- Location
- West Yorkshire
Lunch today at Moor Hall, possibly the most talked up/hyped UK restaurant of the last couple of years, racing to 2 Michelin stars within 3 or 4 years of opening as well as being voted Number 1 restaurant in the UK in last year's national restaurant awards.
Chef Mark Birchall trained at L'Enclume, and the Roganic influence is heavy - lots of home grown produce from the gardens, all dishes featuring seasonal herbs, flowers etc. The building is grand, old world on the outside and money-no-object plush and modern on the inside.
Lunch is a no choice, 4 course menu (which is really 6 courses after canapes in the bar and a pre dessert) priced at £70. Dinner is 8 courses at £155 though there is currently no option to take the longer menu at lunch.
Canapes were really superb - I can't immediately think of anywhere I've had a better selection - a board of homemade charcuterie, soft centred black pudding croquettes with gooseberry puree and pea tartlets. All fab, especially the tarts.
First course was carrots from the garden about 6 different ways with ramson pesto and cheese snow. Really interesting textures and a good way to showcase a humble ingredient but 'nice' rather than special.
Crab and turnips contained 3 big, juicy pieces of king crab, turnips 4 or 5 ways and a turnip consomme. Technically excellent but again 'nice' overall.
Main course was guinea fowl breast with beetroot, blackberry and girolles. The meal went up a notch with this course - everything on the plate was delicious enough, however the standouts were the 2 separate accompaniments of a piece of confit leg topped with mushroom flower and (best of all) a steamed bun filled with the guinea fowl offal which was absolutely delicious - I could have eaten a whole course just of those! Superb.
At this point we opted to take the optional extra cheese course, a choice of 6 cheeses (from 10) for 2 to share at £12 per person. All were in tip top condition, accompanying breads and biscuits were superb and the serving was quite generous (which doesn't really come across on this photo).
Pre dessert was utterly outstanding, yet ridiculously simple - a ball of stem ginger ice cream on chunks of stem ginger in pine syrup topped with the lightest ginger tuile twigs. Beauty in simplicity, just absolutely sublime, and perfect with our dessert wine.
The proper dessert of cherries with cherry sorbet, meadowsweet cream and muscovado tuile was even better than the ginger. Again the balance and contrasts of temperatures, textures, flavours was executed perfectly. Whoever the pastry chef is, they really know what they are doing!
Wine list is not particularly huge for a 2* restaurant, and mark ups vary between fairly reasonable to fairly punchy. However they do offer corkage at a very fair £30 per bottle (£50 for Champagne), so we pushed the boat out and took these, which were all excellent - the Chablis very lean, mineral and citrus, the Monte Bello almost Margaux-like with a bouquet of crushed stones and violets, the Yquem just absolutely world beating in the way only Yquem can be. It is a great pleasure to be able to drink wines of this quality in this type of restaurant, and they did really enhance the whole experience.
Service was really excellent throughout - I mean really top drawer. Perhaps the best compliment I can say on this is it could have been a NPM restaurant - it was just so relaxed, laid back and friendly, yet utterly efficient without missing a single beat. The setting is also stunning - not just the building or dining room but the gardens too, where we were able to sit after our meal and finish our drinks in the sunshine.
Overall I would say the quality here varies through the meal - I would perhaps summarise it as good 1* food with some 2* bits and pieces and a 3* pastry section. 3* service too. Lower to middle of 2* is probably about right overall - it certainly doesn't consistently reach the heights of, say, Sat Bains or L'Enclume, but it is definitely half a notch up from even the best 1* places.
Chef Mark Birchall trained at L'Enclume, and the Roganic influence is heavy - lots of home grown produce from the gardens, all dishes featuring seasonal herbs, flowers etc. The building is grand, old world on the outside and money-no-object plush and modern on the inside.
Lunch is a no choice, 4 course menu (which is really 6 courses after canapes in the bar and a pre dessert) priced at £70. Dinner is 8 courses at £155 though there is currently no option to take the longer menu at lunch.
Canapes were really superb - I can't immediately think of anywhere I've had a better selection - a board of homemade charcuterie, soft centred black pudding croquettes with gooseberry puree and pea tartlets. All fab, especially the tarts.
First course was carrots from the garden about 6 different ways with ramson pesto and cheese snow. Really interesting textures and a good way to showcase a humble ingredient but 'nice' rather than special.
Crab and turnips contained 3 big, juicy pieces of king crab, turnips 4 or 5 ways and a turnip consomme. Technically excellent but again 'nice' overall.
Main course was guinea fowl breast with beetroot, blackberry and girolles. The meal went up a notch with this course - everything on the plate was delicious enough, however the standouts were the 2 separate accompaniments of a piece of confit leg topped with mushroom flower and (best of all) a steamed bun filled with the guinea fowl offal which was absolutely delicious - I could have eaten a whole course just of those! Superb.
At this point we opted to take the optional extra cheese course, a choice of 6 cheeses (from 10) for 2 to share at £12 per person. All were in tip top condition, accompanying breads and biscuits were superb and the serving was quite generous (which doesn't really come across on this photo).
Pre dessert was utterly outstanding, yet ridiculously simple - a ball of stem ginger ice cream on chunks of stem ginger in pine syrup topped with the lightest ginger tuile twigs. Beauty in simplicity, just absolutely sublime, and perfect with our dessert wine.
The proper dessert of cherries with cherry sorbet, meadowsweet cream and muscovado tuile was even better than the ginger. Again the balance and contrasts of temperatures, textures, flavours was executed perfectly. Whoever the pastry chef is, they really know what they are doing!
Wine list is not particularly huge for a 2* restaurant, and mark ups vary between fairly reasonable to fairly punchy. However they do offer corkage at a very fair £30 per bottle (£50 for Champagne), so we pushed the boat out and took these, which were all excellent - the Chablis very lean, mineral and citrus, the Monte Bello almost Margaux-like with a bouquet of crushed stones and violets, the Yquem just absolutely world beating in the way only Yquem can be. It is a great pleasure to be able to drink wines of this quality in this type of restaurant, and they did really enhance the whole experience.
Service was really excellent throughout - I mean really top drawer. Perhaps the best compliment I can say on this is it could have been a NPM restaurant - it was just so relaxed, laid back and friendly, yet utterly efficient without missing a single beat. The setting is also stunning - not just the building or dining room but the gardens too, where we were able to sit after our meal and finish our drinks in the sunshine.
Overall I would say the quality here varies through the meal - I would perhaps summarise it as good 1* food with some 2* bits and pieces and a 3* pastry section. 3* service too. Lower to middle of 2* is probably about right overall - it certainly doesn't consistently reach the heights of, say, Sat Bains or L'Enclume, but it is definitely half a notch up from even the best 1* places.
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