And so back to Shropshire for my first visit of the year to Ludlow and a shock on arrival at Fishmore Hall to find that the remarkable Laura Penman had sold the lovely, peaceful small hotel with its gorgeous view of Clee Hill and a distant glimpse of Ludlow castle in the less than three months since the dog and I had last stayed there over Christmas. Change. So much change in this post-COVID era. Some old familiar friendly faces had left the hotel’s employment, plans are afoot for renovation and new buildings. Old blokes find it hard to see change as necessarily a good thing but we must see what comes to pass.
For the moment at least the kitchen of Forelles remains unchanged and I was pleased to be choosing from the à la carte dining menu. I started with a dish based on Flower Marie cheese, a tasty soft and creamy ewe’s cheese from East Sussex. The flavour was enhanced with fig and pear and the texture with crushed walnut.
The main course was nicely cooked breast of poussin nicely complemented with pancetta little cubes of apple and thin slices of pickled cauliflower and a cauliflower purée. This was very satisfactory. After a well judged inermediate dish there was a dessert of choux au craqualin with a pistachio creme patisserie, pink peppercorn ice cream and delightful segments of blood orange. The pastry chef had provided an enjoyable choux and the ice cream was very pleasurable and it made a very pretty dish.
The meal had the style now familiar at Forelles under the stewardship of chef Phil Kerry with his careful, fine cooking techniques on show coupled with some originality of approach to devising the dishes; the combinations of the ingredients are sometimes challenging but usually interesting and always beautifully presented.
Fishmore invariably delivers a fine breakfast but I rarely go the Full Monty and indulge in the Full Breakfast, rather I frequently order the little rectangle of excellent smoked haddock sans Hollandaise and poached egg which the menu pairs it with but instead I eat it peppered and heavily buttered and accompanied by white bread and butter. One of my own private little pleasures.
A couple of evenings later I enjoyed a second dinner at Forelles and chose the six course tasting menu substituting the vegetarian option for the omnivore option in the main course - the vegetarian choice being root vegetable Wellington - the mere sight of the word ‘Wellington’ sends me into paroxysms of culinary lust.
The amuses gueules were delightful - I loved the presentation on a gilded spoon of a deeply delicious gougère and the crab apple croustade was wonderful, paired as it was with a cube of tasty ham hock.
There followed a cup of deeply flavoured onion consommé with a Gruyère crisp and then, after a serving of fresh focaccia with cultured butter on to an accurately cooked and tasty scallop paired with fennel and
Sweet passion fruit. This was very good.
Then, perhaps my least favourite dish - a generous quantity of celeriac with mushroom and lovage. The powerful flavours proved a little challenging for me.
And so to the Wellington. The puff pastry was very acceptable and the vegetables were well cooked but I couldn’t help thinking what a gem this would have been with beef inside instead of vegetables. Here much work had gone in to producing a worthy dish for those who do not eat meat but, no matter what you say, vegetables are rarely exhilarating as substitutes for meat or even fish. A vegetarian should have appreciated the Wellington but someone who would normally being expecting the flavour and texture of meat could not help feeling that there was something missing which could never be truly substituted for. Still, nice try.
Two good desserts rounded off the meal. Firstly, seasonal rhubarb - always a welcome element though perhaps in this case it was a little too al dente for my taste but the dessert was finely paired with some lovely rose ice cream and refreshing lychee.
Afterwards, there was a chocolate dessert which incorporated salsify in it which left me a little ambivalent about the dish.
It’s spring. The weather is characterised, as it has been for months, by frequent and sometimes heavy rain. But I took the opportunity to photograph the blossom on the forelle pear trees in the garden at Fishmore. I hope the Forelles survive the change of management at Fishmore and all the ambitious plans which include extending the garden. After all, what would Fishmore, and for that Forelles, be without their forelles?
Rating:- 🌞
No comments:
Post a Comment