Showing posts with label UK-England-Somerset. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 July 2022

Dinner at the Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel, Bath

A Dinner of Many Delights in a Historic Setting

This post contains some pictures of Bath (at the end) but is mainly a restaurant review. Those more interested in the city of Bath should click here.

26-July-2022

47 years of marriage has turned these young people…

Wedding Day, July 1975

…into these crumblies.

Tweedledum and Alice's Granma

Crumbling is hardly a cause for celebration, but celebrate it we do, and this year we set out for Bath to dine in their very bestest restaurant (well, the only one with a Michelin Star).

Bath and the Queensberry Hotel

Bath is, of course, much older than we are, but unlike us, it shows no sign of crumbling. The finest of English cities; a complete and carefully planned Georgian city, with medieval and Roman inclusions, Bath is a delight.

The location of Bath in North East Somerset

Somerset

Bath

We stayed at the Queensberry Hotel. According to the hotel’s blog the commissioner and original owner of the property, the 8th Marquess of Queensberry who had the townhouses built in 1771, would be proud of the namesake hotel.

Yes, but the 8th Marquess was born in 1818. His son, the 9th Marquess was responsible for boxing’s Queensberry rules and later goaded Oscar Wilde into the libel action that led to his imprisonment, but 1771 was the time of the 5th Marquess, land and racehorse owner and a dissolute gambler. Maybe he commissioned the building, but I cannot be certain.

The Queensberry Hotel, Bath

The signage is very restrained for a major hotel.

The Olive Tree Restaurant

The Olive Tree is a restaurant within the hotel. Cardiff-born head chef Chris Cleghorn has been in post since 2013. He credits his professional development to time spent with (among others) Heston Blumenthal, Adam Simmonds and particularly Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park. He won a Michelin star in 2018 and has maintained it through the last few difficult years.

He offers nine or six-course tasting menu. Back in the days when I could have eaten nine courses, I could not afford it, now I can I am struggling to eat even six. They are small dishes, but there are a lot of them. He also has vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian and dairy-free menus for those who need/prefer them.

The Six

We took our aperitif in the walled garden outside the bar. Once we had finished our drink and watched a hot air balloon pass over our heads we made our way down to the restaurant.

A G&T and a hot air balloon

Course One: Raw Orkney Scallop, Wasabi, Granny Smith Apple, Dill

Lynne loves a scallop, but since 2005, when Claude Bosi served her raw scallops cooked at the table by the magic of warm bouillon, every other chef who essays a scallop dish has been playing catch-up.

Eschewing Bosi’s minimalism, Chris Cleghorn put together a collection of flavours which might be expected to drown out the delicate scallop and then go to war with each other, but they didn’t. Served in a scallop shell on a bed of seaweed, the small pieces of scallop were book-ended by blobs the colour and texture of mayonnaise but with the flavour of wasabi, though without the heat. At the table, a spoonful of Granny Smith granita was deposited over the green liquid in the shell and melted quietly into it. Chilled, sweet, sharp, apple and fennel flavours melded happily with the wasabi and scallop; a complex and very clever dish. Lynne's second favourite scallop dish ever.

Scallop, wasabi, Granny Smith and dill

Matched wine: 2018 Rheinhessen Reisling, Weingut Winter.

Many years ago, German wines were imported in vast quantities, much of it from Hessen and labelled Liebfraumilch, or Niersteiner. It was cheap, slightly sweet and with a flavour of elderflowers. Then tastes matured and fashions changed. This dry, gently acidic, apple/citrus/mineral Riesling was perfect for its job and a world away from the cheap Hessen wines of yore. I wish such wines were more widely available, but they are tainted by association with the past.

Course 2: Veal Sweetbread, Gem Lettuce, Westcombe Ricotta, Hazelnut and Salted Lemon

This was a marvel in two parts. To the left the heart of a little gem lettuce studded with hazelnuts and smeared with Ricotta and salted lemon. The ‘Ricotta’ came from Westcombe Dairy, 20 miles to the south, who produce traditional farmhouse cheddar and use the left-over whey to make whey cheese. They have based their recipe on ricotta, the best-known whey cheese, and use that name though they are ultimately aiming for an unmistakeable West Country product. I don’t usually see the point of lettuce, but this, finished with a hazelnut vinaigrette, was intensely savoury; a little gem in more ways than one.

Lynne with a sweetbread and a gem lettuce

The sweetbread was lightly dusted with flour and cooked to perfection. Crisped on the top edge firm, yet yielding inside. I like sweetbreads but they turn up too rarely on British menus. I have eaten them in Egypt, Canada and closer to home in Gloucestershire, but never one as superbly cooked as this.

One quibble, the two parts of the dish felt rather separate. They did not work against each other, but neither did I feel they really formed a team - a thought reinforced by the plate design..

Matched wine: Blankbottle Familiemoord

Winemaker Pieter Hauptfleisch Walser’s Blankbottle labels are his way of showcasing the best vineyards he has discovered on his South African travels. They are one-offs with a label showing only a quirky name, though this is known to be a Grenache from Swartland. Served chilled it had a pleasant nose, gentle tannin but the finish was short. Grenache usually forms part of blend, and with good reason, I found this slightly disappointing.

Bread

At this point bread arrived. It always does in these meals and I never know why. The courses may be small, but there is plenty of them and I feel no need to fill up on bread - even a bread as good as this. They were rye buns, we were told, but I have never encountered rye so light in colour or weight. We shared one, out of a spirit of enquiry, but left the other, excellent though it was.

Bread!

Course 3: Cornish Monkfish, cooked over coal, leek, ginger, Vin Jaune, sea herbs.

Monkfish has a strange texture and I am never quite sure what the cook is aiming at, though this, surely was tougher and chewier than intended. Neither of us liked the Vin Jaune sauce much either.

Monkfish and Vin Jaune sauce

The little cylinders of leek, though were soft and packed with flavour. The ginger had been toned down – fresh ginger, much as I love it, would have overwhelmed the dish - to just the right note.

Matched wine:2019 Domaine de L’Idylle ‘Cuvee Emilie', Rousette, Savoie

A full-bodied wine considering its mountain origins. Some oak age apparent, good acidity, not a great deal of fruit flavour but perfect for the job it was chosen for.

Course 4:Squab pigeon, celeriac, black truffle, long pepper

It is an age since I had a good pigeon breast, and this was as good as they come. The skin was cooked, the inside hardly at all, leaving it tender and tasty. I liked the Madeira sauce, but I find celeriac deeply uninteresting. Chris Cleghorn has a way with vegetables but even he cannot put excitement into a wedge of celeriac. The truffle was in the very pleasing blob at the front, and the long pepper..? It is, I read, slightly spicier than black pepper and has a long cylindrical peppercorn. I am uncertain as to its contribution here.

Pigeon

Matched Wine: 2012 Marqués de Zearra Rioja Gran Reserva

I was slightly miffed at Tyddyn Llan in North Wales in 2018 when at the apex of the multi-course meal they produced a Rioja Crianza when a reserva would, I thought, have been more appropriate. No such problem here, the Olive Tree gave us a gran reserve. Oaky and tannic enough to deal with the pigeon, and yet with ample fruit on the velvety finish. Excellent.

Course 5: Islands chocolate, yoghurt sorbet, perilla, Manni Olive oil.

At the base was a disc of Islands chocolate. Islands is a London chocolatier and the disc was 75% cocoa solids. Very rich chocolate-based dishes can be overwhelming and Lynne felt a little over-chocolated here. I liked the disc, with its tempered shell and different textures inside but it needed the yoghurt sorbet with its chill and acidity to provide balance. Perilla is a family of east Asian plants, some with culinary uses and with a flavour halfway between basil and mint (perhaps with a little liquorice). I am unsure about the contribution of the small slick of high-quality olive oil.

Islands Chocolate with yoghurt sorbet

Matched wine: Bodegas Hidalgo Alameda Cream Jerez

Raisins, nuts and intense sweetness. Wonderful stuff – in small quantities.

Course 6: Cheddar Valley Strawberries, coconut, Szechuan, basil

Maybe I had enjoyed too much wine, but for a moment I expected the strawberries to be cheesy. In fact, they were fine strawberries at the peak of their ripeness and completely fromage-free. The duvet of coconut (and it could have been coconuttier for my taste) was studded with marsh mallows. We were promised Szechuan grains, but the lip tingling sensation of Szechuan pepper never came. It was a very pleasant final dish, but a little tame.

Strawberries

Matched wine: 2018 Gusborne Rosé, Kent

I have been slow to recognise the quality of English sparkling wines but realised some months ago that Kent sparklers could be exceptional. This was our first Kent rosé sparkler. ‘Strawberries’ we said simultaneously after the first sip. To quote the growers, the palate shows bright red fruits, driven by ripe strawberries, fresh cherries and redcurrants, with a crisp freshness and creamy, rounded texture on the finish. That about covers it.

Our anniversary dinner ended with a chocolatey message.

Chocolate-y message

It had been a long dinner of great variety and technical skill, impeccably served. The Granny Smith granita melting into the fennel, the sweetbread and the pigeon breast had stood out. The monkfish was less successful, but I would have been disappointed if there was nothing to quibble about. The wine flight was the best chosen and highest quality of any we have encountered. In some places the quality has failed to match the hefty price, but not here.

27-July-2022

Breakfast

What does a breakfast look like when prepared in a Michelin starred kitchen? It is a fair question and the answer is that there are choices, but for many it looks much like breakfast in any B&B, even down to the brown sauce. It is, perhaps, a little more carefully arranged on the plate and it will never look greasy, but otherwise…

Breakfast

What sets this apart from all but the best B&Bs is the quality of the ingredients. The bacon and sausage does not leave a watery deposit when grilled, the mushroom has not just been sprung from a catering pack. The provenance of all the components is known, almost to the field.

Bath

Before departing we took a short walk. As I said at the start, I have a dedicated Bath post from 2013, but I could not ignore our surroundings completely.

The Circus

Designed by John Woods (the Elder) in 1750 and finished a decade later by his son, John Woods (the Younger) the Circus is a design in elegant living. That it produces the same road lay-out as would later be co-opted by the relentlessly functional roundabout is an irony. A circle of houses is difficult to photograph, as I noticed last time I was here.

The Circus, Bath

Many of the surrounding roads are, in their own way, perfect, but sometimes it feels as though in Bath it is easier to buy a work of art than a scrubbing bush.

Another perfect Bath Street

The Royal Crescent

Perfectest of all is JW the Younger’s Royal Crescent.

The Royal Crescent, Bath

In the centre is the Royal Crescent Hotel. I thought the signage at the Queensberry was restrained, here it is so restrained as to be absent.

The door to the Royal Crescent Hotel (middle of picture)

Though the cars parked nearby give it away.

I could afford the Honda!

I like the way the BMW seems to stand deferentially behind the Bentley and Rolls Royce, while the cheerful little Honda poses confidently at the front.

A basic room at the Royal Crescent costs over 50% more than at the Queensberry, but their six-course tasting menu is a little cheaper – because they do not have a Michelin starred chef.

The final picture of Bath (for this visit)

Enough petty points scoring, we will leave Bath with the pretty picture above.

'Fine Dining' posts

Abergavenny and the Walnut Tree (2010)
Ludlow and La Bécasse (2011) (restaurant closed, post withdrawn)
Ilkley and The Box Tree(2012)
Pateley Bridge and the Yorke Arms (2013) (No longer a restaurant, post renamed Parceval Gardens and Pateley Br)
The Harrow at Little Bedwyn (2014)
The Slaughters and the Lords of the Manor (2015)
Loam, Fine Dining in Galway (2016)
Penarth and Restaurant James Sommerin (2017) (restaurant closed, post withdrawn. JS has a new restaurant in Penarth)
The Checkers, Montgomery (2017) (no longer a restaurant, post withdrawn. Now re-opened under new management)
Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Denbighshire (2018)
Fischer's at Baslow Hall, Derbyshire (2019)
Hambleton Hall, Rutland (2021)
The Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel, Bath (2022)
Dinner at Pensons near Tenbury Wells (2023) (restaurant closed Dec 2023, post withdrawn)
The Cross, Kenilworth (& Kenilworth Castle) 2024

Tuesday, 4 June 2019

The South West Odyssey: The Last Post

The South West Odyssey was a long distance walk.

Five like-minded people started in 2008 from the Cardingmill Valley in Shropshire and by walking three days a year finished at Start Bay on the South Devon Coast in May 2019.

[Links to all 31 posts can be found at the end of this one]

So, it is finished. After 36 days walking over 12 years we have arrived at the end.

On our journey from the Shropshire Hills to South Devon we walked 660km through 5 counties: Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devon,

The South West Odyssey (English Branch) to use its full name

crossed two National Parks (purple on the map):

Exmoor

Exmoor was a delight, dry springy ground to walk on and blue sky above. (Day 25)

and Dartmoor,

Dartmoor ponies and Haytor Tor, Dartmoor (Day 31)
Wet, misty and boggy, I did not get the best of Dartmoor (though others fared better)

and 6 of England’s 34 ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (yellow on the map)

The Shropshire Hills

Alison on the top of Caer Caradoc in the Shropshire Hills (Day 1)
Our starting point, the Cardingmill Valley in the Long Mynd, is just the other side of Church Stretton, the town in the valley

The Malvern Hills

On the Malvern Ridge. (Day 6)
Here the path descends before the climb to the Herefordshire Beacon

The Cotswolds

Natural beauty is not always enhanced by human activity, but sometimes..... (Day 11)
Bagenden Church has a 15th century nave and a Norman tower, but this site was used for religious observance long before Christianity or the Romans came to these shores

The Mendip Hills

Our trip across the Mendips started with a gentle climb up to a dull, flat grassy plain. Ho, hum.
Then suddenly the ground dropped away, down to the village of Wookey Hole. Glastonbury Tor can also be seen on the skyline two-thirds left (Day 17)

The Quantock Hills

The Quantocks gave us a lovely walk in pleasant sunshine along a high(ish) moorland ridge (Day 22)

South Devon

Most of our time in the South Devon AONB was spent on the coastal path. (Day 35)
I think we were all impressed and perhaps surprised by the variety of scenery and walking conditions we met on our litoral perambulation

We crossed many rivers and streams including

The Rea, the Teme, the Severn,

The River Severn at Upton-upon-Severn (Day 7)

the Churn, the Chew, the Brue, the Cary,

The River Cary struggling to flow across the Somerset Levels (Day 19)

the Parrett, the Tone, the Barle,

The River Barle at Withybridge on Exmoor. It shortly joins the Exe and together they continue south to Exeter (where else?)
I took the photo from outside a café which sells a memorable cream tea (Day 25)

the Teign, the Dart, the Webburn,

The exuberant little River Webburn rushes down from Dartmoor and under Buckland Bridge to join the Dart a drop-kick behind my back when I took the photo. (Day 31)
The bridge, built in the 1780s to replace an earlet version, was payed for by public subscription

and no less than three River Avons (or should that be Rivers Avon), Shakespeare’s Avon.

Crossing 'Shakespeare's', the largest of the Avons, in Worcestershire not far above its confluence with the Severn (Day 7)

the ‘Bristol' Avon

Walking the Avon Way. We crossed the river where it is joined by the Chew in Keynsham (Day 16)

and the ‘Devon’ Avon (twice)

Francis and I on the magnificent Huntingdon Warren Clapper Bridge over the young River Avon on Dartmoor (Day 33)

and let us not forget the mighty Cressal Brook on Day 2

Brian swings across a chasm to cross the Cressall Brook (Day 2)

We also crossed the M5 (twice) and the M4, but I will spare you the photos.

Homer’s Odyssey described a ten-year journey across a small part of the eastern Mediterranean. It clearly did not involve a direct route. Neither did ours; after 3 years walking we were well east of our starting point, and on Day 12 ('Around Stroud on the Cotswold Scarp') we walked 18km and finished only 6km form our starting point. But then, it was about the journey, not the destination.

I asked the other Ody-ists for their comments. The brief was deliberately vague, the only stipulation was 150 words – and that was ignored by all. Francis decided to write about the route, he did all the route planning and booking of accommodation, a difficult job done supremely well, so he has earned the right.

THE ROUTE PLANNER SPEAKS

As the guy who plans each year’s walk, I have to say that it has been an excellent walk with each year taking us through fantastic scenery (even in the Somerset Levels). There have been four occasions when we have veered off the general south or south west trend. First, after we completed the traverse of the Malverns we headed east to climb Bredon Hill and get in line for the Cotswolds. Second, I encountered my only opposition to my route planning in the Cotswolds. Alison, with local knowledge (she lives in Cheltenham), correctly decided my route was rubbish and instigated the infamous ‘Alison Loop’ which we had to walk in inclement weather. Our third veering off was after we walked The Levels, we headed north west along the Quantocks and did a short stretch of the Somerset Coast between Watchet and Blue Anchor. And our final veering off was on the very last day after clearing Prawle Point and Start Point we headed north into Start Bay for a convenient point to set off for home.

Francis

It was a brilliant route with a huge variety of countryside and took me (and, I expect, others) to places I had never been before. The ‘Alison Loop’ was the Day 12 referred to above; it would have been an excellent walk but for the lousy weather. And I rather liked the Somerset Levels.

The Somerset Levels viewed from the towering height of Lollover Hill, all 90m of it (Day 19)

Mike, though, was less concerned with the mechanics of the route..

Has it really been twelve years of memorable three-day walks in order to reach Britain's south Devon coast from Shropshire? Yes, but my memories are not so much of wonderful English countryside, though there was much of that, but of the friends that I walked with and the shared experiences. The times I, and often others, spent walking varying distances behind Francis…

I had no shortages of pictures of Francis' back to choose from. Here we are entering Withypool on Exmoor at the end of Day 24

…. and the secret pleasure gained when, on occasions, he was behind me!

I don't have many pictures like this. Knowstone Inner Moor (Day 26)

Full English breakfasts,…

Full English, Brownstone Farm, between Exmoor and Dartmoor (Day 27)
(and Lynne does not even have the excuse of walking it off)

…. coffees at eleven and rarely before.

Coffee at Fire Beacon on the Quantocks. This photo timed at 11.21 (Day 22)

Pints at pubs at lunchtime,…

We are joined by Lynne and Heather for lunchtime pints in the garden of the Cross House, Doynton (Day 15)

… and stings in the tail – the short sharp hills at the ends of the day’s walks.

After climbing over Glastonbury Tor the little Wearyall Hill lived up to its name
The sting in the tail of Day 18 (and surely that's Francis' white hat 50m behind!)

But most of all the opportunities to catch up with and share family news with a small group of special people who became great friends over the years. Thanks everyone. And if I have to pick my favourite bit of the whole walk it would have be the last two of all, from Outer Hope to Torcross, a quite spectacular coast path.

Mike

I would also like to mention the many convivial dinners we have shared.

Brian and a huge fish, the Star Inn, Watchet (Day 23)
And a pint of that nasty, cloudy cider that is so popular in those parts but tastes like wet, rotting wood (so I won't be welcome back!)

I know Alison was interested in the route, but she chose instead to concentrate on time’s wingéd chariot.

Looking back, my thoughts go immediately to the changes we have all seen in our lives - getting older, retiring, children getting older and having children of their own. My biggest change has been moving away from Stafford, leaving Francis and starting a new life with a new partner. I feel tremendously grateful to Francis and the others, to have been able to continue the walk despite this change. On a practical level, it meant I could do the walks as a day trip from home for a couple of years, as we walked through the Cotswolds. Apart from all that, I have felt a bit of the "odd one out" as the only woman - especially with my sense that the other wives thought I was mad to want to walk all day. But it has been great to meet up in the evenings - always Lynne, sometimes Alison and Hilary. I have enjoyed the companionship of the walking, and the evenings, and what could be better than walking through the English countryside in the spring

No Alison, you were never in any meaningful way an “odd one out”. Although Lynne, Hilary and Alison T did indeed think you were mad – but that was their opinion of all of us (and I harbour a sneaking suspicion they might be right.)

As for other changes, Brian was the only retired member of the party in 2008, now none of us does a stroke of work and we all leach off society. And, yes, we could all supply a picture of a grandchild or two who did not exist in 2008, but if you look at the photographs of before….

Cardingmill Valley, May 2008 (Day 1)

...and after

Torpoint, Devon, May 2019 (Day 36)

…it is clear we all look younger than we did at the start (and if you'll believe that....).

Having talked about the route, the countryside and the people, perhaps I should finish with the wildlife.

I am no a birder myself, but Francis and Brian are, and I have tried to faithfully record everything they identified. If anybody wants to trawl through all 31 posts and compile a bird list, good luck to them. I will merely mention what I believe to be the highlights: common cranes circling above us on the Somerset Levels (Day 20) and cirl bunting on the south Devon coast (Day 35). Sorry no photos, that is beyond my capabilities.

Nor do I have photos of the fox strolling across James (vacuum cleaner) Dyson’s Cotswold Estate (Day 15), the muntjac deer running across the low-lying land beside the River Parrett (Day 20) or an Exmoor Stag. There were rabbits and squirrels, too, and possibly a hare that went unrecorded. I do have photographs of Dartmoor ponies (right at the start) and Exmoor and Quantock ponies, which are just about wild.

Exmoor ponies, Trisscombe (Day 25)

..and a slow worm on Day 35!

A slow worm basking in the sunshine on the South Devon Coastal Path (Day 35)

Farm animals featured as well, and they are easier to photograph. There were cute spring lambs in abundance…

Spring lambs near Exford (Day 25)

….young bullocks that run in packs in the spring, energetic, exuberant and supremely stupid…

This lot galloped round to cut us off at the gate....then meekly backed down, Avon Estuary (Day 34)

…the odd self-important cockerel...

Look at me, I am beautiful. Williton, Somerset (Day 22)

....rather more alpacas than I had expected....

These Alpacas near Chew Lake in Somerset (Day 16) were not the only alpacas we encountered

....and what would Gloucestershire be without its Old Spot pigs?

Gloucester Old Spots (Day 13)

That just about wraps it up, so I will leave the last word to Brian, who covered all bases:

For me these walks were more about meeting up with friends and enjoying their company whilst taking part in an outdoor activity rather than where we were. However, you could not fail to be impressed by what we were seeing. My highlights were seeing properties and parkland in the Cotswolds, walking through the Quantocks and meeting my first Quantock pony; seeing an Exmoor Stag in full antler growth standing in the gorse early one morning whilst positioning the car and, of course, the day walking to Prawle Point. Our accommodation varied but none reached the depth of the Commercial Hotel, Colne and I fully appreciate the difficulty that Francis has had each year to find somewhere that offered the particular combination that we required. Our final cottage was different and enjoyable. To finish I would like to thank everyone for their company and Francis for his considerable organisation - a great 12-year Odyssey.

I would like to add my thanks to everybody for your companionship and the way nobody moaned when my slowness held people up, to Francis for all the organisation, to Mike and Alison for dropping back to walk with me on some of the more challenging sections, to Brian and Francis for walking Days 21, 28, 29 and 30 with me when injury prevented me from doing it at the right time, to Hilary for hospitality when making up those days (but a small boo for Dartmoor which held back the vilest weather for those days) and to Lynne for just being there and for TLC. The one year she missed through illness I discovered how many little tasks she did that I then had to do for myself.

And that is it. We have all walked all the way from Shropshire to the South Devon Coast. It is an achievement.

Addendum

There is a little more, including the answer to ‘why did we start in Shropshire when in 2008 we all lived in and around Stafford?’

Before the English Branch there was, in 2005,6,7 The South West Odyssey (Welsh Branch).

South West Odyssey, English and Welsh Branch

And before that (roughly 2001-4) there was Go North when we walked (more than three days a year) from Stafford to Hadrian’s Wall.

The two Odysseys and Go North

And before that in 1998 (or was it 1999 - in the days before digital cameras nice clear dates are unavailable) there was Go West when we walked from Stafford to Barmouth on the Welsh Coast, linking Go West to the Welsh branch of the Odyssey, which links to the English Branch. But we started the latter two walks from different places in Stafford, fortunately the Stafford Wheel (2006-8) links everything together.

The two Odysseys, Go North and the Stafford wheel

One (or more of us?) missed some sections of Go West and/or Go North, but I think four of us have walked from Hadrian’s Wall to the South Devon Coast – with a side trip to Barmouth. I do not know how anyone else feels, but I am proud of that achievement, even if it took 20 years.

Francis has also walked from Stafford to the east coast, and in early June Brian will spend a couple of days more on the Coastal Path to link his former home in Stafford to his new home in Torquay. He now lives on the top of a hill, so there will be a sting in the tail.