Red Bombshell dress and a night at Heston's

I have always wanted a Bombshell dress. They never fail to make the wearer look curvaceous and confident, whether it's Nigella Lawson, who bought 12,  or blogger Nikki Garnett (scroll down to see her in a full-length gold Bombshell dress). So when I heard, three months ago, that I'd succeeded in getting a fab new job at my advanced age, I decided to treat myself to a red Bombshell dress.

It got its first outing at the weekend when Mr Mutton and I went for dinner at the glamorous Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  It was my post birthday treat. 

I find it hard to find the right shoes to go with occasion wear. If I was able to wear high heels, finding a fabulous pair wouldn't be a problem. But I literally can't walk in them so I have to find kitten heels or low block heels. They don't always look very fashionable. The model on the Bombshell website was wearing nude high heels with her red dress but that's a bit too "Middleton" for me. I found a suitably quirky and cute pair of shoes at one of my favourite brands, Poetic Licence. I teamed them with nude fishnets.

First stop, a glass of Champagne at the bar. 

Dinner by Heston is not to be confused with his eponymous restaurant The Fat Duck at Bray in Berkshire. I went there a few years ago and it's a fabulous experience, working your way through the experimental and stunning tasting menu.

The Dinner restaurant, overlooking Hyde Park, offers modern dishes, inspired by historic British gastronomy. The menu shows the year when each dish was originally to be found. We love this restaurant because it's got such a great vibe. The staff are very friendly and enthusiastic without being pompous or overbearing. I realised I was done with Michelin starred fine dining when, at another famous London restaurant, a waiter said snootily "I'll ask the water waiter" when asked for another bottle of water.

Mr Mutton gets his close-up 

The last time we were here it was in June for our wedding anniversary. We had a table looking out at the park and the light was fantastic. Last night, it was dark outside and more atmospheric inside, but it didn't make for great photography so I won't share all the photos we took of our food (sorry Nancy!).  I was seated with a great view straight into the kitchen. One guy spent the evening grappling with the flames of an oven that was searing pork chops. Another was painstakingly cleaning and trimming mushrooms individually.

Mr Mutton had the famous "Meat Fruit" (c.1300) which looks just like a mandarin but is in fact chicken liver pate. I had a starter called Salamagundy (c.1720): chicken oysters, salsify, marrowbone, horseradish cream & pickled walnuts. The combination of different textures, and the powerful flavours, were divine. We didn't choose Savoury Porridge (c. 1660) - snails, girolles, garlic, parsley & fennel - because neither of us like snails.

For the main course I had Powdered Duck Breast (c.1850), braised & grilled red cabbage, spiced umbles (whatever an umble is....!) and pickled cherries. Mr M had Cod in Cider (c.1940), with chard and flamed mussels. All tip top! I was too stuffed for pudding or cheese but Mr M managed to push down Sambocade (c.1390) which came with a goat alert: goats milk cheese cake, elderflower and apple, perry poached pear and smoked candied walnuts.

The final flourish was a sweetmeat presented to me on a plate with "Happy birthday Gail" in ganache.

I kept the jewellery simple with a rose gold circle necklace and rose gold charm bracelet 

Outfit Details

Red Bombshell dress from BombshellHQ;  Shake It shoes by Poetic Licence, Amazon

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