Usually at this time of year I’d be spending most of my time in London. I’ve got Birthdays (mostly mine), weddings and lots of restaurants to get through (any excuse to celebrate). One thing I never expected was to be leaving London this month and travelling around the UK to Fishmore Hall Hotel. There are simply so many great restaurants and hotels outside London right now however, that a short car journey (or long in this case) seems like no chore at all – especially considering I’m the passenger. Champagne and long naps are becoming an unfortunate task as part of my driver-less duties.
The Forelles restaurant at Fishmore Hall Hotel is located in the foodie town of Ludlow in Shropshire – it’s such a gorgeous town if you’ve not visited before. It’s got charm, personality and is host to some amazing produce and food fairs – The Ludlow Food Festival mainly. The head chef at this restaurant is Andrew Birch, who was recently appointed as of March 2015, working closely with hotel & restaurant owner, Laura Penman. The Forelles restaurant has always had a good reputation in the area, but now they’re look to put a little change in the menus and to become an exciting destination restaurant.
To set us on our journey here at the Forelles restaurant, head chef Andrew Birch and his kitchen had baked some lovely bread to settle us in, with a thick and crunchy brown and some neatly baked rolls which had very good flavour, but needed an extra couple of minutes in the oven to fully bake through to the centre. Butter was good also, but perhaps a nice whipped version or flavoured could be offered just to add more excitement. An amuse of salmon tartar was gorgeous and had some lovely flavours, but had been pre-prepared and kept chilled in the fridge (I believe), which is perfectly fine but it meant the coldness masked the fresh flavours. This amuse needs to be prepared at point of dispatch from the kitchen to show off its true potential.
After a few minor inconsistencies with the start of our meal, suddenly everything changed and the food here got a whole lot more serious. Dishes such as pig head croquettes with smoked eel, beetroot, apple and mustard purée was mesmerising and each mouthful a salivating journey. The crispy coating on the croquettes was light, crispy and not an ounce of greasy oil was traceable. The eel was full of flavour, but delicate and the mustard purée was a match made in heaven – while this dish was of tasting portion I could have eaten a lot more. Spiced diver scallops was another lovely dish, flavoured with coriander, cumin veloute and matched with a cauliflower purée.
I’m not entirely sure what was happening here during our meal, but with every dish that arrived at the table, the food simply got better and better and in some cases, astonishingly good. Line caught Cornish turbot was the stuff of dreams. The fish was perfectly cooked and given a depth of flavour from lardons of bacon, onion, juicy morels and wild garlic. A mustard sauce however is what really brought this dish together and lifted it into another level of cooking. Seasoning was perfect. One of our star dishes (too many to pick just one) of the evening was the organic chicken breast with purple sprouting broccoli, dauphine potato, Tunworth cheese fondue and Madeira sauce – by god was it good. It did that rare thing not every dish can do – leave us both sitting in silence. The dauphine potatoes deserve a special mention too – light, fluffy and crunchy. One word for this dish – stunning.
We wondered if the goodness was really going to continue when it came to desserts, but actually they’d really outdone themselves here and created two desserts which still left us in complete silence, slowly spooning into our mouths hoping the experience wouldn’t end too quickly. Banana mousse was served with hazelnuts and the most amazing caramel cremeaux. When some menus promise the flavour of banana, it doesn’t always follow through – but here there was no stopping it. Set chocolate custard didn’t sound great (perhaps a better descriptor would suit) so you can imagine our surprise when this beauty (pictured above) arrived to the table. The custard was indeed perfectly set and the chocolate was incredibly rich. Orange purée only complemented and the kirsch cream brought a welcomed lightness to the dish. Whoever is in the kitchen putting these desserts together has some serious, serious talent.
By this point we didn’t want it to end, but sadly our stomachs were saying otherwise so we took our lovely petit fours through to the lounge and slowly devoured them. When I received an invitation to visit this privately owned hotel in Ludlow, I hadn’t expect the food to be this good and I have no idea why – but I’m glad it didn’t disappoint and instead exceeded our expectations. Andrew Birch and his team are certainly a very talented bunch and this is one kitchen which should be watched very closely indeed, because I see this restaurant going places in the future, shiny red star places.
8/10
I was invited to review
