ABOMINABLE !
I went to the old Henry's End through the 90s and early 2000s.
I thought it would be exceptional enough for a friend's birthday dinner who I wanted to have good food and a good experience. That did not happen, and to a shocking extent. The food was revolting slop that looked like what you would find served in a prison, and (literally) toxic to an extent you would not EVEN find in a prison. I have never written (or felt compelled to write) anything like this--and the following--ever before.
I made reservations a week before, discussed that it was a friend's birthday, and requested a good table as I was booking in advance. This meant nothing when arrived as we were sat in their new not very exceptional dining room, at one of the even less exceptional (or desirable) tables, just as if we walked in off the street. When I asked if a better table could be provided (there were a few better empty tables in the room) I was told no, and that people reserved the other tables THAT day. However, after a while we WE'RE given a less bad table and told "people canceled" as if a favor was being done for us.
We started with drinks. I was given a martini on the rocks that was watered down from the "couple" if ice cubes in it. My friend's daiquiri was unrecognizable from any daiquiri EVER and tasted like nothing I have ever tasted even in the worst dive bar. She sent the drink back, and it was not the first thing that got rejected from our table during the evening. (I should have rejected everything.)
I had started dinner with the Caesar salad, she, the Duck Mousse. The salad was 'OK' but the mousse was more a puree than mousse and came with the unwanted surprise of chutney mixed in the under portion of it. This was NOT listed in the menu description. We also both switched to wine knowing no "mixing skill" would be required. THIS is the least awful part of "dinner."
The entrees came. We both ordered "Braised Duck with Seasonal Wild Mushrooms, Shallots, Thyme, and Lingonberries." My dinner companion ordered mashed potatoes, and I ordered sautéed spinach. The plates with the duck were non-descript brown heaps of sauce with something underneath. The spinach was swimming in water and the mashed potatoes were slopped onto the plate in lumpy mound. We each tasted our side dishes. Mine was at least not overcooked (I would suffer form having eaten it later.) Hers caused an expression on her face that caused me immediately to taste it. And I was APPALLED.
It was a tasteless mountain of paste except for the overwhelming amount of SALT that had been DUMPED into it. She then tasted her duck, looked horrified, and said "I cannot eat this." I tasted it as well and it was horrendously tough, over cooked, and comprised (again) mostly of salt. This was to an extent I have never encountered before. If there were mushrooms, rice or shallots (described in the menu description) anywhere on the plate, I could not tell. Everything was mixed into an ugly overbearing brown sauce that was slathered over the inedible --equally ugly--brown carcass on her plate. BOTH of her dishes got sent back. Unfortunately, my friend's appetite was destroyed at this point and she said she could not eat anything else.
MY duck was not so badly overcooked, but equally buried underan ugly, heavy brown sauce. Perhaps out of shook over encountering one horrible thing after another, I ate my duck along with my spinach. It was not good and I would pay for that--in a couple of ways. My paying with my health, continued the day after eating at Henry's End, by feeling extremely unwell and like I mainlined SALT.
I convinced my friend to order dessert. She acquiesced. ANOTHER big mistake. Her "Black and White Mousse" was a thin layer of chocolate mousse under a thick layer of frozen cream. My Chocolate Hazelnut Cake was nothing you can't get in a diner, except for the "extra" taste of salt. This added to the toxic levels that at that point, had already been delivered into my system.
I foolishly ordered coffee. The coffee had a "burnt" odor, and when I poured the cream into it, a curdle "chunk" plopped into the cup, sending little curdled particles of cream out in a ripple effect throughout the surface of the beverage.
Today as last night, I pay with my health by still feeling ill from the mega does of salt I can still taste and was DUMPED in COPIUS amounts into almost everything served. I usually have no problem with salt. But today, the thought of it makes me feel ill. As I and my dinner companion both believe the duck was prepared MANY hours before it was served, it may have been left out to accumulate bacteria. That would account for how bad I felt the following day.
I saved up for last night. If anyone thinks as I did--of their good memories of the old "Henry's End" with a mind towards going, there PLEASE reconsider.
Shame on you Henry's End... for the last time I was there ! read more