UK trip, Aug 2007 - Midsummer House

It was the middle of summer, so it felt appropriate to visit a restaurant named the Midsummer House. To me, the name is quite romantic. It certainly doesn't hurt that it is a 2-Michelin star restaurant! :)

This restaurant was a personal recommendation from SP's foodie friend, who has been providing trusty food advice to SP. Well, until his migration to Australia anyway!

First thing we noticed when we walked in, the staff are mostly French. SP and I both love the French accent. But one thing remained unclear: it is easy to source Eastern Europeans in UK, but what do these French people come here for??

Anyway, we ordered our aperitifs. SP has his usual Patis and I had my 'le cocktail Champagne fraise'. It was a refreshing drink for a summer evening and it was the beginning of a lovely time for both of us. The dining room is in the conservatory, which is set up beautifully.

Things to nibble on.

The conservatory overlooks the private garden and in the middle of the garden is a large tree. The logo of the Midsummer House is based on this tree. I think the logo look different to the tree though.

After careful menu reading, we ordered a la carte, with matching wine to go with the food.

Pink grape fruit with champagne foam. It is appetising but it wasn't that special, to be honest.

Langoustine jelly in green foam made with pea and Chinese baby bean sprouts. This is nice and warm. But what's with the foam?

Seared hand-dived scallops, celeriac, truffle, Granny Smith and caramel. The matching wine is fresh and crisp. The scallops are cooked to PERFECTION! It is grilled on the outside and definitely not overcooked on the inside. With such small amount of truffle and sauce, we had to focus on the scallop. The apple adds a different texture and sweetness to every bite. I think this is one of the best scallop dish I've had!

SP ordered the poached and grilled Anjou squab pigeon, served with cherries, sweet potato, spinach, pistachios, valrhona. SP doesn't like gamey taste, but he likes game when it is cooked well. The way the chef cooked it made the meat very tender and flavoursome, but not gamey at all. Imagine my relief when I heard that he likes his dish. These days, I think SP is becoming more critical at food than me! Back to the dish. The chocolate sauce with grated chocolate is a nice compliment to the meat. I was unable to taste any pistachio though.

My dish was a slow-roast fillet of beef, shallots, celeriac, bonbon of foie gras with essence of port. The beef is pink and very tender! The slow-roasting definitely works its charm! The foie gras was hidden in the potato. Sadly, there isn't much of foie gras in it. The sauce is very French and this certainly brings back good memories from my Provence trip in July!

The pre-dessert did not deserve a photo so there isn't a photo.

The dessert was chocolate fondant, coffee and walnut ice cream. The ice cream is divine. It was rich, creamy and nutty, yet not too sweet. The chocolate fondant is rather big. It was certainly too filling, and I was not able to finish it all. The chocolate and coffee sauce was also a tad too sweet and too 'coffery' (I don't like coffee, esp when it is competing with chocolate!), and it overpowers the taste of the chocolate.

In summary, the dinner was a great experience for us. We had a good size table, which was not too close to other tables in the restaurant. The ambiance was great and we had a great time chatting. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable. We had some good wine recommendations.

The entree and the main course was both top-notch. They were both completely satisfying. I think where it fell behind was the dessert. It was still a good dessert, but it just doesn't have that 'wow' factor.

Overall, SP and I both think it is still a very deserving 2-Michelin star restaurant, and we won't hesitate to recommend the restaurant to others.