First of all such exciting news. We went to the Bladebone on Saturday to discover that a lovely couple had visited earlier in the week because they follow my blog!! Please identify yourselves, I am thrilled and delighted, mostly because I feel I am writing this for myself, friends and family, particularly the piggier ones and to know that there are others out there taking note is truly wonderful.
Yes, the new menu is out and well worth the wait. I was so torn by the celeriac and salsify soup with parsley oil and the beetroot with whipped goats cheese, blackberries and pine nuts but in the end went for the Laphroaig Salmon with horseradish creme fraiche and soda bread. It also had an emulsified dressing and some smoked salmon balls of loveliness that exploded in my mouth. Note, the bread came with butter, brilliant stuff, with salt on it, nice touch. The salmon was amazing, thick and incredibly tasty. Possibly the best smoked salmon I have had.
For my next starter I had saffron ravioli with trompette de la morte, a sous vide egg yolk, truffle and black olive oil. Dotted around were little crunchy croutons, the perfect accompaniment. This is actually a main course that they halved for me and I am SO glad I had it. It was deeply mushroomy, umami central, and the yolk was perfect. The home made pastry was silky and smooth and the sauce was spot on, light but could put up a fight with the heavy perfumed earthy mushroomness.
I will put up a picture of Tony’s steak and chips but hey, it was steak and chips and actually they weren’t even fat chips, what is going on?
Now back to the good stuff (not that the steak wasn’t good Kiren) but you have so many more interesting things on the menu. I have had the red plate, venison with red fruits, red leaves, red vegetables and Valrhona before and it was lovely, I quite fancied the whole partridge with butternut squash, kale and sage but went for the cod fillet with a smoked potato terrine, celeriac, savoy cabbage and bacon. This was really good. The cod was perfectly cooked to the right side of translucent and fell into big fat slices with a crispy skin and the potatoes were amazing. They were layers of thinly sliced oblongs of potato, golden brown and crunchy with a delicate girolle sauce that didnt overpower the dish but rather complemented it. Fantastic stuff. My only issue is that I had trouble chasing the baby onions around the plate!
As always service was delightful, Carolyn and Alex were considerate and welcoming despite my constant questioning and the chefs were doing a sterling job bearing in mind two of these dishes were brand new and magnificent with it. If anyone else is reading this then go to the Bladebone, the food is fantastic, as are the staff.