The Hartwell House Restaurant is located inside the exquisite Hartwell House Hotel in Buckinghamshire. The hotel is run by the National Trust, who do an enviable job of both looking after the property, and their guests.
The restaurant is lovely, the atmosphere is calm and relaxed and the service is friendly and efficient. There was a pianist playing in the corner while we dined, which is a touch only the highest quality restaurants in London seem to include. It created a nice ambience.
We elected to try the taster menu, one standard and one vegetarian. This would give us the widest possible scope for review.
The tasting menu consisted of:
• English asparagus with poached quail eggs, bacon crisps, Hollandaise sauce
• Duck liver parfait with rhubarb crumble and corn leaf salad
• Pan fried sea scallop with pea mousse, pea shoots, lemon mayonnaise
• Confit of lightly smoked sea trout with flavours of beetroot
• Roasted breast and confit leg of Aylesbury duck with braised peas, lettuce and onions, fondant potato
• Grand Marnier soufflé with orange sorbet and Grand Marnier sauce
• Coffee and sweetmeats
The vegetarian option included the asparagus and the Grand Marnier dessert, plus:
• Cream of landcress soup with crème fraiche and croutons,
• Artichoke and fennel salad,
• Smoked tomato risotto with roasted courgette and aubergine with crispy rocket leaves
• Twice-baked stilton soufflé with caramelised apple, salted walnuts, broccoli puree, parmeister potatoes
Each taster was excellent. The asparagus was fresh and crunchy, the hollandaise light and refreshing, the duck liver parfait was a gamey delight and worked well with the tart, but sweet rhubarb. The duck leg was rich and not at all fatty, pink in the middle and tasted great.
The Grand Marnier soufflé with orange sorbet mixed the strength of the alcohol with the delicacy of orange and sorbet. Each countered the other without cancelling them out.
The vegetarian taster menu was just as tasty. Each one had the best of ingredients, cooked to perfection with a tasty sauce and accompaniment. Overall, I have to say that our dinner at the Hartwell House Restaurant was excellent. Worthy of many restaurants in London any day.
