For my birthday this year, I wanted something different. I decided not to have my birthday dinner at a Michelin restaurant. Michelin restaurants serve only the best dishes and their hospitality is completely spot on. I just wanted something low key and chill for a change this year. I told Jamal my boyfriend to surprise me - I told him didn't really care where we went as long as I get to wear a dress. 

Surprise!

We dined at Aqua Shard located on the 31st floor of The Shard where we were given options of contemporary British cuisines. The view was breath- taking. Fortunate for us that it wasn't cloudy that night, we managed to get a full on view of what London had to offer - Beauty.

(Here's a picture of my handsome boyfriend to bless your day :P)

To start, I had the Wood- oven pigeon with mushroom sauce and butter beans and Jamal had the steak tartare (picture not available). For our mains, we shared a rump of steak. This was actually for two to share. It came with a side of mash potatoes as well as large crispy onion rings. yummmm. As for our desserts, I had the guava sorbet in a vanilla meringue trifle whilst Jamal had the selection of cheeses. We had our dinner and enjoyed the ambience. 

The food was nice and delicious but I guess both of us are just a bit spoilt by michelin restaurants that we thought the dishes tasted just plain and 'O K '. I felt like the service wasn't that great as well. There were crumbs all over our table from our bread basket and the waiter didn't even help clean our table once. He did the usual, like collect our empty plates and change our forks and knives. We felt as if they were attentive, which is something you don't want your employees to practice in your restaurant. I enjoyed how the steak was cooked. We specifically asked for medium rare steak and we received a medium rare steak. 

Another thing that saddens me is how people dress these days. No doubt you have money, but it doesn't give you the right to show up in trainers (no doubt they are Chanel trainers). Some even showed up in a full adidas wind breaker and trackies. I mean, this is a place where you are supposed to dress up - mainly smart casual. I just don't get why people take dress codes to lightly. People like these make fancy restaurants look cheap. 

SJY