In February 2019 Mr A and I stayed at the Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (“Le Manoir”) for two nights. In its 2 Michelin star restaurant we had the tasting menu on the first night and went a la carte on the second.  A la carte is somewhat deceptive because a three course meal is a fixed £175 per person, irrespective of which one of the 5 dishes from each course you select (and none has a ‘supplement’).

Just like the previous evening we went to the hotel lounge for a cocktail before dinner (Negronis again; they were so good 10/10), where menus and a plate of 4 canapés each were brought to us.  They were all flavoursome and innovative creations, which demonstrated the chefs’ skills and told us we were about to have a very fine dining experience. 10/10

After being taken through to the dining room (the conservatory part, again), and offered bread and water, we were presented with a surprise dish! Described on the a la carte menu as “La Betterave”, this was such a prettily presented and expertly made beetroot terrine, served with pickled beets, a beetroot puree, horseradish and creme fraiche puree and a horseradish sorbet. It was a superb dish; so refreshing and delicious. By far the best ‘amuse bouche’ I’ve ever had! 10/10

Mr A and I had ordered the same three dishes from the menu, and the first course was “Plancha seared duck liver, rhubarb and ginger”. It had caught my eye the night before and in between time I asked one of the chefs who gave us a tour of the kitchens how this liver differed from foie gras, and he told me “it is foie gras”, but they use the word ‘liver’ because some people are put off by the term ‘foie gras’, on ethical grounds.  There was poached rhubarb, gingerbread tuiles and a fabulous prune and rhubarb ketchup, which all went very nicely with the rich liver. I just loved this dish! 10/10

For our main course we had ordered salt-baked pigeon, which arrived in theatrical fashion: the Maitre D’ came carrying two birds encased in a salt pastry, which had been decorated to look like the bird, complete with a little ‘head’.  The Maitre D’ then expertly removed the salt pastry and carved the breasts onto our dining plates, adding broccoli and alliums. Once the plates were in front of us he poured over a brilliant bacon and madeira jus, and then a small side bowl appeared with the pigeon’s glazed wings with barley, in a ‘risotto’ style.  Cooking the pigeon inside the salt pastry meant the meat was the most tender and moist I’ve ver eaten. This was another truly superb dish! 10/10

For dessert we had a pistachio shuffle with dark chocolate sorbet.  The soufflé was perfectly risen, with chopped pistachio on top. The sorbet was inside and was still cold on my first spoonful – how did they do that?? Once again it was impossible to fault the dish, so it has to be 10/10

Wow, what a meal! There are times when I prefer a good three course meal to a tasting menu because I can choose my dishes, and those dishes are usually a bigger portion size. So it was at Le Manoir, where I scored my tasting menu meal 8.5/10, but this a la carte dinner I score 10/10. It was a real pleasure to be treated to a fantastic meal and the surprise of a stupendous ‘amuse bouche’ before it.

Total bill for two, including aperitif, wine and water, was £579.