Post to rec.food.restaurants I wrote this review recently and I thought I may as well post it to this group. If anyone could help me out with restaurants in Chapel Hill, NC or Linkoping , Sweden - both of which I will be visiting soon. I'd be grateful. Mallory Court, Bishop's Tachbrook, near Royal Leamington Spa, Warks. England Michelin 1 rosette GFG: 3*/5 IDB 7.5/10 One of the great problems with the siting of conventions in the West Midlands is the dearth of quality cuisine in the area. There is a nice little clutch of Michelin rosetted restaurants in the Cheltenham area and Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons is probably only about an hour and a quarter's drive from Lake Hall and for those with thick skins there is Croque-en-Bouche at Great Malvern but there is nowhere in Birmingham proper or its faubourgs. The same goes for Coventry and at MasterCon - the hotel I was resident in the Forte PostHouse menu - it isn't *that* bad, but it is meant to slake the needs of sales reps in Cavaliers. Although, it did me fine for one night and the port and Havana cigar offer for 5 pounds was pretty good. However, there is one rosetted restaurant within range of both conventions and that is Mallory Court near Leamington Spa. Stephen Agar magnanimously drove myself and Chris Tringham there for our dinner on the Saturday evening. Mallory Court is a country house hotel, so the three of us managed to be the youngest people eating there by about 15 years or so, but we were all very much unfazed by this. Table talk was mainly about eating in France. Whilst Chris and I drank our pastis, Stephen selected a Burgundy from the not unreasonably priced wine list - a Charmes Chambertin 1983 (40 pounds). I had rooted for the Rhone myself, in the shape of either a Gigondas or a Cte Rotie, with some side lusting for a Chateau Cissac 1983. I can't comment one anyone else's starter, although Stephen did comment favourably on his terrine of foie gras in a Sauternes jelly, but I laid into a trio of wild salmon - which turned out to be raw salmon with creme fraiche, gravadlax with mustard sauce and smoked salmon. The gravadlax was easily the best item with a good sauce, the smoked salmon had been cured nicely. Overall good, but with something like that, it is merely the quality of the fish that counts. The salmon came with a good supply of brown bread and butter in addition to the variety of freshly baked rolls that we were constantly offered. Chris and I then split a best end of lamb with a herb crust and a rosemary jus, with this was gratin dauphenois, cauliflower cheese and thin green beans. The lamb was cooked to a beautiful pink colour and was at that tender but not too tender stage - a result that is hard to acheive, very good. The herb crust could have been had more sage and tarragon for my liking, but the rosemary jus was excellent. The gratin dauphenois were disappointing, I've made better myself and had better at several places as it appears to be *the* trendy potato dish at the moment. The cauliflower cheese was superb, I normally hate cauliflower cheese, but I'd gladly have a plateful of this - it was two large, crisp, just blanched cauliflower florets with a small amount of tangy cheese sauce - possibly made with Gruyere. The portions were generous. For dessert, we all went for the chocolate tear with a white chocolate mousse and a raspberry coulis. This was above average, what the mousse lacked in texture was made up for by the excellent quality of the chocolate in the tear and of the very good, sweet and sharp, raspberry coulis. Service was good and unobtrusive if a little silent, I'm a little more used to solicitous places which require a ritual enthusing after each course. Good points were that plenty of bread was offered (always a good sign) from the start to the end of the main course and there was plentiful coffee (enough for three demi-tasses each) at the end with some good petit fours. Myself and Chris had digestifs (Hine Antique) whilst Stephen had a very nice Davidoff cigar which I regretted not having myself. There is a set menu at 30 pounds which looks like good value and a five course menu gormandise at 60 pounds. We went a la carte and our meal came to about 80 pounds a head inclusive, there is no service charge and no gratuties are expected.
United Kingdom