Farewell Eugene

The series of farewell dinners was so long and varied that it's quite a shock to the system now that he's actually gone. It was a bit too cold to cry when I finally said goodbye to him, but the sentiment is still there. I will of course miss him for his insatiable appetite and disturbingly similar food tastes to mine, but he was also instrumental in helping me through all the recent changes in my life. *stops pukingly sentimental posting*

Somehow along the way, he has never been to Latium, despite all my evangelical rantings about the place, so it was an obviously place to have a final final dinner. Unsurprisingly Eugene became a big fan of the place afterwards, and once again I am plotting to maybe have my birthday dinner in their new(ish) private dining area.

The only slight disappointment is that they have changed their amuse bouches! I can't even remember when I started coming to Latium (2004ish?), but they have always welcomed their guests with a plate of arancini, mini pizzas and mini calzone. Now it seems to have been replaced with a series of crostini-type things. Very nice they are (cured salmon, wild mushrooms, and salami), but somehow it does take away from the magic of the place.

Given it was Eugene's first visit, we stuck to the classics. Both of us started with Latium's version of steak tartare (yes, my second tartare of the week, no wonder I am expanding again), which includes parmasan in the tartare itself, and is topped with some impossibly cute poached quail eggs:

Both of us also had the fish ravioli, which I will not bore you about again, and very competently done fish dishes (monkfish with pumpkin sauce for me, similar to the one at the bottom of this post I had a while back, and scallops for Eugene), and somehow we still had enough reserves for pudding. Now, I have never come to Latium for their desserts, and I rarely rarely order any. But as I've said before, I'm having a funny turn recently, and keep ordering desserts.

And very glad I was too! The rum baba with pistachio ice cream and marsala sabayon is something I would actually consider skipping one of the savoury courses at Latium to have again. Shocking, I know. It is huge (and again, I quite like the fact that Latium's presentation is never quite dainty), but I had no trouble shoving it all into my mouth:

Eugene then declared that their tiramisu is one of the best in London, having told me a story of when he spent an entire day sampling tiramisu's all over a few years ago. How is this boy not fat??!!

So yes, birthday dinner at Latium in the works. Who wants an invite?