The chaps yearly London bash

Every year or so my good friend Colin and I fly over from New Zealand and spend about ten days hanging out in a variety of interesting bars and restaurants.
As we both turn 60 this year we thought we would up the anti and expand our activities.
To that end, our friend Chris flew over for the occasion, Colin's mate Gazz winged in from Africa and son Richard fronted for a short stay with his parents, having flown to Beijing where he picked up The Trans Siberian to Moscow. After spending a few days with his mates in Berlin, Richard finally fronted at our apartment on the same day Colin and Chris arrived from Auckland. Along the way we would pick up a number of Colin's UK based friends for three of the more important lunches.
Friday started slowly with an obligatory kick off drink at The Grenadier, the former mess for some of The Duke of Wellingtons senior staff. Lunch at the Guinea and the die was cast.
SATURDAY, having convinced Julia she needed a lunch out, we headed directly to the Spaniards Inn on Hamstead  Heath. This is a great pub with history to burn (it's probably worth checking same out on the net).
On SUNDAYwe spent a pleasant day in Wimbledon, an area where both Colin and the John Alcorn family had briefly lived back in the mid nineties, then it was onto a great pub lunch and a pub crawl, obligatory stuff for a Sunday.
MONDAYand we are down to the serious stuff, with Hakkasan Mayfair first up on our hit list. There is no question about it, this Michilin-starred Asian fusion restauarant serves up brilliant food in opulent surroundings.
TUESDAYand it's the Savoy Grill, not the greatest food experience (the Grill itself is run by Gordon Ramsay, enough said) however the revamped hotel is a sight to be seen. I don't know how many hundreds of millions they spent on the recent upgrade, however what I do know is that the result is simply spectacular.
WEDNESDAY, Greens in Cornhill in the finance district. Silver service, lots of "suits" doing their million dollar deals over lunch. All very interesting.
THURSDAY, the official 60th joint birthday celebration held at the OXO Tower restaurant just a stone's throw from Blackfriars bridge. Great views over the Thames , our party of eight had a brilliant afternoon. I should mention one guest, Roger Smith, a friend of Colin's and one of the world's finest watchmakers. Roger is a true artisan. He and his small team put together something like ten watches annually. As a treat Roger had dragged along one of his recent creations, a prototype  for a soon to be manufactured limited release of thirty five watches. And the price for this time piece? Big gulp , drum roll please.......£179,000. Just imagine if you owned one of these suckers and the strap broke. It wouldn't bear thinking about.
FRIDAY, off to my favourite restaurant , Zuma in Knightsbridge. I've been here a number of times before with Julia, Colin and Chris and I have to say that if you are looking for great food and top atmosphere this is the place , no question about it.
SATURDAY, the final hurrah and a real biggie!
Colin had booked six of us into the chef's table at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, located in the  Mandarin  Oriental Hotel. This is the real deal. Currently rated as 'number nine' restaurant in the world.
We had a bird's eye view of all the action in the kitchen and let me tell you there was action aplenty. These chefs and their extensive support crew weren't messing about. We arrived at 1230 on the dot (as requested) departed at 1630 and during that time the kitchen was a hive of activity. This was one expensive meal, however it was a real experience and one I felt privileged to be party to.
I wouldn't normally harp on about a menu however this is one exception.
Nine period courses in total with matching wines. 
This wasn't a lunch for the faint-hearted.
1) Roast scallops with cucumber ketchup. 1826.The Cook and
   Housewife's Manual Mistress Meg Dodds
2) Roast Marrowbone. 1720. The Cook's and Confectioner's Dictionary
    by John Nott
3) Meat Fruit. C. 13th-15th century
4) Roast Turbot and Cockle Ketchup. 1830. A New System of Domestic
      Cookery by Maria Eliza Rundell
5) Chicken  cooked with Lettuces. 1672. The Queene-like Closet or Rich
     Cabinetry Hannah Wooley
6) Beef Royal. 1716. Royal Cookery by Patrick Lamb
7) Tarte of Strawberries (c.1591). 1591 Book of Cookrye Very necessary 
     for all such as Delight therein by A.W
8) Tipsy Cake. 1859. The English cookery book by J.H.Walsh
9) Nitro Ice-cream Trolley
The experience was almost overwhelming. It's no wonder Heston is regarded as "The Man" . The guy is a genius  and the results speak for themselves.
And that was that. The guys went back home and I immediately started recovery work on my liver.
It's now two weeks on since that final lunch and I'm pleased to be able to advise that my body is just about back to normal.
Was it worth it. 
Of course it was.
That's what life is all about, n'est-ce pas?

Cheers
PS. I had thought of listing Heston's wine list for that particular lunch or outlining all the interesting pubs we dropped into during that frantic ten day period, however when I started thinking about these lists a queasy feeling came over me so I think I will quit whilst I'm still ahead. My liver is giving me the message not to press my luck.