The bestest free dinner in my life...

A couple of days ago, this company that my company is working with, or more like we were hiring their services... a small group of representatives came down to London. Of course they didn't just come down to London just to see us la, they had other business to do. But they invited us for dinner.

Wow. They brought us to this posh restaurant, those kind that I've only ever seen on TV and never ever stepped inside before. The place was quite big, the ceiling very high, the chairs heavy and comfy.

To start off, the waitress recommended a "white truffle martini". Ooh man, its not Martini at all, it tastes like pure vodka (what brand I cannot tell la) serverd in a Martini glass. With an empty stomach, I was starting to feel tipsy just after finishing like a third of the glass. But I had to finish it soon because everybody else finished their starting drink already - beer, what do you think?

After that they served a complimentary "broth". or soup. whatever, it was this pinkish creamy liquid served in a huge plate with a tiny depression in the middle about the diameter of a tennis ball. I managed to get three spoonfuls of that stuff. haha, tastes like prawn/lobster soup. no idea what it is.

After that the wine came. It was a light white wine, I think chardonnay. Oh, I wasn't drunk yet at that time. So still could manage some conversation with the hosts.

And then my starter came, hot foie gras. Eh, I never ever had foie gras before ok, I wasn't even sure how to pronounce it. luckily the guy next to me ordered it too, and quite loudly, so I just copied the way he said it. "foe-gra". i think thats how its pronounced. It was sooooooo sinful. It tastes much like duck fat, very soft, very tasty, and also with that oily, fatty texture of duck fat. and also with the sweetish roasted flavour of duck fat. Except of course its not duck fat. It was served together with a side salad. which was nice because otherwise the oil dripping from the sides would just overpower me...

While I was enjoying my duck fat taste-alike, the waiter asked if I'd like to switch wine from white to red after the starter. sure, I said. And after I had finished with the dish, I downed the glass of white wine.

That was a mistake.

Soon after, my main course arrived. I had ordered loin of venison (with a lot of other trailing words at the end I don't remember). The waiter said "Just to let you know, the venison is served medium rare." Cool, I had never had medium rare before, and if a posh restaurant only serves the venison medium rare, it had to be pretty confident that medium rare is very good. So I said "yup, sounds great!".

When my dish arrived, I wasn't disappointed. Though the loin seems pretty small, it was nice and thick and juicy and yummy. Marvelous. Totally awesome. Ahh, I'm getting hungry just thinking of it.

While I was having it, the world was spinning a bit. There were still people talking to me and joking together about stuff with me. I had to maintain appearances and so talked as best I could and laughed/ made comments as appropriately as I could, under the heavy influence of alcohol. But I don't know if you guys experienced it before.. you know you're drunk. you're high. but you have to act as though you're not drunk. you're suddenly so "self aware" - not sure if this is contradictory, since you're suppossedly drunk, but you feel as though the noise around you beginning to rise in volume, yet you can't make out what others are saying. you inspect others people's faces to see if they recognise that your eyes are beginning to "stone". ah well, thats what I did, while I was still happily enjoying my medium rare piece of venison - and having little sips of the red wine, which smells so good.

After the main course, I wanted to go to the toilet. The guy on the right of me left first. So I said to the guy on the left of me that I would go too. I stood up, slowly, while pushing the heavy chair out. Turned around and realised that I wouldn't be able to keep up any apperance at all the moment I let go of the chair that I was holding on to. I will definitely be walking tipsy turvy to the toilet. So then I sat down immediately and told that guy "maybe I'll go later."

haha, so paiseh, luckily he didn't notice (or at least I think he didn't notice).

Then they served another complimentary dessert, which was some caramel pumpkin mash in a shot glass that looks like a test-tube. was interesting la, but didn't really like it.

And then my dessert came. It was this nice chocolate cake that has chocolate fudge oozing out when you cut into it (the kind that they serve at bakerzinn), served with pistachio ice-cream. yummy.

and they just kept ordering bottles of this dessert wine. I don't know what its called la, but its a light sparkling white wine (not champagne) with very low alcoholic content and tastes so fruity its like grape juice, not wine. But its nice. mmmm...

And the best thing of all, I didn't have to pay a cent (or pence). =D