544. Grace And Savour And Champagne.

 Who could resist the suggestion of a high summer evening at Grace and Savour where champagne is the centre piece paired with David Taylor’s fine cuisine? And what a summer’s evening - the sun perfectly warm but not overbearing, the sky blue, the breeze soothing, the setting gorgeous, the service charming.

Answer - certainly not I.

  This was a collaboration with Billecourt Salmon and included a serving of the company’s prestige cuvée, Elisabeth Salmon Rose vintage 2012 which was remarkable and retails for £179 though I very much enjoyed the non vintage Billecourt Salmon Demi-Sec which retails for £58.50 (in a gift box) and proved to be very quaffable when served with the dessert.

  After a sharply priced gin and tonic (£16) in the lovely, sunny sitting area, watching the arrival of the other diners, on to the dining area-proper for a nicely appointed table where I could enjoy the formal cabaret of David Taylor conducting his troops, front of house and kitchen, all smartly dressed, and the whole giving the impression of being a single organism, each part working in unison with the rest,  knowing precisely its role and carrying it out without falter.

  We started with a little bowl of Lavington lamb bone broth, precisely intensely flavoured, clear as a cloudless day and served with a delightful Parker House bread roll shaped like a mushroom and scintillating with the fresh summer flavour of sorrel vinegar. Did the sorrel mildly overwhelm the lamb? - possibly - but this was an enjoyable opening to the pleasure that lay ahead.

  Next came a little gem, modest in size but enormous in flavour - said to be a “celebration of carrot”,  it was far more exciting that its description sounds - a slice of white carrot under carrot tops with a gorgeous carrot and magnolia purée and buckwheat.

  Then the excitement continued to build with perfectly cooked, tender lobster with a sauce of roasted lobster shells and peach leaf - formidable - and a little salad of nasturtium and Isle of Wight tomatoes. There followed a delightful bread course - a slice of sourdough, like the previous Parker House loaf, baked on the estate, and served with a fine butter infused with the same grain from which the bread is made as well as a butter dip seasoned with fava bean miso and estate garden herbs.

  There followed an immaculately cooked piece of line-caught Cornish cod - as perfect a piece of cod as one might hope for - with a mussel and oyster cream sauce and pickled herb stems and caramelised onions. 

  Then, a very fine dish indeed - Lavinton lamb from Lincolnshire* meticulously cooked to the point of sublimity. Tender and sweet - the best lamb I have had this year beyond a doubt and I have had some great lamb so far in 2026. The lamb was served with a fine lamb sauce and the “first lettuce of the year”. Oh, the joy of early summer.

  Dessert was excellent and took the form of a slice of cream cheese with “last year’s blueberries” picked in the estate as well as blueberry icecream and brown butter. This was a thoroughly enjoyable dessert and the meal was rounded off with an unusual mignardise in the form of an icecream sandwich which was a blackcurrant parfait contained by two wafers.

  This has been an excellent evening and I ambled back to the manor so that my uber driver would have somewhere easily identifiable to pick me up from. The sun was just sinking towards the horizon and there was an orange light in the sky. I sat inside the reception area while awaiting my transport and reflected that this had been almost memorable early summer evening,

 * Lavinton lamb is raised by Sophie Arlott of Lavinton Farm in Lincolnshire. She crosses the Hebridean breed, an ancient breed dating back to when the Vikings brought sheep to these islands, with the Southdown - the former produces rich dark meat and the latter gives marbling and a sweetness to the meat.

2  July 2026.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.