Discussion
My wife and I went for dinner at Le Manoir last week and we were thoroughly underwhelmed by the whole experience. We were really looking forward to it and were so disappointed by the whole affair.
The grounds are lovely and the seeting is superb. We were greeted and ushered into a very pleasant sitting room for drinks, all very polite and inviting. The menus were selected both of us went for the 'Classique' menu at £105 and wines were chosen.
The food, whilst not bad was so dissapointing, there was no real imagination put into the food. I know it was the classique menu but we expected a 2 michelin starred chef to put a spectacular twist on even the most classic of dishes.
The bill was reasonable but somehow I didn't think it lived upto its 2 michelin star status. Now I'm no expert on how the michelin ratings go but in my experience (fat duck) there must be a massive gulf in scoring between a 2 and 3 star restaurant and a much more slender one between a 1 and 2 star venue. I have eaten in no star and one star establishments which were far superior to Le Manoir.
Maybe we caught it on a bad night, maybe we picked the wrong menu....but surely the standards of a 2 michelin star kitchen should eliminate any such variables ? ?
Anyway, just my two penneth
The grounds are lovely and the seeting is superb. We were greeted and ushered into a very pleasant sitting room for drinks, all very polite and inviting. The menus were selected both of us went for the 'Classique' menu at £105 and wines were chosen.
The food, whilst not bad was so dissapointing, there was no real imagination put into the food. I know it was the classique menu but we expected a 2 michelin starred chef to put a spectacular twist on even the most classic of dishes.
The bill was reasonable but somehow I didn't think it lived upto its 2 michelin star status. Now I'm no expert on how the michelin ratings go but in my experience (fat duck) there must be a massive gulf in scoring between a 2 and 3 star restaurant and a much more slender one between a 1 and 2 star venue. I have eaten in no star and one star establishments which were far superior to Le Manoir.
Maybe we caught it on a bad night, maybe we picked the wrong menu....but surely the standards of a 2 michelin star kitchen should eliminate any such variables ? ?
Anyway, just my two penneth
Wild garlic & potato soup (nice, but tiny portion, nothing to write home about)
Summer Veg Risotto (exceptional, easily the best dish)
Sea Bream with cuttle fish and salt hake (OK)
Slow roast Chicken with morels (poor, the sauce was vile almost like it was made from a packet !!)
Tastes of Tiramisu (deconstructed tiramisu - pleasant but nothing special)
Fairly standard stuff really and the more I think about it the increasingly disappointed I become !
Only sauce with the chicken was 'substandard' the rest of the food wasn't unpleasant, it simply didn't measure up to expectations !
Summer Veg Risotto (exceptional, easily the best dish)
Sea Bream with cuttle fish and salt hake (OK)
Slow roast Chicken with morels (poor, the sauce was vile almost like it was made from a packet !!)
Tastes of Tiramisu (deconstructed tiramisu - pleasant but nothing special)
Fairly standard stuff really and the more I think about it the increasingly disappointed I become !
Only sauce with the chicken was 'substandard' the rest of the food wasn't unpleasant, it simply didn't measure up to expectations !
drfrank said:
Wild garlic & potato soup (nice, but tiny portion, nothing to write home about)
Summer Veg Risotto (exceptional, easily the best dish)
Sea Bream with cuttle fish and salt hake (OK)
Slow roast Chicken with morels (poor, the sauce was vile almost like it was made from a packet !!)
Tastes of Tiramisu (deconstructed tiramisu - pleasant but nothing special)
Fairly standard stuff really and the more I think about it the increasingly disappointed I become !
Only sauce with the chicken was 'substandard' the rest of the food wasn't unpleasant, it simply didn't measure up to expectations !
Meh.Summer Veg Risotto (exceptional, easily the best dish)
Sea Bream with cuttle fish and salt hake (OK)
Slow roast Chicken with morels (poor, the sauce was vile almost like it was made from a packet !!)
Tastes of Tiramisu (deconstructed tiramisu - pleasant but nothing special)
Fairly standard stuff really and the more I think about it the increasingly disappointed I become !
Only sauce with the chicken was 'substandard' the rest of the food wasn't unpleasant, it simply didn't measure up to expectations !
Wild garlic and morels are free around these parts.
I can see why you'd be underwhelmed.
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