Located inside the prestigious Bvlgari Hotel The Rivera is
located Knightsbridge - and at the edge of Hyde Park The Rivera is a beautiful
yet wonderful restaurant. I have always dreamt of visiting the Bvlgari hotel as
it screams in luxury and elegance. I was fortunate enough to book a table there
to dine in this wonderful place.
The restaurant was beautiful, I enjoyed the princess-y
staircase and can picture myself wearing a beautiful dress walking down the stairs
(but in reality I wore simple shoes as I am likely to tumble down and a LBD).
The staff were friendly at reception and at the restaurant, although I was
amazed at the scenery I was a little confused about the shoes the waiting
staff wore - converses, but we cannot judge but the service was great.
My dinner date and I had around 7 dishes between us. I cannot recall the
number of dishes we had but we were welcomes with a basket choice of bread
(that was freshly topped up after a while), an exciting choice of bread sticks
with different sauces.
What I found amusing is how little the dishes were, I was a little confused when I was told for two people we should ideally order 6-7 dishes.
Here are the photos from the meal:
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| A beautiful chandelier for the table in the other room. |
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| A pano view |
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| Table lay out |
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| The bread sticks and the different sauce options |
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| Sea bass carpaccio |
This was quite an interesting dish, I am not much of a fan of raw Sea Bass as I tend to have them steams in a Chinese way, the texture was nice. The fish was thin which almost looked invisible, and it gave an interesting taste when I had the pine nuts after.
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| I forgotten the name of this dish, however I did remember not being too fond of it. |
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| Stuffed tomatoes, parmesan and marjoram |
I've never been a huge fan of tomatoes whether they are in salads or cooked, however the stuff tomatoes - I would say it was a little too juicy for my liking but in my opinion it was pretty basic and simple for me.
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| Pappardelle pasta, girolles, tomatoes and basil |
I've always enjoyed having a pasta whenever I visit an Italian restaurant, however the pappardelle pasta does taste very home-made and different to the other pasta I have tried before in different restaurants that were not home (or in-house made). The sauce was tasty although I personally appreciate it more to be a little saucier (I am a sauce fanatic), the tomato was nice however as I previously had the stuffed tomatoes, it does seem a little overwhelming with my tomato eating. The mushrooms were nice (I love mushrooms).
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| Seared beef fillet, vegetables and girolles |
I wasn't too sure of what to make of the seared beef fillet because by the time we ate the dish, we were pretty much full, however the taste was reasonable, although I did think it was a little too well done to my liking I wasn't too sure - my partner enjoyed trying the dish. The vegetables were nice however, I did appreciate more of girolles on the dish.
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| Blue lobster with Provence artichokes |
I do enjoy this dish, it was a put together strangely if you ask my opinion, however the claw was a little smaller than I had initially expected but the taste was good.
We were given a mini biscuit as we were paying for the bill, which was quite an interesting mini gift from the Rivea, I didn't enjoy eating it though as much as I had been eager to consume the biscuit as it had a taste of almond which I didn't appreciate much of, my partner enjoyed it, I assume the biscuit was made in-house as I tried it the following day and it was soft and still smelt rather fresh.
It will be quite a nice decent visit for a couple or for after work, I visited the Rivea after work on a rainy day (typical London) and it was nice to enter the hotel then walking down the stairs to a almost different world.
Rivea, Bulgari Hotel, 171 Knightsbridge, London SW7 1DW
Tel:020 7151 1025
