A couple of places in Lymington

It's B's uncle E's 94th birthday so something special had to be planned. We had a recommendation from local wine club friends to try Elderflower, a Michelin-starred place down near the front in Lymington. They only do tasting menus (4,5 or 7 courses) which led to some heart-searching as E and son-in-law B like a nice steak. But it was duly booked and we arrived expectanlty.

The table is booked for 6.30pm - apparently only this time and 9.30pm were on offer. Which seems odd, as people did drift in over the course of the evening.  When we arrived there was only one other table occupied, but the restaurant was nearly full by the time we left.   We are shown to a nice table for 6 in the window, and feel a good welcoming vibe.

We order a bottle of French Viognier (£40), a glass of rosé and some sparkling water. We have settled on the 5-course menu at £75 a head.  Prior to the courses themselves, we are served with bread and a salmon butter, which is lovely. 

The first course arrives quite quickly - crab and potato mousse topped with caviar nestling in a Jersey Royal. The crab flavour comes through well, not dulled by the potato. Oddly our waiters are wearing gloves, not something I've seen before.

Next up is pea mousse and ham. That description doesn't really capture it. The pea mousse is squiggles across the plate, with a few peas thrown in. The ham, only small pieces, is strongly smoked with a good flavour.  A smallish course.

The fish course is unusual - skate cheeks. It comes with brown shrimps in a lovely lobster velouté. Skate cheeks were new on me, but they had plenty of flavour and not the challenge of an oversized wing that you often get. 

For the meat course, there is Black Sheep lamb - a goodly sized portion. Served in a rich wine sauce, with some potato and spinach. Mine is slightly on the tough side, but everyone else really enjoys theirs.

Finally there is a trio of desserts. There is a blueberry sorbet, melting in the heat, a strawberry mousse with a very tasty wrapping, and a rather complicated assembly of chocolate mousse and pieces. 

Throughout, the service has been excellent - friendly and informative. And the whole thing was well-paced, neither rushed nor leaving you waiting. We had three bottles of the Viognier and a Vega Douro (also £40) to go with the lamb, so with coffee and water the drinks come to £220 between 6 of us including service

The steak eaters seemed satisfied, and the rest of us were really pleased.

The following day after cruising the market, B and I have lunch at Koh Thai on the High Street. It's a lovely sunny day, so we sit outside in the garden. There's no-one else there when we arrive but soon after two ladies arrive - choosing for some reason to sit at the nearest table to us. 

It's an intriguing menu, so we have some steamed edamame beans while we make our choice. A £26 False Bay SA Chenin goes well. 

In the end we go for 5 starters and one noodle dish, served in two waves. First we had "Thai-namite" battered prawns in a Sriracha mayonnaise - nothing like as spicy as implied, but good prawns. With that came duck rolls, which were excellent - crispy wrapping stuffed full of shredded duck served with Hoisin dipping sauce (which it didn't really need). The third was the crispy beef. I fall for this every time and it is always disappointing, a bit claggy and tough. 

The noodles were spicy seafood udon - prawns and squid. Lovely sauce, good prawns, chewy squid. Some good prawn dim sum and minced chicken in lettuce leaf wraps came with that.  

We had substantially over-ordered, but they were happy enough to decant the remainder into take-away boxes.  The lonely waiter was good enough with the service, if rather distant. Total £123 with two bottles and just 10% service. 

Rugby weekend in Cardiff

 A guest posting from a regular reader. The contributor's views on the rugby are his own and not necessarily endorsed by Chompers..

My son PS and I are in Cardiff for the Wales v England 2023 Home International.  We have booked dinner at Asador 44 Spanish Grill and wine bar located near the Millennium Stadium.

It's the evening before the game and the restaurant district is buzzing.  We receive a warm welcome and are guided  towards the rear of the restaurant.  Decor is very pleasant and in keeping with a bistro atmosphere

We study the menu - it’s not that extensive possibly as its rugby International weekend but it looks good, although the cost could easily run away.  

Two toro blancos wet our appetites, followed by starters of salchichon iberico ham £7.50 and salmon £9. Both tasty although the ham is round slices and somewhat understated.  It should be round - just that I was expecting something different!

We decide on the aged Pembrokeshire sirloin steak sharing platter at £65.  Celeriac, fries and a beef and rioja sauce accompany.  Rather than a whole bottle, we choose 2 glasses of decent red at £12ea. It's a long weekend! The aged steak about nine 1/4" slices in total is cooked crisp on outside and rare inside. It is deliciously tasty and beautifully tender.  The sauce adds more flavour. Overall the best steak I've had for some time.  The red wine milu roble ribera del duero is excellent.

We opt for sweets: crema catalana, a  Spanish version of creme brulee at £16 accompanied by 2 glasses of Micaela cream desert wine at £10.

The total bill with service  comes to £170. All in all an excellent meal with good attentive service. We recommend Asador for lunch or evenings.

Park House Restaurant and Wine Bar (website unavailable)

 It's Saturday evening and we've just finished watching England beat Wales at the Principality Stadium Cardiff.  Dinner has been booked at the Park House, that purports to be a fine dining restaurant. 

It's a little jaunt from the city centre but not too far away.  On arrival we see what it was in its day: probably a large mansion style  house or more likely hotel.  

We ring the bell at what appears to be the main entrance to the side wondering what's inside.  Decor is very much like a gothic mansion with lots of oak panelling. Hushed silence seems to be the watchword. The atmosphere reminds me of the reading room in a gentlemen’s club.

We are shown upstairs to a large dining room with circular tables.  We are early but note that only one other table in the room is occupied.  Our big round table could seat 6 or more but there's just 2 of us.

The principal waiter appears, welcomes us and talks us through the menu options.  We were considering the 9 course taster but learn that it's not available as a large party upstairs is having it. 

That leaves a 6 course taster or a la carte menu which looks a tad limited but includes several of the same dishes. So we both opt for the taster and wine flight.  We decline the more expensive flight for Icon wines priced at £59.

Service is brisk, delivered by two attentive but quiet waitresses, plus the main waiter who also acts as sommelier.  All very gentile and hushed.  Pin drops come to mind.

We order some sparkling English wine to kick off the evening.  Very nice. 2 x 200ml at £12 ea.

The first course, endive with apple celery walnut chutney duly arrives and our sommelier introduces and explains the first wine he has chosen - classic cuvee Nytimber Sussex.  It's a good match and we both enjoy the somewhat smallish glasses.  

Second course is confit dry aged Pembrokeshire pork belly with apple smoked eel and Lyonnaise onion.  Very tasty and generous but quite rich as it’s belly of pork.  Our wine is 2019 Old Vine Chenin Blanc Olifantsberg, Western Cape SA.  Again very pleasant.  With these flights you always want a second glass...

Third course in fairly quick succession is diver caught Orkney scallop with caper raisin cauliflower and vadouvan - delightful, and perfectly cooked.  Accompanying wine is Australian - 2021 Hen and chicken chardonnay, Larry Cherubino.  Excellent.

Fourth course arrives: dry aged Pembrokeshire beef.  It’s the highlight of the meal for me and deliciously tasty.  2019 Reserve Barossa Shiraz, Berton, Barossa Valley Australia.  An excellent match.  We had beef yesterday despite me thinking Wales is all about lamb!

At this stage there's an optional cheese tasting plate at £12 but we're beginning to sense the beckoning plimsoll line so we both decline.

Next up is the “boiled egg” - to be honest I forget what exactly this is  but recall it's sort of a chocolate fondant thing.

Finally we have Apple Sable Breton blackberry tart with a glass of 2015 Marsanne Cane Cut Tahbilk South Australia to cap it off.  It’s a classic French pudding. By this time we both feel well satisfied. 

The 6 course taster was £59 ea, the flight £35 ea. Plus a bottle of still water at £3.50.  With 12% service and £1.23 carbon free dining (??), the total comes to £243.67. 

For me quite an expensive meal but overall of very satisfying quality and delightful presentation, if not mind blowingly outstanding.  But at £59 for 6 courses very good vfm I think. Excellent service and a very attentive and friendly sommelier.  Nice to know what you're drinking and why. 

A nice round up to a great rugby weekend in Cardiff.