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This restaurant review was undertaken on
Thursday 16 October 2008.
We visited Whittlebury Hotel Spa and Restaurant
on a Thursday evening. Our room was standard but very spacious
offering peace and quite before our amazing spa experience. The
spa is an absolute a treat. The ice room and sauna are relaxing,
and a great way to get away from it all. The robes make you feel
comfortable, chilled and part of the hotel. Look on their
website for amazing deals.
Décor
 Off
to Murrays restaurant where it all starts at the hotel lounge
area with your reserved settee, a name plaque, where your waiter
will deliver your drinks and canapés; meat balls, strong goat
cheese, prawn tempura - a pleasant touch. Murrays is based in a
hotel and caters for those looking for a fine dining experience.
The restaurant is fresh, classic and well maintained; lots of
flowers offer vibrant colours which work well with the neutral
seating area. The walls are covered with Murray Walker’s famous
quotes from his Grand Prix years.
Service
The staff are professional at all times and
attentive to your movements whilst eating and between courses.
If you are looking to take a friend or partner for a treat then
you could easily consider visiting for the service alone. We
were made to feel special. It’s the type of restaurant that
looks after everyone.
Atmosphere
The level of noise and chatter was defiantly calm
and relaxing. The music is played suitably in the background and
guests did not feel the need to rush their dinner. All that was
missing was a piano but the dimmed lighting makes this a
romantic place to eat.
Food
To start we began with the whole grain mustard
bread, soft and buttery. Then our Leek and Potato Soup came
thick and creamy in a baby cup, espresso like with a piece of
crispy bacon. Piping hot! This was delicious but not designed to
fill you up; more to show off their cooking skills.
Our chosen starters came together. Mine was the
seared pigeon breast, apple and celeriac remoulade, crispy bacon
and quail egg (£9.00). The bird is rich in flavour and looked a
wonderful red colour and was thoroughly tender. The quail egg
was tasty and looked cute, like a mini egg. It came runny too,
just how I like them.
Goat’s cheese roulade with textures of beetroot
and truffled honey salad (£9.00) was the choice for my guest and
there were no complaints - “The truffle honey is splendid” and
“the cheese moreish” were their words.
At this stage a fly fell into my guest’s glass of
wine but in an instant a replacement was brought to the table.
For mains I chose the toasted fois grai, unique
in taste, crisp with smoked cod and crispy pancetta wrapped with
comfit garlic potato puree (£22). Wow! The fois grai was amazing
and as the portion was tiny I made sure I ate this buttery piece
of perfection at a controlled pace. The cod was cooked superbly
and the baby onions gave this dish character.
Fillet aged castle caster bridge beef, braised
cheek with smoked potato puree, brioche crumbs and wed wine
shallots (£24) arrived for my guest – an excellent choice.
Again, this was cooked well and worked a treat with the silky
mash puree. Braised beef cheek can often be tough – and although
this dish was a little fatty, it was a large portion with plenty
of meat.
Desserts
Mint choc chip soufflé was shared by us both; the
green colour of this puffed-up dish seemed to be off the colour
charts. Bright green contrasts welcomed our forks to cut through
and scrape the dish clean.
I worry when I
visit hotels and assume that food is cooked in numbers but at
Murrays, each dish is made for you and much preparation and
energy goes into every meal. |
