Amazing dinner at Stoke Place - 7th of September 2013

I love booking country house hotels for a weekend away now and again.. the English countryside is so beautiful and there are so many tempting hotels around England with easy access from London.
One of my favorites is Stoke Place in Stoke Pogues which is a leisurely 45 min drive from central London.. perfect for a weekend away.

We have been coming here once a year for the last 3 years, i always snap up the offers they have when i can.. and this time it was a 1 night stay that included a room upgrade, a bottle of champagne, 3 course dinner, breakfast and late check out - all this for a great rate!

One of my favorite things about Stoke Place is the food at dinner.. AMAZING. I actually can't believe that they haven't been awarded a michelin star as yet.. it is definately on par if not better than many of the awarded restaurants in London.

In our offer we had a 3 course meal from the a la carte included.. this is what i had.

Amuse bouche 1: A beautiful Tomato gazpacho foam with a red pepper crisp - lovely and light

Amuse bouche 2:Apple and Fennel salad with star anise and apple sorbet and a dill crisp. This was absolutely amazing - sweet but savoury and the same time - perfect palate cleanser.

Starter: Seared scallops, scallop tartare, charred cauliflower and peanut puree, mooli, wasabi sphere.
Beautifully seared scallops that went so well with the puree and got a kick from the wasabi. The tartare was fresh and beautiful - left me wanting more :-) The presentation itself was a work of art!

Main: Wild Sea bass, vanilla and corn puree, crayfish, samphire, purple potato

Again, lovely flavours.. i was sceptical about the vanilla in the puree but it was just a hint of vanilla which worked really well. The fish was beautiful and moist and i loved the samphire with it. The only thing that was a bit tasteless was the purple potato - they looked amazing but the flavor was a bit hard and floury.

 

 

Pre-dessert: Compressed watermelon, verjus sorbet, lychee and chili cloud.

Great little pre-dessert with refreshing watermelon and the verjus sorbet was tart and fruity.

 

Dessert: Dark chocolate and olive oil tart, brandy cherries, pistachio ice cream and cherry jelly

The cherries were replaced by berries since they were out of season (shame - i LOVE cherries) but nevermind - the chocolate was smooth and dark and the ice cream creamy and lovely and the little candied pistachios crunchy and sweet.

 

I can't recommend this restaurant enough.. i would happily come back every month if i could :-)

Restaurant Nu in Girona - 31 August 2013

So, as per my previous post we did not get into El Celler de can Roca.. well, i had a back up plan since Girona is full of interesting restaurants. One of them was Restaurant Nu which is situated in the lovely Old town of Girona (think cobbled streets and lots of bars, cafe's and restaurants everywhere)

I contacted them a few weeks prior to our visit and booked a table for 8:15pm. I also asked them about children and they welcome children but they do not have a kids menu - you can however ask them to adapt the dishes as necessary.

We were the first people in the restaurant when we arrived but it quickly filled up and by 9pm lots of people were being turned away (walk in's)... so highly recommend for anyone thinking of going to book in advance!

The dining room was very chic and modern with an open kitchen and very friendly service. The wine list was very affordable with bottles starting from €16!

So, the food.. artistic plating, interesting flavours and combinations.. highly recommend.

So we started with 2 sharing dishes.. The "King prawn tempura with curry mayonnaise" - light, lovely and fun presentation and the "Creamy mushroom fritters with squid ink" which were amazing!

 

We also had to have the "Cake bread with tomato and olive oil" Crispy toasted bread with an amzing tomato / olive oil flavour.

Then we were on to the starters - I had the "Slice of foie gras, hazelnut praline and sweet wine. Beautiful presentation and lovely flavour combination.

I also took photos of my hubby's starter which was "Ravioli of black sausage with a pumpkin and apple cream" Looked amazing!

My main was the "Tuna Tataki, soya sauce and basmati rice with curry" Sounds pretty standard but it was beautifully balanced with a hint of curry.

 

My husband had the "Lacquered loin of lamb with mustard and potato gnocchi" and my friends daughter had the "Wagyu beef hamburger with vegetables and a poached egg".. not a scrap left on either plate so must have been good!

We were pretty full but could of course not leave without having dessert!
I had the most refreshing dessert: "Red fruits tartare, soup and its sphere of vineyard peaches" Beautiful to look at and full of fruity flavours - not too sweet and not too tart.. and i love the fruit soup sphere!

The kids both went for "Oreo cookies, gianduja cream and banana ice cream" :-)

Other chosen desserts were the "Home-made “xuixo” cream-filled pastry with star anise" and the "Mango, passion fruit and chocolate ravioli"

I would definately come back here again if i were in Girona.. innovative food for a fraction of the cost of most fine dining restaurants.. you just can't go wrong!

 

 

Rocambolesc Gelateria - Roca brothers in Girona - 31 August 2013

We went to Girona with friends for a few days and i had put us on the waiting list for El Celler de Can Roca (worlds best restaurant currently http://www.cellercanroca.com/index.htm ) back in May when we booked our holiday.. You have to book the restaurant a year in advance in order to get a reservation.. but we lived in hope that they would get a cancellation.. i kept spamming them on email, begging, sending charming post cards, pleading etc ..but to no avail :-(

SO, the next best thing would be to visit the Gelateria called Rocambolesc, http://www.rocambolesc.com/carro_eng.html, owned by Jordi Roca, the youngest of the brothers and the pastry chef at their famous restaurant.

Girona is a very pretty city with cobbled streets and thousands of ice cream places - i have never seen so many ice cream places in one town.. i do wonder how they all make a living! We stayed at Hotel Nord 1901 - a cute family run hotel in a great location - only 85 meters from Rocambolesc.

So, what about the Ice cream place? Well, it was smaller then i thought it would be.. but the decor as Willy Wonka like as the pictures i have seen. They had 6 different flavours of ice cream (4 creamy and 2 sorbet) and they are all soft ice - so no scoops.

I went for the baked apple, creamy and rich with a topping of toffee apple, butter shortbread and cooked pears. The winner however was the Carrot sorbet (also had some mango in there) topped with physalis.. it was AMAZING.

Our friends kids both had their ice creams topped with candy floss from the shops own machine... they loved it.

The flavours change but if you go - have the carrot sorbet - you wont regret it!

Helene Darroze @ the Connaught - 24 August 2013

One of my bosses gave me a real treat for my birthday - a 9 course tasting menu with wine pairing at Helene Darroze at the Connaught http://www.the-connaught.co.uk/mayfair-restaurants/helene-darroze/#Opening_Hours

This is a 2 Michelin starred restaurant so we were in for a real treat. We got a very warm welcome from the restaurant manager on arrival and the ambiance was warm rather than stuffy.

The tasting menu was really interesting:

 

We started off with some little canapes and were warned to not over do the bread basket due to the amount of courses we had ahead of us.. oh so true!

 

Our first dish was the Oyster, now, i am not a big fan of oysters but the combination was beautiful and with it a glass of chilled rose champagne!

Next we had the duck foie gras which was amazing.. i was doubtful about the pistachio puree but even though it was a strange pairing it somehow worked.. very memorable dish.

The Ravioli came next.. it was a tiny bit too al dente for my taste but that is my personal opinion. Again, i am not a big fan of calamari but this was very nice and balanced.

The Manager and the waiters had told us at the start of the meal that the scallop dish is one of the most iconic dishes from Helene so the pressure was on ... The scallop was beautifully cooked and the spice delicate. The carrot mousseline was also to die for.

 

The hake was the weakest dish for me. Too watery and not much flavour. Not a bad dish  but it didn't live up to the others.

Next came the chicken, beautifully moist and lots of flavour from the mushrooms and foie gras it was stuffed with. It was my hubby's favorite dish.

The Cheese came with a matching jelly for each one.

 Time for dessert.. with a pre dessert of pannacotta and berries! lovely.

Followed by a beautiful dessert made of apricots. Light and airy with a fruity apricot flavour.

 

 

The last dessert was rich and indulgent with chocolate and nougatine.

 

 

I really could not eat anymore after this but then i spotted the sweet trolley.. and i decided to have some mint tea. They had 9 different home made sweets on the trolley, everything from truffles to macaroons, to jellies and marshmallows.. i had one of each (yes i am greedy). I could of course not finish them all so i got them boxed up to take home. Nice touch!

We had a lovely time here. It took 4 hours but it was time well spent on a very special evening. Since i had a gift card we did not even have to pay service charge.. amazing. We walked out feeling happy, content and very very full. :-)