New Forest

February 23, 2013 Italian

Hartnett Holder & Co, at Lime Wood

When I mention that I spend half my time in the New Forest, people push me for hotel and restaurant recommendations… And the problem with the Forest is that it is a destination – over ten million people pour into it to it every year to camp, trek, and cycle through the woods, and sail out of the beautiful harbours – consequently, a great proportion of the restaurants in the area cater for the tourist market.

At one end of the spectrum it’s not uncommon to be served a tin of beans alongside your enormous portion of sausage and mash (and no, I’m not joking). At the other end, we have several formal restaurants, usually based in hotels, and on the whole rather uninspiring, sterile spaces. There are of course a few exceptions, but I’ve all but given up eating out down here, and recommend very few places to chums.

Inevitably the conversation will turn to sister-hotels The Pig at Brockenhurst, and Lime Wood at Lyndhurst – both hotels feature in all those lovely magazines we Londoners seem to favour so much. The cognoscenti don their wellingtons and Barbours, and head for the woods, in an urbanite return to nature. I’m actually very fond of Lime Wood – I’ve even stayed there, though I live less than ten miles away (excellent beds, low lighting that activates when you pop to the bathroom at night, and excellent breakfast in the Scullery, since you ask).

But did I enjoy the restaurant enough to recommend it? To be honest – no. Though the food was good, it had a very incongruous Disney’esque wooden framing and was completely devoid of any personality. Everyone I’ve asked down here disliked it, as did a few of my London friends who’d visited. We were all abuzz then, with the news that not only was Angela Hartnett joining Luke Holder in an re-woking of the menu, but also the dining rooms were to be completely overhauled.

In place of the faux Disney, there are now stuffed leather chairs, and Missoni fabric. Much smarter than the dining room at The Pig, but much more relaxed and comfortable than it’s previous incarnation. Playing to Luke’s strengths, the menu has a very strong Italian influence, and reflects the year Luke spent working at the three Michelin starred Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence (excellent wine list, good food, insane water menu – yes – you read that correctly – a 30 page plus water menu…). And of course we all know that Angela’s an excellent pusher of Italian delights… Could this new incarnation live up to my expectations I wondered?

Well, hurrah for Holder and Hartnett! I’ll say it again – hurrah! Excellent Italian food, properly executed favourites, with friendly and observant staff. Ristottos were properly al dente, creamy, and the 11yo’s saffron risotto wasn’t too metallic, a common problem. Alongside that, delicious artichokes, excellent salad which tasted as though it had just been plucked, perfect zucchini fritti (joy of joys), and my favourite – espresso affogato.

So, go on – ask me… Would I recommend Holder and Hartnett to my London chums?

Absolutely!

Roasted artichokes, with grated duck egg, and bread crumbs

Risotto Milanese

Local meats cured in the Smokehouse at Lime Wood

Pumpkin risotto, with chestnuts and Nanny blue cheese

Flat-iron steak, with black pepper butter

Affogato

Lime Wood Hotel,
Beaulieu Road,
Lyndhurst,
Hampshire
SO43 7FZ

January 25, 2013 Restaurant

The Jetty, Christchurch

It may be a grey, wintry day, but there is nothing to cheer the soul like a sea view, with scudding clouds, and wading birds floating above a reflective sea… Even better then, if you can take-in that view from within a warm, bright and glass wrapped haven.

The Jetty appears to float above Christchurch Harbour – all weathered wood, sparkling glass and steel – it’s perched like a launching boat, next to the grey waters. It is run by by Alex Aitken, who has cooked in the New Forest for over twenty-five years. At le Poussin he held a Michelin star, and he moved to The Jetty in 2010.

There were five of us for lunch and we’d all been meaning to try it for some time. We were impressed by the breadth and scope of the menu – there are rarely menus where I really feel torn between dishes – but there is plenty to tempt here. The following will give you a good idea of their style and talents. A word of caution, book early in the summer months, because I guarantee everyone else will!

Amuse: cauliflower veloute

Seared foie gras on toast with citrus sauce and crispy bacon

Soft boiled egg wrapped in saltcod brandade,

deep fried with summer vegetable salad

Pigeon breast, with puy lenttils

Warm salad of pigeon breast and mango

Paella

Pheasant, with mashed potato, lardons, greens, and baby onions

Fillet of cod, topped with Mudeford crab and herb crust, with mashed potatoes and peas

Dorset whole lemon sole served with greens and Bearnaise…
(normally buerre blanc)

Green salad

Hot passion fruit soufflé with hot passion fruit sauce
(with the additional lift from the sauce)

Hot passion fruit soufflé, with hot passion fruit sauce

The Jetty

The Jetty
Christchurch Harbour Hotel
95 Mudeford
Christchurch
Dorset BH23 3NT

May 25, 2012 British

Verveine, Milford-on-Sea

I was surprised to discover that the Hampshire Life 2011 Restaurant of the Year, and Chef of the Year awards belonged to a little fish restaurant about ten minutes from my house in the Forest. I’d had recommendations for Verveine, but somehow it had landed in my radar with more of a plink than a splash. Given the lack of a decent fishmonger in our area (ridiculous when you live on the coast), Verveine went straight onto my to-try list..

Cajun salmon mousse

Verveine is located on the High Street at Milford-on-Sea, and for non-locals, is just down the road from the lovely Chewton Glen Hotel. The front of the restaurant is the fishmongers, with a light and bright restaurant extension at the back. The kitchen is run by Chef Patron David Wykes.

I dragged along my usual accomplices, Dennis and Vicky. We were greeted warmly, and offered some Cajun salmon mousse, with crisps. The mousse was whipped, with a with a rich and earthy flavour, but the spice was a little raw, and made the texture a little granular.

Our Garden in Spring

To begin I had Our Garden in Spring with goat’s curd, pickled beet, radish, asparagus, peas, asparagus, garlic flowers and olive oil soil. The olive is scattered on top of the curd and acts like a seasoning. The richness of both is offset by the sweetness of the raw vegetables, and the pickling of the soused vegetables. There’s also an interesting combination of textures on the plate – I particularly liked the goat curd. And, let’s face it, it’s a very pretty dish…

Verveine preserves a lot of its ingredients to add flavour, in fact they make a number of their key components themselves and try to be as self-sufficient as possible. There’s also a small garden at the rear where they grow their own ingredients, including some of those in my starter.

Brixham octopus with chorizo, rice, chicken skin

Dennis opted for the finely diced Brixham octopus with chorizo, puffed rice, preserved lemons and crispy chicken skin. He enjoyed the surf ‘n’ turf combinations of the dish.

The main course is based on the premise that you choose your fish from the blackboard (with all the days specials priced out), and then have it cooked in one of four treatments. These were:

Provençale – Mediterranean vegetables, home-made potato gnocchi, Provençale sauce
Forest – Wild garlic risotto, wild mushrooms, squash puree, almonds
Sea – Sea vegetables, Jersey Royals, olive oil emulsion
Barigole – Morteau sausage, creamed potato, broad beans, baby artichokes

Turbot, Sea

We decided to opt for the turbot, and to each take a particular plating style. I had Sea – turbot with samphire, broad beans, jersey potatoes, and seaweed. The little blobs are purees of beetroot and I think butternut squash – they added a sweet depth to counter the salty sea vegetables.

The samphire was pickled, so was acidic rather than salty.

The purees look very pretty, and eat well, but as the dish had been kept under the pass for a little while, and were drying out.

Turbot, Provencale

Dennis opted for the Provençale, which came with courgettes, roast tomatoes, artichokes, gnocchi, and a scrape of aubergine. The various elements were less ‘mushy’ than a traditional ratatouille, allowing each ingredient to stand for itself.

Turbot, Forest

Vicky opted for Forest – her turbot was plated with mushrooms, almonds, a risotto of grains, pesto, new season ransoms, and samphire. I tried the grain risotto – I much prefer grain – it holds its texture much better than rice risotto where its an accompaniment (rather than the central element of the dish).

Sherbet Fountain

All of that was quite filling, and we weren’t going to have a dessert, until our waiting staff told us about David’s deconstructed dishes. One was a take on a sherbet dab, and Dennis and I both plumped straight for that, liquorice addicts that we are…

The liquorice element is a deep and intense ice-cream made with soft liquorice – the sherbet is made with a mixture of Fizzy, icing sugar, and citric acid. We loved this dish, absolutely delicious if you like liquorice. I liked it so much that it immediately became a tribute dish, and you can find my Thermomix recipe here.

We had a long chat to David at the end of the meal, swapping recipe ideas, book choices and restaurant recommendations. David has cooked in some very accomplished kitchens, and this shows in his approach. From the freshly made butter, to the home-smoked ingredients, Verveine is as self sufficient as it can be. This does occasionally have its drawbacks, and all three of us disliked the soused samphire – where an ingredient has such an admired texture and flavour, it seems churlish to alter both without good cause. Plate dressings had also been allowed to dry out a little, which seems a shame, as the purees were actually very tasty. Overall we enjoyed our lunch, and will happily add Verveine to our list of regular haunts. The staff are very knowledgable and attentive, and one cheerfully selected a variety of leaves from the garden for another diner to taste. David is a competent chef with lots of very interesting ideas, and I can’t wait to try more of his deconstructed puddings. Next time I think this has my name on it:

Violet Beauregarde – Blueberries, bubblegum pannacotta, caramelised brioche
‘Great heavens girl!’ screeched Mrs Beauregarde, ‘you’re blowing up like a balloon!!’ ‘Like a blueberry ‘said Mr Wonka, ‘prick her with a pin!!’

Verveine Fishmarket Restaurant

98 High Street

Milford on Sea

Hampshire

SO41 0QE

March 9, 2012 British

Alan Murchison at Terravina, New Forest

I’m fortunate to live part of the week in the New Forest, with its outstanding produce, gorgeous landscape and free roaming pigs, ponies and cattle. There’s an increasingly significant food and wine scene developing here, with a notable number of fine hotels and food festivals.

One of the most interesting is the boutique wine hotel Hotel TerraVina established by Gerard and Nina Basset. Gerard co-founded the Hotel du Vin chain, has an enviable international reputation as a sommelier, and has represented the UK on several occasions, winning the Best Sommelier in the World award in 2010. Gerard is also a Master Sommelier, a Master of Wine, and was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the hospitality industry. His wife Nina is equally talented and became an AA hotel inspector at the tender age of just 21. They worked and met at Chewton Glen, another New Forest stalwart, and the opening of Hotel TerraVina saw their welcome return to the Forest.

When I heard that Alan Murchison, the michelin starred executive chef of L’Ortolan and the 10in8 Group was doing a pop-up at TerraVina, I knew I had to be at that dinner! Alan, Gerard and Nina are old friends, and between them they devised a menu which would showcase the talents and skills of both establishments.

We began with a glass of champagne, always a civilised way to start and evening and then Game Consommé: a good parsley tortellini filled with rabbit (I think), celeriac cream, a game consommé, and to my chums delight, little spheres of near liquid sherry.

Textures of Duck, Cherry and Mango: even the simplest looking dishes at this level are actually several days worth of work. First the duck breast is hot smoked with star anise and orange; the foie gras is marinated in port, cognac and maderia; and the duck confit is seperately marinated in thyme, cloves, bay leaves and garlic before they’re cooked. The resulting dishes are then layered in alternate strips brushed with melted foie gras, inside a parma ham lined mould. The terrine is rested in the fridge for 24 hours before being served with cherry, mango and lambs lettuce… The terrine managed to retain each of the three textures and flavours of the duck, but melded together perfectly. With a disk of brioche served in it’s own stand to keep it crisp, the cherry sauce and cherries were tart and offset the richness of the duck. The mango was a fine sliver of mango jelly, adding symmetry to the dish. Pinot Noir, from the Land’s Edge Vineyard was jammy and rich, and not overwhelmed by tannin.

Goats’ Cheese, Salted Crumble, Celery, Apple and Walnut: Alan’s goats cheese is made by the lovely Sarah Hampton at Brock Hall Farm in Shropshire. Made with the milk from her pure Saanen goats, the perfect cylinder of curd was gently sour, but slightly savoury, and very creamy. It was coated in a salted crumb which intensified the savouriness of the cheese. It was served with a tiny variation on a Wardolf salad, with crisp apple, slivers of celery and walnuts, with tiny cubes of grape jelly and coriander cress. There was also a drizzle of the most intense truffle honey I’ve ever tasted, overpowering on its own, but good with the curd. Gros Manseng, from Domaine des Cassagnoles was green, flinty with grapefruit notes.

Red Wine Poached Halibut, Tempura Oyster and Surf Clams: the halibut was perfectly cooked, the red wine poaching only covering the outer layer of the fish, it broke away into huge, fat, perfectly white flakes. There was a rich and savoury shallot and onion puree, intensified with with madeira and brown gravy, with a roast onion rose, and umami-rich shards of braised oxtail. The whole dish had very good savoury mouthfeel, but the umaminess didn’t overwhelm the halibut. I didn’t have the oyster I’m afraid, I do like oysters, but they really don’t like me. It’s a shame as there was an oyster panna cotta made with mascapone and cream that I’d have love to have tried, and saw being prepared in the kitchen. Pinot Gris, from Te Whare Ra was good, with some weight and just a hint of tannin, it stood up to the depth of the dish, and the lightness of the fish.

Smoked Sirloin, Bone Marrow, Kale, Garlic Cream: the smoked sirloin was prepared in a Big Green Egg which Alan had brought with him. The flavour was complex, but delicate, and served with a rich jus, iron rich curly kale, a bone marrow croquette and a rich garlic cream. There were fine slices of barely raw cauliflower, and a rich cauliflower cheese too, and tiny jelly cubes of consommé, I think. The garlic cream was incredibly flavoured, but very moreish and held its own against the other flavours on the dish. All in all a very strong combination of powerful and rich flavours which managed to support rather than compete with each other – a delicate balance but one achieved here. Château Lassegue, a Saint Emilion Grand Cru, was warm, rich, and complemented the rich savoury flavours of the dish.

Coconut and Mango: was a variation of the El Bulli reversed poached egg (which is cooked in a sodium alginate bath). I’ve had a couple of versions of this dish, but actually I prefer this one. Instead of the entire egg being cooked in the bath, only the mango yolk was, and the coconut element was actually a coconut espuma. It tasted of desiccated coconut (though I think made with coconut cream), and had an incredibly nostalgic flavour, it reminded me of the Spanish Gold sweet shredded tobacco we used to eat as children. The yolk poured onto the espuma and my chum was highly amused, she thought it was great fun. Botrytis Riesling, from the Kayena Vineyard was sweet, light and clean, with notes of melon and lychee – it cut through the intense sweetness of the mango.

Chocolate truffle with peanut butter and ice-cream: A cube of chocolate mousse with a swathe of peanut butter cream, which more intensely of peanuts than I would have imagined. It was served with a mascapone ice-cream, it was delicious, smooth, sour, creamy, it perfectly offset the richness of the peanut and the chocolate.

Chocolate, Lime Sorbet and African Amber Tea: the chocolate fondant was was served with a sorbet, shredded lime, a white chocolate sauce and tiny jelly cubes that I though tasted of Thai basil, but could just have easily have been the Amber tea. It was refreshing, with a densely chocolate hit only achieved by a 70%+ cocoa chocolate. Dolce Mataro, from Alella was rich, sweet, intense, and reminded me of some of the Sardinian dessert offerings. My chum found it far too sweet and strong, but you needed something this big to stand up to the bite of the chocolate.

Overall the menu was carefully devised and built up the intensity of the flavours. There was a good combination of very traditional and modern techniques, and given the restrictions of working in an unknown kitchen, the team managed to deliver a very varied and delicious meal. The wine pairings devised by the equally fabulous Hotel TerraVina team ratcheted up the enjoyment levels, and it was an excellent opportunity to have dinner devised by a michelin starred chef, and the worlds best sommelier.