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Rarely, if ever, have we looked forward to a meal
more than this. Cameron’s fine dining at The Navigation Inn is
here and boy; was it worth the wait! Tasting is believing! If I
could live my life a hundred times over, I doubt that with all
the training in the world, I would ever be able to prepare food
quite like this.
You almost run out of words to describe this
dining experience. Unbelievable, outstanding, exceptional,
heavenly, creative and colourful might be some you could use,
but this was seriously bordering on absolute perfection.
We were escorted down a small flight of stairs to
the basement where there is a secluded seating area with views
into the partitioned kitchen. The leather bucket chairs and
matching sofas sat nicely alongside the teal blue and brown
colour scheme.
We were offered a glass of Carpene Malvolti, a
gorgeously smooth sparkling wine with a lovely, lingering fruity
flavour. We took our time to choose our food; simply because
favouring one dish over another proved difficult.
After making our selections were we shown to our
seats. The restaurant has been transformed with various subtle
changes throughout. The tables themselves were immaculately
prepared with striking, angular wine glasses catching the eye.
These were delicate, elegant and incredibly stylish.
We were offered a choice of three or four breads
before the amazing white wine and chorizo foam was brought to
our table. These were airy and flavoursome and I was amazed the
chorizo could float on top of the light foam. I have tasted
several varieties of these foams and this was without doubt, the
best yet. The flavours were immense yet not overpowering and I
loved the way the bubbles and flavours lingered on the tongue.
The comer crab risotto, bloody mary sorbet was my
choice to start. The cute bowl that this is served in ensures
the sorbet is absorbed by the risotto and does not fall to one
side. The contrast between the cold sorbet and the hot risotto
gives this dish the “wow” factor but it’s so much more than
that. The risotto had amazing flavours that made me sit up in
surprise at how delicious it was. The bloody mary sorbet has a
strong hint of tomato and this works extremely well with
risotto. The most amazing starter I have ever eaten? Absolutely!
My partner had chosen the pressed terrine of
guinea fowl and foie gras, golden raisin, marsala and verjus
dressing, brioche. Head Chef Dan Cameron has always insisted
there is no point in making food look great, unless it tastes
great too. This dish was full of wonderful colours and looked
sublime on the plate. My partner commented that it looked almost
too pretty to eat. This confirmed that Dan is a pure artist, and
the plates are his canvass to create amazing looking dishes. The
warm brioche arrived wrapped in a white towel and what followed
from my partner were several gasps in admiration for how good
the food was.
For mains I sided with the fillet steak, seared
foie gras, chanterelles, baby onions, celeriac puree, cabernet
sauvignon jus. I ordered this medium rare. Having started so
well with the risotto, this dish had a lot to live up to, yet it
only confirmed what we already knew; that Dan is a truly
exceptional chef. Quite how it is done, I’ll probably never
know, but the taste of this steak was like nothing I have ever
sampled before. Even my partner, who dislikes the site of rare
meat and would never wish to eat a steak unless it was very well
cooked, was in awe at how flavoursome it was. She confessed she
could have easily eaten this dish and that alone is saying an
awful lot. The chanterelles, regarded as probably the best
mushrooms in the world, the baby onions and the foie gras were
all oozing in delightful flavours that combined so beautifully
well without any of them overpowering the other. Can fine dining
really get any better than this?
My partner chose the pan fried John Dory, roasted
butternut squash, goat’s cheese ravioli, pied de mutton and
caper vinaigrette. This again, was an example of amazing
presentation and this fish gives a whole new meaning to the word
‘soft.’ Unbelievably delicate, this is a sublime dish that is a
must if ever you are lucky enough to see this on the specials
board when visiting Cameron’s.
Many top chefs can let themselves down when it
comes to desserts but Dan is without a shadow of a doubt, an
amazing all-rounder. My amedei chocolate and salted caramel
fondant, malted barley ice cream was pure heaven! The chocolate
has to be tasted to be believed. This was more than exceptional
– it was perfection. Once you are closer to the bottom of this
dish, you might wonder how much more chocolate you could eat.
But then comes the salted caramel which adds another dimension
to the dish altogether and with a small helping of the ice
cream, this was exquisite. As for the presentation, I don’t
think I’ve ever seen food look better on a plate than this.
The buttermilk pannacotta, lemon sable, rhubarb
sorbet was my partner’s choice to finish what was a totally
fabulous first visit to Cameron’s. Not surprisingly, she loved
every mouthful.
What was noticeable was how during each course,
before eating, we both looked at each other’s dishes at length
before starting. The amount of work and thought that goes into
this dining experience cannot be underestimated. Dan has surely
spent every waking minute perfecting every dish he cooks.
The very scary thing for anyone who might have
aspirations of cooking anything anywhere near as good as this,
is Dan’s age. For such a young man he surely cannot do anything
but improve with more experience behind him? But I am sat here
asking myself how it’s possible to improve on perfection? The
key is probably Dan himself, as I am not sure he believes
perfection exists. With that in mind, he continues to push the
boundaries and in turn, will he surely raise the bar to which
many others will not be able to reach. A Michelin Star will be
his for the taking.
Throughout the evening we were served by a team
of staff headed by front of house manager Thierry. Everyone is
clearly buzzing that Cameron’s is now up and running. We liked
Thierry and he guided us towards a superb red wine, the
Beaujolais Villages Chateau de Suzy, a wine typical of Gannay
with an abundance of blackcurrant and raspberry. This
accompanied my meal particularly well and my partner, a lover of
red wine, was clearly disappointed to be driving.
Thierry clearly knows his job and how the food is
prepared but he was never arrogant with all the knowledge he has
at his disposal. The service was like the food – exceptional.
Cameron’s Fine Dining Restaurant is here and one cannot help but feel
that this restaurant is destined for greatness. What a night! |
