We’ve had a cracking weekend at The Samling in Ambleside. The Samling is a luxuriously comfortable hotel high up on the banks of Windermere.
We stayed in the Tyan room, with it’s striking blue Lake District wallpaper.
This room has a gorgeous view over Windermere, which was particularly special while eating a full breakfast brought to our room.
The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, with a coherent and complex menu featuring the best ingredients. We ate from the same menu on both nights:
Canapes: bread sticks and dips
- parmesan & green pesto
- beetroot & sour cream
- cumin & curried aubergine
Amuses bouche:
- boiled egg, white bean creme, chorizo
- pesto, red pepper, parmesan foam
Chicken mosaic with leek, prune & lentils
Roast scallops, chicken oysters, celeriac puree
Slow cooked Gloucester old spot, langoustine, celeriac puree
Red mullet, minestrone, crushed ratte potatoes
Wild venison, dauphinoise of roast vegetables, cabbage
Braised Herdwick mutton, shoulder, shank, langoustine, artichoke puree, potato
Fillet of brill, curried parsnip, kipper tortellini
Cheese (for one night only!): 5 Northern English cheeses
Pre-dessert: Cinnamon tuile, sherry jelly, catalan creme, acacia honey sorbet
“Apples from the Samling garden” – apple pie, apple parfait, apple brulee, apple sorbet
Chocolate delice, fennel ice cream, mandarin jelly
Poached pear, olive oil ice cream, upside-down pudding
Coffee & petit fours
- lemon meringue
- lemon & thyme shortbread
- blackcurrant jelly
- chocolate & hazlenut cluster
- madeleine
Phew!
To walk off the effects of this meal, we had some spectacular, although slightly snowy, walks, particularly from Patterdale
and above Windermere
