It’s been such a wet, chilly Winter so far, that most evenings we’ve been snuggled up on the sofa, keeping warm in front of the telly. But we emerged from our cosy space last week, to enjoy a fabulous evening with the Besties at their local restaurant.

 

The Wild Mushroom, hosted a Winter Taster Gourmet Dinner, using seasonal foods to treat us to a delicious 10 course menu, accompanied by 5 generous equally delicious, glasses of wine.

The service, as always was excellent, from the welcome glass of bubbly and canapés, through to the coffee and sweetmeats. Although, thankfully, each course was just sufficient, we were given time between each to enjoy the flavours and the wine, before being served the next.

 

After the canapés, we were served 3 fish courses, accompanied by a wonderful Sardinian white wine. I am not a big fish lover, but I happily tried the first two. The mussel and root vegetable chowder was very tasty, but the hubby got to eat the mussels at the bottom of the dish. The monkfish cheeks, cooked in delicate breadcrumbs were delicious. However as the scallop ceviche was placed in front of me, I just couldn’t bring myself to try the raw fish. The hubby wasn’t so keen either, but the Bestie helped us clear our plates.

From here on in I was looking forward to each of the remaining beautifully described courses. From the beetroot risotto, the palette cleansing Prosecco sorbet and onto the seared calves liver, the various tastes dancing around our mouths 😋.

 

We had now moved on to the first of 2 red wines, not my usual choice of refreshment, but the first was quite fruity and did compliment the liver. Next we were served a melt in the mouth slow cooked pork cheek. So tender and perfectly matched with celeriac mash, tiny cubes of Granny Smith and black pudding.

Then, in my opinion at least, the piece de resistance arrived, a beef ragu tortelloni topped with rare sirloin on a bed of spinach and root vegetables. Magnificent 🥰. The glass of Merlot accompanying the dish was nice but I still personally prefer a crisp white wine.

The Olde Sussex cheese served with homemade bread, was delicious and a perfect transition from the savoury to the sweet course. The dessert wine ensuring our taste buds were ready to receive the white chocolate cream, rhubarb blood orange compote and basil meringue.

Last but by no means least we were served with a lovely tea or coffee and the meal completed with delicious sweetmeats.

A wonderful evening, catching up with two of our favourite people, whom unusually we hadn’t seen for a month. Lots of chat and laughter, whilst enjoying some wonderful food and wine.

After a five hour, ten course meal, plus canapés and sweetmeats, we needed the stroll back to the Besties to aid our digestion.

The perfect way to spend a cool Winters evening, in great company, discussing what is yet to come during another year of retirement.