I like collaborations. They tend to bring out the best in chefs. And when it comes to “the best”, Chef Marius Gedminas at The Wilderness is a very regular achiever of the concept just as Sonal Clare is a very great achiever of “the best” when it comes to hosting an event. I also enjoy English wine. It gets better as the annual temperatures rise in this island. Nyetimber was the first English wine company to make its mark and good stuff it is too.
But to get back to basics, this blog is centred on the food encountered when dining out and so I will not stray into the field of oenology, there are those who know quite well what that are talking about while my skill is enjoying the moment when a good wine is brought forth and not getting too wound up about all the details of it. Still, even at this late age, my nose can spot a bouquet when it needs to do so and my taste buds also still function quite successfully. And so to the food served at this immaculate dinner.
To start off this cascade of pleasures - a toothsome, profoundly flavoured smoked trout belly tart, delightful by itself but embellished with the taste of XO and ginger. The thin, crispy tart pastry was a pleasure in itself. This was served lavishly with the delicious Classic cuvée served from a magnum.Then on to one of the great dishes of the year which had the diners fainting with the gorgeousness of it a bed of white crab delightfully citricised with lime under a a fine espuma with wonderful smoked mussels, the hit and texture of almonds and white asparagus and a burst of flavour from an oyster leaf. This was accompanied by a very drinkable glass of Blanca de Blanc 2016.
Then came perhaps the most perfectly cooked veal sweetbreads I can remember having been served to me, with peas and asparagus with a perfect bite to it and a chlorophyll Hollandaise. The rise that accompanied caused great surprise - so good was it - and proved to be the hit of the evening from the drinks point of view. Spring on a plate.
Then the luxury of excellent barbecued turbot - cooked perfectly and bursting with flavour and escorted handsomely by a chicken sauce and crispy capers among other ingredients. Afterwards, and sadly I forgot to photograph it, a fine Orkney scallop, cooked precisely with a Thai green sauce - this time, unlike that I had been served a few days before, pleasingly rife with the flavours of south-east Asia. This was accompanied by a highly lavish glass of 1086 by Nyetimber (the date is the year of the Domesday Book relevant to the estate) 2013. “Ambassador, you are spoiling us”.
It just remained to enjoy a familiar but not unwelcome dessert of green pear, finely diced, with a bay leaf ice cream and accompanied by a very happy glass of cuvée cherie - and why not!
A memorable evening of very fine food and highly pleasurable wine.
Rating:- 🌞🌞
Good news emerged from Michelin on 25 April when it published its April list of new additions to the Michelin Guide. Of the eight new additions, the much admired Rabbit in Stirchley has been allocated its place in the Michelin pantheon (the other seven were mostly in places favoured by the Michelin inspectors, because of their trendiness or ease to travel to - two in London (of course) and one each in Bristol and Edinburgh and three in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area). I have previously written that the opening Stirchley’s now first ever Michelin-listed restaurant was probably the most important Birmingham dining out event of the year and as spring moves on, I’m sure that remains true. The restaurant owned and run by Ash Heeger and Erin Valenzuala Heeger now has a long waiting period to secure a reservation and is presently booming. This is all very reminiscent of Upstairs by Tom Shepherd. Perhaps the BBC have spotted Ash as a potential competitor on The Great British Menu.
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