OXO Tower Restaurant

The OXO Tower Restaurant is located on the eighth floor of London’s famous tower, along with the less expensive brasserie. This rooftop venue is owned my Harvey Nichols and has all the style of the Knightsbridge shop. The relaxed attitude is noticeable immediately you are welcomed in, unusual for a restaurant of this calibre.

Not quite Michelin star standard food for Michelin star prices, but the beautiful view makes up for it - best to go on a clear evening and watch the sun set as you eat. We were lucky enough to see a spectacular red sky that reflected a romantic glow over the whole restaurant. With one of the most impressive wine lists around, you can drink anything from OXO's own-label Vin de Pays d'Oc at £18 to '82 Petrus at £4,200.

The staff were ridiculously attentive but not in a distracting way, although I was a little disconcerted at the start of the meal when there seemed to be more waiters than customers. I struggled a bit with the predominantly fishy menu but eventually the tempting descriptions led me to a few suitable options. I had the vegetarian starter, arancini, which are essentially fried risotto balls, these were little bundles of joy, although I found the accompanying greenery a bit plain and the truffle quite flavourless. For mains it was hard to choose, and as all around us couples were devouring delicious looking meat food envy made it hard to make a final decision. We went for lamb and duck, I had the lamb (well actually I had the duck too as it was too good not to steal several bites off my companion's plate). There were none of these silly ‘tiny’ portions for mains – I had lots of different things to try on my plate, including parmesan gnocci (amazing) and mango and carrot sauce (surprisingly delicious). It was so good I was almost too full for pudding, which I always find to be a very upsetting dilemma at the end of a meal. We shared the chocolate plate, which was rather large so better for two. It included a mini tower of earl grey chocolate mousse and a bizarre chocolate and mint sorbet.

A walk along the South Bank after dinner concluded the perfect evening.