After such a wonderful spell of hot weather, it was disappointing to arrive at The White Hart in the pouring rain, so instead of admiring the widespread view, we all ran for cover as fast as we could.
Inside, a cool glass of castellblanch cava awaited us as our aperitif, very refreshing. When we sat at our tables, the amuse-bouche of chicken and sweet corn soup was served. The soup was more like a foam, and had a lovely smoky flavour.
The first course, of roast foie gras with sauce gribiche was delicious, and cooked to perfection. The richness was counterbalanced by the citrus notes in the Moko Black, sauvignon blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, which was the wine served with it.
Before the main course, there was a mini serving of tomato tartare with chopped olives and goats curd.
The main course was pan fried sea bream with red pepper and fennel. I think this is a very under-rated fish, so it was good to have it. Since some of our members like to have a red wine, even with fish, there was a choice of either Berticot sauvignon blanc, Côtes de Duras, France, or le Sabounet Rhône France. Both of these wines were pronounced excellent.
We had another mini course of blackberry cheesecake, very small, but very rich.
The dessert was a hot passion fruit soufflé, with a small portion of banana ice cream. To my mind, this was a masterpiece, as the soufflés were evenly risen, very hot, and all served at once, and the ice cream was a wonderful contrast. With this, we had Chateau Martillac, Loupiac Bordeaux.
As you can see, we had good food, excellent wines and good company, which shows us what the IW&FS is all about.
Valerie Hall