Places To Eat: Madeleine Shaw’s Get The Glow Gluten Free Menu Exclusively At Harvey Nichols

As the numbers continue to rise with people becoming increasingly mindful of what they consume whilst embarking on the journey to start leading a health conscious lifestyle, the bigger the demand has become to source places to eat where a menu is dedicated to healthy dining by way of offering plant-based, refined sugar and gluten free dishes. 

When I found out that leading luxury retailer Harvey Nichols was exclusively collaborating with Celebrity Nutritional Health Coach Madeleine Shaw as part of the retailer’s BodyKicks (#BodyKicks) campaign,  accepting an invitation to sample Shaw’s specially curated Get The Glow menu was one I simply wasn’t going to turn down!

Arrival

I was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to enjoy and share this experience with two other journalists and brought along friends Sasha who writes over at personal fashion and lifestyle blog Sasha Shantel (also founder of Inspire-LS Magazine and Bei who can be found writing all things health and well-being via her blog Bei Fit for an overdue catchup.

We arrived at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Brasserie just after our reservation time of 2 pm on Saturday 23rd May 15,  and were greeted by welcoming friendly staff before being shown to our reserved seating area. It is worth pointing out that we originally was booked to dine in the terrace area but due to ever changing English climates, the weather suddenly changed for the worst whilst en route and didn’t show any signs of changing upon arrival.

As we sat down and made ourselves comfortable on the leather couch, our waiter’s for the afternoon Diana and Pierdo came over to welcome us and took the time out to talk us through the Get the Glow menu. We were offered still water with lemon slices, delicious fig bread and olives whilst we were making our minds up on what to have.

The menu of five virtuous dishes on offer were inspired by the recipes from Madeleine Shaw’s first cookbook “Get the Glow” which was launched at Harvey Nichols on 23rd April 2015 nationwide. Torn between the dishes, we mutually decided to share between us a Green Goddess Salad Bowl and and the Mexican BBQ-Grilled Corn and Quinoa Chilli Salad as our starters.

Salad Starters

Out of the two salad dishes we tried, the protein packed Green Goddess Bowl (£8.95) was my stand out favourite of the two! The generous helping of wilted spinach was cooked to perfection and was surprisingly warm with a wonderful buttery flavour. This was served with hard boiled eggs, sliced avocado with sprinkles of pine nuts to create a subtle crunchy texture. Needless to say this plate was devoured in quick succession with my guests in agreement just how scrumptious this was. Bei kept ‘ummming’ at every mouthful whilst Sasha was left surprised and inspired just how tasty healthy eating can be!

The Mexican BBQ-Grilled Corn and Quinoa Chilli Salad priced at £12.95 was another lovely savory dish, but for me nowhere near as flavourful as the Green Goddess Bowl. The quinoa salad was nice and fluffy, drizzled with Greek yoghurt and accompanied with baby tomatoes. The taste of the grilled corn was noticeable but did not overpower the dish and was decorated with omega sprinkles and sliced avocado. Whilst the description stated inclusion of ‘chilli’ I however did not taste any hint of spice.

BodyKicks Mocktails

In between eating our salad dishes, our waiter Diana came over to see if we wanted any drinks to accompany our food. We were shown the BodyKicks Mocktails luckily for us, we each got to taste each creation.

All three mocktails were equally enjoyable but if I had to make the tough decision to call out a favourite it would have to be the Coconut Kick! Made primarily with Jax Coconut Water, pieces of Coconut Flesh and Pomegranate Seeds, this sublime concoction was made with diced fresh Hot Chilli’s that gave a noticeable kick upon ones first sip. This is not your ordinary mocktail and would go down a storm with those that like a little bit of heat.

Now I am no stranger to green juices and smoothies, and the Clean and Green mocktail did NOT disappoint. Made with Spinach, Avocado, Cucumber and Lime this concoction was consumed by myself in record time (blink and it was gone). The overall texture was noticeably thicker and creamier than the other two mocktails on offer which is down to useof avocado. This creation left a refreshing lingering taste and accompanies the food very well.

The was another stellar mocktail in the form of Glow For It and was made some of my favourite ingredients including Mango, Elderflower and Ginger. This fusion instantly transported you to a beach in the Sunny Caribbean and can see why Sasha decided to only drink this creation throughout our lunch experience.

Protein Main Dishes

For our Main Course Sasha and I opted for the Thai Beef Salad, Salt and Pepper With Cashews (£17.95) whilst Bei decided to try the Spicy Salmon, Cucumber and Yoghurt (£14.95). At this point we were all too busy catching up with one another to which Sasha and I totally forgot to inform our waiter how we wanted our beef cooked but have to give credit  to our waiter Diana for coming back approx 5 minutes after we ordered our mains to double check our preference on how we like it done.

Upon arrival, we were pleased with the decently sized main dishes and immediately tucked in. The flavours of tender Salt and Pepper Thai Beef strips served on a bed of grated carrots, sprouts and cashews worked in harmony with each other and was thoroughly enjoyable whilst Bei’s generously sized Spicy Salmon fillet, spiralized cucumber spaghetti and Greek yoghurt dressing made for a very filling savoury dish.

Dessert

Belly’s fully, happy and content, we somehow made room for what turned out to be my highlight of our lunch experience at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Brasserie, DESSERT!

Now those that know me would know how much I love my sweet treats (one of my criteria’s to pass when selecting a restaurant to dine at), and was highly anticipating the Raw Chocolate Cherry Fudge, Vanilla and Coconut Diary Free Ice Cream (£7.95).

Despite the dessert being served on what we all agreed was an oversized plate for the somewhat small Raw Chocolate Cherry Fudge, I kid you not when I say every single mouthful was a heavenly experience! Complete silence surrounded our table as we enjoyed this decadent treat and much to my amusement, I noticeably witnessed my guests and I gradually consuming smaller portions, in order to prolong this experience  and savour the moment. I devoured every last piece including the slightly sweet yet chewy mini meringue’s. Our Get The Glow lunch experience was concluded with a cup of warming hot chocolate made with almond milk (not on the official menu)!

Thoughts and Overall Experience

Madeleine Shaw‘s exclusive Get The Glow menu for Harvey Nichols Spring #BodyKicks campaign comes highly recommended! The fact that this menu has a mixture of plant-based, gluten, refined sugar and dairy free alternatives to choose from not only encourages a more holistic and well-being being approach to what food choices are available, it also caters to those who have food intolerances where allergy sufferers can finally dine with friends and loved ones without constantly feeling singled out whilst being reassured that their dietary requirements are being attended to in a friendly relaxed yet stylish environment.

Whilst our meals were complementary, I thought the price of the dishes and mocktails were more than reasonable given the location and venue we were dining.  Each Get The Glow dish makes for a perfect post-workout brunch / lunch with friends. My only suggestion would be to perhaps include a calorie breakdown of each dish for those that monitor their daily calorific intake.

The overall service was top class with each waiter we came across during our visit and were very attenative. Our waiters in particular, Diana and Pierdo really took the time out to enlighten us about each dish on the menu in great detail.

I would also like to thank the ever delightful Harvey Nichols press team  (Bianca in particular) for arranging our complementary visit. Superb food with awesome company, what more could a lady ask for!

Shaw’s Get The Glow Menu will be available to experience at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Brasserie nationwide up until Sunday 31st May 2015 and strongly advise you to book a reservation to try these amazing dishes before Sunday. With that said, I am secretly hoping and praying this menu will be available for many months to come please god as I feel Harvey Nichols can set the trend for other retailers when it comes to providing allergen free, healthy alternative dishes for their customers.