On the Sixth Day of Christmas
“Your 2010 Christmas present is 12 memorable meals out over the next 12 months, featuring:
Michelin Stars
Celebrity Chefs
Spanish Tapas
Modern Seafood
Modern Italian Cuisine
High Class Dim Sum
in London, Surrey and farther afield.”
“On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” lunch at The Wild Garlic in Beaminster, Dorset.
Nestled on the old market square in the centre of Beaminster is the restaurant opened by the 2009 winner of the hit BBC cooking programme MasterChef, Mat Follas. It’s a pleasant, relaxing, simple place that makes you want to come in and stay a while. Rough-hewn, handmade and hand carved tables are decorated with themed sayings that keep the attentive diner’s mind guessing. For instance, what is the link between Vivaldi, Home Guard and Duke of York? Read on for the answer.
Mat’s menu posed quite a problem for us. Why? Because we would happily have eaten each dish, so choosing was extremely difficult. Well done, Mat! To help us decide, we started out with a glass of Camel Valley Cornwall 2007 Brut sparkling white wine, which was superb, with an intense, balanced taste. It’s the best non-French sparkling wine I’ve ever tasted. It was not only delightful as an apéritif; it is also a good food wine and stood up to the dishes we enjoyed it with.
A successful balancing act
My starter was Mat’s Goats Cheese Panacotta, an absolutely gorgeous, mild and savoury dish. The beetroot purée on the bottom was a good mix and the poached rhubarb accompaniment was yummy and balanced the other flavours beautifully. John started his meal with a Halibut Ceviche made from superb, fresh fish “cooked” in orange juice with mustard seed and served on a great salad of mixed leaves. We thought it needed a pinch of salt to counteract the sweetness of the orange juice and bring out the flavours, and perhaps the result was a tad too sweet for our palate.
Between courses we were served a Thermomix-smooth celery and spring onion velouté, which was heavenly and light with its well-balanced flavours.
John’s main was the blackboard fish special of whole lemon sole with caper butter and a wonderful assortment of vegetables. The superbly fresh fish was perfectly cooked, beautifully and impressively presented on a large platter; a real classic. I chose the lamb loin with a fabulous wild garlic pesto that was not too garlicky; its true garlic flavour creeps in afterwards when you’re no longer expecting it. The pesto was nicely balanced with not too much salt or parmesan. The lamb loin was extremely tender and flavourful with a wonderfully caramelised exterior. The vegetable garnish of asparagus, carrot, peas in their pods and seaweed was fresh and just cooked to retain flavour, texture and colour. Thoroughly enjoyable, from the first to the last bite.
As we were driving and it was lunchtime, in addition to our glass of sparkling wine I only had a glass of red with my lamb. I chose a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon which, like so many red wines served by the glass was too warm and had lost its zing.
We got the impression that The Wild Garlic is a teaching restaurant; two young boys were working there on the day of our visit. One appeared to be Mat’s son and the other was, according to @Matkiwi on Twitter, a work experience lad who was sent to the butcher’s looking for chicken lips! Perhaps because via the medium of television, Mat has been in so many of our homes like a friend, people come to the restaurant asking for him, and he graciously comes out of the kitchen to speak to them. He found me out as soon as I Tweeted a photo of my starter (!) and came out of the kitchen to speak to me.
We talked about Mat’s new Thermomix TM31 (what else? This is Madame Thermomix talking here!) and about doing a demonstration to get him up to scratch with using it to its full potential. Mat says that he already uses his Thermomix for making sauces, veloutés and pistou. It’s particularly useful to make top-up batches of vegetable stock in a pinch when customers are waiting! We then talked about food and foraging (two of Mat’s specialties) and about doing cooking demonstrations and classes at The Wild Garlic. Mat has a clean approach to food and conversation and both are extremely enjoyable.
And now to dessert. Mat prepared us a special Dessert Platter for two that included six mini portions of some fabulous creations that we proceeded to devour with gusto. Here again Mat succeeds in his balancing act, matching and balancing flavours to enhance one another and delight the palate. Our Dessert Platter included a superb lime tart with meringue, custard, wild strawberries and blueberries (our favourite); an orange crème brûlée; a scrummy and moist deep chocolate brownie; amazing liquorice ice cream with banana candy floss (cotton candy); a beautiful ginger steamed pudding topped with fennel seeds; and a flavourful chocolate mousse. It was the perfect ending to an extremely pleasant meal that we thoroughly enjoyed in cosy, comfortable surroundings.
Ah, yes; speaking of surroundings, just what is the link between Vivaldi, Home Guard and Duke of York? They’re all varieties of potato! Each of Mat’s fascinatingly rustic and beautiful tables is carved around the edges with varieties of vegetable, of fish, or of birds; another one has odd sayings on it that I have to admit go beyond my comprehension of English culture.
But one thing I comprehend fully is that good food from fresh ingredients such as what you get at The Wild Garlic is a winner every time.
Bon appétit at The Wild Garlic!
