A special evening out

From what we saw, the pubs in Corfe offer pretty standard pub fare, so for a treat on our second evening we booked a table at this well-reviewed hotel, and what a treat it proved to be! From our arrival and pre-dinner drinks in the lounge, to our after-dinner drinks in the same place, the whole evening was a real pleasure. Staff were attentive, bordering on over-the-top, but their friendly manner just won out over their formal French training. The setting, in this beautiful 16th century Elizabethan manor house, was picture-perfect. And the food was absolutely excellent. Of course all this came at a price, and the final bill was high compared with what we'd have paid anywhere else in the village, but to us, used to London prices, seemed reasonable value for what we got.When we were shown to our table we were offered the chef's amuse bouche, a small cup of white onion soup drizzled with chorizo oil – delicious! With this and our starters we had home-baked bread flavoured with tarragon (we could also have had black olive and rosemary, or small brown rolls).As a starter I chose the fennel and watercress risotto with a small red mullet fillet, which was really delectable. Chris had a goats cheese and shallot tartlet, which was equally successful. My main course was roast guinea fowl, served with savoy cabbage, lentil puree and confit potato. Again this was excellent, though if I may be allowed a very small criticism, I would have liked more of the wonderful lentil puree and would happily have traded some of the very generous portion of meat. Chris enjoyed a rather odd but successful dish which included curried potatoes and a deep-fried egg (sounds weird but apparently it worked!) He followed this with a selection from the very comprehensive cheese trolley, which he'd been eyeing ever since we first arrived in the restaurant. I tasted a couple of these too, and as strong, smelly cheese lovers we were both enthralled! My own dessert was wonderful – a “carpaccio of pineapple and basil, with a lime and kaffir leaf sorbet”. This was stylishly presented, and managed to look and taste decadent while actually being pretty light. In fact, the whole meal was generous without being too filling, and we squeezed in a coffee and a couple of petit fours each, before retiring to the beautiful wood-panelled bar for a digestif to round off an excellent evening.This much pleasure didn't come cheap, needless to say. We paid £79 for two for the food, and managed to spend an additional £50 on wine, water and bar drinks before and after the meal. In my view we got reasonable value for that however, as the food really was excellent and the whole evening a real pleasure from start to finish.

A User - 07/07/2008 | report this review