Louise and I dined at Pétrus last night to celebrate her birthday. Pétrus, a Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay restaurant, is at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. There were many courses, lovely surroundings, incredible food of course.

After they sneakily sprung me with a glass of champagne (doh!) they brought Foie Gras in wafers and tiny thin croutons with salt cod dip and parsley oil canapés. Then a choice of breads, the loveliest was the potato and honey bread.

Then starter, I had partridge on a bed of onions with tiny bits of bacon, mashed potato that must have been 75% butter and the jus from the meat. Now, I haven’t eaten much game, but usually it’s quite tough. This was only braised for the briefest time and it was succulent as anything.

Between starter and main they gave us a shot glass with an onion soup topped off with truffle foam. For the main I had Norfolk suckling pig cooked for twenty four hours, braised chicory, mushrooms, pomme pureé and the pork jus again. The meat was unbelievably tender and flavourful, and they including a few tiny belly cuts, the fine dining equivalent of crackling. Lip smacking.

Then they gave us a little pre-dessert apple ice, yoghurt and sauterne jelly. For desert I had almond panna cotta with vanilla poached pear and tonka bean ice cream. The ice cream arranged on top of the panna cotta in a perfect sphere. The pear, very thinly sliced, had a circular hole cut in it and was attached to the ice cream as a hat might be to a head. Caramel fronds curved up from plate to form a sort of sugar henge.

We finished it all off with a selection from the truffle trolley (the other type of truffle) and tea and coffee. A steal at all the money I ever had ever! :-)