First impressions, bit grey and sterile, what is the playlist playing… good lord, Brian Adams? Sparkling rose for both to start.
Tartlet
Mackerel one bite thing with oyster and seaside flavours.
Salty crunchy creamy
Ceviche
Fancy scallop, another one biter, starting to think hey this place is nice. Came very quickly after first. Sparkling rose going nice with it so far.
Suckling pig taco
This was amazing, smell of bbq smoky meaty loveliness, then wrapped the whole thing in a mini soft taco and ate it. Just a smooth creamy meaty bbq explosion of nice. Followed by long burn of chilli. So good. Possibly the best thing/food moment i have had. Think we had moved onto next wine of Gerwurtzliner.
Nigiri
Uzu topped tasty fish on soft rice. Temperature was warm and very pleasing. Went down easy. Warm heat again lasting a while after the mouthful finished.
Tempura
Prawn cracker with a big prawn in. Crunchy prawny nice goodness. But still thinking about the taco. Such a good taco.
Pastrami
A little teeny burger with very pleasant bbq smells again. Brioche and gherkin flavours. A bit big maccy for me but Alex loved it.
Break
So after the first five courses had come speedily, each a mouthful at a time. We had chance for a little break. They bought a delicious brioche with butter from some heavenly sort of place in france which was devine. Like a rube I let most of it go cold though as the waiter suggested we might want to eat it with the next courses.
At this point the pace of the meal slowed down and we had plenty of slightly sozzled chat time.
Razor clam
A long thin plate with almonds, pranwy, clams, a bit tricky to eat but very pleasing. Scooping up the sauce at the end with the spoon very satisfying. Should have saved the brioche for mop duty.
Halibut
Smooth silky perfectly cooked whitefish in a soupy/saucy (veloute?). Really luxurious and a great match for whatever wine we had at that point (i cant remember the wine but it was a creamy dense kind of thing that i wouldnt normally enjoy but went well with the course).
Squab
Presented with full foot still attached hanging off the plate with splashes of green like a Raplh Steadman comic. Big chunk of meat which was a little too gamey for our tastes and covered with a big odd but tasty leaf of lettuce. Confused with the flavours of game and sharp creamy green blobs. The guilt provoking foot leg was extremely soft and squidgy tenderness though, a hood of shame might have been required.
Wagyu
Thin strip of smoky and succelent wagu with an aubergine thingy. The wagyu was juicy delicious. Squab leg forgotten. We were onto a glass of Red by this point, can’t remember what it was, perhaps a little unremarkable but the high levels of sloshedness and stuffed meant spirits were high.
Cheese soufle
Jesus christ it looks like some kind of savoury souffle - the words of an alun whos stomach is starting to reject further input of food. Turned out cheesy and good, some kind of lettucy thing on top which was hard toeat with a spoon.
Mille fioux
I mispronounced it in front of the waiter, when it arrived a little ungainly but nice hazelnet textures. For me the squab course of the deserts - was a bit big and not 100% pleasure eating. Not to be fussy but just comparing with the rest its one of the skippers of the album.
Speaking of albums, what the hell; oasis are playing now, this playlist is awful. Enjoying judging other guests though. University professors went for the wine pairing, think we made the right choice with our al a carte. Slightly strange atmosphere to the place, perhaps all the grey is no not distract from the food, which admittedly is quite good. Felt ourselves harking a bit for l’enclumes over the top service.
Kirsh baba
Assualted by a morello cherry. Came with sorbet. A certain level of endurance for me at this point. Alex loved it, I think I liked it but equated to a sneaky hill at the end of a fell race, my stomach had to resort to hands on knees suffering to get over it.
Skull
A little bite sized pop art skull, tasted of crunchy creamy then popping candy and then a long finish of chilli. Rather good actually. Followed up by me ruining our pretence of poshness by ordering cheapest armengac and cheapest rum. Felt the dissapointment of the waiting staff at that after our previous on point wine choices.
All good in the end though, retired to room full, happy and still cheerfully obvlious to the drinks bill.