During my last few weeks in London, I couldn’t wait to show my dad my favourite restaurant in Mayfair called Sketch. It’s a huge cluster of uniquely-designed, eclectic restaurants in a gorgeous Grade II listed townhouse.

There’s a casual cafe, a forest room specialising in ‘Afternoon Tea,’ a brand-new pink room recently renovated (above), a three-michelin starred restaurant by the famous chef Pierre Gagnaire from Paris, and if that’s not enough, they also have the funkiest cocktail bar called East Bar – a tiny circular room sunken in to the ground. Phew!

Basically you’ll never get bored of this place, you could keep coming back and discover a new room to explore.

So I’d probably say my best ‘dinner-time’ story happened here.

As my sister and I were leaving Nobu several months ago, the waiters recommended we head to Sketch nearby for drinks. We were intrigued by their description, so headed through their thick, black curtains in to an unexpectedly large maze of restaurants, hidden rooms and bars. After a few cocktails at East Bar and some seriously interesting entertainment from a very drunk, (ahem PDA overload) couple, we decided to head home.

Coats on and almost out the door, my sister suddenly grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear ‘OH MY GOD THAT IS JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS!!“. She had literally just finished watching the entire series of the Tudors.

So we both looked at each other and silently agreed to promptly turn around and pretend we were just entering the building. She flashed her killer smile as he walked past and we proceeded to give our coats back, heading back to the bar.

You’d totally do the same right?!

We sipped on our cocktails giggling and laughing with excitement like two complete idiots, but hey, he’s famous and I absolutely loved his movie Match Point, not to mention he was very gorgeous in it.

Then much to our surprise, he left his table and walked straight towards us (escorted by a waiter), stuck out his hand and said “Hey I’m Jonathan, what are your names?” By the end of the conversation, he ended up actually writing his name and number on a piece of paper and asked us out for ‘tea’ the next day!

Mentally high-fiving ourselves as he walked away, we casually continued sipping our drinks, resisting the urge to wave our precious piece of paper in the air and scream, ‘We’re going on a date with Jonathan Rhys Meyers!’

I was just a little bit excited and happy (and very tipsy) so obviously explained the whole story to the taxi driver on the way home.

The next day I text him, not expecting him to answer at all, and he replied (!!) with a date and time for a dim sum lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Yauatcha (amazing dim sum).

We unashamedly headed straight to the shops and bought new outfits (any excuse right?). To say I was nervous would be an understatement, I mean what were we going to say? He’s a super famous actor and we were going to have a whole lunch with him!

Cut a long story short, it was one of the most bizarre lunch experiences of  my life and perhaps one of the most awkward also. FYI: Don’t ever have dim sum on a first date. Nightmare to eat.

He seemed quirky in his own way and came across as intelligent and deep-thinking. I never would have thought in a million years that I’d be discussing relationships and dating with the hottie from Bend It Like Beckham!.

So enough about that, and back to the delicious food served at The Gallery in Sketch. The decor was lovely. It was entirely pink and very warming, with dim, relaxed lighting.

The walls are almost completely filled with the drawings from an artist called David Shrigley. It made for an unusual contrast, but it somehow just worked.

For starters my dad ordered Sweet and sour snails, chorizo in carrot juice with spinach velouté. Snails with chorizo is an interesting combination, and paired together surprisingly well.

I had Crabmeat, tête de veau, squid with cucumber and green apple water, gougère filled with creamy brandade. The crab meat was so fresh and light, it was delicious. I just wished there was more of it on my plate! The bottom layer of my plate was basically an apple and cucumber jelly. Very impressive!

For our mains we ordered Gently poached cod, fresh herb ‘crumble’, broccoli purée with anchovies, red pepper confit, mimolette cheese. The cod was perfectly moist and delicate. It paired well with the thicker, more powerful-tasting broccoli puree. I’d love to make it myself at ‘home’ one day.

As we were deciding what to order, a charming waiter swooped by and explained the specials menu. He sold ‘Mac and Cheese’ so well that we were pretty much salivating at the thought of this dish. With promises of the best, aromatic truffle oil flown over from Tasmania, the most exquisite layering of cheese and pasta and how every diner has given rave reviews, we had to try it.

He was right! My dad was very impressed and he’s in to his food just as much as me. There was a very generous amount of truffle oil on top and you could really smell it’s uniquely pungent aromas from across the table.

Not your average mac and cheese!

The bathrooms at Sketch are pretty famous too. With sweeping, white stairs leading up to little spaceship-like toilet pods, it’s probably the only bathrooms I’ve been to where every single person stops to take a selfie.

I should also mention that the waiters were all so attentive and caring. After telling them that we sadly only had about an hour (running late as usual) before our evening show started, they brought out the food, wine and cheque amazingly fast. We managed to wine, dine and pay within the hour.

After dinner my dad and I whizzed over to the Palladium Theatre to catch Chelsea Handler’s stand-up comedy called Uganda Be Kidding Me. Little did I know while booking this that it is NOT the kind of show to take your dad.

I sat for two hours cringing in my seat. Thank god it was dark so you couldn’t see my face slowly turn scarlet red. I really enjoyed it and there were some serious belly-laughs going on from the audience at times, but definitely a show to go to with your girlfriends where you can really appreciate the stream of crude sex jokes and confessions together. Not your dad.

I think I’ll leave the parents to making the threatre choices next time! At least I’ve got the restaurants covered 🙂