Dinner and Movie with The May Fair Hotel and the Sundance Film Festival 2017

I am a self-confessed movie geek. I spend my life in front of the TV watching the latest movies and with an unlimited screening pass to couple of London-based cinemas, I spend another half of my life in front of the big screen with a plate of nachos in hand and large pic ‘n mix. Sadly, cinema food is never very good and even the drinks are lack lustre, but I’ve just discovered a new cinema and I don’t know how I can ever go back to my current cinema membership.

One Sunday afternoon we whisked ourselves off to Picture House Central on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue to watch the new hit movie, Walking Out. We were actually enjoying the movie in partnership with the May Fair Hotel as this luxury hotel is the official partner for the Sundance Film Festival. The festival recently took place from 1st – 4th June 2017 and features the international and UK premieres of films from the 2017 edition of the renowned Sundance Film Festival in the US. We got to meet the directors of the movie, enjoying the best cinema nachos of our lives and a truly great performance by both Matt Bomer (perhaps even my favourite of his performances) and the young Josh Wiggins. The movie was all about survival after son and estranged father get attacked by a bear in the snowy Montana mountains. The movie wasn’t completely my style of movie, but I could really appreciate the story, the struggle and very talented acting behind it.

After the film was over we finished up with a Q & A with the directors and took a short walk to the May Fair Hotel. A glamorous five-star hotel with a fabulous restaurant called May Fair Kitchen. I’d actually visited the restaurant in the past, but back then it was in a very different guise. It looked completely different and the food was simply just nice. But now it’s like eating in a whole other restaurant, serving a menu of Spanish and Italian small plates.

We started our Mediterranean journey with a cocktail and some scorched and salted padron peppers. The Valencian cocktail as it was known was a mixture of Bombay Sapphire gin, Mandarin Napoleon, fresh orange juice, rhubarb & rosehip cordial and fresh basil. A very refreshing Summer drink and the padrons were great.

A real favourite of mine from the menu was the smoked lamb carpaccio with crème fraîche topping. The thinly sliced lamb was tender and full of flavour and arrived under a dome filled with smoke which really penetrated the meat. It was delicious.

Simple, but perfectly executed deep-fried calamari was another delicious dish and actually one of the best versions of this I’ve had in a while. The golden crumb had so much flavour, especially when dipped into the spicy chilli mayo sauce.

In fact the small plates here are actually not so small. Instead they’re very generous and the quality really shines through. We couldn’t resist sampling the Mediterranean antipasti selection which came with a side of honey marmalade. Spicy nduja, fennel salami, parma ham, manchego and everything else you can think of. It was a real showcase of quality produce they serve at May Fair Kitchen.

I can’t really recall having a bad dish at May Fair Kitchen, but one dish I just didn’t quite fall head over heels for was this lobster risotto with cherry tomatoes and seared scallops. It was a good dish and complimented our overall meal well, but the depth of flavour just needed to be a little more intense.

Another fantastic plate of food which I’m glad our waiter recommended was the marinated and sliced beef with manchego and wild mushrooms. The meat was well cooked, the marinade was rich and silky and the cheese slowly melted over the top. A solid offering from the kitchen and again a very generous portion

Desserts were one of my favourite things about May Fair Kitchen. Rich, decadent and oh-so satisfying. The tiramisu came served deconstructed and drizzled with a Disaronno espresso sauce poured table-side.

And of course the classic chocolate fondant, served with a scoop of amaretti and vanilla ice cream. Filthy, chocolatey and full of calories. Just the way I like it and there was a lot of it on the plate to enjoy too.

After a lovely afternoon at the cinema and a delicious meal later we were on our way home, full and ready for bed. We had such a lovely time at both experiences and I’m certainly interested in finding our more about the Sundance Film Festival and look forward to 2018. Not to mention becoming a member of Picture House Central. The food at May Fair Kitchen was also the perfect meal we were looking for after our film. Sharing food, drinking good wines and sipping on cocktails while chatting about the movie and of course when we’re next going to return to May Fair Kitchen for dinner!

NB: I was a guest of May Fair Kitchen who provided dinner and film tickets. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight