Marriott? YA, Marriott.

Sunday can mean a few things but here in England it can only mean one thing - Sunday Roast.

Flate mate and I were craving roast and we intentionally woke up early to doll up and get some English tradition. We wanted to try something different than our usual down the road pub so we ventured two streets further away from home and came across the Cumberland Hotel which advertised their Sunday roast. The hotel is rather stunning for it definitely is NOT England. A very phuture kind of theme with contemporary interiors. Rhodes was the bistro which did the roast but we were turned away when told they only opened at 1pm. Our blackberries read 12.30pm. Dammit.

After a quick brain whiz of what kind of food was around the area, we recalled that there was a small Marriott round the corner from Primark, down from Marble Arch station. Scurried across and was warmly greeted at the bar. When asked to view the menu, an eccentric lady showed and explained what they were serving that morning. She also kindly pointed out that the meal cost 25.50 pounds which was nice for most of the time no one tells you how much it is until the very end, ending up with a shocking figure. There was roughly just two other people in the room and usually hindsight would've told us to turn away then but for some reason we decided to take the risk. Our laziness was fruitfully rewarded.

(I'll call my flatmate K on this blog)

We had a choice of an appetizer, main and dessert. Basic three course meal which included bread and butter as well as a specially made passion fruit champagne. Tea and coffee was also available.

K started with the salad and I opted for the soup of the day. Its always a pleasure to ask what the soup of the day is because for some reason, I find the explanation from the waiter/waitress rather interesting. Our waitress was completely eccentric, however she was bearable during our stay for the meal. She explained that she was told it was Leek and Onion but tasted it more like cauliflower soup when she had sampled it earlier on that day. Leek and onion soup which tasted like cauliflower? Yeah, why not. Usually if the homemade soups determine the verdict for the remainder of the courses. We came in without any expectations, even though this was the Marriott (probably because I dont rate or regard The Marriott very highly) but we were delightfully surprised.

The passion fruit champagne. Pretty colours. Perfect for a Sunday start!

The butter came out on a small black slab with cute little forms and thats all they were. Aesthetically pleasing but extremely tasteless. Less trying to impress with looks till the substance is 100% there!

The salad K ordered.

 At first glance it looks over rich with too many flavours for the anchovies would have probably been too strong for the parmesan cheese however the dressing was considerately light, tomatoes were fresh and sweet which was perfect with the crunchy lettuce. The anchovies were a tad fishy and could've been smaller but overall the salad was refreshing and easy to nom down.

The leek and onion soup I ordered. 

Definitely home made for the lumps were still there and the cream could be tasted. I could understand what the waitress was saying about it tasting like cauliflower for it was rather creamy and that would've deluded to a creamy cauliflower taste. However the onions are present and gives the soup a strong solid flavour. Addition of salt or pepper was not needed. Was tasty but not out of this world. I guess French Onion soup would still remain as one of my foremost favourite soups. 

Onto the main course.....SUNDAY ROAST NOM NOM NOM. 

Doesn't it just look MHMMMMMMMM. Water drooling. I was water drooling when it came to the table. Both of us had the beef with steamed vegetables. I was surprised to see the bok choi haha maybe the chef put it on the plate because we were Asians???? Lol. 

The cavalry was spot on, succulent and tender. The vegetables were lightly salted, not overcooked (for once) and the gravy was beautiful. K and I both agreed that the roast here was better than the one we had at the buffet at Harrods. 

The yorkshire puddings came on a separate plate and were HUGE. Never seen such big yorkshire puddings in my life. They were home made and were crunchy on the outside but once sliced through, the moisture instead of pudding steams out and the dough gives off a beautiful sheen. I sound crazy but it does and it just makes you go GA GA when you eat it with the roast and the gravy. *Drool. 

 Lastly the dessert, my favourite part of a meal.

We both opted for the homemade apple pie and Z-O-M-G. F******KING delicious. The biscuit top was semi over cooked but the sugar from the mixture of the dough just somehow melted so magically inside the mouth. The apple filling was not overly sweet and the base was creamed with a soft half cooked sugared dough. It sounds overly sugared but it just explodes and then melts in the mouth. The ice cream is also home made because you can taste the frozen bits which meant it hadn't been made completely right. However, the taste of the ice cream was interesting. They had mixture vanilla and cinnamon together for this flavour. Not my favourite. The custard dressing for this pie was left on the side.

Oh heres a photo with the custard poured over the pie. Not overly thick which makes it a nice light dessert. The ice cream was probably not necessary for the custard for enough. Strawberries also not necessary. The pie was beautifully made and you could see that they tried hard to make the presentation work but perhaps they tried abit too hard. Contemporary chefs should not follow contemporary artists (-_-)" 

Either way, I enjoyed the dessert and could've eaten the entire tray of pie if I was offered it. (free for course)

This experience at the Marriott opened new doors to the fact that we could try the roasts at not only pubs but also in the hotels. Alot more venues just got added to the list, better work harder at earning more cash-or suspend myself from shopping for awhile.