A Tour in the English Country: Day 7 - The Waterside Inn

30 June 2011: Final stop before heading back to London – The Waterside Inn, Bray. Over the years, we’ve had a few memorable meals at the Waterside Inn - the location and the restaurant are so unique that we always try to come back to visit. We got here in good time for a stroll around the cricket grounds and the village, stopping to check out the menu at the Fat Duck, before heading back to the Waterside Inn, for a glass of bubbly before dinner. Sitting within centimetres’ reach of the Thames, a glass of champagne in the hand, watching the traffic of ducks and rowers up and down the river, we blended into the idyllic landscape of serenity and bliss. It was a moment to remember and cherish. By the time, we returned to the dining room after changing into more respectable attire, we were shown to our table, first time ever for us that we were offered a table with a view – what a treat!



Wild salmon with wild rice

 I started with a chilled gazpacho, with crayfish and peach, followed by a wild salmon on a bed of wild rice. The salmon was absolutely gorgeous, fresh and perfectly undercooked. Richard had a delicious lobster salad, a la façon Caesar, followed by côte de boeuf. We both thought the salmon was the best dish amongst the four dishes. The beef was tasty, but perhaps lacked the “wow” factor. Reflecting on our experience at the Whatley Manor, which was a 2-star restaurant, we felt that on this occasion, the cooking at the Waterside Inn wasn’t exactly a star above, and certainly compared less well with the Whatley Manor, in terms of creativity and innovation. The Waterside Inn for us would best be described as a restaurant steeped in tradition, with the very slightest touching up. Where the Waterside Inn excelled was the provision of seamlessly professional service, the ambiance of the dining room, the superb location and its long and respected tradition. In fact, I spotted a lipstick mark on my white wine glass after they poured the white wine into the glass…it was a little offputting, the type of mishap I would not expect at a 3-Michelin star institution.  When my salmon arrived, the filet was somewhat broken (i.e. not presented as an intact piece)....not exactly the presentation I would expect at a 3-Michelin star restaurant.  I thought Richard summarised it rather well: “3 star experience, 2.5 star food”!
For our wine selection, we had a half bottle of 2008 Meursault Navaux, Vincent Girardin. Lemony, with hints of pineapple and passion fruit, slowly building up some smokey and toasty complexity, as the wine took on a bit of weight in the glass. Perhaps better with food, than as an aperitif. A respectable effort. 15.5/20


The 2002 Volnay Les Mitans, Hubert de Montille was absolutely perfect for drinking now. Lots of subtle elegance and well-developed tertiary character. Leather and sous-bois, livened with the freshness of red cherry and slightly spicy. The tannins have largely mellowed while the acidity is still rather vivid, making this a very more-ish drink and perfect with food. At peak now, and will drink well for another 4 – 5 years for optimum enjoyment. 17/20
Richard had a glass of 2005 Suduiraut to go with his raspberry soufflé. The 2005 Suduiraut had some richness and a delicate balance. Perfectly fine, but not too exciting though.
Breakfast is always a delightful experience at the Waterside Inn. The tray was brought at exactly the specified time. The kougloff was my absolute favourite, with a bit of homemade rhubarb preserve! Yummy! The pain au chocolat was also divine!

A Tour in the English Country: Day 6 - The Whatley Manor

Mushroom panna cotta



Textures of Onion

29 June 2011: Dinner at the Whatley Manor (http://www.whatleymanor.com/), set in 12 acres of enchanting English gardens, in the Cotswolds. A 2-Michelin star restaurant. Modern design and charming dining room, not too cramped, and tastefully decorated. Excellent service. I went for the vegetarian options for both starter and main course. Full marks for presentation – both plates looked like a garden come alive. While the individual items for each dish were skilfully prepared and full of good flavours, I found the creation a little far-fetched and the ingredients not necessarily complementing each other, at least for me. So the parmesan ice cream was tasty on its own, but not really a great partner for the mushroom panna cotta, which was rather rich in flavour and light in texture. The dish named Textures of Onion was even more far-fetched as I had expected a lot more onion…..what ended up was a small parcel of fried onion delicately balanced inside a parmesan ring, with some onion panna cotta, and accompanied by a lot of asparagus, mushrooms, bread-crumbed quail eggs and foam.......all the ingredients very tasty on their own but the combination lacked harmony…….so again the chef’s interpretation lost me a bit. Richard had better luck with his langoustine starter, which seemed like a classic dish beautifully executed and his poussin breast was very moist and tasty. We finished off with a platter of cheese to share – great trolley – we tried an English cheese called Win Green and the best way to describe it was an English brie, well-matured and tasted slightly more mineral than a French camembert……We also had a cheese called “buffon” – must look it up….a bit like Ossau Iraty……plus one called “Lough Ewe??” – from the same farm that makes Stinking Bishop!

As for wines, we started with a 2007 Ramonet Puligny Montrachet – racy acidity, mineral, a good sample of village Puligny, with some complexity of lemon, exotic fruit, floral and some spice. Good finish. 15.5/20

For the red, we had brought with us a bottle of 1989 Vosne Romanée Cros Parantous, Henri Jayer. A beautiful ruby colour, with hardly any garnet at the rim. Behind the glorious nose of sous-bois, hoi-sin sauce, cherry clafoutis, vanilla spice and some toasty oak, I detected a slight whiff of corkedness, which Richard referred to as over-oakedness (and put it down to my over-enthusiastic imagination). I had thought the corkedness was even more apparent on the palate, which seemed much less interesting compared to the nose and offered very little of the fruit character that was still detectable on the nose. With a little bit more swirling and the overpowering Stinking Bishop and “Lovewe”, it was not too difficult for me to dismiss the corkedness (and to end our disagreement on this particular subject) and to continue enjoying the wine. I decided not to score this wine because of the circumstances. Richard would have scored it 18.5/20.


Other features of the Whatley Manor: very nicely situated bedrooms, contemporary design (I’m very much in favour of contemporary design as the mustiness and damp from the upholstery and curtains of some charmingly old-style bedrooms tend to set off my allergies), uninterrupted wifi in every room, powerful shower and luxurious Asprey bathroom products, well-equipped gym – the aerobic equipment could do with a bit of upgrade…..pool and spa. Beautifully manicured grounds. Plenty of indoor and outdoor areas to take your breakfast, tea or coffee or a pre-prandial cocktail. Breakfast was not a particular highlight here but everything else very well organised and thoughtfully designed. All the staff seemed very friendly and helpful. We will definitely like to come back to this place!

A Tour in the English Country: Days 3/4 - Cavendish Hotel/Baslow Hall

26/27 June 2011:  We finished a rather hectic day of visiting Chatsworth (home of the Duke of Devonshire) and Haddon Hall (home of Lord Edward Manners), which couldn’t be in contrasting styles.  For me, Chatsworth oozes opulence and power and Haddon Hall has retained a rather romantic and nostalgic charm about it.  I was a little disconcerted by the lack of mobile reception inside the main house of Chatsworth and had to speedily walk through the rooms so that I could get back on the blackberry, to deal with the flurry of emails about 2010 Bordeaux!  The gardens at Chatsworth were equally as impressive as the house and well worth spending the time. If you have the inclination to organise it, I highly recommend a scrummy picnic in the idyllic settings of the gardens, and with a good book, it would be an ideal way to spend a leisurely few hours.  We had dinner at Baslow Hall, a 1-Michelin star restaurant.  Highly recommended.  Richard had a delicious piece of turbot with lobster (with sweet corn velouté and quinoa) as starter, followed by belly pork, with crackling.  I just had a pan seared scallops with bacon, which was just what I needed! 

We actually stayed at the Cavendish Hotel during our 2-day visit (wifi did not work very well - so I had a lot of problem trying to key in orders for 2010 Bordeaux en primeur - as a result, rather stressed out!).  Our room looked out onto the Derbyshire dales and the magnificent lawn of the hotel, with the most splendid sunset on our first evening! The room had a rather sombre feel to it, perhaps it was the rather imposing four-poster bed and the dark-toned curtains.....but it was a rather nice touch to lighten up the atmosphere with the presence of the Cavendish Bear, which sadly did not get adopted by us as our luggage was already bursting with bottles of English wine and jars of relish and chutney! 

Reception staff was very friendly and helpful.  Restaurant service was much less efficient and informative.  The dining room felt rather cramped (and too warm) as well.  The warmth caused Richard to doze off on a few occasions (although it was me who drove the whole distance from Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire to Derbyshire with one stop on the motorway)!  The wine list seemed very young and not particularly extensive - a lot of wines from vintages of 2008 and 2009!  When I spotted Quinta do Crasto 2009 on the wine by the glass menu, I thought I would give it a whirl (given our delightful experience of the 2003 Xisto earlier in the month, and taking a break from burgundy J).  It took me a while to get the vintage information from the sommelier, so I did not proceed to ask which wine it was from the range.  Perhaps it was the Crasto? When the wine arrived in the glass (no, it was not poured in front of me), it was too warm, so I very carefully lowered the entire glass into the ice bucket to chill for about 10 minutes, precariously leaning against the half bottle of Pouilly-Fume that Richard had ordered.  The nose reminded me of bubblegum, hoi sin sauce, black tea, bergamot, lavender, blackberries and cardamon.  The palate was less interesting, somehow lacked intensity, concentration and complexity. Only mildly tannic, with some acidity.  Balanced and decently made, but a little simple and did not evolve with time in the glass.  14.5/20

A Tour in the English Country - Day 1: Danesfield House

24 June 2011: Picked up hired car at Heathrow Airport and we drove to Marlow to check into Danesfield House (http://www.danesfieldhouse.co.uk/).  Set amongst 65 acres of grounds, in the Chiltern Hills, and overlooking the River Thames, Danesfield House is a grand mansion with a very popular spa and fitness centre.  We were given a rather spacious room, with a nicely sized bathroom, tea/coffee making facility and most importantly, 24-hour wifi!  The cardiovascular machines in the gym could do with some upgrading, but it was adequate and totally user friendly!

The Adam Simmonds Restaurant has 1 Michelin star and we all decided to take the tasting menu.  I would probably skip the bar and go straight to the dining room, which had a lovely serenity about it, with decor not too ornate but rather stylish.  Every dish for the tasting menu was perfectly proportioned that we didn't feel too full or underfed afterwards.  The slow-cooked lamb loin was a real highlight as was the crab salad at the beginning, but overall all the dishes were beatifully executed and flavoured.  We decided to take the cheese platter rather than the two desserts.  Well-informed staff and very professional service.  The only missing part was a sommelier - we were told that they didn't have one at the moment, nor was there any plan to hire one anytime soon.  I rather unwisely chose a bottle of Spanish red wine from Jumilla - 2002 Casa de la Ermita (Tempranillo, Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvignon).  I had been warned by the manager that their Spanish wine collection was collecting dust in the cellars!  It was a bit alarming when the bottle was presented to me, it felt rather warm!  Well, I went ahead with the selection because I was sufficiently curious about wines from Jumilla and I thought we might just be nicely surprised!  The grapes for this wine were grown on the slopes at 700 metres altitude.  12-day post-fermentation maceration, plus 20 month ageing in American and French oak barrels.  The result: Very spicy, stewed black and red berries, savoury and gamey.  Ripe tannin well-integrated, with well-balanced acidity. Balanced and well-made, but quite full-on, a little clumsy, trying a little too hard to please, slightly lacking in depth or character. Slight bitter aftertaste.  14.5/20

The 2007 Meursault Cros du Cromin, Genot-Boulanger was much more satisfactory.  Pale lemon.  Nose of lemon curd, melon, fig, toast, lime blossom, showing more spice and minerality on the palate. Spicy, linear and very precise. Finishes long, with racy acidity.  16/20

A charming spot, lovely restaurant, friendly staff, very comfortable rooms (if a little uninspiring in the decor).  We thought the restaurant might benefit from having a sommelier, though........