The Best Food Ever ?

There really isn`t anything else I can talk about this week after my visit to Raymond Blanc`s Le Manoir  Aux Quat`Saisons last Wednesday for lunch!

Now I can`t honestly say it was the best food I`ve ever had, as I`ve eaten lots of good food, but it was the best experience ever, apart from the rain, it was Amazing!

The house, and it is like a house not a hotel, is set in the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen, there is not a blade of grass out if place, it must take an army of gardeners just to keep it looking perfect all the time. Le Manoir has a wonderful herb and vegetable garden but on the day it was too wet for us to walk round. The vegetable garden is 100% organic and supplies the restaurant with over 90 types of vegetables and salad, it comes complete with the scarecrow  in the picture above which is modelled on Raymond Blanc!!

The Herb Garden, Mushroom Valley, Orchard and Cloche Tunnels ( where they grow courgettes for their flowers )  are equally impressive.

We hurried through the rain and gardens to the house which is gorgeous. It has an air of calm about it that is soothing and tranquil, and everyone is very quiet! We made our way through the beautiful reception area to the lounge and bar area, all carpeted in beige carpet and beautifully furnished, where canapés and cocktails awaited us! And the loos ! Fabulous – I always think a nice ladies makes for a good restaurant.

We all sat in the lounge quietly drinking our cocktails and deciding what to have for lunch. We settled on the 5 course taster menu at £ 79pp ( glad I wasn’t paying ) – this is not something you would do every week – nor is this  ” quick “lunch – we arrived at 12noon and left after 5pm.

New Season Garlic & Potato Soup – sounds very ordinary but it`s not, the soup comes in a small glass and is delicious.

Confit of Salmon, Elderflower, Garden Raddish, Yuzu Cream – mostly from the garden of course.

Free Range Hen`s Egg, Watercress Puree, Jabugo Ham – thinking about this after it was just an egg with ham but it was delicious!

Assiette of  “Rhug Estate” Lamb. Artichokes and Olive Jus – amazing but the strange thing is one of my friends lives near to the Rhugg Estate in North Wales – small world

Gariguette Strawberries with Marshmallows, Cream Cheese, Crème Glace and Szechuan Papper – the nicest desert I`ve ever eaten!

We drank English Rose wine which was very good, and finished off with coffee and Petit Fours.

Oh nearly forgot the bread – all home made, delicious and you could have as much as you wanted!

The food was excellent, the service very, very good,  reminded me of Regent Cruises, perfect but unobtrusive, I lost count of the number of waiters who were looking after everyone. The plates came out all exactly the same – just like on Masterchef! This is definitely the best restaurant I`ve been too and I`d love to go again.

Then it was home in the rain after a very memorable experience, and no Silver Service in sight! My only disappointment was that Raymond wasn`t there in person !