Not all of the UK’s top ten restaurants are in London. It would be pretty bad if that were the case, I suppose.
For me that means though, that I’m going to have to plan in some weekends away.
On the upside, none of the UK’s top ten restaurants seem to be in Milton Keynes or Blackpool, but rather in very pretty places. Gidleigh Park for example is in Dartmoor National Park, in Devon. There are worse places to go for a weekend away, I reckon.
How to get there though? I don’t own a car, so the options are train or bike. Or train and bike.
So we packed our bikes onto a train to Exceter and then cycled to Mortenhampstead where we had booked a hotel. Gidleigh Park also has rooms, but at £310 per night, they are a little outside my budget.
Despite having the lovely Clarisse book this quite far in advance and having her call a few times in the weeks before, we were only able to get a lunch booking. In hindsight though, lunch was definitely the better choice
Moretonhampstead is pretty close to Gidleigh, but not exactly walking distance. We could take a taxi. But we also wanted a bit of a cycling weekend. So we ended up carefully rolling up our trousers and dress shirts into our bags, packing the good shoes and the deodorant and mounting our bikes.
Dartmoor is rather hilly, which meant that we ended up working up a bit of a sweat, but also a bit of an appetite. Probably a good thing ahead of a Michelin-starred feast. The appetite that is, not the sweat.
After 2 hours of cycling we stopped in Chagford, the closest village to Gidleigh Park and used the public toilets to freshen up. Very classy, I know.
We then got onto our bikes again in our smart casuals and started cycling towards Gidleigh.
The private road that leads to Gidleigh Park is already very pretty and as soon as you enter the actual property, the landscape becomes absolutely stunning.
A little brook, spring flowers and a beautiful old building in front of a lush green hill. Rather stunning.
A little less stunning: we stopped to change our shoes behind a bush by the road.
Arriving at the hotel, it was clear that we were the first people to ever arrive there on bicycles -the guy from the valet parking looking at us slightly disconcerted.
We got there a bit early and were led into the drawing room. All very lush. Countryside Britain at its very best.
They brought us the menu, wine list and a lovely amuse bouche, consisting of salmon mousse and a fantastic shot of pea and mint soup.
After a short debate we opted again for the 8-course tasting menu. After all we had cycled to the restaurant!
The wine list was similarly impressive as at Le Gavroche, but included wines from all over the world. Even a nice Riesling from Schloss Rheinhardtshausen, which I picked because the estate is close to where my mum lives and I had been there before.
We were then led to the table to start our second gastronomic feast.
The Brixham scallops were actually just one scallop, but probably one of the biggest I had seen and extremely nice.
Every French restaurant has to have some foie gras appetizer on the menu. Here it was a terrine of foie gras with Madeira jelly and truffled green bean salad. I do like foie gras, so was quite happy with this.
The Cornish Salt Cod was one of the dishes that the waiter had “warned” us about before. He had explained that this dish was a bit different, that it was only warm, not hot and that it comes with a rather acidic lemon puree. Apparently customers have often been a bit surprised by this dish.
For me this was actually the best dish on the menu. Cornish salt cot, Beesands crab, chorizo, samphire, tarragon and lemon puree. An absolutely brilliant combination of flavours with the acidic lemon puree cutting through the rich chorizo. So good!
The Cornish duckling with cabbage, turnips and roast garlic was lovely, really well done, but felt like grandma’s home-cooking after the salt cod adventure.
Then, once again, a bone marrow dish. Seems to be the thing to do if you're a posh French restaurant. Wild Dartmoor beef with smoked bone marrow, a horseradish confit and red wine sauce.
I’m discovering that I’m not a big fan of bone marrow. It came as a big cube topped with something crunchy that I couldn’t quite identify. The smoky flavour was actually very nice. So was the crunchy topping. But I just find the gelatinous texture rather unpleasant. Loved the horseradish confit though.
I really like the fact that all produce at Gidleigh Park is locally sourced. But the selection of South West Cheeses was not particularly impressive. Compared to the amazing cheese cart at Le Gavroche, overflowing with smelly, creamy, runny French goodness, this felt like Sainsbury’s party cheese selection.
6 courses done, it was now time for the puddings.
A “starter desert” of exotic fruit salad with a passion fruit sorbet. Nice and tart.
The Plate of Apricot looked brilliant – food architecture. A pyramid of apricot and almond nougatine parfait, a perfect cube of silky apricot mousse and a sphere of sorbet. The texture of the mousse was amazing.
For coffee and petits fours we moved outside to the lovely, sunny terrace overlooking the gardens. The petit fours were not really petit fours, but rather a desert lover’s dream. Crème Brulee, a raspberry tartlet and a chocolate fondant. My three favourite puddings, all on one plate. Christmas had come early!
Afterwards we went for a nice walk through the gardens, trying to digest the 8 or 9 courses. The whole Gidleigh Park experience lasted almost 5 hours.
As an overall experience it was great.
The setting is simply stunning.
The food is very good, but I would say that the salt cod was the only truly memorable dish.
The service was impeccable. But there is always such an army of waiters - every course seemed to be brought in by a different person - that it somehow lacks a personal touch.
And the bill? Again we didn’t quite manage to stay within the £300.
£120 each for the signature menu.
£44 for a bottle of Riesling
Plus another glass of wine, water and service makes £330.
http://www.gidleigh.com/
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