobbles but taxis/cars can drop off right next to the restaurant and once in there’s plenty of room.

The only disadvantage is the disabled toilet is down one floor via a lift. The food is very much up-market brasserie style, we started with the charcuterie board to share and I followed with half a lobster with chips. All good but it’s the atmosphere of the place that’s a winner, it’s large , not too noisy and the staff are accommodating and intent on you having a good experience. It’s a glamourous venue in an understated way. The Telegraph said it provides

“Comfortable, but impressively cool dining at its best….” producing “Classic dishes that showcase the best of British produce”.

I agree and I should mention that the experience is flexible as you can have drinks, drinks & nibbles or a full meal. They get a well deserved 2.5 BBS Ticks. (N.B. The hotel say they have fully accessible rooms but I had too much to drink to review them this time. I’ll be back……..) 

I also thought I’d treat my family to some Easter Eggs and I didn’t want to buy them on-line so I went in search of a chocolate shop. Apparently this year there’s a shortage and many shops have sold out! The supermarkets have had a an ‘Egg Price War’ leading to many of them running out of certain lines – no doubt adding to the obesity crisis! I therefore took to looking for independent egg stores. I found a hidden gem in Richmond, Danieli, which sells homemade chocolate all year, but even they were running low so I quickly grabbed the last few. To help the rest of the UK in the hunt for Easter Eggs I thought we should look at other independent retailers.

In London there are quite a few but a favourite has to be the Italian chocolate shop, SAID, in Soho (see our review)….and luckily Channel 4 and Red magazine have done the research for me so here are their lists, just in case there’s a shortage in your area:

Channel4 includes CoCo Chocolate in Edinburgh, L’Artisan du Chocolat in Birmingham, Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton …. see full list here

Red Magazine includes Chococo in Swanage, Chocolate House in Ponytpridd, White Rabbit Chocolate, Beverley E. Yorks……. see full list here.

Hope this helps and Happy Egg Hunting !! See you next week.