Thursday 5th April 2012
When camping in Springtime, even
glamping as is our wont, a meal to a fine restaurant always seems rather incongruous.
But when we saw that
Poole had a
Hotel Du Vin, we couldn't resist. Incidentally, if you visit Poole (especially in mid Spring), you'll be quite surprised if you go with the expectation that it'll be anything like their website suggests. Sure, it has a bustling promenade, full of the smells of the sea, but you don't have to wander far from the beaten track to find fishy smells of a completely different ilk.
On the matter of fishy smells, it was our top priority being so near the coast to find a seafood restaurant; a harder task than it should have been!
Side-stepping the
fish'n'chips booth in the centre's kiosk wasn't too difficult. But finding something more upmarket certainly became the challenge of the holiday.
It was looking more positive when we discovered Boscombe, and
West Beach (aka Aruba). A warm welcome, great views and a menu full of seafood... the only problem was twofold; we'd brought a picnic for the day, and we only had 30min left on the car park ticket. So we settled for coffee and cake. Rather peculiarly Rachael began complaining of her latte being 'salty'! Ironic as this was (given her partiality to salt), I decided to sample the drink also, and sure enough the mug was salty! We returned it, and received a replacement, without apology.
So the search continued for a decent seafood restaurant, although we'd keep West Beach in mind should we fail to find another.
The day that began with a contaminated drink seemed to end the same way. For all of Hotel Du Vin's wonderfulness, as we sipped our 2006 Saint Emilion, Rachael (rather hesitantly this time) suggested that it tasted a bit fishy. Chuckling, I smelled the glass, and yes, fish. Distinctly fish, though perhaps fishy dishwater was the cause. Our sommelier (clearly the twin sister of Masterchef finalist
Sara Danesin Medio), lifted the glass and swirled vigorously before smelling the
wine and said it was fine. The manager, on the other hand, managed to detect the pong on the third or fourth sniff!
Aside from the fishy glass incident, the evening went without a hitch, and the food was really, very good. I had confit duck to start, followed by a Donald Russell rump pave with buttered spinach rosti potatoes (which I had to find, underneath the spinach and beef). Rachael had the Barbers 1833 twice baked cheese souffle, followed by a filleted plaice with spinach and a lemon butter sauce. Rachael was a little disappointed that despite ordering a side-salad, the waiter didn't inform her that the dish already came with the exact salad. So we shared the spare. Desserts were delicious: the chocolate fondant trumping the
warm mousse due to the fact that the mousse (it was more of a fondant) seemed to be made with the same unsalted butter they served our bread basket with. What is it with restaurants and unsalted butter of late? This is the third in so many months, is it just me that's picky!?
So, overall, not a bad meal. And we got our dessert wine at no charge (due to the smelly glass)... certainly a day of fish!
