Eating out

My top tip for eating out this month is Pythouse Kitchen Garden   Get yourself and your friends over there on Saturday June 17th for some top nosh served in a deliriously beautiful setting.  ‘Eat the Equinox’ I think the event is called, the menu looks delicious, the staff are all lovely and the chef charming.  We went about three weeks ago, on a Sunday after a double header Saturday, heavy with wall to wall weddings, and I couldn’t face the idea of cooking again, not even an omelette.

It was billed as a long table, garden gathering lunch party.  We arrived and were ushered to the outdoor bar and offered a choice of cocktail or mocktail.  There was plenty of time to wander round the exquisite gardens and admire the view.  Even better it’s a set menu, something I love and takes me back to the old days at Clarke’s in Kensington Church Street.  We’d booked and paid for it about three weeks before, so it was a bit like being invited to a friend’s house for lunch on the day.

Lunch was served in a marquee in the garden, which with all the sides up, offered engaging views across the fruit, vegetable and flower gardens, with accompanying scents wafted in on the wind.  The canape was a morsel of barbequed fillet steak, sprinkled with smoked salt, divine.  Starter was homegrown asparagus with smoked hollandaise.  We ate on long trestle tables and were soon in conversation with our neighbours on either side.  The main event was a series of sharing platters featuring vegetable from the garden and a lovely, sliced leg of lamb sitting on a feta cheese and herb puree.

I can’t remember what the pudding was, I’d probably drunk too much wine which came included in the price, but I do remember it was delicious and at £75 all in per head, I thought it pretty good value for money.

While we’re on the subject of gardens and top places to eat, my absolute number one choice would be the walled garden and orchard at Barley Wood, home to the Ethicurean Restaurant.  It’s just outside of Bristol if you’re thinking of going, just past the airport, but not on the flight path you’ll be relieved to hear.  There, you’re greeted at the bottom of the garden and served a chilled glass of nettle beer, before having a guided tour of the plants and shrubs, ending up in the restaurant for cocktails and nibbles.  I’m not even going to attempt to describe the food, it’s off the scale delicious and supremely intriguing at the same time, which is just as well as lunch comes in at £150 a head, plus drinks.  Worth every penny in my humble opinion.