johnadams.org.uk

After our night out in Hibiscus, we needed some more food (well, not really, but…). So we wandered round the corner from our hotel to Tom’s Kitchen for breakfast.

Cherry Berry meusli with vanilla yoghurt

Eggs Benedict with grilled bacon
Beautiful, dark-yolked free range eggs

Three kinds of toast

Needless to say, we didn’t eat anything else until we after Preston later that evening!

We were unable to go to Claude and Claire Bosi’s Hibiscus in Ludlow this year - because they’d closed down in April and moved to Mayfair, opening on 24th October. So we booked ourselves in for a Wednesday night in mid-November, and took the train down to London for what we expected to be our culinary highlight of the year.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Although in an urban setting a few metres from Regent Street, the atmosphere in the new Hibiscus is similar to the old location in Ludlow’s Corve Street. The new restaurant has similar oak panelling, neutral colours and familiar glass plates and white crockery. The welcome is friendly, including from Claire Bosi who manages front of house efficiently.

But while the atmosphere is relaxing and welcoming, the food is the real star:

Cheese choux pastries

Amuse bouche: Hibiscus & elderberry soda

Cornish crab, avocado, apple jelly
Lamb sweetmeats (yes, testicles), tartare of oyster & sweetcorn
A strange combination of tastes, adventurous and not really to my taste!

Mortimer Forest venison, chocolate sauce, foie gras ice cream, cabbage puree, potato and chestnut gratin
The undoubted star of the meal - the venison was meltingly tender, and the potato and chestnut gratin was a gorgeous combination of creamy flavours.

Cheeses: 3 French, 2 English, eaten in a particular order from strong to creamy.

Pre-dessert: Granny smith jelly with lemon grass foam

Hazlenut mille feuille, butternut squash and pine nut ice cream, mango jelly
Apple tarte tatin, ginger and lentil ice cream

Coffee & petit fours

While both the service and the food were excellent, there were some (very minor) disappointments compared to our previous (5) times. The basket of three home-baked breads has been replaced with a basket of a single sourdough; there was no home-made chutney with the cheese; no madeleines with the petit fours. But these were really minor, and I hope that Hibiscus gets it’s two Michelin Stars back in it’s new location.

In Driftwood, all is calm and ordered under the watchful eye of the owners, Paul and Fiona. Tresanton, Olga Polizzi’s flagship country house hotel in St Mawes, provides more of a contrast.

On the surface, things are similar between the two hotels - both share a holiday-defining view over the stunning south Cornish coast. Tresanton is set on the top of the cliffs in St Mawes, overlooking the St Anthony lighthouse on the headland opposite.

The building is on several levels, and we entered the empty lower-level bar to be briefly greeted by the bartender who then hurried back to her computerised till to complete the task she was working on when we came in. When she had finished, she turned round and asked the question that would reappear regularly until we were sat at our table: “inside or outside?”. Tresanton has an outside terrace, heated by no fewer than five patio heaters. I’m sure it is gorgeous on a balmy summer’s evening, but on a slightly chilly September evening…

But to the main event, the food. The menu was a simple list of ingredients:

Foie gras and chicken liver with chutney and toasted brioche.

Sea bass, saffron, crab and tomato risotto.

Chocolate and hazlenut torte, clotted cream, blackberries.

As we both fancied the same menu, we were easily able to compare.

The foie gras/chicken liver pate was good, but both it and the chutney appeared to be bought in rather than made in-house. We were chatting over the starter, but sensed that the waiting staff kept checking to see if we had finished. At one point we overheard them asking the kitchen to hold the main course, this was less than 20 minutes after we had sat down.

Consequently, the main course was slightly burnt round the edges. The sea bass, although overdone, was a good piece of fish, but the saffron, crab and tomato risotto was watery and tasteless. Had the timing continued, we would have been back on the street by 8.30pm. We asked for a break before the dessert.

Dessert was good, a nice balance of hazelnut and chocolate, although ice cream would have matched better than clotted cream.

We followed with coffee and petit fours in the lounge (we were beginning to get cold in the dining room as all the doors were open to the terrace), but the lounge was like a mausoleum.

Overall, Tresanton was not a good experience, although we both enjoyed the analysis! The atmosphere was cold and the waiting staff seemed to be driven by the computerised ordering system. The meal cost £1/head more than Driftwood, certainly Driftwood is streets ahead in food quality and service.

The last time we visited Roger, Ruth, Caitlin and Riona we were unable to get a table at Jack in the Green, a gastropub only a short taxi ride from where they live. As Ruth mentions, I’m happy to blog on the food!

The restaurant is warm and welcoming, with large leather sofas and chairs in the bar area, and well-spaced tables in smaller rooms dotted around the building. The service was friendly, competent and unobtrusive, and the kitchen specialises in local Devon ingredients.

Amuse bouche: Asparagus soup with truffle oil.

Ruby red beef with horseradish cream.
Confit of duck leg salad.
Smoked mackerel terrine, aubergine caviar, bombay potatoes.
Baked Vulscombe goats cheese with tomato dressing.

Fernleigh estate lamb.
Duck breast with baked cherries.
Asparagus with hollandaise sauce and poached egg.
Curried seabass with spicy seafood risotto.

Chocolate mousse with homemade lavender ice cream.
Greek yoghurt parfait with honey and local strawberries.
Panna cotta with local berries.

The food highlights were the lavender ice cream that Roger had with his chocolate mousse (the poor guy had to put up with three additional spoons descending onto his plate) and the lamb (pink and tender). The seabass was slightly over-spiced. The bread was really good, with four varieties to choose from, and they passed the water test. They could have provided more than five petit fours for four people, but that’s only a minor complaint as we were all stuffed by then!

We buy almost all of our fish from Murray at the Fencebay fish stall at the Partick and Queen’s Park Farmers’ Markets. So, when we took Rene and Bert down the Clyde Coast, we jumped at the opportunity to go the restaurant at Fencebay, Fins.

The restaurant is located just off the busy A78, in an old farm steading not far from the village of Fairlie. Also on site are the smokery, the farm shop and a cookery shop. Fins restaurant occupies the old byre and a more recent conservatory, and is warm and welcoming.

The food lives up to the farmers’ market reputation. It had that taste that you only get when the fish is really fresh and has been cooked with a light touch.

Mussels in a white wine sauce - the mussels were small and sweet, and the sauce really garlicky. (For some reason, I was the only person who had a starter!)

Pan-fried mackerel coated in oatmeal, onion marmalade.

Langoustines in garlic butter. Simple, classic, and around 200g of garlic butter for the whole table to dip our bread in!

Seared scallops, white wine, cream and salmon sauce. Sweet scallops, good caramelised flavour.

Cold seafood platter - hot smoked salmon, langoustines, crab claw, gravadlax, pickled herring, mussels, smoked salmon pate and oatcakes. A really well-packed, very Scottish platter.

This is the sort of seafood that Scotland exports every day to Spain and France, and is only just becoming common here.

The service was friendly, passing both stage 1 and 2 of the water test! The staff even offered more bread with the main course saying “you’ll need something to mop up the garlic butter”!

But don’t take my word for it. Support these guys in the UKTV Food Local Hero 2007 awards.