Room Service from Plum + Spilt Milk, London

Whenever I visit London, I stay at The Great Northern Hotel, a boutique property, part of the Tribute Portfolio, and thus associated with Starwood (er, now Mariott), where my loyalty status is. It really is a unique hotel, in the heart of King’s Cross, dating back from the 1800's, located right on top of the huge King Cross station, a major, major transit hub. The rooms are ... well, full of character, but quite small. They have no fitness facilities, no extra spaces, etc, but, they make up for it in charm. One highlight, for the foodie, a "pantry" on every floor, stocked with homemade tea cakes every day, jars of British candy (lollies!), and commercial grade Nespresso machines. I adored this perk, and ate way, way, way too much candy during my stays there. And they offer passes to Barry's Bootcamp nearby, another gym, and more.
But of course, we are here to talk about dining (besides tea cakes and lollies). The hotel features a fine dining restaurant Plum + Spilt Milk, a classy bar - Snug Bar, and a street level, "working man's" bar, GNC Bar. An incredible perk with my status is that I got unlimited, a la carte, breakfast at the phenomenal restaurant (or more casual bar if I choose), every day, and it was so, so, so very good. Certainly what made me return time and time again to the Great Northern, despite the tiny rooms (ok, the fact that it is 2 min walk from my office also helped).

If you are curious about the restaurant name, it comes from the colors of the dining carriage of the Great Northern Railway original car: maroon and cream. Which translates to ... plums and spilt milk, naturally?

I'll review the full restaurant, and the bars separately, and focus this review on a new experience for me: room service.

During one trip to London, my traveling companion got quite sick, and couldn't really leave the hotel. Rather than go out and try to find food to bring back to him, I decided to just order him food from Plum + Spilt Milk, the nice restaurant in the hotel that provides the room service. We had been meaning to try out the restaurant for a meal other than breakfast anyway, and, uh, selfishly, I knew I could order the signature dessert this way, and that is what I really wanted to try.

2016 

My first experience was for my sick companion.  He asked for two things: salad and bread.  Not exactly exciting, and, not really what this fine dining restaurant specializes in, but it what he wanted in his sick state.  They did have a "garden salad" on the sides menu, and a tomato salad starter that people rave about, so I ordered those, my dessert of course, and, bread and butter.

The order arrived quickly, probably only 15-20 minutes after I placed it, but it came sans the bread.  Normally I wouldn't have cared, but, he wanted bread to nibble on, so I called down and it was quickly brought back up.

Overall, the food was fine, and it was our first experience ever ordering room service.  I must say ... it was quite easy!

Bread and Butter.

The bread was served warm, large slices of hearty seeded bread.  I am pretty sure this is the same bread that we enjoyed at breakfast, just sliced much thicker, and served warm rather than toasted.  I liked that bread toasted, but it was even better like this.  I really do like the hearty seeds in it, and, well, the butter is magic, as you read about in my breakfast reviews (coming soon!).  I was happy to steal a chunk of this.

 Garden Salad. €4.50.

"I just want to munch on simple greens, maybe a little dressing", is what my companion had requested.  I had no idea what the "garden salad" would be, but it actually met his description perfectly.  Assorted mixed greens (including crisp, fresh endive!), with a very light vinaigrette.

Boring in my world, and not what I think of as a garden salad (shouldn't it have .... more elements of the garden?  Carrots?  Tomatoes?)  But anyway, it was fresh and what he wanted, so, a good €4.50 for a simple bowl of greens.

Isle of Wight heirloom tomato salad, air-dried ham & pesto. €10.50.

This salad reviewers love, and we both had loved the heirloom tomatoes on the avocado toast he ordered one day at breakfast (I promise, review soon!), so, it sounded quite promising.  I figured the air dried ham could add a little protein to his side salad too (... and give me some yummy tomatoes to steal!)

The majority of the salad was chunks of assorted heirloom tomatoes in all colors - red, orange, yellow, green - and all sizes.  They were vibrant, juicy, and pretty tasty.  This restaurant really does an incredible job with sourcing their produce, like the berries I raved about each morning at breakfast.

The ham I did not try since this was for him and there wasn't much, but it was thin slices of crispy dried ham, sticking straight up.  There were dollops of pesto throughout, flavorful and fresh, and tasty with the tomato.  The final garnish was cute edible flowers.

The plating was beautiful, and it really was strange having someone bring this to our room.  We aren't used to this!

Overall, this was good, but, I wanted a cheese element with it.  Did someone say burrata?  Or whipped ricotta?

Plum + Spilt Milk (Little Version). €5.

And finally, a little something for me: dessert!  After all, I did the "hard work" of, uh, picking up the phone to order?

This is the signature, and namesake, dessert of the restaurant, so I obviously had to finally try it.  It is available in a full portion, or, like several of the desserts, in a mini version.  I adore that they have this option, so you can have a reasonable size portion of dessert, or, uh, try a few.

The mini size was perfect, given that I was going out to a real dinner anyway.

So, what is plum and spilt milk anyway?  It is a chunk of brioche, coated in sugar and cinnamon and baked (or fried?), topped with a stewed plum, and served with a scoop of milk ice cream.  Of course, room service hurt this one a bit, as I snapped the photo the moment it arrived, and, as you can see, the ice cream wasn't really in tact.

The brioche was kinda soggy, spongy, and even a bit oily.  It seemed like it was supposed to be more crystalized on the outside from the cinnamon and sugar coating, like the top of a bread pudding, or perhaps a bit like french toast.  I liked the sugar coating, and the idea here, but, the spongy nature was not very nice.  Maybe this was due to it sitting for a bit?  It was lukewarm, and I think normally it is actually a warm dish?

The chunk of plum was interesting, a large chunk of stewed plum, really quite tart and flavorful.

And then, the spilt milk, which, this actually sorta looked like, given its partially melted state.  This was milk ice cream.  Yes, it tasted like milk.  But a bit icy.

I almost really liked this, and I think that fresh, it might have been amazing.  Basically ... a crispy warm top of a caramelized bread pudding, with fruit, and ice cream?  That sounds like a recipe for success.  But ... that also isn't what I had.  Instead I had a soggy barely lukewarm chunk of bread, a kinda too tart plum, and a puddle of icy milk.  Hmmm.  I think I need to give this a real try when I get it fresh in the restaurant, but at some level, I'm not sure the plum will ever win me over, and cinnamon and plums seems a bit of an odd pairing.

2017 Visit

The next year, one night, I really wanted just a little something sweet to end my night.  I tried to just get something to go from the restaurant, and just went down to the bar to order, and I was turned down.  They said they'd bring it to my room.  As much as I appreciated the ease of ordering room service, I just wanted to get it more quickly.  

Sigh.  It took 40 minutes to get my dessert, and of course, I had to pay a room service fee.  I should have just gone to get the Burger King waffle across the street (I'm only half joking, I loved it in Munich! 

Plum + Spilt Milk (Little Version). £5.

I ordered the signature "Plum + Spilt Milk", but I knew it was radically changed.  It was even more changed than I expected though!  This literally looked *nothing* like the previous version.

After 4 years on the menu with a warm brioche base and milk ice cream, they turned it into ... a pudding parfait.

In the little jar was stewed plum compote, cream, and sweet toasted brioche croutons.  Totally different.  Gone was the ice cream component, replaced with the cream.  Gone was the huge plum, replaced with the compote.  And the single hunk of broiche, turned into bite size pieces.

I really like the plum compote, sweet and flavorful.  This was far more successful than the prior version.  

The cream layer seemed to just be ... slightly sweetened, slightly thick cream.  Kinda boring.  Toss up on which was better, as before it was kinda icy and melted, so, neither was really a star.

I liked the idea of the sweet brioche croutons, but I didn't like them.  Good texture, cinnamon sugar coating, but ... I didn't like them.  Too hard, not good flavor.  Like the prior version, this element was not a success.

Overall, this is probably a more approachable item, definitely better for room service, but I didn't think it was really any better.

Iced Peanut and Salted Caramel Mousse (Little Version). £5.

Another night, I again wanted just a little something when I got back to the hotel. 

I had been at a work event all night, and, gasp (!) the organizers had the nerve to not include dessert in the menu. I even tried to order a la carte (and pay myself), but, alas, not allowed.  Being a dessert girl, I had to fix this situation, stat.

I stopped at Pret a Manger on my way back to the hotel to grab a baked good to meet my sweet tooth needs, but, alas, I didn't really care for my choice (Mince Pie).

So when I got back to the hotel, it seemed totally reasonable to order another little pudding.  They were little, right?

Of course, by the time it arrived, my body had caught up with the heavy buffet food I had eaten all night, the mince pie, etc, and I wasn't actually hungry anymore.  Good thing it was small.

It wasn't quite what I expected, ordering a mousse.

First, the top layer was chocolate.  Whoops.  I don't eat chocolate in the evenings.

Second, it didn't really look like a mousse.  Not light and fluffy.

Third, what was "iced" about it?

I still don't understand the name.

It was a peanut butter bar shaped thing, I guess "mousse", but not light and fluffy.  Firmer than an (American) pudding.  I don't know what I'd call it.  Sorta like a soft cheesecake?  It was very rich, and had decent peanut butter flavor, but not as intense as I was hoping.

The top was thick chocolate ganache, obviously a great pairing with peanut butter, but alas, I mostly avoided it due to the time of day.

The "salted caramel" part of the name was the drizzle over the top.  I didn't taste salt, but it was thick sweet caramel.  I think this is the same caramel they use on the Brioche Eggy Bread with salted caramel at breakfast (which of course I had already tried).

Also on top?  Candied peanuts!  These I loved.  They were also totally a breakfast ingredient, used in the Coconut and Cardamom Quinoa porridge.  I'm onto them and their ingredient re-use! (which, is smart).

On the side were two puffs of cream, that I think was supposed to be either caramel or peanut butter flavored, but, it was too mild to really detect, garnished with some cocoa nibs.  Doh.

So, overall, not "iced", not "salted", not "mousse", but, good enough?  The plating was lovely, the chocolate, peanut butter, cream, and caramel were a classic combo (candy bar anyone?), and the size was perfect for one.  I really like that they do these tiny desserts!

Macarons. £4.

I dislike macarons, so I certainly didn't order these.  But my hotel left them for me in my room one night.

They were ... macarons.  The cookies were particularly chewy in a way I didn't like.

I ate the fillings though, the chocolate  ganache was my favorite, thick tasty chocolate.

But alas, macarons.