Our food today at "Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond" was outstanding. I don't want to forget any of it:
We arrived early. I went upstairs to look around the hotel and inadvertently entered a suite. I think the occupier had checked out & left the room wide open. It was beautiful! Lovely lounge, stand-alone bath, views of Loch Lomond.
Having spotted the bath (and realised I was not in a communal lounge) I retreated, rejoined birthday boy and we went to the restaurant.
They seated us in leather armchairs in a light room with views of the lawn and loch. We were brought a tray of entrees after taking our drinks (water) order.
We were given a rectangular platter on which they placed 2 haggis fritters (little balls), 2 parmesan puffs and 2 beetroot and horseradish macaroons. We were told to eat them in that order. Quite honestly I would rather I had eaten them in the opposite order (my order of preference) but PJ loved the beetroot thing.
A waiter arrived with bread next. Rye bread, honey bread, white bread.
We received amuse bouches next: a mackerel ceviche - mine had bones, and a tiny scallop with chestnut mousse and mushroom sauce which was absolutely indescribably tasty. This juicy morsel of scallop followed with a blast of saliva-inducing sheer savouriness.
Then came the food we had actually ordered:
Scallop in Jerusalem artichoke veloute with hazelnuts.
Game pithivier with celeriac.
The winner for me: scallop and soup. The veloute was unexpectedly delicious. From its appearance we could not have anticipated the punchy flavour. The crunch of hazelnut added the final touch. The game smelt a bit like hot pate.
Mains: sea bream wrapped in potato on pea mousse with shrimps in the sauce.
Calves liver with pancetta and posh mash.
Winner for me: fish but only JUST, because the calves liver was remarkably succulent.
Desert: mango and coconut on lime pannacotta. Sounds odd but PJ loved it. Chocolate & pistachio with creme fraiche.
I don't like mango or coconut so that wasn't for me! The winner: chocolate.
What a bargain: £25 a head.
3 comments:
Sounds heavenly!
Sounds very fancy.
You could give Tam Cowan a run for his money with that critique on food, TC. On the whole, I think it comes across that you had a fantastic, beautifully tast, value for money meal - your descriptions were mouth-watering. xx
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