Birthday lunch at the Manoir

My 30th, so off for lunch at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons in Oxfordshire


The four of us decided to go for the ten course tasting menu for lunch


A pre-starter of olives to limber up for the big event. The atmosphere was great - relaxed and friendly, and neither stuffy nor quiet as some fancy restaurants can be


Canapes included crab, parmesan crisps and a goats' cheese concoction

Salted and unsalted butter for each person to go with a choice of breads which included mashed potato bread


First proper dish was a tartare of langoustines, and was suitably delicate and amazingly flavoured. Some relief from around the table at this point as we realised that the dishes were suitably sized.


A confit of Landais foie gras with seville orange and sourdough. Foie gras was excellent, and went wonderfully with the oranges. On reflection afterwards, one of the best dishes we had.


While some had scallops, I had a salad of black truffles and baby onions. I was really impressed with the way the kitchen effortlessly dealt with all our little whims about what we could and couldn't eat!


By this point the dishes were starting to blend into one another in an excellent way - the pacing was perfect, and you had enough time to appreciate the dish that had just gone, without getting impatient for the next. This was a pached egg with mushrooms and Jerusalem artichokes.

Another memorable dish - Brill with a wasabi foam and an oyster. The sauce had a flavour I've only ever tasted with fish in very expensive restaurants, so I'm guessing it was something in the fish stock, but may never know. Any suggestions welcomed!


We moved onto a really good Chateau Vieux Sarpe 2000 at this point


A perfectly cooked piece of Gressingham duck with chicory and yuzu fruit to follow


And on to the dessert wines - a glass of Torcolato for me


The best dish of the day, albeit one of the simplest. A carpaccio of blood oranges with a blood orange sorbet


Technically very impressive, with great flavours - a fruit 'ravioli' with lime leaf and coconut sorbet. Great until you realised that they'd inadvertently replicated the exact flavour of a mango solero!


Final proper dish was an apple pie

Finished with fresh mint tea and fruit petits fours in the lounge.

An amazing meal, and a great experience. Cost was in a different league to almost any other restaurant, but then so was the food, and so was the experience.