Famous Faces, Favourite Places
Darkness becomes morning light and the incessant rain of the last five days turns to dry roads as we head south west; the rising sun illuminates a cloudless sky across which the blue starts to deepen as we near the end of the 320 mile journey and approach Cornwall, our second home in more ways than the obvious. Without fail, arriving in Cornwall makes both of us, me in particular, feel like we’re home: today’s blue skies and early Spring sunshine just make those feelings even stronger than normal.
But this time, as we leave the dark and the damp behind, our conversation is as much about yesterday as it is about tomorrow.
Visiting the restaurant of a top chef is often a brilliant experience, but usually just slightly tempered by the knowledge that the chef is rarely present in person, instead leaving the day to day responsibilities to a trusted team. Not so, it turns out, at Mere, in London’s well heeled Fitzrovia district.
As if our visit to famed Monica Galetti’s restaurant wasn’t already fabulous enough as we swooned our way through six outstandingly delicious courses of high quality food with matching wines, our taste buds treated to a whole succession of exciting flavour combinations, we are taken to another level by a casual comment by our waiter.
Answering Michaela’s question about how often Monica visits Mere, this engaging and efficient young man’s response is disarmingly nonchalant:
“Well, she’s here right now, she’s working in the kitchen tonight”.
And then:
“Would you like to meet her?”, and says he’ll check if it’s OK.
Still in surprise and maybe just a little in awe, we are lead into the kitchen where, sure enough, Monica is not just working “in” the kitchen, she’s working at pace and under pressure, like all other team members. Here right before us is this person, and persona, so familiar to us from our TV screens, working but taking time to talk to us as she delicately places finishing touches on to sumptuous dishes.
When we say that we are surprised and delighted to find Monica working in the kitchen, she simply says, “well of course, it’s my job”.
It caps a wonderful night in a fabulous restaurant where the service, the quality of the food, the ambience – pretty much everything – has been terrific, yet the surprise of actually meeting Monica herself was an unexpected bonus.
With that experience behind us, the Spring sunshine and blue skies of Cornwall seem even more welcoming than usual, and as we wander out on to the expansive sands laid bare by one of the lowest tides of the year, there is even a little warmth beneath the chill of the Atlantic wind.
It’s so good to be back.
14 Comments
Alison
Very exciting! Whose next Rick?
Phil & Michaela
Well funnily enough…..now you mention it….
Alison
😁
Toonsarah
Wow, now I’m properly jealous! We went to Mere for lunch to celebrate my birthday in 2020 (we often go abroad but that was off the cards then). We had a fabulous meal but didn’t get to meet Monica and I’m a big fan so would have loved ot have done so!
Phil & Michaela
Yes we’re fans too (is why we there!) but really didn’t expect that to happen!
WanderingCanadians
The Camel Estuary looks beautiful with all that sand and bright blue skies. Talk about great timing that you were able to meet Monica.
leightontravels
So people will often say things like “That dinner looked amazing” on blog comment threads. But in this one it seems an almighty understatement. While I’m not familiar with Monica Galetti, there’s no doubting the look and descriptions of those dishes. Glad you are “home” for a spell.
Phil & Michaela
It’s a bit parky though!
grandmisadventures
How fun to get to meet her! Great start to your visit at your second home 🙂
Marielle
The food looks divine. And you met Monica too!
Forestwood
That was indeed lucky to get a chance to meet Monica! A fun surprise.
wetanddustyroads
Wow, what a beautiful blue sky! And your food … amazing looking dishes and hats off to Monica for taking the time to talk to you guys!
Annie Berger
I know I’ve seen more than a few photos in your posts about Padstow and the Camel Estuary but these ones are simply spectacular! I am reminded again why I’ve bookmarked so many of your Cornwall posts and would love to venture to that part of England some day.
So happy you got to meet Monica on your recent visit to her restaurant – hope you thought of the great meal you feasted on when BA deprived you of a meal on your allegedly ‘short flight’ to Cairo!
Phil & Michaela
It’s just plain beautiful!