L’Ortolan is a fine dining restaurant in the Shinfield area of Reading, which has held one Michelin star for several years. It was the first Michelin-starred restaurant I ever visited, back in the days of chef John Burton-Race, and when it was taken over by Alan Murchison I ate there quite frequently and it was Alan who encouraged me to do a cookery course at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, where he used to work.  L’Ortolan was instrumental in developing my love of food and cooking and I feel a strong emotional connection to it, so I wanted to show it off to my family when celebrating my 60th birthday in September 2021.

Mr. A and I were the first of our party to arrive, so we relaxed in L’Ortolan’s sumptuous bar area and ordered our customary aperitif, Negroni.  I believe it was a standard blend, but it didn’t have the fashionable single large ice cube.  They didn’t offer us any nibbles with the aperitif, which bothered me because I felt my stomach needed something to help with the alcohol. I wanted the restaurant manger to engage in conversation with me, so I could tell him what L’Ortolan means to me, but he didn’t. 5/10

I ordered a bottle of Albarino to be served as an aperitif at the dining table as soon as my parents, my sister and her partner arrived, with which we would eat our (anticipated) canapés.  We sat down together at 12:45 but the canapés didn’t get to us until 13:10.  Presented in a wooden box, we each had a tartlet of brown shrimp with Thermidor sauce, and rye bread with mushroom puree.  I wasn’t sure I liked the Thermidor sauce, and the rye bread was as hard and brittle as glass. 6.5/10

There was a choice of A la Carte, a Tasting menu, a Vegetarian tasting menu, and a special limited time tasting menu incorporating caviar.  I ordered the Menu Gourmand for the table; L’Ortolan’s signature 7 course tasting menu at £79/person.  Mr A and I chose to have the wine flight at £75 each, with my family preferring to order wine by the glass as and when they fancied it.  L’Ortolan carries interesting wines from less common terroirs, including Romania and Moldova.

We were served a “chef’s appetiser” of frog leg bon bon with a parsley and garlic veloute, which was very pleasant, but we had to tell my parents they were eating chicken, because they are very conservative eaters! But they ate and enjoyed the dish. 10/10

The first course from the Menu Gourmand was “Salad of lamb”, which was a slice of lamb belly served with heritage tomatoes, lettuce and an anchovy sauce.  It also had tiny cubes of lamb tongue, so once again we didn’t tell the parents what they were eating.  I found this dish to be tasty, but I felt it was very simple and lacked any cheffy skills or techniques. 7/10

Our second course was “citrus cured bream” with cucumber, verbena and buttermilk.  This was a light, clean and refreshing dish, with a lot more cucumber flavour than citrus, and to my surprise the parents ate it up. 8.5/10

The third course was “foie gras”, served like a terrine, but it seemed more ‘rustic’ than terrines usually are. It was served at room temperature with fig and a potent fruity fig and walnut dressing. 7.5/10

Next came “Cornish Cod” with razor clams, sea herbs and watercress.  We found this dish to have quite a “fishy” aroma, and one of our party couldn’t eat his.  I doubt the cod was ‘off’ because we didn’t get food poisoning, but nonetheless it was off-putting.  I forgot to take a photo of the dish. 5/10

The main course, “Anjou Squab” was very scary for our nervous diners, as it was presented with a confit leg which still had the whole leg bone, foot and claw from the pigeon.  I think this was a step too far; everyone regards pigeons as dirty animals, and the sight of their foot on a dinner plate is hard to swallow.  The pigeon breast was served rare, and it was very tasty along with the beetroot and chard; in fact I think this was the most flavoursome dish of the day. 8/10

We were served a very refreshing frozen lemon mousse sandwich as a pre-dessert, so although it looked difficult to eat it was actually a very good palate cleanser. 10/10

Dessert was called “Peach”. We had a bric pastry cannelloni filled with white peach, a peach sorbet and biscuit crumb.  as you see above, I also received a piece of chocolate with birthday greetings written on it.  I thought this dessert was just so-so. 6.5/10

A few of us ordered coffee, which came with a nice selection of petit fours – a chocolate truffle, a macaron, a fruit jelly and a beautifully tempered white chocolate.  8/10

We rose from our table at 16:30 after a very long, languid and generally delicious lunch.  Some dishes I really liked, some I didn’t.  I’m an adventurous eater, but my parents and many others are not, so I think there were too many elements of the meal which would intimidate a lot of people, and L’Ortolan might want to consider this.  Fine dining should be accessible to all.  But L’Ortolan definitely deserves its star, and it’s the best restaurant for miles around.

Overall 7/10