Readers of our blog will know that we have an enduring love affair with Le Manoir, though ask anyone who has stayed there and you will rapidly discover that we are not alone in doing so. At the heart of why it is so good is that it knows what it wants to deliver to its guests and seeks to do it with perfection, which for them, is not just a goal but something that is often achieved. While Le Manoir in summer and autumn is no doubt spectacular, showing off the gardens in full bloom, our preference has been to visit in winter when you can wander room to room and never be more than a few feet away from a real log fire. Even better, many of the individual rooms have real fires too and when there's snow on the ground outside, being able to curl up in front of a real fire in your own room is simply the best.
Foodwise, it is, as it always is, a real treat, with @chefgaryjones preparing for us 'les saveurs de janvier' menu, seven courses of beautiful ingredients beautifully cooked. Indeed, extending the beautiful theme, Le Manoir's plating of food is amongst the very best there is in our view and each dish is a visual treat that has conditioned you to hunger from the moment it is set down in front of you. This is immediately evident with the terrine of baby beetroot, the big slab of deep purple dotted around the pate with orange, red, pink and greens, making art that is stunning.
Quail's egg ravioli is always going to be special, but served up with Parmesan foam cascading down into the base of poultry and rosemary jus and a bed of hazelnuts and croutons, it's cooking that is set apart from almost all other. Two luxury seafood dishes follow with turbot, scallop and oyster in a single bowl with wasabi and cucumber, again, another dish that is captivatingly beautiful in every way. Then it's Scottish lobster with red pepper and cardamom, surrounded by sentinels of caviar topped potato. Two dishes that have taken the very best of what the sea offers and made the very best of it; did I mention earlier about striving for perfection and achieving it?
Not enough? The main is an assiette of piglet, together with cabbage, onion and prune and includes loin chops, belly and black pudding, food we know and love, here, given Le Manoir's magic touch. Coconut with chocolate is now forever associated with bounty but textures, coconut three ways, and Ghana chocolate Grand Cru, means it's like no Bounty that comes in a wrapper. The menu is brought to a close by intense citrus fla, cleaning, refreshing and somehow able to slip down after this magnificent meal, perhaps our best meal yet at Le Manoir.
As before, it is all too short a stay, and despite the fact that we're just two weeks into 2013, Le Manoir is likely to prove one of the highlights of the year. It looks like our love affair with Le Manoir will endure a little longer.
Foodwise, it is, as it always is, a real treat, with @chefgaryjones preparing for us 'les saveurs de janvier' menu, seven courses of beautiful ingredients beautifully cooked. Indeed, extending the beautiful theme, Le Manoir's plating of food is amongst the very best there is in our view and each dish is a visual treat that has conditioned you to hunger from the moment it is set down in front of you. This is immediately evident with the terrine of baby beetroot, the big slab of deep purple dotted around the pate with orange, red, pink and greens, making art that is stunning.
Quail's egg ravioli is always going to be special, but served up with Parmesan foam cascading down into the base of poultry and rosemary jus and a bed of hazelnuts and croutons, it's cooking that is set apart from almost all other. Two luxury seafood dishes follow with turbot, scallop and oyster in a single bowl with wasabi and cucumber, again, another dish that is captivatingly beautiful in every way. Then it's Scottish lobster with red pepper and cardamom, surrounded by sentinels of caviar topped potato. Two dishes that have taken the very best of what the sea offers and made the very best of it; did I mention earlier about striving for perfection and achieving it?
Not enough? The main is an assiette of piglet, together with cabbage, onion and prune and includes loin chops, belly and black pudding, food we know and love, here, given Le Manoir's magic touch. Coconut with chocolate is now forever associated with bounty but textures, coconut three ways, and Ghana chocolate Grand Cru, means it's like no Bounty that comes in a wrapper. The menu is brought to a close by intense citrus fla, cleaning, refreshing and somehow able to slip down after this magnificent meal, perhaps our best meal yet at Le Manoir.
As before, it is all too short a stay, and despite the fact that we're just two weeks into 2013, Le Manoir is likely to prove one of the highlights of the year. It looks like our love affair with Le Manoir will endure a little longer.
Terrine of baby beetroot, cottage cheese, horseradish sorbet
Quail's egg ravioli, spinach, Parmesan, poultry and rosemary jus
Braised Cornish turbot, scallop, wasabi (and oyster)
Plancha seared Scottish lobster, red pepper, cardamom
Assiette of organic Denbighshire piglet, cabbage, onion purée and prune
Textures of coconut and Ghana chocolate Grand Cru
"Citrus"
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