Le Gavroche. OMG

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary, and unlike the previous two years we hadn't arranged to go away anywhere. It's been a bit of a tough year in the Glutton household, so we decided to throw caution and our credit card to the winds and to to Le Gavroche. Obviously, we were looking forward to some old-school service, maybe a cloche or two, lots of butter. But it was a million miles better and more lovely than either of us anticipated.

Cold, dark and rainy. The lit windows of LG glow in the darkness of Mayfair. Apologies if this is not news for people used to dining in 2* Michelin restaurants, but it was a treat from the minute I approached the door. On arrival, I was taken to the bar. Not shown where it was, taken. Once GB arrived, they brought some lovely treats - a shredded oxtail thing in puff pastry and a salmon-y thing on a sliver of crispbread.

The menu was brought to us in the bar and GB and I nearly exploded with excitement. As I'd booked, they assumed I was hosting, so without any further comment I got the menu with the prices (GB's menu was priceless) and the wine list. THe menu was as you'd expect - top quality traditional French, brought up to date.

We asked to speak to the sommelier, and expected him to be a bit supercilious about our £50 budget. Instead, he acted as is this was, of course, the ideal budget and suggested some great wines - the one we went for was delicious and well under budget. And his niceness set the tone. While the service was classic, old fashioned, top quality service, it was done with an incredibly light tough and a huge amount of charm - it was seductive and never did we feel uncomfortable, even when we didn't know what the flat spoons were for and the nice waitress explained it to us. The room was run by a set of formidable looking twins, and she was just lovely and sweet, as were they all. And when a lady gets up to go to the loo, they escort her. Really.

So, to the food - I started with a Souffle Suissesse, which turned out to be a floating island style poached egg white in a cheese sauce. Light as air and delicious, but only ate half as it was hugely rich. GB had langoustines and pig trotter in a mustard sauce, which came under a cloche! Also deeply savoury and umami-ish.

Lovely bread and two sorts of butter - salted and unsalted.

Onto the mains - I had veal with mashed potatoes and a morel cream sauce. It was carved and plated at the table and was, without question, the nicest thing I've ever eaten. The veal was tender and soft and the morel sauce was light, cream, woody. The mash was so soft and butter, melty and just salty enough. Chris had roast grouse, carved at the table, with three sauces and goose fat crisps. Bit gamey for my liking but he loved it.

Puddings - Chris had a caramel mousse with chocolate and pears. The caramel had the lovely, burnt taste that I love and the chocolate was dark and glossy. I had ice cream. Bearing in mind how much I love ice cream you can imagine my delight when an ice cream trolley arrived. Six silver ice cream pots for me to choose from. Three sorbets and three ice creams - I went for vanilla and white chocolate, which were soft and melty, tons of flavour, sweet, comforting. I had to be restrained from licking the plate.

Petit fours, coffee (which kind of coffee, milk or cream, would you like a top up) and we staggered into the rainy night, having had about 50 staff saying goodbye and thank you to us.

Eating somewhere like this is a much-anticipated treat for us and I was worried it wouldn't feel luck much fun, or, more likely, that the food would be great but we felt out of place. But the staff were so lovely, kind, friendly. I've never smiled so much during dinner and I hope they noticed how much we were enjoying it. Michel Roux jr also came over to the table to check how everything was - nice to know the chef actually cooks in the kitchen!

Anyway, lovely lovely lovely. Worth saving up for and can't wait to go back.