450. The Wilderness Christmas Party.

  Who could resist what was promoted as The Wilderness Christmas party? Not me, obviously. My dining companion and I dined at the beginning of service and so a party atmosphere had not really bubbled up by then. But then again, I was there for the food and every gourmand knows that the best dishes come out of the kitchen at the start of service. And the presence of Sonal Clare invariably brings a party atmosphere all by himself. 

  So, six courses, the Wilderness music throbbing in the background, the chefs busying themselves with their meticulous work, steam and smoke, what better way to party in the run up to Nöel? And rather good food it was, much of it, admittedly variants on familiar themes but at the centre a fine beef dish ‘aged sirloin’ (tender as butter to use a cliche and immaculately tasty, accompanied by fine roast potatoes, a remarkable carrot and the ‘trimmings’, or the Alex Claridge version of them, at least. 

  Before the beef, there was a lustily flavoured red prawn ‘tostada’ with a pleasing cap of Oscietra caviar though it may be argued that the punch from the prawn negated any other flavour present in the dish, This was no calm, gently embracing drawing into the meal but a powerful and forceful dragging one into the meal to come and the forcefulness of it was not unwelcome. Next there was the calm after the storm - the familiar Cornish blue fin tuna with a pleasingly pungent slice of olive and a razzamatazz jalapeño sorbet. Then, a hopelessly immaculate edition of The Wilderness’ iconic Big Mac, say no more.

  I derived least pleasure from the rather nice flatbread served with celeriac shawarma. This, I’m sure, was less to do with the work of the chef than my less than tepid admiration for celeriac. Well, you can’t please all the people all the time as any chef would quite reasonably tell you.

  After the sirloin, there was the deceptivel named mince pie - Claridge’s brilliant white chocolate banana with flavours of Christmas (Claridge’s banana antedated Tom Shepherd's version by two or three years). And to wind up the party there was Claridge’s again familiar (in a pleasing way) version of sticky toffee pudding with a soothing ice cream. 

  Not a bad start to Christmas.

Rating:- 🌞🌞.

  Following allegations of unacceptable behaviour being made about one of the presenters of the BBC’s Masterchef programmes, the frequently irritating Gregg Wallace, after his withdrawal from appearing on the programme, it was announced on 18 December 2024 that the restaurant critic of The Guardian, the not-one-to-hold-back Grace Dent, will take over the co-hosting role with John Torode. This will see her first appearance in the next series of Celebrity Masterchef which is often quite ghastly but is certainly ripe with potential with its new hostess. I shall certainly watch to see what happens.