Went here for a valentines meal which we booked three months in advance due to its popularity.
I know a couple of people who had been here and they said it was well worth going, so we was very excited leading up to it. Not long before we got a call to tell us the menu and the price, £85 a head!!!!
We debated about weather we should
go and actually pay that price and eventually decided to do it. It would be a one off and we really had only read and heard really really good things about the place. I wish we had decided that it was just too much because it was not worth that price.
We had seven courses which were very small and oddly served on huge plates which made the portions seem even more ridiculous. I get that for a lot of courses you do not have a lot of food for each one but this really was tiny.
I had hoped that for the price I was paying that the meal would be the best I had ever had and sadly it wouldn't even make it in to the top 5 despite having paid about triple the amount. Some dishes were nice but there was no where near as much flavour as I expected or the creativity I had hoped for a Michelin starred restaurant.
Some of the dishes were just bad such as the kale grains and seeds. The best one was roast red deer with parsnips and by far the worst was the pudding which was a Yorkshire rhubarb tart. The rhubarb was extremely sour which it shouldn't be and the rest of the dessert consisted of a wafer on top of sorbet. Both were nice but it's not what you expect for the money in the slightest.
I left with a sour taste in my mouth (was it the rhubarb or the price?) and wouldn't be going back. People have labelled it as an 'experience' and that its 'fine dining' and people assume that you don't know what you are talking about if you don't enjoy it, you must be in the wrong. I'm not saying I'm an expert on food but I could tell this was not worth the money. It represented the stereotypical nature of Michelin starred restaurants that you assume is a myth e.g big price, pretentious customers and lack of food.
I cannot however fault the service. The way we were treated was excellent, they were attentive, constantly were asking us if we needed anything without feeling obtrusive and seemed to have a good knowledge of the food and drink that was served. They are the reason that I felt I couldn't give this a one star.
If people were curious to go I would say 100% go for lunch first to get an idea of what it's like without paying such a huge price tag. But don't get your hopes up as the cheapest is still £35 which for lunch is crazy.
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